M17x R2 GPU unit reach 130 degrees and shut down

The title says it all. I got a fine replacement for like two years ago with the ATI 5870 card and even though it became hot from time to other(110 Celsius degrees) it never failed me. Strong and proud my machine would crunch all 3D tasks I threw at it.

Now my strong and proud machine has surrendered and fail me as soon as it has run a demanding 3D application for more than 10 minutes. It simply shuts down after a certain time when reaching 130 Celsius degrees and the left side where the GPU unit has it's home is very hot and the metal is not possible to touch...

I called Dell and Wednesday a technician will arrive and handle it. It is properly the cooling system/heat sink/thermal paste issue.

Why is it that these machines encounter one issue after the other? I am starting to think that building a rig is a better investment. Now if I was not a game developer(which I am) I could be pretty relaxed here, but the very fact that I cannot test my stuff for a longer period in a engine unless I would like my current m17x to shut down or simply start burning, is literally making my blood boil due to the anger I feel.

I feel sad, annoyed and I have never ever seen so many problems with a machine before. I could have build like four good machines for the price I paid for this m17x R2(actually bought a R1 system before, but that system was a nightmare).

Helpless, sad, frustrated and the feeling of being in an empty void is all I feel at the movement. Now let us be fair, Dell treats me well here by sending a man out to fix it, but I have paid for a next working day service insurance but what I get is a wait until to the day after tomorrow service...

Well I might sound a little sour here and please forgive me. I am just a little depressed here on my little mountain with a could had been a fine machine.

Cheers and thanks for reading my newly gained frustrations(it was two great years of no problems at least).

 

Ahh, it SHOULD NOT be going above 110C. Hell, there's no reason it should be hitting 100C and keep operating. 100 degrees celsius is the boiling point for water. What sort of "3D tasks" your crunch your system with? The idle temp for it should not go beyond 70C unless you live on Mercury. Otherwise there is a problem with your heatsink and/or fan. Has it always ran at 100C+ or just when you were doing GPU intensive stuff? I'm surprised the ATI card hasn't caught fire by now.

 

Max 130 on idle it is around 65-71 C. Torque 3D, any game or Furmark etc. Any 3D application will make reach around 126-130 C max right now while in the past it was around 110-118... Indeed that is has survived that long is really a miracle. Perhaps that is why it is no longer able to run on high intense 3D software more that like 10 min. before it simply just shut down(power simply shut down). Really looking forward to getting this "minor issue" fixed Hey at least I can boil an egg on it

Gaaah!! :/

 

Or use it to heat your house in the winter.

 

have you ever cleaned it?

 

^^^this and a repaste are your best bet to get it back at normal temperatures.

For cleaning i strongly reccomend to remove the cards, dismantle the heatsink, and wash it with water and a soft brush on the fins side.

 

Holy moly 130C??? Mine don't go above like ~85C on extreme load, 130C and the card would melt...you maybe got a bad sensor or something.

 

I have cleaned it with the air on cans and the machine is too hot to touch around w, a, s, and d including the metal on the left side. I cannot open it up beyond the lid where the battery and the two hard disks are found due to warranty issues(or else I would have done that). So that is why I called Dell. Tomorrow I will hopefully get the card and area around it cleaned or swooped so I can get back to work(should have bought a desktop self made rig too in case of these situations... ahh ahh regret regret). Oh I invested in a NotePal U3 cooler with the hope that the lifespan of my machine will be extended.

The temp must be real as the machine is getting so hot that I cannot even touch the left side(which explain while it shuts down). Also it is the GPU Thermal Diode that reach 130 on max, while the GPU MemIO reach around the same.

In fact all variables under the GPU unit reach 100+ degrees. All other units have a pretty fair idle and max temp from what I have seen in here in other threads. I wont get cold fingers in winter time and I could make a toast bread while working for sure just heat up a 3D application in the background and I am good to go...

Well right now I am stuck until tomorrow. Thanks for reading gotta go back to make scripts(which I do not dare test at the movement in my game engine... scripting in darkness eeeek!).

