Random black screens, fans on high, BCC 116.

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ownedinthedome

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Sep 17, 2012
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Alright so I have an Alienware X51, and ever since I bought one I have had nothing but problems. Through warranty, I have went through 2 whole desktops, and 5 video cards all together. Now my warranty is up, and Alienware is refusing to fix the same problem I have been having for many months that they never fixed in the first place....

In the set up I have a 330W PSU, I7 3770 processor, 16gb of RAM, and a GTX 660 2GB GPU.

First started while gaming, I would be playing and all of the sudden my screen would go black, fans would turn on high, the computer would shut off, and restart itself. When I would log back on I got a BCC of 116. I then ran Kombuster and logged it with GPU-Z to make sure it was not overheating, it only got to 65 degrees celcius when it shut down.

First Alienware tells me the powerboard is most likely the problem, and usually is in other systems. I buy a new powerboard, same thing happens. Then I think, ok maybe it's the drivers. I do a clean install of the newest drivers, same thing happens, except this time it shuts down, and when it starts back up I get a message saying "Please power down and connect the PCIe cables for this graphics card". I unplug the power supply (it is external, similar to a laptop), hold my power button for a minute (alienware advice, I have got to stop listening to them....) reconnect the PSU and start up. Great, then it wouldn't even load windows without shutting down, fans on high, and black screen.

So now I am using my onboard until I get this figured out. I'm thinking maybe the riser card (the form factor is very small, so the setup in there is kind of quirky), but I don't want to start throwing money at parts that I don't even need. All input is appreciated.
 
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i7Baby

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You shouldn't buy Dell. eg You really should have a 430W power supply - to run a gtx660.

If you'r screen is going black and your fans speeding up, my guess would be that something eg your CPU, is getting hot.

What temps is your cpu getting to at idle and while gaming?
 
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JimF_35

JimF_35

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This sounds like a CPU problem or a Power Supply problem.

I am not sure what a power board is. Did Dell replace the board in your power supply and that is what is meant by a power board?

In any case...

If the problem is power supply:

Do you have another power supply you can try?
If another power supply works then have Dell replace the entire power supply with a larger one like a 500 watt. My guess is your system is overloading that small one and keeps burning it out.

I am very surprised they put such a small PSU in that system.

If it is CPU problem:

See if you can get into the BIOS and try underclocking the CPU by lowering the multiplier. If the system becomes stable then have Dell RMA your CPU.
 
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JimF_35

JimF_35

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Oops sorry you beat me to the post. Give i7 Baby the credit.
 
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ownedinthedome

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Do you guys have a reliable program to test my CPU? It's Alienwares form factor, the GPU is only 2GB and somehow they have this crazy form factor to run everything and still get great results, probably the only props I give them (BF4 on ultra with about 30FPS, depending on how much is going on, not as much as a 3GB card with an efficient system, but still quite good for the price). Even newer X51's with 760Ti's 2GB GPUs I believe are running 330W external power supplies, they have a weird make-up. I haven't seen anything stronger than 330W to run the X51s and they have no space inside the system to run a separate PSU than external, it's only a bit bigger than an Xbox 360, but not by much. When I took it apart and replaced the powerboard it looked to be a separate board from the mobo used to power things like SATA, and some others, didn't pay much attention to where the chords were going, just the powerboard and reconnecting the proper connections hoping it would solve my problem, which it did not. If you guys would like I can take it apart and post a picture (if forum allows it) to let you guys see my internals, but I guess first I should test my processor.
 
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ownedinthedome

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Passed the Intel test, and using Prime95 never got a restart after ~10 minutes, inwhich using kombuster / gpuz my computer would restart within ATLEAST 2 minutes. Would you like me to post a picture of the internals?
 
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ownedinthedome

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I've already done a clean install of the WHQL latest drivers for my card (not BETA). That is when I got the message "Please power down and connect the PCIe cables for this graphics card". I was actually thinking about going to a 311.-- driver being another user said they had good results doing this, but I really shouldn't have to, I imagine a GTX660 is a wide enough used card to incorporate defects into the newest drivers.
 
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ownedinthedome

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The cables are connected and always have been. The power supply is external, similar to that of a laptop, so if I upgrade my PSU it would have to be outside of the case. I shouldn't have to though, the PSU given to me is supposed to be able to support the current set up.
 
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