My Alienware M14x's 5 problems! HELP!

i got my m14x a while ago, and i love it, until i faced these problems. help!

okay first of all, the spacebar is uneven. its weird. why is it like that? i read that some people have that problem too.

second, some keys on the keyboard squeak when i press on them. why is it like that?!

third, when i boot up, only the right hand side of my keyboard lights up, but when everything is loaded up in the desktop, it goes back to normal. the hell!? why is it like that and how to fix!

fourth, my powershare usb slot isnt working. its suppose to charge even when the laptop is off right? when i plug my ipod touch in it when the computer is off, it doesnt charge. why is it like that, how to fix!

last but MOST IMPORTANT problem, is the performance plugged vs unplugged. i am so annoyed by this. this is a gaming laptop, (laptop, usually unplugged) and how am i suppose to game when the performance drops by a MILE when unplugged? why is it like this, and how do i fix thissssss!

ps. i love my alienware m14x. but you guys gotta help me =) thanks!

 

keyboard is covered under warranty. If it's to uneven and to squeaky they will send someone to replace it.

For the lights, try re-installing AlienFX

Enable Powershare through BIOS (read the manual)

If you are on BIOS A03, just keep your computer on balanced battery setting , adjust the settings of the computer yourself through AlienFX and control the clocks of the video card yourself with MSI Afterburner.

In Bios A03 they disabled high performance for the video card on battery.

 

1) I also get this problem, it seem that this is a common problem to everyone.

2) I do also got a squeaky sound on the 'Backspace' button, this is also common problem.

3) For this you might have to re-install your command centre download it at Dell Website, I sometime got this problem too, but was fix after I re-install the command centre.

4) For this one I havent try it yet, so no idea.

--
I also found another problem myself about the AlienFX shut itself down whenever I have iTune/Windows Media Player/Winamp close, it shut down and after few second it restart back, sometime it doesnt, sometime it does, and sometime it even freeze the whole computer. I have no idea why this is happen though.

Do you have this problem too?

 

i dont have that alienfx shutdown though, kinda disappointed with alienware and these little problems =(

 

that is the STUPIDEST thing to do. why the hell did they disable high performance on battery? i used to not lag when on bios a01, (but because of crashing, i had to update) now it lags so much on a03. thanks for the info man

 

My keys were squeaky, but i fixed that. It's caused by little plastic perforations that stick out from the key(s). About 4 keys were like that. I just pressed them down at a certain angle to loosen the perforations, or used a small tool carefully. But if you want to play it safe and solve your other problems, just skip what i said and exchange it. My spacebar is somewhat uneven, not too bad. And for gaming on battery? I really do not think the m14x was built for that imo. I think it was built to be both a gaming computer, and a power saving portable computer for web browsing and things. Obviously compromises on both ends with this laptops.

 

but it HAS enough power to game on to go! i loved it with the old bios! but then the crashes were annoying. why couldnt they just fix it without disabling high-performance on battery! DAMN!

 

I think the problem was, at the high-performance, the entire laptop draws too much power from the battery, so it crashes. By fixing the BIOS, the made sure the laptop would limit itself to power draw that the battery is capable of handling.

 

Note that other "gaming" laptops do this as well. It's not just the M14x that has less power on battery.

 

It doesn't have power to game on the go. I don't really call it gaming when it's only less than an hour with poor performance that i have to reduce my quality settings and it still lags. Plus the battery only has 300 recharge cycles. Don't game on the go, you're killing the life of your battery for an hour of pointless/low quality gaming. I highly doubt this was meant to be a laptop for portable gaming. If you want portable gaming, go for the m11x seriously. IMO the m14x is meant for at home gaming and word processing/web browsing portability. And for gaming on the go, where are you guys actually gaming? In class? on a subway? Might want to rethink that. If this was a portable gaming laptop, alienware wouldnt downclock the gpu core more than half.

