Long Term Frustration with my m17x

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I am very frustrated, so I will try my best to use non-evaluative language. I ordered the computer at the end of February 2010. It had serious performance issues. After spending a week in my office with the door shut on the phone with Tech support, they sent a guy out to replace my motherboard. That didn't do the trick, so they sent me a whole new computer around the end of March/begining of April. It seemed to be okay, for a week or two, but I wasn't checking benchmarks, and really, all I was running was WoW and a little Bioshock 1. After a while I noticed the performance was not very good. I'm not sure if I just was so happy to have it running that I didn't notice, or if it actually got worse. I spent quite a while on the phone with them again and this resulted in them sending someone to replace the videocards. A few weeks go by after this and I am having performance issues again, I spent some time on the phone with them but became frustrated with them. I was getting low frame rates on WoW with its graphic settings on low and periodically the system was crashing. It crashed 3 times in November and I decided I needed to muster my patience and try again. This time the phone call resulted in my computer crashing every 30-60 minutes of playing WoW on low settings. They decided to send someone out to replace both the motherboard and the video cards, again. He was out here this evening and he couldn't replace the parts because he could not extricate the hard drive. No explanation as to why... when he called them, they decided that I have to send my computer in to the depot, for two weeks. (For wow players, this tuesday is a big day, so i'm pretty irritated). A little more information, I always keep it on a cooling pad and I have been reluctant to put any intense software on because of the constant issues.

Has anyone had any issues like this? When I was researching gaming laptops, this seemed to be "the one" and it had relatively low complaint levels. My patience is paper thin considering I bought a $3000 laptop in January and I haven't been able to use it to it's advertised capacity yet.

Does anyone know any Dell / Alienware recourse options I may have? There seem to be none, except to allow them to continue putting the same parts in over and over to the same bleak results.

Thanks.

Stephen

***To note the severity, it usually runs 10-15 fps. RARELY in the entire time I've had it was it more than 20. And when it gets down to a consistent 5-7 fps is when I call them. I really don't think I"m being unreasonable. ***

 

It depends on weather you still want to get rid of it, or if you want to track down the performance issues. It would be extremely helpful if you could provide us with your system specs and a 3D Mark Vantage benchmark on default settings. Post a screen shot of Vantage if at all possible. There's enough knowledge on this forum to fix darn near anything. We'll get you all fixed up.

 

I don't know if depot gonna fix your problem or not but I will make sure of one thing that after you get your laptop back from depot, it will have scuffs or scratches for sure which gonna make you more mad.
That's why I neve see depot as an alternative when I have paid for inhome service. I had bad experiences with depot service for couple of times.

 

You could try email Corp and explain you problem's. They will build a new one for exchange most of the time. Check this post for more info.. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...placement-systems-warranty-repair-issues.html
All of your answers will be here. Good luck.

 

So you've had the whole computer replaced once, the video cards replaced twice, and the motherboard replaced twice. When they replaced the whole computer did you make sure they didn't send you the same one back?

Either way, I'm having a hard time buying that 3 motherboards and/or up to 6 video cards went bad and they all converged on 1 person.

Makes me kinda think the problem might lie with how you're using the computer. Is there anything you're doing that would be considered unique? Maybe there is a problem with the power in your house. Who knows, might be anything, right?

Like for example, my sister has gotten over 70 viruses on her computer in less than 2 years. I used to own that laptop (I gave it to her). I used that laptop for 3 years prior and never got a single virus. I didn't even use virus software.

It's not like my sister is abusing the computer - all she uses it for is school work. I've set up the most powerful virus software on the thing and it still happens.

What I'm getting at here is that, it has to be something to do with her computer usage habits. I've scoured her history and there's nothing incriminating. Maybe the same sort of thing is going on with you. Maybe there's something happening that is unique to you which is resulting in these issues.

 

Agreed. I think these forums have helped me the most in resolving my issues.

I believe Alienware claims their computers are fast, but they are not making the claim that Apple Computer does. It's not setup to be watered down bland and super-dooper-simple to use.

