If you received an M17x R2 replacement for your problematic R1..

What was your original problem, what were the steps taken to resolve it first, and what did you end up with for a replacement? New, refurbished? How did your old specs compare to your new specs? I think I've run into a stubborn rep (time will tell) and I'm not even sure they're going to offer an R2 replacement for the stuttering problems that I'm still seeing, and have been helpful enough to diagnose for them as a design flaw in the R1 system. Any contributions to this thread are very appreciated, thanks.

 

I had DPC problems which resulted in 3 failed attempts to fix. After the 3rd failed attempt I refused all their other attempts at a fix and gave them the option of either a full refund or a brand new replacement of equal or higher value.

I was configured an equal R2 version of my R1, the RGB LED could be looked at as an upgrade but it really isn't as the CCFL was the upgrade for the R1 and the RGB LED is the upgrade for the R2, so I was basically given an R2 of equal value. You just need to know your rights, and understand how to get it into the reps heads that you are done with their fixes, and the only two options left are full refund or equal replacement to an R2 model that has proven to be DPC free. Make sure you talk to a rep who is authorized to make replacements. It may take a few days for them to talk to their managers etc, but be firm in your position, and do not budge. You will get the replacement.

 

It's not DPC anymore, it's insufficient power because of an insufficient power adapter causing clock modulation. It's an ongoing conversation in the stuttering thread and I've extensively tested, documented, and diagnose the problem and forwarded it off to a rep and he forwarded the information off to engineering. He says they have a deadline of tomorrow to resolve this, which obviously isn't going to happen. I'm just concerned he's going to start tossing video cards or motherboards at this or only offer another R1 as a replacement. I wanted as many examples as I could get of similar situations where there was unresolvable stuttering and the R2 system was given.

 

Just deal with the DPC issue. Don't worry about the rest, that's just making it more complicated than it needs to be. There are obviously too many problems with the R1 to be dealing with every which one.

 

It's not DPC.. not until the clock modulation kicks in and *that* causes the DPC to be horrible because it's throttling all 4 cores to 317Mhz lol. That's what I was trying to show them. I guess playing dumb might have been better this time. I was simply trying to help them out because I'd discovered the actual problem. Hopefully more come forward because it sounds like I might need all the ammo I can get for him to offer me an R2. He also said nobody is offered new systems, that they're refurbished. I know that to also be bogus.

 

Start over from the beginning with a different tech, and just deal with the DPC itself, not the cause of it. They don't have a fix for it, use that to your advantage, they have to take care of you. You are right about the refurbs, it is bogus, mine was brand new built to order.

 

I honestly believe if you ask for a replacement they won't give it to you. It has to be them offering it to you. Given enough repairs I'm sure they will end up doing just that.

 

You didn't read my above posts?? I told Dell they had 2 choices to resolve my issue after 3 failed attempts at a fix. They could give me a full refund, or they could give me an R2 replacement of equal or higher value, seeing as the R2 was proven to not have the DPC issue. They chose to give me the replacement and keep my money.

 

I haven't experiened the same stuttering issues, but my R1 was replaced with an R2... On my orginial system,I had a problem with my webcam, which AW tech support could not resolve over the phone so they sent out a new screen.. I wasn't too keen about the repair on a system still within the 21 day return policy, so to make me feel better about it, the offered me (I asked) for an upgraded RGB screen. Long story short.... They sent out the RGB screen and the service tech didn't know what he was doing and put numerous pry marks in my system. Speaking to AW supervisors, the best I could get was a replacement R1 (new) with the upgraded screen. I wasn't happy with this so I sent an e-mail to [email protected].. I got a call back within 1hr and spoke to the consumer resolution rep. I explained what happened and I persisted on an R2. The rep accepted and configured one with me on the phone. Got my replacement in 7days from time of order.. System specs were similar except I got the upgraded RGB screen and they upgraded my processor from the QX9300 extreme to the i7 920x, which they pretty much had to do by giving me an R2.. Now I'm having all kinds of BSOD and dispaly driver crashes with this "Brand New" R2. Well see what happens with the GPU replacement, but if that doesn't fix the problem, I'll be pushing for another replacement system. I won't accept a possible motherboard replacement on a brand new system.