Cheers,

 

You wont loose your warranty if you open it for cleaning...who told you so?!

just blowing air from the intakes will lead to dust and whatsoever to clog your heatsink fins.

Really Dwarf king, try to take your time opening her up and give a good cleaning and possibly a repaste, many people will help you from this forum

 

The warranty in Denmark is like that. Yaa I know it is crap. We are allowed to open the lid at the bottom for inserting new hard disks, battery etc. But anything else here in Denmark will break the warranty. So that is why we get like two years of warranty by law I paid for three years so.

Also as soon as the warranty has run out I shall open it like every second month and do a cleaning

Indeed that would prolong the lifetime of that card and the machine.

Cheers,

 

Why would Dell warranty be different from each country? Didn't know its like this. It sucks then.

 

Then send it back to them and say it keeps overheating.

If warranty doesn't cover THIS, then open it up and clean it yourself.

 

130 is really high! if it's still under warranty you should contact tech support to have them repaste the GPU or, if necessary have it replaced.

If it's not, you can use this step by step guide to Remove the GPU on your computer. It should be easy to put it back together afterwards

 

It is still under warranty and the technician will be here today(it is 20 past midnight here) in the morning/afternoon and repaste it or swoop it with a new card if needed. I am just a little annoyed, that is all

UPDATE: NIGHTMARE!!!!
What has this world come to? A Dell technician called this morning and told me they are not able to be at my home as they simply do not have the spare parts for my machine(heat sink and graphic card) and at the moment they do not have a ETA of the spare parts(what the "some bad word"???)... So much for paying for a "next working day service". When I asked him if trying to repaste is couldn't do the trick he answered that they would not go to any person's home without all the spare parts and that I should call the office first. I told him that this machine was used for a small business and that it was vital that it was operational, but the answer would be --- I am sorry please call the office ----

I called the office told him that I have a next working day service, he then tried to correct me by saying that usually it takes three working days. I then corrected him by saying that I had paid a huge amount of money for three years of "next working day service" and that I need my computer to be operational in order to work and test what I am doing. He has now told me he can try to find out when my spare parts will be available and call back. In the meantime I am for third day in row without a fully operational machine and that is even though I paid for a service who were suppose to prevent this from happening....


I am really pissed now I am done with Alienware and will now go back to desktops. I am sooo done with Dell and their poor service. I am clearly not getting what I am paying for here. That means that I have wasted a huge amount of cash for an insurance that will not help me the slightest at all. I mean it could easily take like a week before I see a technician with a spare part and the cash I spent on this insurance is gone.

Where is my next day service ?

Where is my cash I spent on a insurance that is of no use?

What has this world come to?

This is really not acceptable when people a huge amount of extra money for insurance Dell sells as a product in order to get a better service. I mean this insurance cost me around 18 percent of the machine's total cost.

Dell I am so done with you. Sorry about this but after 3 months hell back then in order to get a good machine and now this two years later. I thought you had improved and learned that people should get the product they are paying for but last time(two years ago) you did not deliver a next working day service that solved my issue and now again when time is even more important than ever that service is not delivered and even worse not ETA has been given. Dell is obviously not the right partner to use as an external repair unit for a small company as mine.

Dell consider this to be last machine or money I have spent on you for the rest of my life.... Never again, never!

 

Really sorry to hear that Dwarf King. You do seem to be in a rather nasty spot with the warranty being so restrictive and the technician failing you like that.

That being said it sounds like you want either enterprise/business level workstation products with associated warranties, or you are tech savvy enough to build your own systems and be fine with what chances life gives you. I agree that dell service is not 100 percent reliable in the home/consumer division. I don't know what experiences anyone has had with there enterprise level warranties.

I would, in your shoes, have daily backups of your laptop cloned to a secondary machine that you could work on when the primary workhorse fails. It seems downtime is really critical for you and no matter how good the service agreement, you find times you will need to fall back on your own resources.

