M17x R3 SATA III complaint

My M17xR3 is just over 1 year old now and after installing A09 and causing the hard drive speed to downgrade to SATA II, I was disappointed needless to say. However, the added reliability prevented me from going back to A08. Likewise, Dell no longer supports 6gps as stated in this article:

SATA speed drops to 3 Gbps on Alienware M17x R3 systems after BIOS update A09 | Dell

So, I called Dell to see if they can perform a motherboard swap to the M17xR4 since my extended warranty doesn't run out until 3/2015. Their response was that the motherboard for the M17xR4 does not fit into the M17xR3 chassis. So, the only possibility was to purchase a new system. He offered some sort of "trade-up" after which I found out that all he did was forward me to the "outlet" sales team.

So, I have decided to file a BBB complaint to request a repair or replacement system. I searched many threads for other complaints by M17xR3 owners but it seems that most are just accepting the fact that the M17xR3 has been downgraded to SATA II support AFTER people purchased it when it was speced as SATA III capable.

Does no one else care? Shouldn't there be some sort of class action for this?

 

Whats wrong with a08 or the unlocked a08 everybody R3 uses it.

 

Nothing really other than: "Note: Alienware will not support SATA 6 Gb/s with the Alienware M17x R3 as it may cause system instability and random crashes."

 

I haven't had any system instability or crashes running on the unlocked A08.

 

Never go on the changelog, always go on experience. No one has ever had issues with A08, neither will you.

 

My problem is that I was having a lot of 0x000000F4 BSODs that might also be caused by the SSD firmware which was recently updated. So, I'll give A08 a try...

 

I'd say its your SSD because of the sandforce controller, but try a08 it works perfectly.

 

Will R4 be proper SATA III or are the gonna pull a fast one as they did on R3?

 

OMG I LOVE YOU!

Just downgraded to from A10 to A08 and my raid0 ssd benchmark speeds doubled! No wonder it seemed slow!!

Thanks for the info!

 

Not only install A08, but you need to install the SSD in the middle cage (slot 1) in the middle of the laptop

 

today i got my system replaced for an R4.
i called up dell and they aknowledged the sata3 problem and finally got them to upgrade me to R4.

 

Did they downgrade your CPU? Or did you get to pick the configuration? At least it seems you got the 7970M. Congrats.

 

yes i had to pick the config.
Only traded in the killer wifi for a bluray drive because the killer card are not available in R4.

 

you can install it yourself later

Can I ask what is your current warranty option?

 

3 year NBD warranty. so that will start fresh too

 

thanks. i'm on the phone with support requesting a replacement. my bbb complaint was submitted to them a few days ago and they haven't responded yet. Not sure if I should bring it up if they deny me my request for replacement. It seems reasonable they should since I paid full price for the laptop along with a 4 year accidental warranty...( >$3000)

 

wow yeah if you paid that much they should not be able to deny your request for replacement.

 

yeah. no military in my family... hats off to those that do and thank you! I gladly support you getting a great discount on a great computer.

After being on hold for about 25 minutes, it looks like Dell's response is that a system replacement is not an option. He offered some hardware (i.e. keyboard, external harddrive) as compensation. I did not accept it and mentioned that I will I wait for my bbb complaint to be answered.

BTW A08 was unreliable. My system froze while booting up this morning. I've gone foward to A10 again. back to 3Gps...

 

Do you not understand that if you use your SSD in Port 1 (middle port) with the A08 BIOS that you will enjoy full SATA 3 performance (or so much of it as your SSD is capable of delivering) and that you will suffer no loss of performance unless you deliberately chose to do so? And further, that even if you elect to use the later BIOS and artificially restrict your SATA ports to SATA 2 throughput, that the real world difference in performance between SATA 2 and SATA 3 using your SSD based on PCMark 7 storage benchmarks is roughly 4%, virtually indisinguishable? Upgrade Advice: Does Your Fast SSD Really Need SATA 6Gb/s?: Should You Feel Bad That Your Board Only Supports SATA 3Gb/s?. It is one thing to be irritated when an announced capability of the R3 has to be revised or downgraded for whatever reason, but it seems hardly worthy of the total war approach or sufficient to support a demand for a new R4 replacement for an otherwise normally functioning year old R3. The remedy sought seems badly out of whack with the harm suffered, if any. On the other hand, if you're just trying to hustle a free upgrade, good luck I suppose.

 

Money's not really the issue here. I almost pulled the trigger on a new M18xR2 this morning.

I think the issue here is the fact Dell has a defective product which they fixed by downgrading the speed. That means the longevity and value of our M17xR3s have been reduced.

What if you wanted to upgrade to RAID SSD? I was planning on doing so but I can't because of my defective M17xR3.