 

The M14x is appropriate for someone that has the budget for / only wants one single computer (when configured optimally). The laptop can act like a gaming computer when plugged in and can act like a word processing / web browsing machine when not plugged in. If you want to game on the go, the M11x is the way to go. It's power draw is significantly less than the M14x. However, it's power is limited in the sense that you won't be playing Crysis on Highest for 5 hours straight on a single battery. I don't think any laptop right now has that capability.

 

IF you want true gaming on the go, buy a 3ds and OOT

If you want to be able to carry your laptop about and play good games when you arrive near a power socket buy an m14x or do a few hours web surfing away from a power socket.

I really cant think of a time I would want to play crysis on my lap lol. Make me sterile haha

 

on bios a01, i played bfbc2 online on max performace, best quality+no lag for 2 hours before the battery died. thats pretty good for me.

 

My intention for this laptop is a Desktop Replacement, so yeah, mainly It is 90% is plug in, even I take it to class I still plug in, because I want it to run at the highest possible performance it can.

And I thought that this M14x should be just like M11x, a Portable/Performance Gaming Laptop, and M17x/M18x is a pure portable home gaming laptop.

 

You can game on the go. But 1.5 to 2 hours? I just don't understand that at all. And even after that, you used up a recharge cycle on your battery. There's nowhere I will be where I have to game on battery. I use it for portability that's just mainly word processing and web browsing. It doesn't really get more battery life than larger 15 inch gaming laptops. The asus g53 which the same processor, and a gtx card gets more battery life on balanced settings than i do with my 14x on the most power saving mode, alienfx off, screen dimmed all the way down.

 

Greetings all,
Keep in mind that everyone uses this system differently. What may seem logical to one person is not logical to another. This is not to say that the m14x should or shouldn't be any particular way. Due to the marketing of the m14x, there are numerous users that feel mobile gaming (without the AC) is what they are are entitled to. Other users settle for what it really is and accept the fact that it will never perform as a mobile gaming device (without the AC).
It is impossible to prove a point centered around the understanding of each individual user. This is due largely in part to every user expecting and doing something different.
The reality of the situation is that the m14x was intended to be mobile (without the ac). Depsite how unlogical this may be, it was how the machine was marketed. Due to the discovery of instability, it received a bios fix (some would call it a bandage). Unfortunately, the marketing was never fixed, and it left each user to decide what they were willing to accept on the m14x.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

I am about to pull the trigger on the M14x but was concerned by the comment of the A03 bios being a bandaid. Is this a crippled R1 version on M14X? I will now reread all the Bios A03 threads...

 

Hi Gabe,
The system performs well on AC. However, it is a little crippled on battery. Standard use such as browsing and office related tasks will work on battery.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Hey sorry just something that I don't understand about the "300 recharge cycle" thing. I heard that the M14x can last like 3 hours on battery just surfing web and word processing, if I unplug it for like 2 hours and plug it back with say 20% battery left, is that still a "recharge cycle"?

 

All rechargeable batteries, be they for a laptop or some AA rechargeables for a camera or flashlight, have a theoretical limit to the number of times they can be recharged. It's chemistry. Over time and usage, the chemical composition changes and electrical impedance of the battery is diminished.

Generally, a recycle charge is considered a full discharge and recharge cycle. In your scenario, yes, that's by and large a charge cycle or 80% of one. Now, the 300 recharge cycles alluded to isn't a hard and fast rule. There is no counter that says "oh, he's hit 300 recharges, time to die". I've had batteries die after 50 cycles (and replaced under warranty from Apple as that was way below expected life), and others go much longer. Like all things, it varies based on the conditions of use.

Over time, you will notice battery life is less than it used to be. That's all. No way around it. Buy a new battery.

 

Theres ways around it...

In Windows settings, simply downclock the CPU. The GPU is the bottleneck anyways, so lowering the CPU a little bit wont make a huge difference. Id do maybe 75%. Then turn Wifi and BT off and you can PROBABLY run the GPU on stock. Cant really try at the moment but I can later.