Disappointed.

Hey all.
Some of you might remember me as a guy that came on here a month or so ago asking what people thought of my build. This is it:

I7 2860QM
16GB RAM
NVIDIA GTX 580M
120hz screen
750GB HDD.
Killer Wireless 1103

Alright, so it should be a pretty good computer. At least I was led to believe.
Four days after I received it, the HDD crashed. Dell sent a new one and luckily I was still home on leave to receive it. I reinstalled Windows and all of my stuff (music, a few video games. A very light load, considering.)

Ever since then, my M17xR3 has run retardedly slow. Here are some of the things I'm experiencing:

It asks me if I want to turn off Aero to improve performance because it detects that my computer can't handle it

Minimizing/maximizing a window produces a choppy effect.

Oftentimes locally stored movies or videos will lag and take about 5-7 seconds to catch up with themselves.

Multitasking is a complete chore due to the sluggishness.

When I close the lid and open it back up, the screen won't appear or either it will for a few seconds and then it will go black, forcing me to do a hard restart.

I don't know if any of you can think of anything that would help me not feel like my poor wallet was raped for $3000, but if you can, I would love that. Remember when you suggest things that I am in Afghanistan and my resources are limited. I just hope that I didn't buy a $3000 paperweight.

(By the way, I know it's not simple stuff like it overheating. It's cold as balls here and I lift up the rear, even before the HDD crash I had no issues with GPU throttling. I have cleaned it out with canned air, taking the proper precautions of course.)

I am at my wit's end. Please help!

 

Something's not right here. Probably need to get it completely replaced. Something is definitely clogging your system. My M17x R3 is smoking fast. Maybe your ram is malfunctioned and your system is trying desperately to use the pagefile.

 

That's what sucks where I am in Afghanistan, we can't send mail out but every so often and Dell would have to make an extraordinary effort to wait for me to be able to get the computer back to them.

I don't know if I'm being too harsh, but I really can't see them caring that much about one pissed off customer in a bad position.

 

Try the RAM one stick at a time. All drivers up to date? Temps ok? Try HDD in the other bay.

 

Actually, to me is sounds like the drivers were not installed on the system in the proper order. If you end up forgetting the Chipset drivers or forget the intel drivers for optimus, things can get really ugly.

Make sure you reinstalled using this as a guide:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/556721-how-clean-windows-7-install-driver-install-order-guide-alienware-systems.html


Would much rather you face the possibility of it being driver related and easily correctable than to go through the process of getting another replacement, or Dell "shotgunning" you parts to fix a phantom issue.

 

its either this or the ram. the driver order is very important on these machines. try another clean rebuild of the OS, install the drivers in the proper order.after that I would try getting a cheap set of ram ($45-50) and see if the problem persists.

also I believe forum member DR650 has been in Afghanistan, and sent his AW to the Depot while there i would contact him and see how to go about getting help replacing it.

 

clean install mate and take it from there

 

I second the driver issue. If what you said was correct, that everything was fine before the HdD died, then the software on the HDD is the problem. Do a clean install using the guide referenced above. Did it work correctly initially after installing the new drive, but then get worse? If so, malware could be a cause.

Either way, a clean install should fix it. I never use factory installs on any of my computers.

 

could be driver's problem, make sure u got all the drivers

 

At least they sent you a Hard Drive.......I'm in Afghanistan with a boat anchor for a computer as well (constant issues that are HDD related according to tech support) but they said they aren't allowed to ship replacement HDD's to Afghanistan for me. Instead I have to live with it until I get home and there is areplacement waiting at the house......of course given the track record I anticipate the replacement to be another boat anchor but time will tell.

 

1. tell if you had that problems on old HDD. Why should we guess if it is driver issues or not if we could know it from the beginning?

2. +1 for new clean install

 

Thanks for all your help, guys. I really appreciate you all taking the time for me.

I'll try a clean install. I just hope the OS disk isn't in too bad of shape.

Thanks again!

 

Unfortunately there are a lot of people who still installs OS from disks. Me and other download OS distributive which is legal and then burn it on flash drive using Alcohol 120%or UltraISO. Not Nero! And then use product key which is on bottom of laptop.

 

Was your original hard drive 7,200rpm? and if so did they replace it with another 7,200rpm. It's possible that they gave you a 5,400rpm one by mistake. That might explain the sluggish reponse etc.

I used to get the "do you want to switch to windows basic" message on with my 6990M, but it disappeared when I updated the video card driver from what I remember.

 

There is obviously a serious problem with your hardware or your windows installation. You seem unable or unwilling to call Dell and get the warranty support you paid for. Like others have said... reinstall windows and cross your fingers. My guess though is that it's some faulty hardware, and a simple software fix won't help.

If you're not willing to get support from Dell, there's not much you can do. Sorry bro.

 

Maybe you missed the part where he said he's in Afghanistan..........or the part where he said he did call Dell and they sent him a new hard drive..............either way, Dell support is a joke, especially for those of us here in this little corner of paradise. He's lucky they sent him a hard drive. His best bet is going to be getting them to agree to work on it when he returns to the States, or have them ship a replacement to his home address and pick it up when he gets there because they sure aren't going to do anything else for him based on my experience.