*OFFICIAL* Alienware 17 R4 Owner's Lounge

Haha -- ok ... I read that it would be sent out but most would not get it for a month or so .... It's a BIG update/largest to date for WIN10 ... I'm sure there will be lot's of casualties... I actually turned my TOBI off .. but do like the Hello feature.

 

Well, my day just went incredibly bad and I am no longer a Dell customer.

I called support for help with switchable graphics not working. After remoting in and trying a bunch of things, he began a bios update. I warned him the .12 BIOS has been problematic - potentially bricking folk's systems and causing battery drain and other problems.

Well naturally the laptop blackscreens during the BIOS update. We wait 20 minutes and we reboot. The error code then indicates the BIOS update failed.

After waiting 30 minutes he determines this was caused by having CPU Performance Enabled in the BIOS prior to updating. This is 100% unacceptable gross incompetence on Dell's part.

So then we try a bunch of recovery options, a hard reset, remove the battery/memory, short the CMOS pins, etc. Then it error codes that the recovery BIOS image is missing. Ok so, what now?

Well he says I can send it in for replacement with a potentially refurbished motherboard and it will take up to 3 weeks. The hell? No... I spent $3k on this laptop, have a 4-year warranty on it and it is 2 days old. ARGH.

So he says we can try to exchange it. Ok fine. Except the exchange department says that this is a Software Issue AKA My Fault, is not eligible for an exchange. So I ask for a full refund. Then he hangs up on me.

Please... is there anyone on here from Dell on here that can help me?

 

Ping Azor Frank on Twitter. Trust me, it works. I've had them work on my laptop 3 times (including a full system exchange).

 

I am curious if it is possible to get 5 hours of battery life on the 17R4 with the 7820HK, GTX1080 and 2560x1440 Gsync screen?

 

@Juason First of all i'm NOT from Dell.
I would call them again or write an email or whatever and tell them exactly what happened. You could also write them a comment on Facebook visible for everyone. They can't just ignore you.

 

Best I've seen is almost 4 hours. Might be able to do better if you manually downtweak the CPU/GPU, but it also depends on what you intend to be doing in the background.

 

Thanks. I figured it would be a stretch without optimus.

 

I posted to Alienware's FB page, but it says they must review anything before it is posted. So I'm not sure it will get through. Which FB account of theirs would be best for this?

Pinged Frank Azor on twitter. We'll see if he responds.

Also emailed them back. All support phones are closed right now it seems...

This damn thing actually came in above-average for cooling, decent SSD, only light backlight bleed. Being without it for 2-3 weeks will not only cripple me for work, but really takes the fun out of what should be an enjoyable experience.

 

See this as well

 

Be nice when you talk to them. The techs can basically decide to give you a free upgrade or hang up on you. And they don't give a crap how much it costs dell to give you service. The two things that they take into account are how nice you are and how much sense you make.

 

I was looking to order the r4 with gtx 1080, but dont see the qhd 1440p option, did they take it down?

 

Yes. They removed it earlier this evening.

This may be due to the wealth of issues that's been plaguing the QHD displays or the fact they are on back-order until May.

 

Although I was quite upset, I tried to be as respectful to the staff as possible. Blamed the situation and not them... but the lack of options really pissed me off. How does your crap code nuke the BIOS and the backup? Why did he dismiss my concerns and why didn't they know about the bios version 12 instability?

The tech likely has no control over Dell using refurbished parts. And he had no control over the exchange person being an incompetent, non-english speaker on a bad connection that misread the notes and denied my exchange. I was very nice with him until he said it was my fault and he could not help me with an exchange.

And I am sure he has no control over the time-to-exchange. They said 2-3 weeks which is longer than I waited for the original system order. Just not a good situation when you must have the laptop to work and generate revenue.

We will see how things go tomorrow. It is depressing that in 2017 applying a BIOS update is still a freaking roll of the dice.

 

Thanks. So there is some on Amazon thru a third party seller, debating if I should go thru them or wait and see what Dell does if they even bring them back.....

 

Nvm, looks like the 1440p monitors are back on the website now too

 

How long does it take for you guys to receive your 17 R4s?
Mine's in preproduction now. When I ordered it said about 4 to 6 business days, now I'm getting an estimated delivery date beginning of may

Also, are the QHD displays back or have they been removed? Mine was ordered with one, will it be one of the last of its breed? What's wrong with the panel?

 

@Juason, Can you tell me more about the BIOS instability? I haven't heard of this (probably because I've been away from the forums for quite awhile). I just upgraded my BIOS a few days ago without incident (so far). Should I look at downgrading, or was I lucky?

 

I have yet to see anyone post issues about the 'new quad'.

 

Mine took 8 days in total. A lot of it depends on what you ordered though.

 

Hi all, I'm about to place an order for the 17 R4, but I want to check here to see if anyone has had any issues installing new hard drives? My plan is just replace the HDDs that come in the system with 2 Samsung EVO SSD. Has anyone had any issues performing a fresh install of Windows and getting all the drivers installed? I read somewhere that someone had some issues after they did a fresh Windows install... the had some system freezing problems.

 

hello im having problems when shut down the alienware 17R4 it takes too long, about 3 minutes, i have updated all drivers from dell website, it seems the fans keep running, any help please!!!

 

Are you sure it's not Windows updating? Sometimes Windows will update when you start a shutdown and it will cause a delay before the system actually powers off.

 

yes, i did turn off windows update, and the same thing

 

Windows update is insanely hard to actually shut off these days. I think the regular options will do nothing

 

I've read complaints about BIOS revisions after 1.08 due to :

* Bad fan profiles
* Bad thermals
* Battery draining down with use while plugged in
* Bricking peoples' systems

Papusan posted some info about the bricking problem shortly after I made my post. iUnlock and the other hardcore benchmarkers here seem to be using 1.08, as it offers better performance than 1.12.