I do wish you luck that this does get sorted out in the end. 2 years in between major problems isnt bad. The service it bad, but the product hung in there. The R2 is certainly the easiest laptop to self service that I have ever known. So even if the warranty is not good for you, the laptop could be salvageable.

And yes I realize none of this helps you now. Just some thoughts for the future. Now I say get a working machine ASAP even if you need to buy one at the local PC shop.

 

UPDATE: NIGHTMARE!!!!
Regarding my issue with the m17x R2 model: See here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...-r2-gpu-unit-reach-130-degrees-shut-down.html

I have come to the conclusion that no such delay or mistakes should be able to happen more than once and since Dell now has let me down twice(one time two years ago where it took me 3 plus months to get a machine that worked and then now this) I dare say that Dell is not a valid partner to cooperate with. I strongly suggest all who run a small firm to avoid dealing with Dell as they clearly sell a product they are not able to deliver(at least according to my experience here in Denamrk). I still haven't received a next working day service so my machine works correctly in spice of that clear fact that I have paid for such an insurance in order to avoid situations like this.

So what am I to do? Go out and buy second hands cards on Ebay? No surely not as that would break my warranty. I am currently a sitting duck here with a huge amount of money invested in a machine where 18 percent of the price was an expensive insurance. I feel betrayed and let down by a bunch of people(Dell) I decided to entrust the task of making sure that my machine would be operational within a day or two by spending a huge amount of cash(we call that outsourcing tasks).

How dare Dell to let their customers down like this? We pay them good money to deliver and what I get is the same old talk like two years ago. Surely any responsible firm with respect for their customers should have enough new GPU cards on stock in order to be able to provide a repair on demand within a day or two when they sell such insurances. Or at least the damn decency to show up at my home and try out with repasting first in order to see if that could work out?

In fact I cannot wait to this warranty(I HAVE PAID EXTRA MONEY FOR) expires.

I am exploding here Why should I ever again buy anything from Dell? Why did I buy this from Dell? I have built desktops who worked better and longer time than this.

Watch out for Dell when they try to sell your insurances... You might have to wait for weeks or even months before you machine is repaired. Oh I STILL do not have an ETA of my spare parts.

Well some people would say that it is nice of Dell to offer me a new card and a heat sink and yes you are correct. But that is not the issue here. The big problem here is that they sell "on next working day in your home repair service" insurances for a huge sum of cash that they in the end are not able to deliver due to low stocks of hardware. That is a betrayal and under no circumstances acceptable when they have received the cash for that kind of insurance.

What a poor service and failure!!!

In a former thread I wrote this:

What has this world come to? A Dell technician called this morning and told me they are not able to be at my home as they simply do not have the spare parts for my machine(heat sink and graphic card) and at the moment they do not have a ETA of the spare parts(what the "some bad word"???)... So much for paying for a "next working day service". When I asked him if trying to repaste is couldn't do the trick he answered that they would not go to any person's home without all the spare parts and that I should call the office first. I told him that this machine was used for a small business and that it was vital that it was operational, but the answer would be --- I am sorry please call the office ----

I called the office told him that I have a next working day service, he then tried to correct me by saying that usually it takes three working days. I then corrected him by saying that I had paid a huge amount of money for three years of "next working day service" and that I need my computer to be operational in order to work and test what I am doing. He has now told me he can try to find out when my spare parts will be available and call back. In the meantime I am for third day in row without a fully operational machine and that is even though I paid for a service who were suppose to prevent this from happening....


I am really pissed now I am done with Alienware and will now go back to desktops. I am sooo done with Dell and their poor service. I am clearly not getting what I am paying for here. That means that I have wasted a huge amount of cash for an insurance that will not help me the slightest at all. I mean it could easily take like a week before I see a technician with a spare part and the cash I spent on this insurance is gone.

Where is my next day service ?

Where is my cash I spent on a insurance that is of no use?


What has this world come to?


This is really not acceptable when people a huge amount of extra money for insurance Dell sells as a product in order to get a better service. I mean this insurance cost me around 18 percent of the machine's total cost.

