Alienware 15 throtling, crashing, issues.

[azsssquake]

Hello.

I just bought a used alienware a couple of weeks ago, and an Alienware 15. When I first got it I was only getting about 15-20 fps on Age of Conan and 20-40 on League of Legends. I just dismissed it as just a laptop and getting old. For a few days it started working at the performance that an Alienware should. I was getting +70 fps on Age of Conan and around 200 on League of Legends. After a few days it went back to it's old self. I noticed it wasn't really using much cpu and only rarely going up to 70% core usage. I suspected throttling so I decided to take it apart, dust it and give it a rethermal. After I put it together and tried to start it I hit the power button and got nothing. I help it down for ten seconds and all I got then was the Alienware light coming on and a very faint beep. I took it apart to see what I had done wrong and didn't see anything and tried again, I got the 4 beeps repeating error. I removed the ram and used the cmos jumper and put the ram back in and it started up. It was working at 70+ framerates again for a couple of minutes and then the throttling started again. I dropped down to 20 mid game. Now I am crashing when I try to play games.

Also, when I turn on the lap top I get a warning message the the AC power adapter is not recognized, use a dell 180 watt or better. The one I am using is a 240V Dell. It was doing this before I took it apart.

Thanks

 

[theonerm2]

It's possible that it's not getting the power it needs or your power supply isn't working right all the time. Get a good power supply and try it out. https://www.amazon.com/adapter-Original-Alienware-Dell-Precision/dp/B00A076OEO

I know it's expensive but the system needs good power coming to it.

 

[azsssquake]

It seems you are correct. I tried running it unplugged and it ran at full performance. Looks like the charger is no good. What about this charger?

https://www.frys.com/product/9448381?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Thanks

 

[azsssquake]

I bought the charger that I posted above and I am still having the same issue. The computer used to at least charge while it was turned off, now it won't even do that with either charger.

 

[Ryan_311]

I bought the charger that I posted above and I am still having the same issue. The computer used to at least charge while it was turned off, now it won't even do that with either charger.

Alienware pro here - had every model since 2011

Right you need an official 240watt charger or 180watt (depending on the GPU in your alienware 15 ) i would go for the 240watt. Going to take a guess and say you have the GTX 980M with the 240watt supply ? as the 970 came with the 180watt.

The PSU you purchased is incompatible, it needs to be a genuine flextronics or delta ( both official Dell PSU's) and the system is smart enough to know this.

I strongly suspect you have done a POOR thermal repaste on the GPU or CPU and the throttling behaviour is very typical for this error.

Is the heatsink also applied correctly? it doesn't take long for the VRM's to heat up etc ! repaste against with liquid metal and run some proper benchmarks and use HWinfo to monitor temps..

3 points to confirm and check.

1. benchmark GPU and check for temps ( i think poor factory repaste which is typical and you are getting throttling) repaste liquid metal and ensure good heatsink contact.
2. ensure the DC socket is not damaged these are cheap to replace from internet.
3. purchase cheap genuine PSU ( if your UK i have 2 genuine ones for sale)