M17X R3 Dell Service Woes

First things first. This is my first post and I decided to join because these forums are what convinced me that this Alienware is a great machine. Also, hello everyone ^_^

Anywho--on with the show.

I'd like to say that--so far--I love this machine. I have been battling with it to run GTA EFLC but that is another story (blasted optimus). Although, I think I have fixed this by downloading a custom BIOS.

The reason I am posting this is because of my service woes. My laptop arrived with 2 bright pixels stuck on green smack dab in the middle of the screen. I call up Dell service and the first guy tells me, "Hey, there has to be 8 or more". I then state to him that I am looking directly at their pixel policy online and it states "1 or more bright pixels/subpixels". So he is nice enough to tell me someone will come to my home the next day to replace the screen.

The next day, the repair guy arrives and starts dissecting my brand new, $1800 baby. He is very cheerful and confident, then I hear him mutter to himself--"Hmm this is the first time I've worked with the new R3 model". All of the suddenly I think, "Oh great, what could possibly go wrong..."

So I am working on my other laptop and he seems to be taking an overtly long amount of time getting the screen off. I walk in to see him prying the back off with some sort of cave man inspired prying tool. AKA a screw driver without a handle. He ends up disassembling the LCD and lid completely incorrectly breaking the lid in the process. After all, he pried the entire thing off instead of unscrewing it and sliding it off like you are supposed to.

At this point I am rather irritated but I manage to maintain my composure. He explains his mistake and offers to come back tomorrow with a new lid in hand. That I am going to put on, I no longer trust this man.

The good news is, he accidentally installed the 1920x1080 LCD instead of the 1600x900 that came with the lappy. I am happy about this but sheesh, he should be babying an $1800 PC--not tearing it open like a very expensive Christmas present and throwing it around.

On another note: My CPU (i7 2670) is always around 50C - 57C degrees, even when idle. Is this normal? the last gaming pc I owned was a desktop with an AMD 955 which ran around 40C.

Also the GTX 560m idles around 60C.
Edit: also, is it normal for the power brick to make a slight humming/hissing noise?

Any suggestion would be great. Thanks!

 

CPU temp sound about normal, I get this even with a thermal re-paste. If you set the machine to power saving, at idle it may sit at 45-50c if you are lucky.

Not much you can do about the guy now, but if it happens again stop it. I watch these people like a hawk, and if I see a mistake going to happen then I will get in the way, after all they are in your house.
Otherwise I be calling Dell to replace the entire machine if you are not happy about the butchering. Again your call, as you will get a 900p screen in a replacement.

I haven't heard by power brick making any noise. I don't have it that far away from me either, but is on the floor. Input here is 60Hz where as yours will be 50Hz, some differences apply. Ask for a replacement power brick while it brand new, if you leave it more than a few days, they may not replace it immediately if ask later.

Good luck.

 

I am also getting some humming noise, the second I remove the power, the voice goes away, is this because of voltage? any ideas?

 

if i put my ear literally right on the power supply, i do hear a humming buzzing, but even one foot away, i don't hear anything. I wouldn't worry about it because i think its normal, however, you can always call dell support and go through the hassle if you're concerned

 

Everything has been fixed by Dell now. Even got a red lid instead of black which looks awesome. On another note...I was rendering a 3D image in Vue infinite which uses a TON of CPU. Is it normal for it to reach temps upward of 80-86 degrees?

It's been a while since I've owned a performance machine let alone a laptop so I am not used to seeing these high temps.

 

Glad to hear it worked out. Did you keep the HD screen? On another note, on stock paste your temps seem fine. But if you repasted, you'd drop those temps considerably.

 

I'm going to repaste with some diamond stuff or arctic silver 5 eventually. I thought my woes were over, now I notice the alien head on the lid doesn't light up. opened it up and sure enough he forgot to transfer the led module over. Does the free HD upgrade mistake make up for this? of course not, this poor thing has been taken apart one too many times for being 2 days old!

 

I talked to another Dell/Alienware rep today. Started with a guy in the US and the second I mentioned "tech support" I got transferred to India yet again. After my story of having this thing repaired (3 times in two days of ownership) I get offered nothing other than another repairman. Seriously Dell?! I want some money back or an upgrade!

This has been my first Alienware and I love the PC but the reps and service people are horrid.

 

heh heh join the club.....AW tech support..... sheesh......

anywho...have you tried changing the outlets....... happened with my ebay'd Airport extreme (4th gen) and i replaced the outlet....that fix'd 'er up