Am I the only uphappy m17x owner?

Hahaha, just wondering, most people on here seem very happy with theirs, I almost feel like mine was a waste of money hahaha

Just some of the issues I had with Alienware and my m17x.

I waited 3 months after ordering because dell managed to lose it several times in the shipping process.

My one HDD failed after I had it for 2 weeks, after replacing it, the machine has booting issues (seem my post)

I can't get external monitors to work on Windows 7 64 bit (see my other post)

My charger often gives me issues where the laptop doesn't properly detect the charger and then I have to boot up with discrete graphics disabled.

After installing drivers from the disc shipped with my machine, windows bombs out completely, refusing to boot until I disable the only to only load signed drivers.

Do I jsut have really bad luck? haha

 

No, currently a few of us are rather disappointed about Dell's lack of updated driver support. Additionally, some people get perfect systems with no issues, others get lemons - luck of the draw.

Posting your system specs can be helpful. I saw you mention nVidia drivers in one of your other threads so I assume you have an m17x R1. Which drivers are you using?

Regarding boot problems, sometimes changing settings in the BIOS causes it to hang at POST. While it relates to the R2 bios, this thread may have some more information.


Also, why did you make 3 separate threads within 10 minutes when you could have consolidated them into one thread...?

 

It seems to be luck of the draw.

Yup, I have an R1 with a nvidia 9400, 4Gb Ram, core 2 duo 2.6Ghz

Edit, I'm using the newest nvida drivers available, currently 258.96

Shot for the link, I'll check it out.

Ah, just to make it easier to separate the different problems, sometimes combining multiple problems in one thread tends to get messy.

 

Hi Zipkoppie,
I am also an owner of a first generation M17X (Revion 1). What I have come to discover is that different combinations of new and old drivers will cause the system to react in different ways, and it's not always to your benefit. If you haven't already, I would recommend trying a different bios version other than A04 or A03. They both produce issues in which the AC Adapter is intermittently not detected. A02 Seemed to be a decent version. Also, try the video drivers directly from Nvidia's website. I'm seeming some decent performance.
Now there seems to be some misconceptions about "lucky" machines versus "lemons." The reality of the situation is that all computers pass throught the same checks before being delivered. Some components fail prematurely, but they will all perform more or less the same if used in the exact same configuration (assuming they're identical models).

Nvidia Driver
http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-258.96-whql-driver.html

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Thanks GabeZ,

I will give A02 a try and see if that helps.

As for drivers, those are the drivers I'm currently running, unfortunately I still get nothing. I loaded windows 7 32 bit in a dual boot config and its working perfectly under 32 bit.

Do you maybe have updated MCP79 drivers for 64 bit, I think thats where the problem is.

 

I was a happy owner at first, even during the dpc latency situation. Now im really not because of all the different problems different drivers give me. and the fact that I got sli to INCREASE fps, when really it doesn't seem to work at all.

 

you are just a guy with bad luck.. mine works great except for the tuchpad polling rate which sucks...sorry.

 

I may be wrong, but I feel like the people who had issues are the people who felt they just had to tinker with the system and mess with drivers and whatnot.

I haven't messed with my drivers because I haven't felt any need to eek out another 2 fps in COD and low and behold my M17x R2 is PERFECT in every way possible. Not a single issue of any kind in the month that I've had it so far. I also haven't tried upgrading parts yet.

I have the M17x R2 with:
i7 720QM
5870 X2
4GB RAM
500GB HDD
Default wireless
RGB LED

 

Went through some hard times with my M17x R2 myself, but now that everything is fixed by Dell, I am very happy with it. No complaints.

 

Definitely not the only unhappy user. I'm happy, but many people are not.

 

my first one crashed then they sent me another one which works just fine.i still lil issues but i have learned to overlook them becuase it still is a beatyful machine.

 

I find it interesting and agree with jester504. I have seen many posts and have given advice to people asking what should I do first when my R1 or R2 comes. I always advise nothing there is no bloatware the OS is just that. Play with it test it out and enjoy. Then I see the post after fresh install system is crap..and so forth. I really don't get it. Mine is same as out of box except for upgrades I installed, and it runs better than any system I have ever had. Just a thought.

 

I'm happy overall with the system itself, it's very solid. I am however disappointed with Dell's driver support but more importantly with AMD/ATi themselves. Their drivers are hit and miss and I'm not happy with the 5870s as a result.

 

Im happy with my system. It of course had a few quirks but that is expected with a laptop that has as many parts in it as it does. Nothings perfect but this is by far the best laptop/computer that I have owned.

 

Us nvidia users get the same thing too...

 

Ha, we are in agreement!

 

Been wanting an Alienware since I first found out about them in the late 90's an behold finally saved enough pennie to get one and mut say I got very lucky. Have had my M17x r1 about a month now and not one complaint yet seems to be the best choice I have made so far even better than both x wives ....lmao

 

I agree. The only thing I considered doing when I got mine was to upgrade powerdvd 8 but decided against it. I mean really the closet thing to bloatware on it is portal.

I've been fairly happy with mine. I was a little disappointed about Serious Sam Remastered in HD the frame rate seems locked at 20fps which makes me think it must be a software issue and not related exactly to hardware.