M17xR2 | S3 Resume = Loss of Brightness Control via FN keys and/or BSOD issues

I think that (with us being the exception to the rule) most users dont really care about brightness control or sleep as they never use them, therefore, are not affected.

Some see it as a minor issue, I see it as a big issue. If I cant use my system "properly" the way it was designed to be used, then something needs fixing. Goes without saying.

I just dont think that enough people think of it this way, hence no sticky and hence lack of updates on the subject since test bios by Dell.

All I want is for Dell to release an official bios revision with the fix for this included.

Is that too much to ask as we have gone through testing on Dell's behalf?

 

I think you're 100% correct about this, steviejones. I never used sleep functionality and the primary reason for my decision to jump in and help the cause was because just knowing that something was not functioning properly on my $4000 machine was bugging me to no end.

In reality, it affects every user even if they do not use sleep. In order to not suffer through technical issues and malfunctions, those that do not use the feature have to take time to manually disable everything to prevent their machine from being able to go to sleep.

 

Agree 100% on this one.

Still waiting on Dell to put out this fix or at the least give us SOME kind of indication they are even still working on it.

I get the bad feeling that the "test" bios was just their way of shutting us up while they focus on the M14x etc..

D.

 

I still have the issue when putting the computer in sleep mode, I use the sleep mode all the time so this is an annoying issue, I have called tech support several times I have reinstalled all the software including doing a fresh install of windows still no fix, now they want to replace the LCD do you think this will fix the problem?

 

No, I doubt the LCD has anything to do with it. Did you already try flash the test BIOS? If you did not catch that part for the thread, go to page 11 and start reading from the post by DELLChrisM forward. If the test BIOS does not cure it for you, then you would be the only exception. If you haven't already done that, here are the details provided to us by Dell:

Note: BIOS flashing is to be done at your own risk. This BIOS update applies only to the M17x R2.

 

Thanks I will try this tomorrow. Doesn't the Alienware tech support know of this problem?

 

Yes, they should. At least their engineering department does. The information I posted above, with the download link to the test BIOS, was provided to us by Dell.

 

Does the test BIOS also fix an issue with the 5870 (non-CF) failing to throttle up after sleep/resume? After a resume more often than not the computer crashes when I fire up a game. A simple restart fixes the issue but a laptop really ought to be able to function normally after a resume!

 

buiz - you will need to try it to find out. I have never experienced or heard of the issue you mentioned. It's definitely worth a shot.

 

Same here....I havent experienced that particular issue but like Fox says, give it a blast and see how you go......

 

After all the trouble I started having with the machine, I ended up selling it and bought myself an M17x R3. I was starting to get the plugged in not charging problem more and more frequently.

I thank all that help me with the test BIOS and support in this thread. I will still keep my eye on this to see what ends up happening.

 

No problem Meth...def keep an eye on it as I heard a few R3 owners getting the same issue already http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ightness-issue-when-returning-back-sleep.html .....hope your new system doesnt give you the same headaches as the old one.

We could really do with an official update from Chris Mixon on this situation. I have lost track on how long its been now.....

 

Yea its been a while now....I tried emailing him last week but I did not hear back yet.

 

Im going to try again but I too have had no response from Chris about this which is very disconcerting.

EDIT: Email to Chris sent requesting an update. 26th April 2011

 

Well I think I found out why he hasn't answered us:

On vacation until Monday, 5/2/2011 - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

I was checking out the DCF for any news and saw the sticky. LOL.

 

Thats fair enough but I was correpsonding with him the other day about my U2410 on the Dell forums....literally a few days ago. I know I had emailed him for bios updates way before then and STILL not had a reply with any info....

 

True. Well, I guess we can wait and see.....

There should be no excuse after 5/2. LOL.

 

Yeah...right!

Lets just see, he might have another golfing holiday planned right after....

 

Hey, steviejones! Nice to see you posting again.

DELLChrisM doesn't seem like the golfing type to me, at least judging from his photo. Maybe a Metallica or Quiet Riot concert? (BTW, that's a high compliment. I'd go if I had tickets. )

 

Hi Fox....Havent posted much on this thread as there really isnt much more I or we can do except wait for an official response....and I hate waiting. Moreso, I hate waiting and being ignored after we agreed to be test subjects.

And yeah, I wouldnt have had Chris down as a golfer...no pun intended but different strokes for different folks I guess....I would have preferred the rock concert myself too

 

steviejones, as an "M18x Hopeful", there is some information on this thread that may be of interest to you. LINK

 

Think I have finally had enough of waiting around for Dell to try and fix this issue. The test bios does rectify the brightness issue resuming from sleep S3 but its at the cost of other things going haywire.

Ive recently bought a Dell Ultrasharp U2410 and hooked it up....brilliant picture and it works flawlessly....except when resuming from sleep. On occasion, I have noticed that the display wont resume...it just remains black for a few seconds and when the picture finally comes back, the image is like magnified about 10 times and I can only see a small "zoomed" section of the desktop with no icons.

If I turn the monitor off and then turn it back on, it resumes successfully but I cant help thinking that this is yet another bug yet to be ironed out in this test bios that I am STILL running and have been running now for several MONTHS.

I started this thread over 3 months ago now and the test bios has been available since end of February. Even though all that agreed to test have already given feedback to Dell about their findings, we still find ourselves being completely blanked with what is happening next.....whats going on????? I wonder if they really know HOW to fix these issue/s....obviously this test bios does NOT fully cure any issue without a knock on effect and I, for one, am completely at the end of my tether with regards to it.