Dell I am so done with you. Sorry about this but after 3 months hell back then in order to get a good machine and now this two years later. I thought you had improved and learned that people should get the product they are paying for but last time(two years ago) you did not deliver a next working day service that solved my issue and now again when time is even more important than ever that service is not delivered and even worse not ETA has been given. Dell is obviously not the right partner to use as an external repair unit for a small company as mine.

Dell consider this to be last machine or money I have spent on you for the rest of my life.... Never again, never!

Thanks for your kind words Yes I need a new machine as back up and I will not buy that one from Dell

 

Hold on, and gear down there big fella So you have had two issues with your alien in two years? really thats a pretty good record. Before my alien I had an hp that died while still in warranty, but they refused to fix it because I "abused" it by running 3ds max on it witch they said the machine wasn't designed for. And my Toshiba lappy before that died 2 WEEKS after the warranty ended. They refused me. Granted I did have to have my first 17x r4 replaced, and it took a while but they did do it gladly with no complaints. I even burned the video card and mobo of the replacement and they fixed that with no complaints. That took a while as well, but they did do it. I know it's frustrating when your system goes down but be patient it will get fixed I was VERY unimpressed with my first alienware experience........ but the dell service has actually changed that opinion for me buy actually honouring their warranty.
I wish you luck with getting your poor alien back up and running

 

The truth is that you bought a consumer product and a consumer warranty. 18% may seem like a lot to you but in reality the mission critical warranties for Dell servers can cost more than 150% of a system price. I.e. On a 999 server the total comes out to 2600+ if you add mission critical service. Obviously percentage wise it is less if you spec the 999 server to 5000. I but the warranty still costs 1600...

If you need faster service stick with the latitude line in the future... But, the least expensive risk reduction is just to have a spare computer...

 

Spare machine: You are correct

The warranty i bought states that I am entitled to Next Business day service at home. Monday the problem occurred, now today is Wednesday and still no ETA.

Regarding first experience then no. This is my second m17x model only this is a R2 system which where a replacement for a really faulty R1 system which they tried to repair three times back then two years ago and each time the system where breaking down(well the Nvidia MB had some issues back then so many of us had that problem).

Yes it is great that it has worked for two years and yes I am happy they will fix it, but I have not received the service I paid for here in Denmark. I have paid a huge amount of money to get a better service than the law gives me. According to the law I have a 2 year warranty and no promise of Next Business Day, but according to the contract on my extended warranty of three years it states Next Business Day Repair at home.

So anger goes mostly against that I have paid for something they cannot deliver(repair on next business day). I mean if I promise my customers something and they pay for it and I refuse to give it to them then what am I? Yea what am I then?

The things work a little differently her in Northern Europe.

warranty according to law(free): 2 years repair at Dell's place or where they see fit(like your home)

warranty according to extended plus one year (cost extra): Next Business Repair on the spot(home) ---- Hey I paid for this but I get nothing! ---

Now you see it? I paid for something I am not given. What do people call that?

 

Yes the NBD is kind of misleading because you are really not assured that you will get next business day if they have no parts. My GPU and CPU had to be replaced within a week after receiving my laptop due to wrong specs. I also have the NBD but the parts are out of stock so they have to order it. I got the parts installed in about 3 days (cant remember exactly but not long) but Dell gave me a 2820QM instead of 2720Qm from my order so for me it negates the delays.

Honestly, based on my experience, even without the perks Dell's has provided, its really hard to find some other manufacturer's who provides better service than Dell. This is my 1st Dell/AW and never been this satisfied and confident that I will be taken care of. Had nightmares dealing with Acer, Toshiba, Sony and 2 Hps in the past So goodluck dealing with other manufacturers for the same problem.

 

From what I've heard of, you might have nightmares with the PC, but they don't want you to suffer in the end. Hell, I called an Alienware Tech over the hotline they had and one guy, have no idea of his name, said they'd buy my machine from me, parts and all AS IS and use that as around $800 credit to a new R4. !?!?!

