M17x DPC Latency

well Unisys(technician scheduled to replace my motherboar) called me, its now been 2 weeks since we had heavy snow in DC and they are supposedly playing catchup and are unable to even schedule an appt for the replacement. He also mentioned they have no idea where the part is(its sitting at the FedEX facility here in DC and has been over a day now.) apparently its not just Dell that is handling this situation poorly.

 

Yes, for now. . . eventually most will get the replacements.

This has nothing to do with the 21-day-return policy. This is purely consumer rights. Yes, you will run into MANY reps who will say no and stonewall. However, if you believe them, then this whole thread is pointless. Now Bill and John have made some factual points, and yet many of these reps are unware of these points. They'll say there's no such problem or acknowledgement. Will you believe that? I implore you guys again, not to take the word of a call-centre agent over the actual professionals in the field, or the legal policies that dictate the nature of consumer affairs and industry. If they can't fix your machine to a proper state, then they can't deny you a replacement or refund, period. It doesn't matter what they can take into their inventory or not. It doesn't matter if they can resell those machines. All of that is their perogative, but regardless of how much they can make up for with replacements, they will have to provide a resolution one way or the other. So these agents saying, "No, we won't take - no return for you," it is best to just ignore the comments; disregard the gesture on grounds of ignorance or misinformation.

 

So Bill has the Danish/Swedish Dell support been informed about this Latency Issue? The person i spoke to in the phone insisted on that he had fixed several machines with this issue and decided according to the test I have made that it might be a hardware problem and not a software problem... So Bill does Dell Denmark/Sweden know about this latency issue and that at current time their is no solution yet?

 

No offence Bill but you have put yourself in the line of fire - Why's it's taken suggestions from people on here for you to realise that all of the support network need to be told about this issue so they stop giving daft information out? It's been months. I wouldn't even expect you to do it, it should come from an exec in a message to all support staff to make sure the message is heard loud and clear.

 

Indeed I agree. That would save me for a lot of trouble as well as many others. I mean if the current situation is that no solution has come up yet then it sure would be nice if all departments around the world could be informed about this so we the paying customers are not given false hopes.

 

Yes I understand exactly what you are saying here, but its this word: eventually that is causing the problem with me at least. We don't know when eventually is. By now everyone who has read this thread understands that tech support knows very little about the issue and that getting a replacement is extremely hard. For me its dell telling me it will be fixed eventually. We should not have to wait any longer! At the moment no one can tell us when eventually will be. For some warranties are already within a few months from being over. Dell continues to tell everyone to wait for a fix. I personally do not trust that dell will ever completely be fixing this problem without a replacement. I no longer trust dell as a company. Someone from a higher up position in dell telling me that they are working on fixing the problem just isn't good enough for me anymore. Now no offense to Bill or John, they are just doing their job, but for me them telling us that everything will be okay just isn't good enough. Also the misinformation of the tech support is unacceptable. This problem has been present for several months now, dell obviously wants their techs to be unable to help us with this problem. I know that eventually this problem will be gone, but it should have been a long time ago, and at this rate it is only a matter of time until someone uses the law to force dell to give us replacements....

Now a lot of the above is my own opinion, but for me a permanent fix is way overdue. Also, sorry if there is too much dell hate in there for ya, don't really hate dell. Just want this whole thing fixed!

 

My point is that if Dell "thought" they are not able to fix the stuttering, it would be in their best interest to not reply in an official matter outside of the "Dell realm" period. But as it is, Dell representation is leaving the sphere of "Dell" and making comments on this forum in public. Yes they are late to the party but Bill is here none the less.

All in all, these are not the actions of a corporation who feels they do not have a handle on the issue.

And, for the sake of full disclosure, I am a M1730 Refugee; my M17x is a replacement. I spent enough of my valuable time wrestling with Dell support over that rig that I'm currently not willing to engage support at this moment. And believe me, if this is not fixed within a timely fashion, I will be howling here with the rest of you. Till that time, I will take comfort that Dell is out in the public and stating "this is an issue".

