Would like advice regarding Alienware issue

[Strayker]

Hey folks, (sorry in advance for long post)
I've had my Alienware 17 laptop since last summer and it is a stunning piece of kit in my opinion. But I would like to know if anyone else has dealt with/come across the following issue (though I'm aware it is possibly a general issue, not exlusive to Alienware)

However, it has been easily noticeable how it has had an issue where the system spontaneously freezes a few times a day - the screen remains as is and it seems that cached information is sometimes still accessible, at least briefly (e.g. windows on desktop can be moved, items in ED outfitting looked at etc.), but any attempt to load anything new causes black screen.

The system remains in this state for about 3 mins, then recovers in the same state it was in prior to the freeze (though the freeze does mean online connections are severed and need to be reconnected to).

Now here's what I've done so far (and actually I have not noticed the issue since, so it may be fixed - fingers crossed! ...):

-I monitor temperatures to check they do not exceed limits, which pleasingly they never do, and further to protect against this I recently bought a cooling tray to up ventilation (which has lowered component temperatures by 5-10 degrees C = win! )
-Ran check disk program which found 2 bad clusters and reallocated them (these were related to backup and recovery software)
-Use CCleaner to remove old guff
-Generally close down background programs I don't want (though I still do let some programs run, such as browser)

TL:DR, Right, so the freeze-recovery issue MAY be fixed, too early to tell for sure but it is promising so far. But my question for you folks is really whether any of you have had a similar issue, particularly Alienware users, and whether there is any software that is sometimes attached to these systems that cause problems. My own opinion is that the backup and recovery software shipped with the system was a little naff and at some point got damaged, kept trying to automatically load but couldn't, thus system freezes until it times out and resumes as it was before.

Welcome any opinions

Cheers!

[TorTorden]

Never touched Alienware systems, but I think they aren't as bad as many in regards to bloatware etc.
And one of the few causes for a problem like you describe (I suppose this doesn't happen exclusively with Elite) is exactly bad clusters on harddrives.

This is honestly a first sign of a disk failing, more and more clusters will go as time goes on, running checkdisk utilities will help, but in my experience you get a month reprieve at best.

I would start taking backups NOW !
And look into replacing your harddrive as soon as possible.

[de Carabas]

Have a look in the eventlog on the system and see if anything is reported at the time. It could point to an underlying cause.

[Feldspar]

When do these problems occur? By that I mean, not what you are running, but is it soon after initial boot up, not until after an hour, only if the central heating is on/off?

Sounds like a silly question but if you have a dodgy or loose connection somewhere it can work better under certain heat conditions.

But, yes, it does sound like disk troubles, when it occurs does the disk light flash? Or does it go mental when it corrects itself? Unfortunately, once a disk starts to go I would never fully trust it, no matter what measures taken to save it. Make sure you back up any important data now to save possible heartache later.

[Strayker]

Thanks for responses folks!

Having run HD Tune, the diagnostic came back A-Ok, with no detected hard drive damage whatsoever. I keep backups on an external and updated these before running the diagnostic in case it spontaneously decided to stick a middle finger up at me.

So then, my instincts still lead me toward this Dell backup and recovery software, which I am convinced is not functioning correctly yet is persistently trying to run automatically, but this is instinct as I said and not really based on a wealth of evidence...

Feldspar - my system cools very efficiently for a laptop, maintaining CPU and GPU at 50C idle, 70C under stress (intensive gaming), and hard drive is usually low 40s and holds steady. So I don't think it's a temp issue - unless you can think of something else that would become unstable at these temps? During freeze, CPU light shows zero activity (stays off). In terms of when issues occur, there is no real pattern. It is unpredictable and not seemingly related to the level of demand I place on the machine, though after it happens once it does seem to take upward of another hour or two before happening again...

I'll keep working on it (and continue to maintain backups!). I'm going to try and check the eventlog next time as de Carabas suggested; I've never looked at one before, but hopefully it's not too hard to find.

And of course I will listen to any more suggestions, your advice is truly appreciated!

(From an ED perspective I do wonder whether my ship is a sitting duck during the time before the connection is severed... but I always have insurance money )

[TorTorden]

Those temps are more than fine, and harddrives actually prefer running in the forties.

But a slowly failing drive is a slowly failing drive, doesn't need to be anything unusual about it.
I seen some drives just fail after a month, some lasts a decade, it's honestly a lottery and it there isn't any manufacturer that's any more reliable than any other.

It probably won't diagnose as bad and perform fairly normally for the next while, and then start failing again.
Could be two days, or it could be two months but usually no more than a few weeks (honestly it's pretty random).

Laptop disks has a tad greater failure rate than desktops, they are tighter packed, and get's moved and bumped around more as well.
Where a desktop simply sits there, day in and day out for years.

I had a desktop once, that would pretty much need reformatting every 3-5 weeks and I ran it like that for almost two years then the disk sputtered and died completely. wouldn't even show up in BIOS.
It's definitely possible to keep it running fo quite a while, but I if at all possible I recommend getting a new harddrive.

[Strayker]

TorTorden
I've had this Alienware less than a year, got it new with massive discount but it still came with a 3 year warranty. So I figure I'll ensure I backup when anything important is added and contact Dell for a replacement if the drive deteriorates further. May also check the system specs and see whether it has capacity for a third drive or to swap the SSD (it's got an SSD as a secondary, but far too small to be any use).

I don't know how you had the will power to reformat a drive every few weeks for 2 years, that would drive me insane

Thanks for the help bud

EDIT: Update - just froze again and checked event log, which showed the following warning: "Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued." after which applications resume normal function. There are suggestions that this can be hard drive problems, or even sometimes a by-product power management settings. The potential candidate is "Link Power Management" which can increase HDD and my SSD latency. I run under maximum performance under power management, HOWEVER, under Intel Rapid Storage Technology LPM is enabled. So, I'm going to try disabling it and see if that helps.