 

i wounder if dell, give 'used' parts into replacements systems? (worried face) i know when you get something replaced by a tech, they always take the old one back or youre charged, wounder if they try to 'fix' the issues with them!

 

I dont know if my situation was any different than anyone else's, based on me being in iraq, but calling dell techs every week, I finally talked to a tech who was able to submit my case for a review to be escalated, I received a call and an email asking if my case could be resolved. So I spoke to the resolutionist and she was very polite, she said the replacement is in the works dont worry about the situation, we will take care of it. Prior to this I never had luck getting a tech to admit the problems of the machine, so I dont know if was the complaint I submitted to better business bureau, but something changed and now I have my order processing right now, she said just wait a few days for it to go through and check your email for an order number. it was hard, I constantly told them the problems and complained why they sold me a laptop in this condition as I also had physical defects...I.E., bent print screen key and dvd ejector constantly ejecting. But I urge you to constantly keep trying to plead your case to tech be nice and I think you will get your money's worth in the end.

 

Whats there to read? I'm saying be persistent, be subtle, and be polite. In the end most people end up making out. Sure it's a long and tough process I remember back in the day when dell would get me out a replacement in less than a weeks, but those were refurb units. Dell has since stopped "handing out" replacements due to the abuse can you blame them for making the process more difficult to discourage this type of thing? I don't think any other manufacturers would give you a brand new upgraded laptop or offer a full refund after a long period of use.

 

My R1 problems started as soon as I received it early Dec/09, the sp ran at 100% all the time, called tech support did a reinstallation of the o/s, cpu worked better but then the system was hanging, the wireless was dropping the connection all the time, bluetooth quit working, the video cards started to fail, system wouldn't see both of them, tech support updated drivers etc. still having issues they replaced the motherboard.

After motherboard was replaced I was still having hanging issues, the system wouldn't see the second video card all the time, afer running diags on the video cards they started to overheat temp running over 100c so the video cards got replaced from the Nvidia to the Ati cards.

I was still having stuttering problems, dpc latency was really bad, the system would hang for no reason, would have to do a hard shutdown pull the battery hold power button restart, the system would work briefly and then would hang again, called tech support again they had me do a reinstall of the os (again) and call them back to install the drivers, after they installed the drivers the dpc latency was worse than ever.

At this point they said they would repace my system with a R2 (Feb/10) they put in the 1st request and then after a month it was cancelled and reordered as the tech said it was ordered wrong.

I received my replacement early May but only with one video card so I card tech support again and had the 2nd video card installed. It took over 5 months to get a working notebook, way too long.

 

Depends on the part. They'd probably toss something like a webcam, but I know from past experience that they do try to repair motherboards and video cards.

 

Mine started off as power issues. By this I mean randomly turning off if bumped or moved. DPC was not that bad on mine initially, & got even better after the BIOS update. I finally got tired of having to keep the laptop plugged in so I called Dell & they sent out a replacement case. The first tech broke the gpu fan, speaker cable, & dug a creek into the palm rest. After that the mobo was replaced along with all the replacement the initial tech broke. It only got worse from there. After being patient & trying to work with them every way possible I finally just broke down & asked for a working computer...R1, R2, R3 I don't care. My case was sent to the exchange club & after a couple days an R2 was approved. The Dell tech that I had I stuck with the entire time, he was extremely helpful. If I ever need anything in the future I will be going through him again.

 

Alright.. looks like I might have to jump through a few more hoops for them, then. Tonight is the engineer's deadline for the problem I reported, so hopefully by tomorrow we'll be moving along.

 

Well i decided to get started on the phone calls myself tried to explain the problem to the tech and he basically ignored me. Tried to have me start up with all startup items turned off. verified my BIOS and GPU drivers and is sending out a tech with 2 new GPU's (280m again). Im in the navy and currently at sea so it makes this process that much slower (i have to wait until i am in port). Im trying to setup the install for next friday and after that fails i hope to get whatever they want to try and replace next (my guess mobo) before i have to go out to sea again. If dell comes up with a fix before then (new bios bigger PSU) i will quite happily drop the issue if not i plan to push for the R2.

 

At least I had my email with the documented steps to reproduce the problem and the blatant, in-your-face, "you can't deny this" explanation laid out, so I wasn't forced to jump through those hoops (yet). It went straight to engineering and their deadline is today per my rep. I'll be contacting my rep around midnight and inquiring about their findings.