 

If i learned anything from my experience buying alienware, they are the following things

1- the laptop does NOT perform great out of the box, you have to spend some time updating the drivers and learn how to install a VBios (i didnt even know that there was such a thing for the GPU, a BIOS that is).

2- Crossfire configuration does not perform great on all games (for me personally most of the games perform better with one single card, even though that the games are new not legacy old games). which kindda defeats the purpose of having CrossfireX (I thought the technology of CrossfireX will make your experience with all games very smooth but boy was i wrong most of the times)

3- you have to carefully use the Catalyst Control Center 3D settings to ensure the games run smoothly and create a good balance (between good graphics and performance). if you put some wrong settings in the 3D options in the CCC the game your are playing might crash (like forcing AA on some games that dont support them), usually this thing is taking care of by "Applications Profiles" which is compatible with the latest AMD drivers.

so mate, I dont think its a hardware problem you are having all the times, you just need to spend some time to tweak this thing till it runs smoothly, it doesnt come great out of the box, and i think everyone here agrees about this

one of the first thing you should do if you get it back is try WoW with CrossfireX disabled, and see the FPS.

I would also recommend you install the latest drivers / VBios for your GPU, i personally installed Dell drivers, had some problems with it so i went with the AMD latest drivers, good so far.

good luck

 

I havent used Nvidia SLI, .. but are they any better than ATI CrossfireX? interms of gaming performance, stability and such? mainly the "dual GPU" configuration, do they perform better on all games than a single card without crashes, ... etc?

I have no regrets on getting ATI Crossfire, mainly because it was the only option i had, either i get alienware with crossfire or i dont, it wasnt configurable, and i had to get Alienware for some reason.

but my next gaming laptop will not be with Crossfire configuration for sure, using crossfire with the games i have in hand now, i feel the technology of dual GPUs is experimental and still immature IMO

 

Something that worked for me while having CCC settings at full, gave me 20 FPS in WoW. I changed it all to Performance and got 100 FPS. Then I defaulted and still had 100 FPS.

 

It seems pretty obvious your problems are software related and not hardware. Whatever you're doing to the computer after you receive it is causing problems. Perhaps you should evaluate the software you are installing. Also like others mentioned, check your CCC 3D settings. Make sure things like Supersampling AA are not enabled. In fact, I'd recommend opening up CCC, going to 3D settings and pressing the "default" button to reset everything back.

 

Yes, they perform better.
Infact, my SLI is enabled by default and I cannot set it to single GPU.
Until today, I have not got single issue on performance and graphics.
So, I think SLI is more flexible than crossfire when it comes to dual gpu usage.

 

Things might be different now, but when I had my 1730 with 8800GTX in SLI I had to run single GPU on some games too. Maybe it's not that way anymore but it used to be.

 

Until today, its none for me.
I even use SLI on Dangerous Dave.(one of the graphics hungry game)
It consumes almost 2gb of my Vram....

 

I appreciate the warning before I sent it out! (Though honestly, if the computer works, then I don't care what it looks like on the outside.)

 

I agree with you 100% that it is not likely the parts. However, when I opened the computer on day 1 and played factory installed wow... the problems were already in place. I have spent over 60 hours on the phone with them and the only things I have actually put on my computer are WoW and Google Chrome (At first I put on Steam and Bioshock as well), however not only do I think I'm using the computer in a normal way... I think I'm using it in a much more mild than normal way. I've put together quite a few desktops for myself since 1995ish and never had a problem... and with those I am much more adventurous. This one doesn't even have an email program on it. Believe me if I could figure out what usage habit I have that causes such problems, I would immediately change that. But All I do is browse the web and play wow.

I would think it could be something with the location power or something, except that it has happened at my workplace, home, the new place after I moved, etc.

