Alienware Mx11

VaultFairy

I decided to treat myself for christmas so i bought an Alienware Mx11 for £619. So when i got it i was thrilled i could play games with better graphics, but after a week of having it the laptop now after a random certain period of being in a game my laptop would crash.

It would freeze my laptop, random blobs of pink and green colours appear on screen while it's screeching like some banshee having an orgasm. Anyone know of any solutions or any ideas?

I've checked for the overclock was enabled and updated drivers but still the problem persists, they are sending a technician to replace the motherboard for the second time... Even recorded videos of when it happens to show them but i can't send them cause they are over 5mb.

Quizzical

So let me get this straight.

1)  You wanted to buy a gaming machine, and that means hardware that puts out a lot of heat.

2)  You bought a laptop that is too small to safely dissipate much heat.  This problem is intrinsic to the laptop form factor.

3)  You didn't merely get a laptop, but a really small one.  Meaning it can't safely dissipate even as much heat as most other laptops.

4)  You then overclocked the processor so that it would put out even more heat.

5)  You bought an older GPU with poor performance per watt, so that for a given level of performance, it puts out substantially more heat than a more modern video card would.

So you see what the problem is?  Well, I can't guarantee that that's the problem, but it's pretty likely.  Too much heat in too little space can't be fixed by replacing the motherboard.  Heavily used "gaming" laptops usually aren't destined to have long lifetimes.

It's probably too late to return it, get your money back, and buy a more sensible machine instead--such as a desktop.  But it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Ridelynn

It's overheating. Those are classic signs.

Under no circumstances would I overclock a laptop. They are engineered for a set heat load, and going past that just isn't safe for the hardware (or you, they get really really hot).

Make sure you have the laptop on a flat, level surface. Nothing underneath the laptop at all, and nothing obstructing the rear of the laptop (most vent fans blow outward). It is permissible to have it one one of those laptop stands, just not in your lap, not on a pillow, not on a rug on the floor, not on top of the covers laying in bad: a flat hard surface. Don't run it with the lid closed, even if you have it hooked up to an external monitor. Don't lay anything on the keyboard - notebooks, papers, Dorito bags, etc. You need as much air flow, and as clear an air flow path around that laptop, as you can get.

One thing you can do to help alleviate the heat, is to shut down the laptop. Remove the battery completely. Plug the laptop in, and then start up and run the laptop without the battery installed. The battery charging circuitry, and the battery itself, produce a lot of heat when they are charging/discharging. By not having the battery installed, you won't have the extra heat from the battery and the charging circuitry. Just don't forget and try to unplug and take it with you out of the room... An overheating laptop can also be a sign of a bad battery, and batteries that malfunction can actually get so hot as to catch on fire or explode.

There is a very good reason almost everyone in gaming recommends a desktop, because "Gaming laptops" are not really laptops, they are fragile beasts that require such extraordinary care and treatment that they are just extremely impractical.