Just got my new Alienware m17x R4 - Loose screws inside the chassis?

Just got my new Alienware M17x R4 and carefully unboxed it. However, when I removed the black fabric cover, I could hear a few loose items moving around the inside. Is this normal? It almost sounds like a few free and loose screws?

Should I be concerned?

 

Yes if there is a loose screw it could damage your motherboard if it ends up making a circuit. I would open the laptop following the manual and look for the screw.

 

Yes definitely look for the screw before powering it on.

 

Thanks guys! I found it.

One more issue(?), when I change the color of the alien head power button, it doesn't appear to be changing colors at all. For example, when I set the red theme, it appears to be purplish instead of red. Actually, every color I switch to seems to be mixed with blue. Is this normal as well?

 

Oh the alienhead has TWO switches or color configuration. One color if it's plugged in and one color if it is running on batteries. Make sure to set them properly in the AlienFX

 

Ahh, I see. Thanks and repped!

Also, is there a version of Dell Quickset for Alienware? How do we turn on/off wifi and bluetooth?

BTW, is your mouse button kind of squeaky and squishy when you press it?

 

I am not sure about that. As I have never heard Dell Quickset ever.

Were you referring to the trackpad buttons? If so, yes. Not a big fan with Alienware's trackpad since I have encountered a lot of problems about them. *right button is much deeper and not equal to my left button* :/

 

Found Quickset, will install tomorrow and see if it works:

Drivers and Downloads | Dell [US]

 

You turn wifi on and off from touch buttons in upper right corner.

 

The colour issue is because if you use quick change it sets everything except the power button. If you use the 'basic - infrared' theme then the power button changes colour as well. It depends how you set it.

 

Thanks! I tried to install Quickset but it was not compatible with our systems.

However, I did find this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-r4-owners-lounge-thread-182.html#post8835972

I just wanted a way to manually control Bluetooth since I hardly use it.

Actually, I tried changing the color of the Alien head power button to red for A/C & battery, but it seems like one of the LED's is always blue and won't change. The Alien head has a plastic light pipe that spreads the color of the LED's like this:

LED #1 | LED #2
LED #2 | LED #1

It seems like LED #2 is stuck on blue. Not matter what color I change the power button to, there's always blue in it. If it change it to blue, the whole thing is blue.

 

Just to make sure you are doing it right I have attached snap shots of the procedure.
1. Open AlienFX
2. Click on advanced mode
3. Double click on xone action ( the one with 2 images in the box)
4. Click on the first battery color icon
5. Select color
6. Press ok
7. The most important step apply the theme.

 

Thanks, I followed your instructions and chose red for both color options. It shows red in the preview on the screen, however, it looks like purple on the real life Alien head power button.

 

Is this a second hand computer? :S

Personally I think the trackpad and buttons are fantastic

If you're having loose screws inside the chassis, wrong AlienFX colors, and a squeaky trackpad... You should talk to a Dell rep.

But if it's working fine without that one screw, and the alien head isn't such a big deal (just don't make your keyboard a solid color and you wont even notice), and you only use a USB mouse... Then it doesn't really matter but all this just sounds like bad manufacturing, and I'd hate for it to bite you later

 

Dell's shipping me out a new replacement system. Fantastic customer service. I just hope the poor build of my specific system was a fluke. You pay $2.5k for a laptop, you expect it to be perfect, right?

 

Absolutely. Well done on getting new system out of Dell so painlessly.

 

It's easiest when you call back within the 2wk return period