Thanks for the suggestion

 

Well, I have tried all the drivers I can find available to me. The Dell driver, the Dell beta driver, and the one direct from NVIDIA, and at the risk of sounding like a fool, just what is a VBIOS? How does it differ from my regular BIOS? I know everyone thinks that I just pulled this thing out of the box and got mad when it didn't blow me away, but I assure you I have tweaked to the best of my knowledge, if me, tech support, and all my computer nerd friends (said VERY affectionately) can't make it work properly, then it's too complicated, or there's something wrong. I'm guessing the second because the suggestions so far that I've read are nothing THAT complex that I haven't already been tried.

 

Thanks for your reply. I would love to get rid of this computer and get one without any problems... however I would love even more if this thing would just plain work and we could get the performance issues under control. You asked for a 3D Mark Vantage Benchmark, unfortunately.... It got through the first test never breaking over 1 fps. And then it crashed. I have not purchased this program, and I am skeptical paying for anything else related to this computer. My specs are as follows...

Intel Core2 Quad CPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M (x2)
4MB RAM (I don't remember what kind)
BIOS: Alienware A05, 7/30/2010
OS: Win7 64

What else would be helpful for you to know?

(I have to catch a flight in a minute so I may not replay back until Monday)

 

yes The SLI perform beter, because most of game outhere are optimized for SLI not crossfire i think, but i tink ATI 5870M are very good

 

The VBIOS is the bios for your gpu. Sometimes updates are released for VBIOS's such as the update dell released for the 5870 mobilities. However, (and I may be wrong) I don't think there are any new VBIOS's for the GTX 260m. Wouldn't hurt looking though to see if you can find a newer version and then flashing it.

(Updating your VBIOS tends to be a lot more tricky then your regular bios. - but then again I've only done it on ATI cards with custom made VBIOS's)

 

sdevilbiss, i have the same specs on my m17x and i'm angry with it too, many freezes, wireless card fails... and last month the main hdd dead..

it's true on a lot of games (nfshp2, warrock...) , disabling sli and playing with only 1 260, the performance is better than on sli

regards

 

I still do the same with my system, but the contention about SLi being 'better' is more on the idea that it scales better, where used, which I think can be valid at times. However, in most other cases this is a strawman argument to imply that one product is clearly better than the other because it scales 'slightly better'.

 

I would get rid of it since you have to use it a certain way, several have accused you of using it wrong. I have had to replace my professionally used $3000 AW 4 times (2 r1's and 2 r2's). My computer abusive wifes $500 HP hasnt had to be replaced once. I hated HP before I had to use her laptop while the AW was broken. I am finally happy with my system now that it works (knock on wood). And yes I am an AW fanboi, but it's BS to say someone is using it wrong. Whadda ya think he's making toast with it???

I would absolutely not send it in to the depot, as long as you have paid for in home warranty. They will keeps it for weeks and send it back scratched, dented, and maybe even in worse shape.

 

I also find that most of the people who're playing 'Devil's Advocate' in this thread are in fact, R2 owners. Going by the time-table stated by the topic creator, his machine is most likely an R1, which has its own history of issues that went unresolved and still continue to be ignored by Dell.

I remember when I had a problem with the DVD-RW drive, so I also bothered to mention how the SLi performance would cripple (due to the fact that the system would exceed the 220W power budget with BIOS A03, and cause the CPU to throttle down to 12%). After hearing of the latter, they practically INSISTED on replacing a perfectly fine motherboard, and both the GPUs. When the engineer came, and replaced the parts, the system refused to start up; turned out that their 'replacement motherboard' was D.O.A. Long story short -- I didn't ask for a card replacement, but yet their own support staff insisted on this as opposed to addressing the real source of the problem: CPU throttling due to an overburdened PSU and a gimped power budget with bios A03 and above.

 

All of this said, it looks like I have made a huge mistake in purchasing this product, people have broad variety in their experiences and when it comes back from the depot, (assuming it doesn't work) I should "get rid of it". The question now is, do I have any recourse to getting any kind of refund with this company?

 

I feel the same way.

More than a couple grand for a machine that doesn't run any better than a $300 Xbox IMHO. I hate crippling a machine as a work around.

I really wanted to love this thing but it's been a headache.