 

I had a gaming performance issue. Stuttering while in High performance of any type. Dell replaced my video cards. Didn't resolve issue. Dell tech came back and installed new motherboard. Worked fine for about 10minutes. I did a hard boot and ran the built in diagnose. errors where still reported. the dell tech called dell and said he doesn't know what's wrong with it. Dell said they would replace my refurbished with a brand new M17x. Today I received it and it's R2 with 920xm RGB 256gb ssd with TRIM. only thing missing from this replacement is the 5870s. i bought my refurbished for $2700. replacement laptop is worth $4k.

 

Dell never "handed out" replacements in the M17x-R1's case. You had to demand a replacement after multiple failed attempts at fixing the issues and they would never offer a replacement neither. You said:

Which is wrong. They are obligated to take care of you, if your computer suffers from a known issue that spans an entire model line, then they are obligated to fix it any way they can. After 4 or 5 months of supposed fixes that never worked for people, it was clear there was no real fix and it was time to start demanding a refund or a replacement, there is no abuse as this issue affects all M17x-R1's. I wasn't polite with them and I sure as hell wasn't subtle, I basically said, I'm done with your fixes lets try mine, refund or replacement of an equal non DPC affected Alienware, they approved.

 

Tech got back to me a little while ago. Engineers had a deadline of today, according to him, to get back to him with what's going on.

"I certainly am embarrassed with this delay, it seems It is still under review by our engineers, I have put all my pressure and involved a resolution expert in the case as well, and have asked (yet again) for an update from them, I appreciate the patience you have had with me on this matter and I assure you that as soon as I get an answer from them I will be in touch with you, if not the resolutions expert who I involved on the case."

 

don't worry... dell will figure something out. worst case... you get a refund... most likely you'll get a brand new system build... and probably with 5870s.

 

My rep just got back to me. Looks like the engineers aren't going to be able to address this in a timely manner (go figure). He said that involving the resolution expert helped move things along and that he's now pushing for a system exchange as soon as possible.

 

I had three repairs on my R1 system and that did not fix the latency, stuttering or lock ups and I ended up with a machine who became sentient and decided to BSOD randomly from time to time. A nice Escalation manager from DK decided on behalf of Michael Dell(I wrote to [email protected]) that I should have a replacement. Needless to say but I am very happy for my replacement(specs of defect R1 system specs Core 2 Duo 2.8, Ram 6 G DDR3 1333, ATI card 4870, 320 HD, Screen 1920x1200(1200) more than HD(not Led RBG)). However it takes some time to get a replacement as Dell has been busy with quiet some escalation cases lately and the replacement is a brand new system that has to be build(that was a few weeks ago in Denmark and perhaps the situation has changed lately). Anyway may I never ever again be so unlucky.

 

i just checked this thread. i am one of those referred on topic. but my machine would never be replaced due to latency. i had other serious hardware issues resulting finally to no working machine after several repairs.

 

Was that after the A03 BIOS fix though? Latency itself isn't a valid argument after A03 because A03 fixed that. Now, as for stuttering..

 

Glad i started on the troubleshooting with dell then. I'll be home next Saturday and already have my 2 new GPU's scheduled for install. After that dos not work i will let them replace the MOBO and then start pushing for the new system.

Elkay: Do you have any recommendations on who i can try to talk to too expedite this process im in the Navy and im gone for half the month so i only have small windows of opportunity to work with the dell techs before i become unreachable.

 

They never gave me the resolution expert's name, unfortunately. Those are the people that get things done fast inside Dell. My rep was mostly just a relay for information back and forth.

 

I've tried A03 and A04 BIOS for the R1 and with the new motherboard (that still doesnt bloody work) i will get the 70K+ latency spikes. The old motherboard i had never gave me a latency, it ran media flawlessly, but it kept crashing my hardware and wouldnt let anything software wise stabalize.

 

Hmm.. might be a driver. Try uninstalling your video drivers and see if you still get the spikes.

 

Tried that as well. Ive went through 107 OS installs and have cycled through about 12-15 different drivers during the process.

With the new motherboard i have a stable OS but i keep getting hard locks for no real reason, and the Latency spikes. Which is WAY better than losing my OS after 9 hours, but still annoying.

