Journal #7324

Is your CPU overheating? Can you check your CPU temperatures?

Forgot to mention that it isn't that. I have tried leaving the side off and monitoring my temperatures ingame like, running games windowed and having SpeedFan open at the side so when it does crash I could see the temperatures. They were ranging from 30-50, GPU being 50 and the cores being 30-40.

You got ripped off on ram methinks.

You can check with memtest. You should also check the hdds for bad sectors.

Oh, also make sure you re-format immediately. I've gotten a dell computer in the past with so much crap pre-loaded onto it that it did slow the computer down quite badly.

Dell? Oh god.

EDIT: Didn't read the entire thing, just saw Dell and commented.

So let me get this straight... You bought, a Dell, and you only just recieved it, and you are surprised that it's already fucking up? Good job. You just wasted your money.

Next time, buy from Apple instead, at least their computers actually work.

Thanks you two (not Crollo) for your advice, i'll test what you said.

"Next time, buy from Apple instead, at least their computers actually work."

Hmm... bought some apples some time ago. They didn't taste good. And they were overpriced as fuck.

They looked shiny though. Don't know why that attracted me... Human nature, perhaps.

I really gotta say....You know that you could have built the same computer yourself for half the price? Dell have excellent customer service (and their height-adjustable monitors are awesome), but for pre-built desktop PC's, they're way overpriced. The Alienware ones are the most overpriced of all.

I know but i'm not a hugely hardware informed. It would end in a computer that really wouldn't go together.

I'm quite happy with this PC, if I could get this crashing fixed I would be sorted for the next 5 years or so. I went with Alienware due to reliability but it kind of punched me in the face a bit.

I have one of those monitors, tis pretty awesome.

"Next time, buy from Apple instead, at least their computers actually work."
Macs, Since this is a Gaming Related website, and I'm sure he is a gamer, a mac is not the Best Gaming computer. You can't upgrade them. Hell, you can't even fix them, that thing breaks, you have to get a new one. And a lot of computer games are more developed for Windows. And yes, I know macs can run Windows. But what happens when your Mac has a graphics card with Pixel Shader 2, and your game needs Pixel Shader 3. Looks like its time for a new Mac.

EDIT: And all of Apples Products are RIDICULOUSLY over priced.

Jesus! £2100!?

Fair enough my PC cost me a total of £2500 but the RAM, GPU and HDD space are literally quadruple what you've got there! (Actually with RAM I got 6 times more.)

I'm no hardware buff either, but I went to pcspecialist.co.uk and had them build it for me :P.

Anyway, does the random freezing occur while actively working on something or gaming or does it occur even if the PC is idling in Windows or on Standby / Power saving mode?

Urby what the hell are you doing with 48gb of RAM?

The Desktop Im running only has 1 gb of RAM (fail).

Urby didn't notice the "x4" :P.

Ha ok Urby. I wanted a PC from a well known company, because the first PC I ordered was from Mesh Computers and they went bankrupt a couple of months after I ordered one. Luckily, I paid on credit so I had insurance.

The crash does occur more frequently ingames but has been known to freeze whilst just streaming my desktop etc. It does only tend to happpen when I am doing something rather demanding. The more grapically intense, the more frequent crashes become for example, Total War: Shogun 2 crashes before I can even get ingame and when it does eventually get ingame it crashes after 5 minutes (on ultra settings - shader 4.1). However, Garry's Mod on max settings I can play for days on end or leaving it running over night and it will not crash.

A while back I had a look at power saving modes on the AlienFusion service which comes with most Alienware PC's and has been known to clash with Windows' power saving. I had disabled AlienFusion about 3 weeks a go and the freezing continues.

Did you call Alienware yet?

No, but I will now, it finally died on me. I'm on my old PC right now.

Still got warranty so it'll be going back and I should have a working new one in no time.

I guess this journal is now over. Chin up, right?

I suspect it's the memory. Run Memtest as a start.

I had a similar problem before with a computer I build myself. After months of troubleshooting (I thought it was the graphics card), it turned out to be a bad memory module.

If it's not the memory modules, it could be the PSU.

Since you have spare parts from your old PC, swap out parts one by one to see which one is the culprit.

Opening the case will likely void the warranty. Just get Dell to fix it. Do run memtest though.

I can open the case (due to it being an openable case without screws) but I can't unscrew anything inside or take stuff out etc. due to voiding warranty. Memtest I had run and it was fine although I can't do that again now because it's dead and will not boot anymore. Like I said, it will be swapped shortly and should get a new/fixed one in a couple of weeks tops.

Thanks for the time and advice anyway. Much appreciated that people wish to help my situation.

"Ha ok Urby. I wanted a PC from a well known company"

Heh. PCSpecialist.co.uk is advertised constantly in Mags like PCGamer (twice) and on sites such as play.com.

Oh well, enjoy your Dell I guess

(Also yeah, I missed the x4. I have 12GB of RAM, not 48 :P)

Their xps is like half price as alienware but with same stuff. And I personally think they look better.

I have a similar problem with my computer except the video feed goes black and it only happens when the computer is seriously stressed and overheated. (Or when I play HL2, in which case it just does it for no reason at all, which makes me very sad because I love playing HL2. Doesn't happen to other Source engine games, though, nor did it do it before the OB update/getting my LCD monitor. [can't remember which])

Hugely late reply to and old journal, but this got fixed a while back. The solution was: I rang Dell and they sent me new RAM. Problem hasn't consisted.