Games crash and restart computer

[Fliggo Gee Goo]

Hi, I just recently got a desktop computer that could run Steam games, at least I thought I did. My alienware x51 crashes whenever I try to play a game, I tried Skyrim and Monaco and both have made my computer screen fade to black and restart. I haven't done anything to my computer or installed anyting except for Steam. I also don't know anything about computers so any help whatsoever will be very much appreciated.

[TeKraken]

There are a couple of different versions of the x51. What are the specifications of yours?

[Chas.]

It seems as though your PC is throwing kernel panics, which is otherwise called a blue screen of death.

You aren't seeing the actual blue screen because Windows is configured to automatically restart when the kernel panics. To disable this, navigate here - control panel>system and security>system>system protection. A new window will open with tabs at the top, select the "advanced" tab and click on the settings button under "start up and recovery".

Uncheck the box for automatic restart during system failure. Then try to start the games again and see if a blue screen is displayed when they crash. We'll start troubleshooting from there.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Dell/Alienware have a sticker on them with a Service Tag#
Please share this, from which we can look it up and it will tell us the full system specs.
FYI, by sharing this u are in no way sharing any personal data, just makes it easy to look up the full system specs is all.

If the system is new to you, first thing to do is ensure the latest Windows Updates have been applied to the system.


EDIT:
And yes please do what Chaz explained above, as if the system is running into a Blue Screen error, it will simply reboot. Doing what Chaz explained will allow the Blue Screen to remain displayed, allowing you to take down the error info. Then u can simply reboot manually in order to boot back into Windows.

[Fliggo Gee Goo]

Alright I did what Chaz said but I get no blue screen. My monitor has a power saving mode and shuts off automatically but when I turned it on it says there's no signal from my computer but the computer is on. Also I'm assuming this is the service tag number, 5SLYJ02

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Salty Sweatbags:

Alright I did what Chaz said but I get no blue screen. My monitor has a power saving mode and shuts off automatically but when I turned it on it says there's no signal from my computer but the computer is on. Also I'm assuming this is the service tag number, 5SLYJ02

Ok sorry it is not listing the current system config for some reason.

Can u please go to this link > http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/5SLYJ02/configuration

Click on the large/bold "Analyze Now" button.

Dell might ask to install a small plugin for your browser, allow this and it will run a short test in order to gather the hardware config of your system.

Once that is completed, highlight the text for your config from that site, and copy+paste it into here.

[Fliggo Gee Goo]

I think this is it http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/servicetag/5SLYJ02/maintain

[Bad 💀 Motha]

No, that will only show it on your system, we can't see it.

On that page, click Current Configuration tab.
Then highlight the text there of your config, then copy+paste it in here so we can see it.

[Fliggo Gee Goo]

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/ServiceTag/5SLYJ02/configuration#C

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Ok I post your system specs here in case the above link fails to work for others.

Computer Model: Alienware X51 R2
BIOS Version: ALWARE - 1072009
BIOS Date: 11/18/2013
OS: Win7 Home Premium 64bit
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 CPU @ 3.10GHz
RAM: 8GB (2x 4GB)
HDD: 1TB SATA HDD
GPU: Intel HD 4600 / NVIDIA GTX 645 PCIE



First things to try:

> Ensure your Windows Updates are all current. Control Panel > Windows Updates > Check for Updates. DO NOT get driver updates from here. Get them from Dell Support or from the source site for the core hardware, such as Intel, NVIDIA, Realtek.

> Ensure Device Drivers are up to date. Latest drivers for your system are linked below:

Intel INF Chipset Drivers: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=20775&ProdId=816&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%207%20(64-bit)*&DownloadType=Drivers

Intel HD 4000 series GPU: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=23714&lang=eng&OSVersion=Windows%207%20(64-bit)*&DownloadType=Drivers

NVIDIA GeForce Desktop GPU: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/73780/en-us


> Ensure BIOS is up to date. Latest one for your machine is located here: http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=64Y2K&fileId=3334987346&osCode=W764&productCode=alienware-x51-r2&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

[PLANTROON]

When the screen goes black, do you happen to hear any suspicious sounds coming out of the case ?

[Fliggo Gee Goo]

So a new problem has happened, after I downloaded the BIOS it said my system needed to be rebooted. I run into a couple problems, one is that I receive a message saying that I need to reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key. When I put in the installation disc it starts to reinstall Windows 7 but it stops and gives me a compatibility report telling me the computer started using the installation disc. It then tells me to remove the disc and restart my computer so Windows can start normally, then put the disc back in. Problem is when I'm at this screen the disc won't eject, so I have to restart the computer to eject the disc and it doesn't go straight to Windows, it goes back to the reboot screen I mentioned before. I found a way around this and was able to go to my desktop and use my computer as normal. So I tried to restore it to the day I got it to see if that would fix the problem but it didn't. So it's back the way it was, still unable to play Steam games, now this reboot screen appears, and yes Plantroon noises do occur, they sound like the game buffers then it just shuts off.

[PLANTROON]

If you hear anything like a fan spinning at full speed when the screne goes black (it can be a really big noise depending on the fan), then the graphics card is probably dead ...