To Bill - It is imperative that you keep the dialogue open and flowing. You are an "official" Dell employee, right?

 

@ cyninger

has it ever occured to you that it might be because we were talking about starting class law suits and also due to the engadget articles?

i can say that if no one tipped engadget off and no one thought about law suits and consumer rights, dell wouldnt be bothered.

its due to the bad publicity that they are being forced to respond to. thats what i think

 

His Email is *********@dell.com. so yes sir he is.

 

Yes. Remember, I've in large part read the whole thread from day 1.

And about your comments. If Dell did not have a strong inclination they can fix this problem in one way or another, they surely would not be discussing the problem in public.

Another point - this is the first "Big Time" Alienware Laptop manufactured under the Dell flag. Dell can not let this be the precursor of all Alienware products going forward. Alienware was purchased to help "forget" the XPS name and line - not continue.

As someone in this thread mentioned a few days ago, it's not like we're a bunch of drones who use a computer to check our AOL mail? We're a group of users/enthusiasts who in large part are in a position to influence our friends/peers/business acquaintances on what's good and not. Truly, we're the last group of people for any computer manufacturer to slight or ignore.

Alienware had a good name before the Dell purchase. I can't imagine that Dell will trash this good name right out of the box.

 

It feels like they already did....

 

I believe exactly the opposite. If they believe this issue will be solved then they would just work to solve it than only discussing with us about the same things for months now. The so called fixes till now only show that they just released them for the eyes only and due to endagdet articles. Its over my mind that one expert engineer as those in Dell are thought to be could believe that the red spikes will be solved by just removing a controller driver even more after the descriptions of the issues we gave them. The -untested- new command center version that they officially released before a few days and then they removed it after a few hours only shows how they work.

I dont know how good alienware was before being purchased by Dell but Alienware uses Dell parts now on as well (Ex. Dell Wlan).

From my point of view if someone asks me if it deserves so much money i would definately say NO.

 

Here is one for the books checked my service history today .
Service Tag: XXXXXXX
System Type: Alienware Laptop M17x
Ship Date: 10/11/2009
Dell IBU: Europe




Support Request Summary

Description: dpc latency
Support Request Number: XXXXXXXX Status: Closed-Assigned

They have closed the unresolved issue thats top notch Support guys.

 

Hi all,

After re-installing win 7 several times over several months (i purchased my bottom, sorry, TOP of the range laptop last sept) and thinking i was the only one having the freezing/stuttering/lock up problem, i started looking for others out there with problems and i found this forum..a godsend!!

I'm not going to go on and on, so basically I’ve had the same treatment from dell as most here for the last month (even after i mentioned i was a senior network engineer working for the NHS who spend millions with dell ever year..on pc's, servers, vmwares solutions etc, etc).

The position i was left in last week by the last engineer is basically after installing the newest nvidia gpu driver and messing about with my wireless card settings (due to wireless connectivity being as reliable as a chocolate fireguard ) he pointed me to a forum regarding powermizer. So i read it and turned if off. Problem solved but more wear/heat/use of fans etc and is not a proper fix.
So last night I turned back on powermizer in readiness for another call to dell, to show them that things were just the same and to my amazement my wireless stopped working again..JOY!!!

 

when you say it stopped working what do you mean? it doesnt find any wireless connections? if this is the issues then you have to change sleep on disconnect option to disable in advanced options of nvidia nforce network controller. do it through device manager.

edit: i cant find this option now.. they removed it somehow?

 

Submit a ticket ones again or go to "Unresolved Issues" on dell uk website http://support.euro.dell.com/suppor...are/en/outstanding_issues?c=uk&cs=&l=en&s=gen

 

I just called tech support again to tell them of my frustration of not having a fully-functional (as advertised) laptop since May of 2009 (my XPS 1730 which was replaced by my m17x). They told me that supposedly a BIOS update may be out at the end of this week. Sorry if this is old news, but I'm going to push for a replacement because I haven't had a reliable and fully-functioning laptop from Dell in almost a year.