Also, I understand the speed isn't that much of an issue for some. However, I use my M17xR3 for software development and the DB size is often several gigabytes. When I run a query that scans the DB tables, the difference between SATA3 and SATA2 is very significant.

I think Dell should have recognized this defect and found a way to offer a motherboard upgrade. I've designed hardware in the past and more than likely this is a signal issue due to bad trace layout - clearly a manufacturer's defect. The questions is why haven't they fessed up to this and offered a fix to everyone?

 

lol if you bought a car with 200 HP, but some how the engine cannot take it and the solution is to cut the engine back to 100 HP. seriously you will accept that?

dell even changed the manual and removed total support of SATA3.
A00 Manual says 2 ports SATA3. A01 manual does not support it.

good luck accepting a butfook, i dont
if i bought a product with specific specs i do not want a downgrade because dell is incapable of solving the issue..

dell even confirmed that H57 chipset had 2 ports SATA3 but the fun part is those 2 ports in the R3 are port 0 and the optical drive. the other ports are hybrid SATA3 with, a bridged version. thats why one ports goes loco running it on SATA3.
it's a hardware flaw in the systemboard of the R3 with H57 chipset, they cannot fix it at all so thats why they downgraded it to SATA2 so 9 off 10 people stupid enough do not care. it's cheaper to replace 1 of 10 systems then admitting it's a faulty product and recalling them all.

my 2 cents and im happy that im getting what i paid for, a working system with SATA3.
that beeing an R4 fine by me.

 

I don't know whether to offer sympathy or congratulations for the angst and misery circumstances have provided. May your efforts and schemes bring you satisfaction and closure.

 

this is not a scheme, if you agree that dell downgrades your laptop fine.
But some people whom do have practical use of SATA3 like me with raid ssd do not accept this.
but since u do not read the posts and talk about 1 ssd working, yes 1 works but the laptop should have 2 functional SATA3 ports.

but im gonna stop with this senseless argument with you cause you do not care, fine by me. be the sheep.

 

Actually according to the manual (version a00) both bays should run at sata III speeds. Version a01, updated 1/12/12, changed that to sata II.

Honestly I'm not sure why this isn't a bigger deal than it is. We're tied to bios a08 to get sata III out of one bay, when the documentation says it should be running on both. I don't see how they can sell countless systems claiming they're sata III compatible then after they're sold, change the specs of the system and say they're only sata II.

 

I notice the same thing when I updated the A09 Bios. My Crucial M4 SSD went from 6GPS to 3GPS. So I went to Crucials website and downloaded a new bios for the SSD itself. The result left me with an SSD that would change speeds back and forth between 3GPS and 6GPS each time I rebooted or started the laptop up. I finally went back to the A08 bios for my M17xR3 and now I have consistant 6GPS everytime with no issues.

Can't explain why Dell would advertise 6GPS then tell you sorry, but we only support 3GPS now. I bought a SATAIII SSD just for my M17xR3 because it advertised 6GPS.

As far as class action suit, good luck. For this work there has to be enough people with valid complaints and NON USER UPGRADED laptops. Chances are the majority of M17xR3 owners did not waste their money buying an SSD or Memory from DELL. Like me I saved HUNDREDS by purchasing off the EGG and upgrading myself. Dell with use that excuse as a reason not to pay anything.

 

Not sure it will work, but here is a suggestion... Run services.msc, find Intel Rapid Storage Technology. If the startup type is "Automatic (Delayed Start)" change it to "Automatic" and reboot.



Also try this version of RST... LINK Even though it is for "Desktop Boards" it has been working flawlessly on the M18x for several of us.

Nothing to lose giving it a shot. Hope it helps.

 

Mr fox, will not work.
dell downgraded the sata ports smack hard in the bios since A09.

how are the m4 in raid? lovin it?
i love my triple M4 raid 0

 

Hello, first sorry for my english i'm french.

I have the same problem with my M17XR3 and can't accept that my bios is obliged remained an earlier version to enjoy the max speed of my ssd especially in A08 because I noticed a performance loss in game.

So I wanted to know how to demand a replacement to a model superior (m17xr4 or m18xr2) to no longer be confronted with this problem especially since it is not the only problem hélasse.

 

A08 has been rock solid since I've begun to use it when it was first released. I've got my crucial m4 in February and its been running at SATA III speeds since. If you have a single SSD you should be fine. Its when you try to RAID them that you run into issues.

Edit: here is the speeds after 3 months of use.

 

nice choice of words...i agree with Rev's sentiments

 

Switched my R3 from A09 to A08 shortly after unboxing it, installed the Corsair Performance Pro SSD in slot 1 and 750Gb Momentux XT in slot 0.So far the system is rock solid and stable.