It's impressive really...they DO take care of you in the end...

 

The M6700 Precision Workstation gives business class support. I think with the business class products, they hold onto spare parts as well as provide replacements parts for the entire lifetime of the product.

I'm actually tempted to get one of these next time I upgrade. The only downside is that I just priced a system at over $5000...

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles Dwarf King.

I've recently been having rather high temperatures - noticed the metal / vents at the back very very hot so started running HWInfo to get an idea on specifics for temperatures. The right card maximum temperature hit 108C and the left card had hit 97C - under load.

Started reading around and figuring that these were pretty high temperatures I started looking at what I could do to bring them down. After watching the m17x R2 teardown videos (linked below) I decided to give repasting a go myself prior to engaging with Dell support.

For the most part, it was a relatively easy process but there were some parts that I had a bit of trouble with like getting the touch panel strip off (it lifted easily from either side but was stuck in the middle and required some effort).

The other thing I wasn't sure about was how to get to the area to apply the thermal paste. I removed the screws on the card easily enough but it still seemed stuck so I had to apply some pressure in prying the heatsink and card apart but that was due to the sticky strips between the two. I was shocked to see the that after about a year and a half the factory applied thermal paste had basically become like hard baked on clay! Cleaned it up, applied in a square on the heatsink to cover the copper component and this helped: How to Apply Silver Thermal Compound to 9600GT GPU - YouTube (Obviously it's not the same card but the process is exactly the same).


The only thing I'd ever done with my m17x is install an SSD so this felt a little daunting initially - even with the teardown videos but overall it was a relatively simple process. Had I seen this thread beforehand I would have taken some photos to help you out in case you were comfortable in attempting the process yourself.

Since the repaste, preliminary testing under load shows the right card tops out 66C and the left at 56C - so it is significantly improved and I really wish I'd noticed and done this sooner.


M17x Teardown Video1 of 2 **READ SAFETY PRECAUTIONS PRIOR TO REPLACING PARTS** (Official Video) - YouTube
M17x Teardown Part 2 of 2 **READ SAFETY PRECAUTIONS PRIOR TO REPLACING PARTS** (Official Video) - YouTube


Either way, good luck with resolving your temperature issue.

 

Well "end of life" is part of the problem here, jywang. The M17x R2 is now a couple of generations out of production. It is 3 generations out of production on CPU and GPU components. Fortunately, with Dell/Alienware, "end of life" is not the end of the road.

Dwarf King, when a machine is newer the NBD service usually works great. If you read the fine print in the warranty, NBD is not guaranteed. It never has been. It would be impossible for them to guarantee that because there are circumstances they cannot control that may affect that. Even with new machines, replacement GPU stock can be problematic. If the parts were still being manufactured, I anticipate you would not be so upset and your machine would already be fixed by now. Dell does not manufacture the parts, so that is outside of their control. I have an M17 R2 and it is an awesome machine. Next to my M18x, I believe it is the best laptop ever made by any company. But, it's not new any more and the parts it takes to do repairs are no longer in production. It may not happen overnight, but if they cannot secure the parts for your machine you may end up with a newer machine as a replacement. At any rate, you still have the best warranty available anywhere. The frustration is understandable, but there is still hope for a good outcome. You probably would be in a totally hopeless situation with a different brand. Another manufacturer would likely give a refund on the warranty and leave you without a machine, force you to send it somewhere else for a couple of months to be repaired, (in some cases shipping is at your own expense,) or offer you pennies on the dollar credit toward the purchase of a new machine.

I don't understand why you would not buy another Dell/Alienware product. At a personal level I am puzzled by that position, although I am not passing judgment on why you might say it. You received a replacement under warranty and now own a machine with legacy parts that are not available. Because it is under warranty, they are still going to take care of you. It doesn't get any better than that in the computing world from my own perspective.

