Hi,

I'm an Alienware M11X for about 2 1/2 months now.

Last time I had a hard disk failure, which you guys responded by replacing it immediately. Good job on that.

But recently the hard disk you guys replaced seems to be problematic. The hard disk seems to be having problems, since it keeps making the games and videos stutter and slow from time to time. After I scandisk it, the problems will be gone, but it will come back 3 or 4 days later. And I have to keep scandisk it almost every 3 days, which is pretty unusual for me.

Is there any solutions I can try, or is this a hardware problem? Hope you can advise me on this ASAP.

Dear Muhaimin,

Thank you for contacting Dell Online Technical Support. If you have contacted or tried contacting Dell recently regarding this issue, please let me know.

From your email, I understand that the system causing the games and video to shutter. If I had misunderstood your concern, please feel free to let me know.

Muhaimin, no worries, I am here to help you solve the problem. May I know whetehr did you hear any clicking sound from the hard drive? Did the system become slow when you are using it for normal usage (except playing games or video)?

In order to isolate the problem, kindly follow the steps as below to run the test to check the system hardware :

STEP A: Run Dell Diagnostic to test the functionality of the overall hardware on your system.
1. Insert Dell Drivers and Utilities CD
2. Restart the system.
3. Press F12 when you see Dell Logo
4. Select DVD/CD/CDRW drive, then press on Enter
5. Select Boot from CDROM
6. Select Run Dell 32bits Diagnostic. A test menu will be shown > Select Test system / Memory
7. Choose Test System > Select Extended Test
8. Kindly feedback to me your findings and please provide me with the error message if any

OR

STEP A : Run Dell Preboot System Assessment (PSA).
1. Shutdown the computer.
2. Press and hold the <Fn> key, then press and release the power button.
3. Release the <Fn> key when the lock lights above the keyboard begin to flash or Diagnostic boot selected is displayed in the upper right corner of the screen.
4. Release the <Fn> key.
- The PSA diagnostics sequence begins.
- Let the diagnostics to run, one part the test (test video colouring)  will prompt you to select Y/N. Select Y.
- A test menu will be shown > Select Test system / Memory.
- Select on test system and a list of options will be shown. Please select Extended test
- Let the diagnostic test to run.
5. Please observe the result of the diagnostic.

I would appreciate it if you could feedback on the outcome of your findings so that I may arrange the next course of action accordingly. Do not hesitate to email me if you require additional assistance to resolve your issue.

I've ran it this evening, and it gave me an error during the test. I chose Retry and another error appear. This error cannot be retried, so I've choose to continue.

The rest of the test were fine. It took about an hour.

Attached are the error log.

Dear Muhaimin,

Thank you for your reply.

I appreciate your effort in performing the troubleshooting.

As per our conversation, kindly be informed that I have arranged an onsite service to replace the faulty parts. You will be receiving a call from our technician within the next 2 working days to schedule for an appointment and to have the system fixed. However, this is subject to part(s) availability.

Please let me know if you do not receive a call from the engineer by 2 working days. I will help to expedite the case for you.  Do not hesitate to email me if you require additional assistance to resolve your issue.