W10 randomly playing alarm sound from RealTemp 3.70.

I have an Alienware m17x r4 with a fresh install of W10. I'm having a very weird problem. I keep getting the alarm sound from RealTemp 3.70 playing randomly, even though RealTemp is not installed. The original file name is RTWarning.wav, but that file doesn't exist in my hard drives or registry. I'm not even sure how this is possible, but this is what happened:

When I got the machine I ran W7 with RealTemp 3.70 set to start with windows. Since RT doesn't have that feature built in, I set it up through Windows startup manager. The temp alarm was set somewhere around 90C or 100C, but I noticed it kept alerting even though the temps were nowhere near the trigger temperature. So I uninstalled RealTemp and removed it from my startup list. However, the alarm did not stop. Sometimes it was relentless, sounding a few times per minute, and sometimes it didn't sound for days. But it always returned and it was always random. I can't associate it with any particular program because it happens so randomly, regardless of what programs I have running. This went on for months.

I then did a clean install of W10 on a different physical HD than W7 and had them dual booted. Not long after I began using W10, the alarm started sounding just like it had in W7. RealTemp had never been installed on W10.

So yesterday I decided to wipe both partitions that held an o/s. I used Parted Magic booted from memory to write zeros to both the W7 and W10 partitions.

Then I installed W10 to the partition it had previously been on. I did not install W7 nor RealTemp, but the alarm is still sounding, just like it always has.

I tried a program called Process Monitor back on W7, but there were multiple millions of entries on the list and I wasn't sure how to narrow down my results to show only things that play a sound. I don't know what file name or format this sound is using, but it's not RTWarning.wav. I have also located and played every .wav file on my computer, and none of them are the sound in question.

Any help locating and stopping this alarm would be very much appreciated.

The sound is linked below.

Thanks.

Dalchina, thanks for your reply.

I have not done these things:
a. If you create a new user for test purposes and log in as that user do you still hear it?
b. Do you hear the sound if you do a clean boot?
c. If so, do you hear it in Safe Mode?

It's such a random thing that each of those steps could take several days to determine the answer. I can start on those this evening, after work.

The thing that I don't understand is how it could migrate even after reinstallation of W10. Here is the pic of my drives:


W10 is on the C drive 97.7GB, and W7 was on the D drive 258.8GB. The D drive says "Unformatted" because that's the way Parted Magic left it after I wrote zeros to it. The W10 partition had the same process with the writing zeros to it, before W10 was installed. After the wipe(s) I used the W10 Pro installation provided by Microsoft, and booted it from a USB stick. I did not choose the "format" option since the partition had just been wiped. The F and G partitions were not formatted and are used for storage only. I also do not have RAID set up.

I thought a "clean install" was an installation from external media, to a newly formatted drive/partition. W10 showed me the list of my drives when I installed it, and I chose the 97.7GB drive because I like my O/S to be on a different drive than my storage. Sorry if I erroneously use the term "clean install". But do you think a sound file and the entire process to launch it could have survived the Parted Magic wiping process and a W10 installation over the top of that? To me, that scenario seems 100% impossible, but my level of computer knowledge is somewhere in the intermediate range. The only thing I can think of is that one of my storage drives has been corrupted and is somehow generating the entire situation.....but again, that scenario doesn't seem possible to me.

The way I understand the complexities of windows, there needs to be a process associated with the playing of the sound......in other words (like you said) something has to launch it.

I would like to track down the process that's causing the sound, kill it, and delete the sound file it's playing. Do you know how to do that? I sure don't. Otherwise, can you please let me know what additional processes I need to do to perform a textbook clean install?

Thank you.

Ok, I had it running in safe mode for almost two hours and didn't get the alarm. However, I use the machine for work so it runs every day for up to 14 hours. The only time I got the alarm today was early this morning, about 1/2 hour after I started the machine. So it's not easy to determine if it never happens in safe mode, or if it just didn't happen when I was running in safe mode. Next time it acts up I will restart in safe mode and see if it happens there.

For my sound I use USB external speakers and the built in speakers. The alarm happens on both. I also have my microphone and digital sound input disabled through device manager, so I don't think it's a feedback loop since there is no active audio input device. Disabling the microphone is something I do to my machines when I install a new o/s.

I was even in contact with a gentleman from RealTemp since the actual sound apparently came from RealTemp somehow. He said he's never had any report like the situation I'm having.

Totally mind boggling. Figures this would happen to me, LOL.

Is there a program you are comfortable with that would monitor the system and display the processes, that I could configure to only report processes that play a sound? Like i said, I tried Process Monitor, but the instruction file was corrupted and I couldn't find instructions online. One thing I did do with it though was use the search to look through the millions of results for the file name, and then I searched for all .wav files. The file name search found nothing. I can't remember the exact results of the .wav search, but it wasn't much and the results were not suspicious.

Thank you again dalchina.

Run the Dell diagnostics full test and post images of the test result into the thread:

Support for Alienware M17x R4 | Diagnostics | Dell US

I ran the Dell quick test and it found no problems. The site says the full test takes 40 min but I have to head out in about 15. I will run the extended test as soon as I'm back in my captain's seat. Probably early Monday morning. Much appreciated!

The test can be performed overnight.

There is a log collector used in another forum.
Please run the BETA log collector and post a zip into this thread:
BSOD - Posting Instructions - Windows 10 Forums

The Dell diagnostic long test didn't complete on two attempts. It says 40min to complete, but after it's almost done, about 37min, this error message comes up, the test terminates if I try to "x" out of the error message, and there's nothing in services that says SupportAssistAgent. I couldn't wait for it this morning, but I've just completed my second attempt and let it sit for an additional 30 minutes after the message came up at 37min.


Here is the log collector file you requested. Thank you.

DESKTOP-L6FPUBL-(2019-02-11_16-32-30).zip

Uninstall Dell support assistant.
Download and install Revo (free edition) and use it if the support assist does not uninstall using control panel.
Download Revo Uninstaller Freeware - Free and Full Download - Uninstall software, remove programs, solve uninstall problems


Download and install Everything:
voidtools

Use everything to find: ResourceTimeout-20190208-0822.dmp
Zip the file and post a separate share link into the thread using one drive, drop box, or google drive

Code:

Name                              LastWriteTime       Size (MB)
----                              -------------       ---------
ResourceTimeout-20190208-0822.dmp 2/8/2019 8:22:53 AM   1044.76

See if you can run the Dell diagnostics in normal mode after uninstalling the Dell support assist.
If it cannot be run in normal mode then try safe mode or clean boot:
Boot into Safe Mode on Windows 10 | Tutorials
Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts | Tutorials

If you need to you can attempt to reinstall the Dell support assist so it can scan for updates as part of the test.