Since the mother board swap, i have tried different drivers and have actually changed out the video cards, and i still have the same issues. I'm starting to blame it on some crazy voodoo hex because i have no idea what to do anymore. But i keep talking with alienware and keep swapping out all of the parts they send me until they agree there is black magic at work on this system and let me either get a refund or a new notebook.

 

After 3 parts replacements you should write and email to [email protected] and [email protected] and make your point. They should contact you within 24-48 hours and offer a replacement. Make sure you write about being unable to use the system at all (for work) and that's the process is taking for too long and you would like to get a refund/replacement as a last resort.

 

I have a question if you received an R2 with the same service tag, does this affect your profiles for steam and itunes, they kept the same service tag for my R2. I am also wondering if I drop my ssd in the slave 0 drive and boot up from the old R1 build will I just have to apply the new drivers and call it a day or a new fresh install is the only way to go, thank you.

 

I don't think your Dell/Alienware service tag has anything to do with Steam.

Based on the fact that it's a completely different motherboard type and processor, Windows may force a reinstall.

 

cool, thank you for the information. I look foward to testing my replacment when it comes in, thanks elkay.

 

Well i got my first Vid Card replacement and shockingly the stuttering was not fixed. They are sending me a new Mobo now. Ive also got the contact Info of one of Alienware's Higher level techs so the phone calls should go faster now.

 

If replacing the mobo doesn't fix the problem (I doubt it will as the problem is related to chipset+GPU's) you can escalate and get the entire system replaced.

 

Originally I got a R1 (T9600 & GTX260M Sli) as a replacement to a XPS M1730.
Out of the box the R1 had:
1) DPC - Latency/power problem
2) Wireless Card problems - Broadcom utility issues
3) Web Cam - Dark and would not keep settings
4) Alienware FX board issues with firmware - MB related

The 260s were swapped to Ati 4870 xFire, This took care of the DPC/spike issue, but induced a new problem where system would not post. Error returned was related to bad video inverter cable.
Ati cards where swapped 4 times and MB was swapped 2 times in an attempt to fix this probelm including a trip to the repair depot.
Since it could not be resolved a R2 was approved for replacement (i7 720QM and Ati 4870 xFire)

The R2 set in production for about 6 weeks and it was only after I filed a BBB complaint that the (New)system was sent. This complaint is still open today.

 

In my case there was just a single swap (280's -> 4870's) and then a few weeks later R1->R2. +200$ for phone calls to Dell...

 

Mine had a videocard problem, they had one card left but it didnt pass their test so they had to wait for other cards. took ages so they gave my 4870s but when they send it back they damaged the alien fx and a rubber so they send me a replacement. lucky for me they only had the i7 620 and the i7 820 at the time in belgium so they gave me the 820

old specs: T9600, sli gtx 260, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, WUXGA, DVD writer, vista + 7 upgrade.

new specs: core i7 Q820, Dual 4870s, 4GB RAM, 1TB HDD, RGB LED, BLU-RAY, 7 premium

 

I'm having the same problems, the tech wants to log onto my computer as to check my specs to know the extent... one problem, I have switched out my T900 CPU for the Qx9300, and I'm having problems with a stripped screw. I'm assuming that wouldn't go over to well lol

 

Ha, the tech has told me he can't help me and the problem may reside in the fact that I'm using windows 7 ultimate, and as this is not the factory set OS he cannot help me any further until I reset to factory settings. which means reinstalling Vista 64 as my OS... seems invasive to me, I have talked to 2 reps now and neither could really help me, and apparently have not created a case file for me either.

 

Good time to have an extra hdd laying around.

 

This.

/10char

 

Thats strange my system shipped with Vista 64 and i had a tech remotely access my PC so he could install the DPC Video Card/Wireless driver and run the Storage Controller driver remover even though i had told him i already tried all that and it didnt help. He did not question me at all about having upgraded to Win7

 

Arguing Windows 7 as a problem is BS because they provide Win7 drivers for our machine directly on their site, and from a kernel/driver perspective Win7 is 98% the same as Vista.

 

They Also sent the R1s out with the Free Upgrade to Win 7 lol

 

Well i just got told they will be replacing my system. YAY!!

Quick question for those with the R2 are there any issues hardware wise i should be aware of. I expect to get a tricked out system again since thats what i had before but if there is anything to stay away from please let me know.