M17x R3 Constant nvkflt.sys BSODs.

And you are seeing all the people with problems, it never goes smoothly every time, you still might have luck with a calll into a supervisor and not the guy you have been dealing with, did you see where it's at with them?

 

Yea that doesn't seem like a good deal at all. What video card did you have before? If you had a 460m/560m then this is what you should expect, but if you had a higher end card I'd complain that this is weaker than you started with and you would like to speak with his manager. And sadly replacement machines don't come with a new warranty.

Sent from my Nexus 7 (2013) using Tapatalk 4

 

Guess I was lucky, I asked and got a full new one with accidental. I thought I saw a basic on-site in the specs, what the outlet would offer maybe?

 

I had a 580, that's why I was disappointed. A supervisor can approve a 680 for my R3 but not my replacement? I bought top of the line on my R3, I would figure I get the same as equivalent.

 

I just got a voicemail from the rep asking me to confirm the M18x R2 even though I told him multiple times that I did not want that one and to "release" it. He then finished the voicemail that it will take a couple of days to look and that he can't today.

 

You can't just let him get away with this. He just wants to wait around until something turns up at the outlet. You have to call in and ask for his supervisor. Say that you do not want to wait for an indeterminate amount of time and want a resolution - go hard!

This is a perfect example of what I said about US users getting the run around; see link in my sig

 

Ok, keep your fingers crossed. Calling to ask for his supervisor. I'm taking your advice from your thread in your signature.

 

Good luck, no pressure (on me now!)

 

I spoke to an awesome agent and his supervisor. I told them everything going on. They were surprised that they authorized a 680 for my R3. They could not find a match and said they have to check one more time tomorrow and if they can't find a match they will look into a new one. I also made sure I got their contact info and they told me that they wanted to take control of my case.

 

At last! You will now get whatever they can find that is same-or-better, or a new build - decided.Someone has now spotted the error in sending you a 680. Think that guy is going to have an interesting day...

And I can check out now, it was tough waiting out a response.

Let's see what tomorrow brings -

 

I'm curious what tomorrow bring, it was a sigh of relief after I got off the phone with them. I was wondering, what would be the equivalent of my 580? What would be fair? Thanks again for all the advice, I could not do it without you.

 

Cool, For an R4 you would want a 675m. Guessing a bit here, but on a new model it would be a 770m. We'd need some extra advice here

 

How are the 675m and 770m for gaming? Also compared to my 580m?

 

Hi Veeshun, looks like you're going to get a resolution soon, so that's good!

I know a bit about graphics cards so I can give you some advice on what I would settle for as a replacement.

Your 580M was the top card of it's time, and if you get an R4 as a replacment, then a 675M is what you'd want to accept, as it is a slightly faster version of the 580M, just slightly faster clocks. There have been seemingly fairly high failure rates on the 580M and 675M, so I wouldn't be thrilled with that replacement, but at least it would be like for like in comparison with your old system.

If they offer you the new Alienware 17, then you want a 770M as a minimum. If they offer you less than a 770M, then it's going to be slower than your 580M in some games.

So, if it's an R4, go with 580M or 675M. If it's an Alienware 17, go with 770M or 780M. Just for reference, the 770M is 65% faster than your 580M, and 60% faster than a 675M. A 780M is 250% faster than your 580M, so a whole different ball park! If you get a 770M or 780M then you will be one happy chappy, but anything less than those 2 on the Alienware 17, then performance falls off real fast.

 

The 675m is on par with the 580m. The 770m is much faster than the 580m.

 

Thanks for adding that. Just a small correction . The 675 is identical in every respect, it is just a re-badge 580m - same clocks as well, although with the latest one I got last week the power throttle problem is not happening. No need for a vbios flash!

 

Yes, thanks for that, I just checked on notebookcheck.net, and yes I can see that I was wrong about that one! Thanks.

 

Got a call that they're going to have the exchange team contact me about building a new M17 same config as my R3 but a 4800 i7 and a 770m gpu. What I'm confused about is they're not going to give me a new warranty or extend my current one? How does that work?

 

That is exactly what should happen. You got a CPU upgrade and a slightly better GPU.

You have to ask about how they intend to handle the warranty now. I just asked and was told 'full new 1yr complete care warranty with the new machine'. And that's what I got, but I have heard of it being handled differently, like the remainder being transferred.

You should get the build sent to you on a zero balance invoice for your approval. It will be on there if it's a fresh one (as I think it was on the m18x they offered?).

This should happen quickly so you might be into a daily call for status if it goes slow again. Hopefully not, it's been passed (as mine was) on and now it can happen

 

I just request a zero balance invoice? I'll have to talk to them about a warranty then. Maybe they'll throw in one year if I agree to extend it to a 2 year.

 

Sounds like a speedy little machine you're getting in replacement. Personally I'd just take the replacement, and then call back once you get the machine and ask to extend your warranty. Just my 2 cents.

 

It should turn up after they call to run the config past you. At that point ask about warranty, if all you get is a 'remainder offer' then ask how much for a 2 yr extension. Strictly speaking all they have to do is continue whatever you have, possibly with some time added for all the down time.

 

Ok, I'll update you guys. Thanks!

 

See above re the invoice, they do this when the config is agreed and you can then track it as if it was a new purchase. You should not have to request it, just mention the warranty when they call next.

