Alienware M17X R4 Black screen while gaming. Overheating?

Samsamproducts

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
4
0
10,510
I have an alienware m17x r4 that, after between 20 seconds and 10 mins of gaming the display goes black and is non-responsive. I used open hardware monitor to check the temps and it shut down after about 30 seconds of Unigine Heaven, but it was only at 65 degrees.

Here is a screenshot of the idle temps: http://prntscr.com/b64kei

I am going to replace the thermal paste and clean the fans asap when I have time. If anyone has been having a simmilar problem, or has any ideas as to what the problem may be, I would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks!
 
Solution
Hi,

Here are some troubleshooting steps that I can suggest.
- First is to connect an external monitor onto your laptop and see if the same problem will persist on it.
- If the external monitor will work just fine that means it's the built in display that is faulty.
- But if the same problem will happen on the external monitor that could mean that there's a problem with the GPU itself.
- Try doing a clean install of the graphics card driver that may also help.
- Here's a guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html
- If doing a clean install of the driver will still not work that means it's the GPU that is faulty.
- Do also test it after you clean the inside and applied new thermal paste...
Hi,

Here are some troubleshooting steps that I can suggest.
- First is to connect an external monitor onto your laptop and see if the same problem will persist on it.
- If the external monitor will work just fine that means it's the built in display that is faulty.
- But if the same problem will happen on the external monitor that could mean that there's a problem with the GPU itself.
- Try doing a clean install of the graphics card driver that may also help.
- Here's a guide: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html
- If doing a clean install of the driver will still not work that means it's the GPU that is faulty.
- Do also test it after you clean the inside and applied new thermal paste on the CPU and GPU.
 
Solution

Samsamproducts

Honorable
Jan 8, 2014
4
0
10,510
Turns out it was a bad graphics driver, got this on craigslist for a really good deal because the guy thought it was a very serious problem. Uninstalled the driver with DDU and reinstalled the latest drivers from Nvidia and it works perfectly, Thanks!