OK, so opening the machine in Denmark will void the warranty. That really stinks, but it is what it is. Question: who is going to know you opened the machine except for you? If you are concerned that you might break something, that is understandable. If you are confident of your ability to do so without causing damage, it might be worth considering.

From what you have described, it may not need replacement parts. Long term overheating may have caused damage, but a thorough cleaning and re-paste may be all that is necessary to restore perfect operation. If I were in the same predicament, I would just take care of it myself. How much longer is your warranty valid? If you have had no issues other than this, you may get several more years of service out of the machine. Perhaps the company providing the warranty repairs on behalf of Dell would be willing to install new thermal pads and paste to see if that will resolve your problems. They should not need to have replacement heat sinks and GPUs on hand to perform such a simple task. If that is against the "rules" then you may need to escalate the issue for a system exchange if you are unwilling to do the repair yourself. Either way, I anticipate this will have a happy ending for you because you own a Dell/Alienware product that is still covered under warranty.

I merged this thread with the "Dell has once again showed me that they cannot be trusted" thread, as there is no need to have two separate threads covering the same situation.

 

Dear Sir, your post has many great points and indeed I might be rather angry and yes the m17x R2 machine is a great machine that have served me well for two years. I did actually ask them to try out a repaste first but got the answer "we never go to people's home without all the repair parts".

You got a good point about this being a legacy machine, which I did not take into account and seen from that point of view I am treated well I guess. I am perhaps more used to self built rigs where I just swoop whatever needed and I did expect them to have a stock for repairs(I guess they don't).

None the de less I have scars from being held up for like three months back then two years ago(it were not easy I can tell you). Also I might be strange but in my world a promise is a promise so a Next Business Day Service should be given if paid for. Call me old fashion here.

Perhaps it is different in other nations but here when we buy a next day service it is in order to make sure we do not need to think about this ourselves.

Now do not get me wrong here. I really like my machine and I have worked on it for like two years and it has become my brother in arms developing software and perhaps that is why my reaction is so strong. I really need this machine to be operational as I have all the important stuff installed on it(I do have backups on an external hard disk).

My issue is that Dell actually sell an insurance for x years that they in reality are not able to meet. In my world of honour that is a bad thing to do. I find it hard to accept that I am promised a visit on Wednesday only to receive a phone call Wednesday that no spare parts are available and he will not show up to try a repaste. In my world a deal is a deal and if I receive money for something I better deliver what I promised.

Regarding my great replacement I found that fair as I missed my exams in quite a few classes due to the fact my m17x R1 system was pretty unusable back then. I agree that I was treated fair but not in the first three months(I felt played with).

In fact I would have invested in a secondary mobile back up system if I was told that Dell's Next Day Business Repair Service might not be possible to meet through the whole period of the extended warranty. In fact I would not had paid that money(time is money and no need to waste it).

My view and the way the product was sold was that we the customers did not need to think about this issue with such an insurance. I guess I just got smarter and learned the lesson the hard way about Dell's extended Next Business Day Repair Service.

Also the technician in the phone insisted that he would not show up without all the spare parts and do a repaste even though I told that might be enough(after all I ran many tests of the machine and read all the good threads in here and came to the same conclusion as you).

So I have really been reasonable here and even friendly and polite in the phone with them. I guess this is why I needed to get my frustrations out somewhere else.

So this thread became my way of letting all the anger out...

Please tell me what else to do, I have suggested what you said about the repaste and I got a standard bureaucratic answer and in the phone(three times today) I got "wait" and "wait and no ETA at the moment". "We need spare parts from Germany or Ireland".

I do not feel well treated at all at the moment as my suggestions are not met(regarding the repaste suggestion).

Also I do not wish to escalate this as that would be a nightmare(i tried that back then). I simply just want them to honour the deal and repair my machine by repasting or swooping cards(whatever is the quickest solution). Also their is no way I am doing anything that breaks the warranty as long as that is still valid(after 280 plus days that will change).