Sorry to vent, but wanted to post that I heard of a BIOS update. Seems unlikely given the short amount of time between the engineers visiting people and the end of this week. We can hope can't we?

 

I already did that also they will tell you the same thing "we are sorry you have to wait for a fix."

 

Did You ask them about refund instead of ati swap or r2 replacement?

Edit: Sorry I didn't notice that you are from US so it could be different story than UK, maybe Sauce asked about refund?

 

Elvis already fired one off yesterday & after reading today it was closed fired another ticket off.Thing is you dont even get a receipt to say its received.

 

Mine is a replacement so I could not do the refund. Asked for ati swap they told me It was not an option anymore. This was like two days prior to the Friday fix that did not work. So they might have changed their tune by now.

 

and what if this fix never comes...? it depends what they mean fix because they actually released many of them till now which actually shows that they dont know what fix means

so i should feel lucky i got them swapped. I would really follow the legal way otherwise,

 

Hi,

Regarding my wireless card (that shows up as Dell Wireless 1510 Half Mini Card 802.11n European on the invoice but realy its a broadcom!!!!) , basically after turning on powermizer and reebooting my top of the range laptop can see my network but can't connect..amazing..its done this quite a lot over the months..and i've checked all power options on all network intefaces and turned em off...nice!!!!

 

So maybe the only one solution is to use SOGA legislation (thanx to Alexrose1UK)
here is some positive: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/pcworld/2654-acer-laptop-computer.html

 

Going to call Tech Support again today but i certainly will not give up regardless what they say i know the law protects us here in UK from such unscrupulous antics.

 

When I called on Friday during the day, they processed my request for ATIs with no problems what so ever... I guess it all depends on who you get on the phone

 

Well sauce, give them one from me while u're on, as i'm in good ole blighty also..

 

Hey if your DPC issue is unresolved & you can spare the time chase it as they have given you this system which is problem ridden and not acceptable .

 

So the technicians that dell dispatched are entirely too busy to be bothered with helping me so they dropped the new motherboard off with my building concierge and told me to install it myself.... I'm kinda floored.

 

For what it's worth, when I leave the Windows Resource Monitor running, my spikes are virtually non existent.

I didn't have horrible spikes to begin with but still...?

CORRECTION - when I have the "Post Reply" or I'm editing a post on this forum, the spikes go away - HA!

 

Sauce, i havn't the time and should not be expected to find the time to chase dell for months and months ..but i have and i will keep on doing so...have no fear....

 

NotebookCheck review of the M17X-R2, notice the latency!
That's the way it should look.

 

mine is showing red spikes again. Not as bad as with the 280's but they are there. Havent really noticed any stuttering in music, but my games are still jumpy even with low settings on. And now my bluetooth isnt working at all. So looks like i'll be calling dell again.

 

I have something even more directly relevant
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=14998582&postcount=18

Have a read of that.
This thread was mine when I was trying to deal with my own issues.
Obviously I'm in the UK so bear that in mind.

You may find extra information if you read the entire thread, but that's probably the most useful post in this situation.
Basically under SOGA; the issue was found within 6 months, they have tried to repair the laptop (several times). They therefore now either need to offer a replacement with a new working machine, or a recission (refund). Anyone based in the UK or with similar laws in thier home country,with an M17x would likely find themselves in the same position by law as I was with mine

Oddly enough, when the situation was quite bluntly applied to tech support, despite a few more attempts at hold up by the manager/supervisor running the show, the refund offer appeared almost instantly by comparison to the previous weeks and weeks of effort towards something happening. I was SO angry and frustrated by the end of the thing, I just wanted to get away from AW/Dell regardless of what happened, the stress and everything was getting to me, I was speaking to advice lines, the CAB, everyone.

Dell also refused to swap me to an M17x after offering it me (they retracted the offer), so they really were left with only refund (in your case a new working machine means that a current model M17x would NOT be a suitable replacement as a large number feature a seeming defect).