Probably no wheeling or dealing, but a low cost warranty upgrade should be available to them, again as if it was a new purchase

 

On the phone again asking for a supervisor. I got an email from the former agent that I was told I would not have to deal with. Saying that I was getting an R4 with an amd card, a 500 gig drive, and a 1600x900 screen which is not the equivalent of my 1080. He never asked for my approval or tried to contact me. He then finished the email saying I will get this less equivalent laptop in 3-5 days. I am very upset and disappointed.

 

What the heck is going on? The former guy is still trying to fob you off. It is out of his hands now so just get to the supervisor. say you do not appreciate this behaviour which is bordering on threatening. Need to hit back on this guy now - he is just taking advantage of your good nature.

If it somehow does get sent then just refuse delivery. You have not accepted the offer so he has no right to send.

Stay calm and don't give up, we'll get to the bottom of this

 

Sorry to hear about this turn of events. I am still waiting to hear back on what they will replace mine with....hopefully i have a different rep than you .

 

I hope that you have better luck than I have had! I guess it's under investigation, they're looking into everything. I will be contacted tomorrow. I'm just really confused about who will contact me because I've had like 5 different people say they were going to contact me tomorrow.

 

Wow, that's great, you're gonna love that in comparison to your old machine!

Although, it's a right pain that the old rep has been sending you those e-mails confusing the situation & threatening a worse laptop. I hope that rep gets what he deserves - a stern telling off at the least! As everyone's been saying, don't give up, and definitely don't accept the deal that awful rep gave you, in fact I probably would choose not to communicate with him further & I would also forward that e-mail to your helpful reps saying you don't appreciate being given two different stories, and also don't appreciate being threatened as a customer of a reputable high end brand. That guy should get his just deserves! Good luck!

 

Well said, exactly where I was going next re forwarding his emails to the supervisor.

I think he is already in trouble over the 680 debacle, so knowing your confusion around all this he is trying to make the whole problem go away before a new machine is built and he gets (hopefully) that talking to he deserves. There is no fault on his part to offer you an outlet machine, I believe this is standard practice, but trying anything that is around and then saying it could be some time before something turns up is going too far - maybe he is new to AW support? This is more the sort of service you expect with cheaper laptops.

More Rep when I can Robbo!

 

Update:

I was approved again for a new M17, same 770m. They upped the ram to 16gigs but downgraded the processor to an i7 4700. What do you guys think? Is that big drop from the 4800?

 

Probably to do with how the builds work now. I believe the 4800 comes with a 780? It's going to be way good enough for a gaming rig and better that you had. The difference is small in clock numbers but the 4800 more overclockable (as I read it). So, time to sign off and get it built I think

 

I think you are over thinking this too much, This offer is way better than the old r3.

 

I agree. I already approved it. He said was going to put a rush on it. I look forward to seeing these new M17's.

 

Wow, that worked out really well for you in the end - excellent! Don't worry about the CPU, it's better than the one you had before, as is the graphics card! If you're into overclocking the GPU, then you'll be able to get quite a bit more performance out of the 770M by overclocking it, those chips overclock really well. I think you can officially be one happy camper now!

 

Sorry for the late update. I got my new M17 last friday. We had a tragic murder in our family so everything has been upside down since the beginning of the month.

Everything looks good, just trying to figure out which updates to use and what I need to update. I have a question though. This M17 boots a lot slower than my M17xR3 out of the box, why is this? It just seems sluggish when booting up.

 

Sorry to hear about your tragedy Great news that a new one finally arrived though.

What drive config did you get? I noticed that the R4 that replaced my R3 was about 5 seconds longer in boot but that is all and I never chased down why, could be just variations for windows. My first R3 would complete boot before the logo had assembled

As for drivers, the video is probably the only one to update but NV have been releasing some very poor drivers lately so it's probably better to use it as-is and get some baseline numbers (in-game benchmarks are as good as anything for seeing game FPS'). There should be a new WHQL from NV very soon; they said end of last month so it's already late.

 

I got the same 750gb 7200 RPM drive as I had in my R3. My R3 boots in under a minute, this M17 boots 25 seconds slower. The only other difference is this machine is running Windows 7 Ultimate, the R3 is Professional.

What are my options for an SSD? Is it a pain transferring the factory image?

 

That's quite a difference but rather than mucking about with it, an SSD will be the best starting point.

You have a couple of options. Personally I'd start with a caching Msata. This is basically plug-n-play, you only need to turn it on after installing using the IRST utility already installed. This will give you near SSD speeds at a low cost. Then later go for a standalone SSD. Prices are falling and you should be able to get a decent size one. You can use imaging software to transfer the original partitions or just the boot one. I found that after installing respawn it detected I did not have a factory partition and created one from the existing setup.

A fresh install is the usual recommendation but I've used norton ghost. All you do is change the boot order in the BIOS, and if it goes badly you still have the original install to switch back to. Also you end up with an accelerated data drive - no need to do anything there

 

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I can't figure out what's causing it. It's driving me nuts lol, especially since nothing is on it.

Looks like I need to do some research.

Why does the touchpad lag right after using the keyboard on this? There is a slight delay with the touchpad after you hit a key on the keyboard.

 

You tried defragging the hard drive right? I recommend Auslogics DiskDefrag over the inbuilt Windows Defrag, because it's way faster & more efficient, and it's free.