M18x random total lockup

[Jalec]

Nope, no Intel drivers installed. Just the Intel RST and Intel Management Engine Components.

[Mr. Fox]

Lock up issues can be difficult to diagnose. As a long shot, you may also have something goofy going on with your antivirus software. It is not very common, but I have had three systems that would experience a hard freeze during gaming and extensive troubleshooting (process of elimination) nailed the problem as being caused by the antivirus software. It was McAfee twice and once (a Dell XPS M1730) that Microsoft Security Essentials was causing the freeze. I am used to finding problems with McAfee, but the M1730 was the only system I have ever seen that had issues with MSE. Switching to a different antivirus fixed it. I still use MSE on other systems without issue, so I never figured out why, only what.

I mention this because Alienware systems ship with McAfee installed. It's always the first thing I remove... immediately after first boot, LOL.

[Jalec]

Interesting. I've read about issues with McAfee (don't use it) but haven't heard of anything with MSE, which I do use. Might change that to something else in the short term and see if that changes anything.

[Mr. Fox]

It's not common, but it does happen on some systems... I still like MSE for the most part, and I am using it on multiple systems: microsoft security essentials freezes computer

[Jalec]

Updating here for anyone who might have similar issues.

Hadn't had a crash in some time when I had a few last night. I had tried changing antivirus programs and such, but things still crashed.

So, after the crash, out of curiosity I fired up HWInfo, which promptly locked up the system in the same manner as the other crashes.

I decided to see if there was anything useful in the Dell pre boot diagnostic suite. It promptly returned the first genuine error I've seen. A system board error relating to interrupts. Called Dell today, motherboard on the way for Tuesday. Hopefully that goes well and I'm not trading one issue for another.

[Mr. Fox]

Cool. Glad you figured it out. Troubleshooting system freezes can be absolutely maddening sometimes.

[Jalec]

Yeah in all the years of building computers (this is the first time I've gone big in a laptop vs building my own) I've never had a lockup situation quite like this one. The lack of supporting info and inability to reproduce it, coupled with the length of time it'd go without acting up, was really frustrating.

Hopefully the new board fixes it, and hopefully the tech doesn't mangle anything while doing it...

[steviejones133]

Just something to consider - I know you have a new mobo on the way which is good - but had you considered that it was HWiNFO causing the lockups? - I don't know if you had it open when you had the other lockups but something you said above made me recall that HWiNFO will cause lockups if it isnt configured correctly. You could have a look at Mr. Fox's very good guide about using HWiNFO and Afterburner to monitor temps - see quote below, but other than that, I hope the new board solves the problem for you!

Of course, if HWiNFO wasnt open at the time of the previous lockups, it's not to blame I imagine...

Note: at the suggestion of Ryan_23, I moved this thread into the main Alienware forum for greater exposure, as the information may be of interest to a broader group. These instructions may work on any system, but the settings in the first post have been tested on the M18x. If you have any issues with your model, you may have to change some of the HWiNFO64 configuration settings to achieve ideal results.

Clarification: props to residualvoltage for clarifying a couple of things for us. Brother RV is knowledgeable about many things, and he is a real wiz at HWiNFO.

Optional: If you experience stability problems, try this alternative configuration to use the Dell EC:

Spoiler :

For those that are using a custom fan profile: To ensure that custom fan controls remain implemented, add "OpenFanCtrlMin=1" as a new line at the bottom of the HWiNFO64.INI (or HWiNFO32.INI if you are using that version). When launching the minimized app from the tray, it will open with fan control maximized as well. (See examples below. If you are not using a custom fan profile, this is not applicable.)

Spoiler :

With this INI configuration tweak, HWiNFO will maximize from the tray with fan control open and active, as noted in the example below.


Should you happen to encounter an issue with DPC latency, see this post for the HWiNFO settings that will correct the DPC latency.

I also want to thank steviejones133 and johnksss for providing feedback on the guide before I posted it live on the forum.

Brother Steve noted difficulty getting his fonts to stay the bright green color. The default is the purple color, which is sometimes hard to read depending on the screen background color. In the initial post I did not mention that you should choose a font color for the HWiNFO profile in Afterburner OSD and apply the same font color to the Global profile for your preferences to take effect. (See example below.)

Spoiler :

[Jalec]

I actually don't run HWInfo almost ever. Just now and then. I just happened to fire it up the other day to see if something had gone too high.

[Jalec]

So update on this and a question.

So far, so good lockup-wise.

I have discovered that the left palm rest though.. is really hot after gaming for a while. That's new. I haven't had time to dig into the case or anything yet, but anyone have this before?