1. #1

    AlienWare Mx17, cant handle WoW - NEED SERIOUS HELP!

    I have an Alienware Mx17 laptop with a few upgraded parts from the standard model.

    Iv had the laptop around 2 years.

    i have duel harddrives and oen of them is mirroring the other.

    However about 6 months ago it says one of the raid volumes is degraded, but the lapstop still seems to work fine.

    But when playing WoW my FPS can go from 60 to 2 in one second and then after about 2 minutes it goes back to 60 again.

    I have no idea what is causing these random spikes, but its infuriating. I never had that problem when i first got the laptop so i am assuming its because my RAID has been degraded or corrupted.

    Firstly whats the best way to get it fixed? do i have to buy some new hardware for my Laptop?

    And secondly is there anyway to keep it cool? the bottom of my laptop is so hot there is no way i could put it on my "lap" i have to have one corner of the laptop hanging off the edge of a table just so it doesnt overheat and shut down.

    Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated

  2. #2
    I am Murloc! crakerjack's Avatar
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    Why did you buy a laptop in the first place?

    Please post constructively on the matter. Why the user bought a laptop is irrelevant, make this about helping the OP fix his issues. ~Uggor
    Last edited by Uggorthaholy; 2011-12-06 at 06:29 PM.
    Most likely the wisest Enhancement Shaman.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by crakerjack View Post
    Why did you buy a laptop in the first place?
    Can we stop this laptop hate around these forums? It's getting as annoying who mindlessly bash Mac and Alienware. People buy laptops for a reason. Not everyone plays from the same room in the same house in the same city in the same country all the time. Some people need the mobility. So stop asking this question every time someone makes a thread about a laptop.
    Why am I back here, I don't even play these games anymore

    The problem with the internet is parallel to its greatest achievement: it has given the little man an outlet where he can be heard. Most of the time however, the little man is a little man because he is not worth hearing.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by crakerjack View Post
    Why did you buy a laptop in the first place?
    Laptops are awesome :S you can carry them anywhere and their performance is quite good.
    Used a desktop and was quite the afficionado, but since I got a laptop for college 4 years ago i dont even care about desktops, you want a big screen? just plug one in.
    Even overheating isnt a problem if you know what to do.

    Anyway, well im guessing your laptop is damaged, i got a mx14 since i was curious about alienware and wanted one to test it out and it works fine, it runs any game so far at full gfx without a problem.

    Hmmm, except supcom forged alliance with 7 AIs in a 80kmx80km map, but then again i havent seen any desktop doing that either so not bothered with it.

    Dont get me wrong, but drivers? alienware can be a bitch with those, had to chance .ini to be able to put normal gfx drivers and works fine

  5. #5
    I dont know enough about raid so I cant help you there but on the cooling problem get a laptop cooler.

    I own two of these. They work great one is cooling a 17" laptop that I sometimes play wow on and the other is cooling my gf's old 15" that all the fans died on, the cryo still keeps it cool even when she does some gaming on it
    | Intel i5-4670k | Asus Z87-Pro | Xigmatek Dark Knight | Kingston HyperX Fury White 16GB | Sapphire R9 270x | Crucial MX300 750GB | WD 500GB Black | WD 1TB Blue | Cooler Master Haf-X | Corsair AX1200 | Dell 2412m | Ducky Shine 3 | Logitech G13 | Sennheiser HD598 | Mionix Naos 8200 |

  6. #6
    Your problems, or at least two of them, are likely related. "RAID Degraded" I assume might mean one of the hard drives has bad sectors; the heat could also mean the laptop CPU and/or GPU are throttling. Either will murder performance (if the disk's bad sectors are being accessed during the game.)
    Super casual.

  7. #7
    im from the Uk but moved to Russia to work and found that an alienware was the only solution to deal with my gaming addiction

    And it sounds like i need to take my PC to some expert next time im back in London to get the hard drivers and drivers fixed coz not being able to play games at even the lowest settings is really fucking me off.

    can anyone recommend a good repair center in London that isnt going to make me pay over the top?

  8. #8
    www.google.com is pretty low cost. I'd recommend downloading HD Tune and running a full scan on your hard drive, and getting some sort of temperature monitor program depending on what GPU is in the laptop. Rivatuner monitors NVIDIA GPU temps I think, not sure of a third-party AMD monitor. CPU temps can be monitored with CoreTemp. Get those, run the game, let us know what those temperatures read.
    Super casual.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    laptop coolers suck, i tested most of them and just cooles 1-3 degress, i had a friend help me so he toke 4x120mm fans strong ones and an usb cabel, putted all 4 fans under my laptop blowing up not down, and i went from 105c to 65c when watching movies, not kidding. helped fantastic and so easy

  10. #10
    Bloodsail Admiral Imbashiethz's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by crakerjack View Post
    Why did you buy a laptop in the first place?
    It's true you get less for more money, but that is all really. You can hook up a nice 24" to your laptop, also hook up a nice mouse and keyboard, and it's pretty much the same thing. Much more mobile.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    If you're using an M17x with dual gpus then I think that's causing the spikes

    I had an old dell xps lappy with twin 8800gtxs and caused nothing but trouble in WoW, WoW and crossfire/sli don't mix too well

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