Extremely disappointed

A month ago my M17X's graphics card got stuck in 324 mhz, and the keyboard and mouse will not respond after sleep or hibernate. After sending it for repairs it came back and none of the problems were fixed. Because of issues like this it's been 2 months since I got my top and I haven't even gotten a chance to play it. Do I have to send it again? This is absolutely a nightmare, I can't help but feel regret for buying this since it doesn't even function like it's supposed to. Should've returned with in the 30 day period.

 

The card being stuck at low clocks sounds like a driver, power setting, or enduro(which the driver would cure). Have you tried resetting the bios and disabling the iGPU?

 

It sounds like you got a dud GPU. Call Dell and pester them until they fix it. They may comp you part of the purchase price as compensation for your inconvenience.

But beyond that, the failure rate on laptop hardware is a problem with EVERY laptop manufacturer. I don't care if you spend 3k on a Macbook Pro... sometimes you just get a dud. IT HAPPENS. ... Now you've got two options - you can throw your hands up in frustration and admit defeat to this problem, or you can strap on your get-r-done pants and get it solved.

You don't realize how many threads we see where some guy bought an alienware, part X doesn't work, and he proceeds to cry from the mountaintops that Alienware sucks and this and that. Alienware will fix the problem, you just need to CALL THEM. Sheesh.

 

For the 324mhz issue I had that running windows 8 on my m17x , the card is fine, just need the latest drivers. try the latest BETA drivers, do it as the normal upgrade recommended way by nvidia later BETA drivers are 310.64. They fixed my clock issues, they change dynamically now, but they boost up to 758 during gaming. Before they were randomly stuck at 324 for me as well.

 

I do understand where he's coming from, though. He did already send the machine in and it came back still broken. I'd be really pissed too, but you're right, he needs to pester them. I'd have credits or upgrades coming after being without the machine and still getting it back messed up.

Then again, I'll lose my $hit on people if they wrong me.

 

I am using latest beta driver.

Also it's a fresh install.

Yes, but I didn't expect dell to hand one back exactly the same way it was. Especially the fact that waking from sleep sleep freezes my keyboard and mouse.

 

I've had that issue and I believe it has something to do with the graphics card drivers and the hybrid graphics, not a hardware issue. With the igpu enabled in the bios I always get a black screen at boot (With both Win 7 & 8). Not a huge deal as sleep is useless since I have an SSD, but an issue none the less.

 

Hybrid graphics not working with a GTX680M is fairly unacceptable in itself... and I did recall switching igpu off and it didn't work. That was before sending to repair but I don't think it'd be any different now.

Sleep is a big issue for me, but more importantly hibernate also doesn't work, that means not only hibernate doens't work, I cannot use fast startup either.

 

Sounds like a driver issue more than hardware issue to me. Steps to take are uninstall both nvidia drivers and integrated graphics drivers. Download both from dell support. Install integrated graphics first (drivers from dell), then restart. Then install nvidia drivers from dell, then restart. Download the latest official drivers for the integrated graphics HD 4000, and latest whql drivers from nvidia 306.97. Install as upgrades rather than clean installs. Again in the same order, of integrated graphics first then nvidia second. Check your clock speeds now, best to have a look at GPU-Z as it does not require install. If your clock speeds are still stuck, then try the latest BETA drivers ontop as a upgrade rather than clean install.

What are your computer specs btw?

 

Please send us an e-mail to [email protected] with your service tag and phone along with a brief description of the issue and we'll get back to you ASAP. Seems like a driver problem but it might also be just a bad GPU.

 

GTX680M, i73610QM, Win8 Professional 64 Bit, using samsung 830 + 5400 rpm combination. Tried your method but does not produce anything different. Cannot install to a newer version of HD4000 after using Dell's drivers.

I will do so but I am really tired to this, my apartment has some problems with Purolator too, I had to pick it up from fairly far and last time a shipment was missed without notice. It had been a month before I received the laptop with the same condition. Not using my laptop for that kind of duration is just horrid.

 

My apologies, doublepost.

 

Hmm I'm all out of ideas sorry , have the same setup as you as well. 3630qm, samsung 830 and 500 7200rpm, win 8 64 bit, gtx 680m. Are you running the secure+fast boot ok?

 

Yes, that's how it's set up.



Also I mailed to alienware and a whole day passed no response....

 

Go to the AW Facebook fanpage. They reply pretty fast through the message system.

 

Today I got a call from AW and I was trying to explain that my gfx card is stuck at p5 performance state. He didn't understand what it was so he hung up on me. what the hell.

Why did I even have to explain something I mentioned clearly on the email? He said he didn't understand the problem in the mail when I clearly stated keyboard and trackpad don't respond after sleep and hibernate and gfx card stuck at 324mhz.