The fact is that my warranty(the extended one) has never really worked optimal back then and now. Well if I am fair the issue was with Nvidia back then and not Dell and Dell did compensate me, but now I am sitting with an office machine that are unable to run any applications called 3D as the machine shut down due to overheating, hence no testing of my game scripting's game play is possible.

You may find it hard to understand that I had enough but to that I can only say that I expect people to deliver what they promise or stop selling a service that cannot be given throughout the period the service has been sold for.

I shall wait with great expectation for the next few days and hear what news from Dell brings me(I am rather sceptical though...).

Oh and you are right about that the R2 system is great and I love my machine, I just wished it would be a better long term use machine.

"I don't understand why you would not buy another Dell/Alienware product. At a personal level I am puzzled by that position, although I am not passing judgment on why you might say it. You received a replacement under warranty and now own a machine with legacy parts that are not available. Because it is under warranty, they are still going to take care of you. It doesn't get any better than that in the computing world from my own perspective.
"

That above makes me rather confused. First of all no firm should keep on offering defect spare parts as they did back then two years ago when the R1 system still was sold, second of all they had written that all their systems where tested before leaving the factory back then two years ago(of course most of us would laugh of that). Third of all legacy system or not they have sold me an insurance product that cannot be delivered one hundred procent. I do agree on the point that they try to take care of me but not according to the initial agreement.

I guess that is all their is to say. Now my last hope is that I will get a call tomorrow and that the machine can get its spare part Friday or Monday next week. In the mean time I will look for a more diverse product to a lower price in case of break down as that is a much better long term solution as these systems seems unstable and designed very poor when talking long term use and repair services(sorry but that is my verdict as a system should be able to run for at least five years before having any hardware issues in order to be a valid choice for a mobile high end unit).

Cheers,

 

Hey brother Dwarf King. Please keep us posted on how things are going. I, and many others, can relate to the experience you are having because of being in a state of uncertainty and having to wait. That is never a pleasant predicament. I believe this will end well, but it may be on a timeline that is difficult to appreciate because of parts not being readily available.

As our friend Dell-Bill_B has in his signature, there are a couple of things you may want to try as far as escalating your support case for faster resolution. I would send your service/dispatch request number and a brief account of the situation through one or both of the venues noted below. (I copied and pasted from Bill's signature.)

Just a suggestion that may be helpful.

 

Update is that I got a phone call and they told me that they would NOT opt for trying a repaste for two reasons. One reason was that according to the consumer law in Denmark three failed tries of repair means that the consumer can ask for a new replacement and second they think that my GPU might have been damage... Spare part ETA is the 17 of August. All my suggestions as you self suggested have been declined.

They will see what they can do in order to speed up the process is the answer to all my requests

In other words I have NOT received a NBD service. Also I do not care any more I have order a self build desktop and do not expect that machine to be repaired before sometime within the next months. I expect to be told that the ETA will be changed several times.

UPdate is an ETA for 17.08 and nothing else.

cheers,

 

Well people want me to update so I will. the 13 th of August and still no technician and ETA of ati 5870 card is still set to the 17.08.2012. Also I can see that many people in here are offered refurbished cards while I was told that I would get a brand new card... I am starting to feel that Dell is playing with me here.

I sure am glad that I have a brand new desktop on Wednesday with the same hardware profile as a Alienware Aurora PC, LED screen and a great keyboard for like almost halve the price of an Alienware and even with blue lights included

Also I checked on ebay for the 5870 card and I found like 4 or five of them. The cheapest came for like a 100(around 140 when shipping has been included) us $, but without the heat sink and the ones with heat sink would be sold for like 2-300 us $. That really seems way over priced for second hand hardware that might break down any time.

As the hard facts get slapped right up my face I more and more regret I bought this machine as I really planned to use t for like at least five years but now as I realize that they might not be build to last for like five years. I understand that after the warranty runs out in like 270 days I will need spare parts and the prices for such spare parts are simply not making it profitable to repair this machine as many other high end laptops goes for like 1000-1200 us $ with a hardware profile that will make this m17x laptop looks like an over price dinosaur.