Hope this info helps some of you.

I dont want to cross boundaries into the whole court discussion, so if any of this is above what is allowed, please will a mod edit my post or notify me so I can

 

Ax, I read another thread a few days ago where an ATI user noticed that he was experiencing the jumpiness due to his machine running in stealth for some reason even with everything turned off. They updated the drivers to 10.2 or 10.3, pressed whatever the stealth turn on/off setting was, and they were good to go. Don't remember the link though, sorry Worth a shot maybe though?

 

im not in stealth mode. I i can watch the clocks change and im in Crossfire W/ CPU @ 2.93. Temps are normal across the range. and i can watch the DPC spikes as i play in windowed mode at the same time the game lags.

 

This is pretty much my situation too. I have played wow in window mode while having the the latency checker running in the background. Occasionally I get some red nasty spikes and the game will lag. This I also se with dragon age: origins. So even though I have the ATI card I still have this issue. Which means nothing has changed. I have done everything Dell has suggested... And DELL BILL you have not answered my question yet

 

How high is the spike> 60k range when playing wow or one of those infinite spikes?

 

For those looking for Dell-Bill to answer questions it appears he is in Vegas and
will not be available for answers until he returns on Monday.

Watching and waiting to see when this problem gets fixed as it has gotten
worse on my system.

 

ATI cards are on the way again. Fifth time lucky maybe (four previous attempts were wrong address).

I am going to try them to see if gets me a usable PC in Win7. Although it seems this will be no dice. These are what my M17x shipped with in October - but the first ones were faulty so the 280m cards were installed by Dell...

These fixes are like putting an oozing puss-ridden bandage on a fresh wound.

 

It is pretty nuts... now when a message comes in via Messenger and it plays that sound effect... It crackles and pops... What the hell... Fortunately for me I use this mainly for work and seldom listen to music or play videos or games but I bought the XPS1730 so I COULD do it if I wanted to while on the road. Now after 6 months with the M17X replacement I am in the same boat I was in before....

I can see how people who use it more for multimedia and gaming are ready to go beserk.... It is driving me nuts!

 

i was playing cod mw2 multiplayer for 15 minutes and dpc latency checker left checking at the background. here is my dpc latency immediately when i closed the game.

http://i48.tinypic.com/oh0h1k.jpg

this is how it should be with the ATIs..

 

Now that you are back to the default vbios no latency....

 

Did I miss something here? What vbios?

 

Aristotelhs was feeling brave lately and tampered with the clocks of the GPUs that caused him stuttering. I sent him my stock vbios and now he is good

 

Being that i want a Alienware M17x does this effect EVERY m17x or can you get lucky?
Anywhere near fixing it?
does it effect m17 as well?

 

Get the second revision M17x. The one with Core i5/i7 CPUs and Intel chipset.

 

I for one am not going to accept the ATi cards as a trade in my m17x, unless Dell also refund $1K off the laptop (the difference between the ATi and the NVIDIA cards). I rang my contact manager at Dell (Australia) and after a tiny 30 minutes, have been offered a full credit refund, if I want it. I now have a return authority in my inbox, just not sure if I want to go through with it just yet as I am sure there IS a software solution.

Backtrack 4 installation is perfect as it can be, so the hardware is fine.

Under windows 7, now that software RAID has been replaced, I can listen to music all day and work with very few 10K spikes - unless I push the strip button eject which causes massive stutters (up to 10 seconds the system freezes completely)

Happy to wait another few weeks, and get a new BIOS and new NVIDIA drivers to finally fix this.

 

i never had latency in games since i got the ATIs even with the oc vbios. red spikes appear when resizing-switching windows and scrolling large pdf files.

Thanks for the vbios. still testing them :0

however this may gives an idea for nvidia gpus. Reducing their clocks may cause less stuttering or something but this will reduce their performance

 

Well if dell's "fix" involves downclocking my gpu permanetly... I don't even know...