- Mar 10, 2013
- 19
- 0
- 10,520
Hi, I've been having weird graphics issues with a refurbished Alienware M14x I bought from eBay (looking back on it, this seems to be two mistakes in one). Here are the specs (or at least those that I considered relevant):
Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i7-3840QM Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory: 16GB RAM at 1600MHz
HardDrive: 750GB SATA Hard drive 7200RPM
HardDrive: 64GB mSATA
Display: 14.0" Widescreen Display High-Definition WLED 900p
VideoCard: 2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForceGT 650M using NVIDIA Optimus technology
The issues I have been having are very odd. What worries me most is that it sometimes will start up with lines flitting across the screen randomly, always going horizontally. I took a short video of it:
Lines
This has happened probably around 3-5 times while I have had the laptop, and I have noticed that it seems to happen when it's colder in my house. It did it when I started it up today, and the temperature in my house was around 60° F. In the past, the temperature has been around the same if not colder (sometimes I let my house get down to 51° F). I have also noticed that it will begin to subside and eventually disappear after a bit (it disappeared in about 15-30 minutes today, I left and it was gone when I came back).
The other issue I have is with FPS in certain games. I play Mafia II a lot, and have noticed that it has the tendency to slow dramatically after a few hours of play (from 40-60 FPS to around 10). I have read that this is possibly due to a memory leak in the game, and that restarting the game or the computer will fix the problem; however it is different for me. I have found that restarting the game and/or the computer hasn't helped, but restarting, putting the computer in hibernate (without playing the game), then restarting again fixes it. I have been thinking that it has something to do with putting my computer into hibernate, but I don't always put my computer into hibernate when it happens. I have looked at the temperature/GPU load while playing when the FPS is normal and when it is low, and it's always around 60° C at 99% load. I have all the settings on the highest settings available, except vsync is off and PhysX is off (PhysX makes it stutter a bit when I'm inside a building). Here is a screenshot of the settings (fullscreen is usually on, I turned it off for the screenshot):
Another thing that I have noticed is that I don't necessarily have to play Mafia II in order for it to happen, it has also happened in GTA IV, and after I have played Team Fortress 2 then started Mafia II (TF2 wasn't slow at all when I switched).
Another weird thing that has only happened once was that it lost all power after I unplugged the power adapter from the wall a while back. It had been plugged in for hours, and my friend was playing Mafia II on it when I unplugged it. I left it unplugged and tried to start it again, but it wouldn't start, but as soon as I plugged it back in again it started up, then I unplugged it right after logging in and it kept on going. This has only happened once.
I honestly have no idea what is going on. I've tried to find a solution everywhere, but I am wary of calling Alienware tech support. From what I've heard, they sometimes accuse people who have bought from eBay of "stealing" the computer; then I heard another nightmare story where someone would send it in and get it back with a different problem until the warranty ran out. I have transferred the warranty to my name, and the person I bought it from on eBay sent me the details to transfer it right away and seemed perfectly honest; I also looked him up on Google and he seemed reputable. I really love the computer, and apart from the graphics issues, it works perfectly. If you need more details, don't hesitate to ask, and thank you for helping me!
Processor: Intel Core 3rd Generation i7-3840QM Processor (8MB Cache, up to 3.8GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
Memory: 16GB RAM at 1600MHz
HardDrive: 750GB SATA Hard drive 7200RPM
HardDrive: 64GB mSATA
Display: 14.0" Widescreen Display High-Definition WLED 900p
VideoCard: 2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForceGT 650M using NVIDIA Optimus technology
The issues I have been having are very odd. What worries me most is that it sometimes will start up with lines flitting across the screen randomly, always going horizontally. I took a short video of it:
Lines
This has happened probably around 3-5 times while I have had the laptop, and I have noticed that it seems to happen when it's colder in my house. It did it when I started it up today, and the temperature in my house was around 60° F. In the past, the temperature has been around the same if not colder (sometimes I let my house get down to 51° F). I have also noticed that it will begin to subside and eventually disappear after a bit (it disappeared in about 15-30 minutes today, I left and it was gone when I came back).
The other issue I have is with FPS in certain games. I play Mafia II a lot, and have noticed that it has the tendency to slow dramatically after a few hours of play (from 40-60 FPS to around 10). I have read that this is possibly due to a memory leak in the game, and that restarting the game or the computer will fix the problem; however it is different for me. I have found that restarting the game and/or the computer hasn't helped, but restarting, putting the computer in hibernate (without playing the game), then restarting again fixes it. I have been thinking that it has something to do with putting my computer into hibernate, but I don't always put my computer into hibernate when it happens. I have looked at the temperature/GPU load while playing when the FPS is normal and when it is low, and it's always around 60° C at 99% load. I have all the settings on the highest settings available, except vsync is off and PhysX is off (PhysX makes it stutter a bit when I'm inside a building). Here is a screenshot of the settings (fullscreen is usually on, I turned it off for the screenshot):
Another thing that I have noticed is that I don't necessarily have to play Mafia II in order for it to happen, it has also happened in GTA IV, and after I have played Team Fortress 2 then started Mafia II (TF2 wasn't slow at all when I switched).
Another weird thing that has only happened once was that it lost all power after I unplugged the power adapter from the wall a while back. It had been plugged in for hours, and my friend was playing Mafia II on it when I unplugged it. I left it unplugged and tried to start it again, but it wouldn't start, but as soon as I plugged it back in again it started up, then I unplugged it right after logging in and it kept on going. This has only happened once.
I honestly have no idea what is going on. I've tried to find a solution everywhere, but I am wary of calling Alienware tech support. From what I've heard, they sometimes accuse people who have bought from eBay of "stealing" the computer; then I heard another nightmare story where someone would send it in and get it back with a different problem until the warranty ran out. I have transferred the warranty to my name, and the person I bought it from on eBay sent me the details to transfer it right away and seemed perfectly honest; I also looked him up on Google and he seemed reputable. I really love the computer, and apart from the graphics issues, it works perfectly. If you need more details, don't hesitate to ask, and thank you for helping me!
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