This really makes me sad as I love my machine and the very fact that I know that the minute it encounters hardware failure after 270 days it means it's time of death has come makes me regret buying it.

The keyboard are excellent to work on, especially the back lit keys are a true blessing due to the color options. The exterior metal case works as a great hard disk(data) protector. The whole machines design is a true joy to behold.

I really wish that these cards could be sold more freely so the competition would result in a decrease of price and a longer life span of our m17x laptops.

Would it be possible to install some of the newer cards on the m17x R2 system? Or would that also cost like 500 us $ for a new card?

 

Well, you can go the 7970m route if you want to try new cards, but yes they are 500 plus $ and yes they still have their issues. The biggest hassle right now is we cant find a bios that will run HDMI in the R2. This might be fixed over time as there are many talented modders out there working on this, but this is all speculative. Check out this thread for more info.

 

I feel your pain. My 5870m card is slowly dying. It still works, but it occasionally will cause the system to freeze with a black screen after POST. I can't stress my GPU at all or the whole thing will go black. Instead of paying $400 for a new or reman card, I am going to make this card last as long as it can and then get an Nvidia 680m card as soon as I can afford it. The 680m is said to be extremely stable, and works almost perfectly in our R2s. The only issue I've been able to find is a fan control issue between the 680m and the 920XM processor. It's definitely worth taking a look at the 680m as a GPU upgrade...expensive though.

 

My R2 was hitting 90c under full load i took the heat sinks out and used a thin brush to get all the dust out was amazed how much was in there. Now im getting 70c never been repasted

 

Thanks for all the good ideas. Hmmm 500 $ is really expensive I guess I shouldn't complain if I would have to pay like 100-200 $ in the future for a second hand 5870 card. Anyway I strongly believe the machine can last for another two years after this fix as I am not a heavy gamer. This machine is in fact my working machine. Also as soon as the warranty is out I shall clean it very often.

Now we just wait for Dell...

 

Ladies and gentlemen my worst fear just came through as I received an email today wherein I could read the wonderful news that DELL has problems finding spare parts for me AND that they cannot offer me a service tomorrow.

Now ETA is set to at least 3-5 working days from today and they(DELL) are working close with their hardware providers to solve this issue and are very grateful for my cooperation...


Well I am also NOT very grateful for this kind of bad service. Oh I just received my new desktop yesterday and today it is finally set up so I can work and that was all NO THANKS to DELL.

I mean come here, I would really have to look hard at finding a company that takes your money for a extended next business day service and then after two weeks STILL haven't provided the slightest attempt to fix my issues besides calling me and sending me emails with bad excuses for why they cannot provide me with the product I paid for.

I rest my case here and utterly give up dealing with Dell or even trying to logically dealing with them by telling them that they are NOT honoring their part of the deal.

Two weeks without a machine that works properly!!!

Is this fair?

 

UPDATE:
Well today I got a call that I could get my machine fixed today, sadly I am in another city at the moment so the service has now be scheduled to Monday. So what was the mail about in the first place? I mean it seems like that no one really knows what is going on.

Anyway hope it works out on Monday as I am tired of having a partial operational machine thrown over the back on the run, which only allows me to do office related work or simple code jobs without being able to test it.


Dell better be true to their promise this time...

 

I have my fingers crossed for you DK! Please let us know how it turns out. My popcorn is getting cold

 

A technician arrived and installed a new card. HWINFO showed max 136 degrees but when touching on the left side and on the left keyboard it did not feel warm at all. I have tested the machine with the new card for a long time now and it does not get warm or shut down. All drivers and bios is up to date and the newest HWINFO has been installed and still the software shows max 136 degrees and the log show that this temp is measured within a minute or two when a 3D application is run.

The situation is that the machine now runs fine and I have a self built desktop with more power than ever to work on and the m17x R2 is now only used for testing smaller stuff or work on the run. Dell did not deliver a next business day and delayed me almost two weeks. Sure I got a new card and sure the machine now works again, but still waiting for two weeks are no good.

That is it.