Hi there,
Would really appreciate some input on this.
I've got an oldish Alienware Aurora R4 (full specs etc at the bottom). Was pretty great for years, relatively infrequent use. Last few months it started locking up randomly - I'd be in the middle of something and it would totally freeze (remaining on) and need hard resetting. Sometimes it would just reboot itself. Sometimes it blue screens but never with any error code.
I have done the following to try and work it out (TLDR nothing worked):
There's barely any pattern to it, but it does seem to happen almost every time I turn it on, somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes after bootup. Then if I restart it it'll run OK for a while. Eventually it'll do it again though. No apparent relationship to how hard it's working at any given moment.
Windows doesn't seem to notice - it almost never does the whole 'your system shut down incorrectly'. I can't find any event logs that show anything.
Given all the above I thought it might be the mobo. Seems like everything else checks out (would have thought if it was PSU it would have gone on the stress tests).
When it's working the only thing I can find wrong is that the alienware fan controller doesn't seem to be registering the temps properly, so isn't boosting the fans like it should. I've taken it over with speedfan, and anyway it's never got over 60 degrees in there (and that was when running stress tests). Mostly sits around 30-33 when idle.
No overclocks or anything.
Specs:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
IntelR X79 Express Chipset
IntelR CoreTM i7-3820 CPU 3.60GHz
6BG (originally 8) DDR3-1600 PC3-12800
Alienware 875 Watt PSU
250GB SSD
2TB data drive
1TB data drive
CD/DVD rewriter
Can't think what else to tell you! I'd be really grateful for any suggestions. On the verge of just buying a new PC (or building one), but this is juicy enough for most of my needs and I'd be happy to resurrect it for a little longer if possible (and save some cash). I'd also just love to know why it's broken, having spent so long fiddling.
Thanks for reading!
Would really appreciate some input on this.
I've got an oldish Alienware Aurora R4 (full specs etc at the bottom). Was pretty great for years, relatively infrequent use. Last few months it started locking up randomly - I'd be in the middle of something and it would totally freeze (remaining on) and need hard resetting. Sometimes it would just reboot itself. Sometimes it blue screens but never with any error code.
I have done the following to try and work it out (TLDR nothing worked):
- Memtest picked up a faulty ram stick, it came out. (re-ran memtest a few times on the 3 sticks left, no trouble)
- Drive scan picked up a few bad sectors on an old 2TB platter backup drive - replaced.
- Full Dell diagnostics (the mobo ones and the in-windows ones) - all clear.
- MSI Kombustor stress tests - no problem. Intel's processor diagnostics - all OK.
- Monitored temps with speedfan etc - all fine.
- Cleaned the dust out (wasn't much anyway)
- Checked the caps (they look OK though I'm no expert).
- Fully wiped the HDD, reinstalled windows 10. Updated every driver possible w/ dell's updater, a 3rd party one (SDI) and manually for video drivers.
There's barely any pattern to it, but it does seem to happen almost every time I turn it on, somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes after bootup. Then if I restart it it'll run OK for a while. Eventually it'll do it again though. No apparent relationship to how hard it's working at any given moment.
Windows doesn't seem to notice - it almost never does the whole 'your system shut down incorrectly'. I can't find any event logs that show anything.
Given all the above I thought it might be the mobo. Seems like everything else checks out (would have thought if it was PSU it would have gone on the stress tests).
When it's working the only thing I can find wrong is that the alienware fan controller doesn't seem to be registering the temps properly, so isn't boosting the fans like it should. I've taken it over with speedfan, and anyway it's never got over 60 degrees in there (and that was when running stress tests). Mostly sits around 30-33 when idle.
No overclocks or anything.
Specs:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB
IntelR X79 Express Chipset
IntelR CoreTM i7-3820 CPU 3.60GHz
6BG (originally 8) DDR3-1600 PC3-12800
Alienware 875 Watt PSU
250GB SSD
2TB data drive
1TB data drive
CD/DVD rewriter
Can't think what else to tell you! I'd be really grateful for any suggestions. On the verge of just buying a new PC (or building one), but this is juicy enough for most of my needs and I'd be happy to resurrect it for a little longer if possible (and save some cash). I'd also just love to know why it's broken, having spent so long fiddling.
Thanks for reading!
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