 

I spoke with an insider at Dell and what happened should not have happened. They should have done an exchange with the QHD screen.
There is indeed a shortage of the QHD but it only affects the service supply (on site techs etc).
The supply for new orders (and exchanges) is plenty.
So with that said if you do want the QHD let me know as this guy at Dell said he can get you the correct exchange.
Just PM me if you want to go that route.

 

thank you my friend, ill wait a cuople of days and see how performs

 

Well after 4 months of Dell screwing with me I finally got my 6820 gtx 1080 QHD. Reposted last week and I'm loving the thermals so far! Still tweaking the overclock a bit though. And now I'm left with a $500 Dell gift card that I can't get rid of to save my life. Lol.

 

Give it to me!

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Slow shutdown\restart is also can be due to "Intel Management Engine Interface" driver. Try to update it with the latest from the Dell support site.

 

Turn off fast startup from control panel > power options as that is just a semi shutdown hybrid hibernate which takes longer to shutdown. If you have an SSD, your laptop will still startup fast anyway

 

Actually we are using 1.0.5.

 

http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/productdetails/alienware-17-laptop

Config #4 has a 7820HK + 1080 + QHD.
It seems they simply consolidation the configs and allowed for more customization.
Also there have not been a "wealth of issues plaguing" the QHD displays.
The first versions of the QHD displays had lines in them. These displays were also used in Aorus and in Clevo laptops.
This issue has since been resolved as there is a new version of the QHD screen which does not have the lines.

 

Looks like they're not even offering the 4K display at the moment. Odd because a few days ago the 1440p QHD wasn't an option.

 

i actually "upgraded" the bios to 1.0.8 because the dell tech wanted me to.... i works so far. i didn't know about the problems it could have caused

 

My system came with a 512MB NVMe SSD that I replaced with a 1TB 960 EVO (I moved the 512MB one to my desktop PC). I didn't actually do a fresh install though. I simply cloned the drives, and had no issues. Historically, I've had no issues with fresh installs, provided you get all the right drivers from the website, but I can't answer to the 17 R4 specifically.

However, prior to getting the EVO 960, I tried a couple 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 cards (the EVO 960s hadn't quite been released yet), and neither of them worked, getting instantly almost too hot to touch. The BIOS could see them, but Windows couldn't (device manager, nor disk management). I don't know if there's an incompatibility issue, poor QA from Toshiba, or simply bad luck on my part, but luckily the EVO 960s came out which made the issue moot.

 

I don't see a 1.0.5 on Dell's download site, just 1.0.2, 1.0.6, 1.0.8, 1.0.9, and 1.0.12. As I'm already at 12, would you recommend downgrading, or am I better off not risking it? If so, I take it I should downgrade to 8?

EDIT: Oh wait. I see now that the last two "12" versions are technically S1.0.12_K1.0.8 and S1.0.12_K1.0.5. Is that what you meant by 1.0.5?

 

Did you try updating the firmware on the RD400's? Most SSD's I have tried need a firmware update to be recognized by these newer machines. It seems the norm is to ship it broken and fix afterwards with most manufacturers these days.

I had the OEM version of the RD400 (XG3) and it was indeed a hot running drive. It was also amazing how much power it consumed. Using it would decrease battery life by over an hour (on the Zbook Studio), even with light usage.

 

Thanks. I'll try a fresh install first and if I have any issues with that I guess I can simply clone the drive that came with the system.

 

If you're wanting a fresh install because you have Win 10 Pro, and only bought Win 10 Home (for example), you can simply do an in-place upgrade by entering the new product key. If you're actually wanting a fresh install for other reasons, then that's a different story.

No, I didn't try that. However, Windows couldn't even see it in Device Manager, so I'm not completely sure it would have worked. Still... good to know for future reference.

 

If you have skylake cpu bios 1.05 does not apply to you as it's kaby lake only.

I have skylake and use bios 1.0.9, I was on bios 1.0.8 for ages but I found 1.0.9 gave me slightly more frames in heaven benchmark and I have no issues with it.

 

So i contacted dells support to solve my ssdtempissue. They told me 79°C average temp with 85°C maxtemp is ok.....

 

Toshiba M.2 NVMe/PCIe maximum operating temp is 80C. Then they are already busy with fully throttling and will be killed before time. Nice Same as running your Intel i7 BGA chips up to 100C degrees 24/7/365.

 

How long does it usually take people to get word on their Exchange? They approved it yesterday morning, but I've yet to receive an email confirmation. When I called today they just said it could take 3 weeks before I hear anything - and I don't feel that can be trusted, and it would really make me sad if it took that long.

 

...

 

this is so true. I've always been nice and polite and generally have great experiences

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To be honest I've got the old quad and it's fantastic, never notice the lines in general use, super bright Uber fast and smooth for gaming, very happy. I did read someone said their new QHD when compared side by side had worse colours, viewing angles and saturation than the old one so whilst I have the option of getting the new one I won't be!

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I did a clean install on my R4, no issues here other than Windows Hello no longer works (Tobii are looking into it for me). Have you installed a clean Windows to an nvme SSD before? There's a few little extra steps I had to learn. Also I HIGHLY recommend running through this when doing it: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/nbr-windows-10-clean-installation-guide.781178/

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Same here. I was even offered a voucher for inconvenience, right after the problem was confirmed (it took 30 mins to confirm for tech guy from Dell, had problems with the sound card = MB problem).

 

Lol I swear this changes every week depending on the mood

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