I have emailed Chris for updates without response.....not just recently but weeks ago....no reply. Sounds to me like they are hoping that by ignoring the problem, it will go away....well it wont....moreover, I wont! - I didnt pay thousands of pounds for my system for it to be sat around like some "lab rat experiment" whilst Dell drag their heels on getting the issues ironed out competely. I am imagining the lack of ANY form of official response on this thread is down to one of two things:

i) They dont know HOW to fix it
ii) They dont CARE if its fixed or not

This situation is not good enough - especially when we are talking about the epitome of gaming laptops...heck,, even if it wasnt a gaming laptop, its still one of the very highest specced laptop systems that money can buy.

I have had this system now for around 7 months....four months of those 7 have been spent "trying" to get Dell to acknowledge and fix this sleep issue without complete success. I didnt pay so much for a computer that I cant even close the lid on it, move to another room and then open it up again without having to worry about whats gonna flake out on me next...could be WiFi or BSOD ... its just soo unpredictable.

I know many of you wont really be that bothered with the sleep problems but for me, its a very BIG deal. I also dont see why we (as paying customers) should have had to go through agreeing to be test pigs in the first place....surely to god thats why Dell have an engineering team, right? - can they not sort this out on their own without having to have us put OUR expensive purchases up for guinea pig status??

Dunno about you guys but, as for me......

Ive had enough of this crap....

 

Yet ANOTHER day without any official update on this issue. More emails gone un-answered. Even more fed up now.

 

I feel ya....

I was seriously considering the m18x.... but if they cant even fix this then why waste more money on them?

I still get issues with the test bios (mainly related to loosing internet connection which requires a reboot to fix after sleep resume) and no response to any of my emails.

I may just go back to stock A10 since I dont close the lid too often.

All I can say is if they are unwilling to support the customer who has already spent a lot of $$ on them... then I am not going to spend any more $$ with them.

D.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with every word you said. If they cant iron out issues with their current systems before moving onto the next money-maker, where does that leave those of us that shelled out thousands only to be left with a system that does not fully function as it should do.

You could say its a true statement that the R3 was the true replacement of the R2.....why fix something if you can release a newer model and then ignore those customers that spent thousands on their very latest system (R2 was when I got mine) instead.

I wonder what Dell logic actually is. Maybe they think that because a small minority have a problem, stuff them....

Well I for one will not be "stuffed" by big corporation. I paid good money for a system that should work - it doesnt. End of story. Not my fault. Dells fault. Dell should fix it.....and they should also fix it within a reasonable timescale.

I believe the "window" for reasonable has long since gone and the lack of official Dell representation on this thread only goes to show their lack of interest in resolving this issue for those that are experiencing it. Many people would notice IF they paid more atention to their systems. Lots dont use the sleep facility but I do and so do lots of others including yourself, Foxy, Alexnvidia and many more....actually Alex binned off the test bios and went back to A10 he was that fed up of it!

So....when I look at changing my system....what do Dell think will happen? - do they think I will look at their next "over priced" system?? - I would swear here now but I wont but when I say they can go and themselves....I think you would get the gist.

M18x? - I did have an outside interest in that system but I think my enthusiasm for Dell based Alienware systems has exited the building....along with ChrisM from Dell it seems......long ago.

 

Agreed.

And I am not just an individual customer either.

Sure, I purchase systems for myself (I actually have 5 laptops right now... all purchased within the last year) but I also run a research lab and purchase all computers for that as well.

SO, despite having "deals" with Dell I have spent my business money on HP and Apple instead.

So, out of the past 5 personal computers I have bought only 1 is Dell (due to their incompetence) and for work the past 8 systems have been Apple or HP (once again because I am not happy with how dell has handled my "personal" purchase).

So, since each system cost between 2500-3500 across a total of 13 systems that is $32,500 to $45,500 that dell has lost from me.
And that was just last year.

This year will be the same (possibly more).

So, while that may be small potatoes for dell..... I still hope my "voting with my wallet" will at least make them take some kind of notice (even if is just to laugh at me)

D.

 

Well D,

If enough people vote with their wallet like you have done and I intend to do, eventually they will realise that something is wrong. I know we are "small potatoes" but like you, I work hard for my money and do not expect to have it obliterated on a system that doesnt work and Dell has no intention of rectifying.

My next system will be non Dell and I can guarantee that.

 

Hmmm....how do I say this without sounding bad
I'd first like to say that I soooooo agree with everything said. This is a REAL problem that should have been addressed ages ago.

Obviously Dell/Alienware has abandoned us on this issue. How hard is it to respond to an email or post a reply in a forum? No where near as hard as writing the wall of text steviejones133 has writen on behalf of us R1/R2 owners!!

I agree that it is important to have a place to troubleshoot this issue and for reference purposes.

I believe everyone here needs to call the support line to elevate this problem. I know it's tediuos and may seem like a waste of time but if we all keep on it Dell with have to rectify this issue or find an alternative method of compensation. In my line of work there are times where I need the sleep function. Even if I didn't, it would still drive me nuts to know that something doesn't work as it should on my enthusiast laptop.

I still can't figure out why this hasn't been sticky'ed. This needs to be elevated to the right people before the M18x is launched. I think it would be safe to say that by the time the M18x launches there will be no hope for a resolution to this problem.

I don't think voting with your wallet is gonna get Dells attention. Before buying my M17x R2 I looked at every other competitor out there. I really don't think anyone comes close to Alienware in both quality, design and performance.

Please continue to call Dell/Alienware until they resolve this issue.

 

Hey, I agree with just about everything that has been said on the negative spectrum. For me it's a love/hate relationship. I still love my R2, but not at all happy about Dell ignoring this issue. I don't plan to lower my standards and settle for something inferior to try to make a point as a consumer.

I also heartily agree with:

and I also believe that Dell branded computers and Dell support are better than any of their competitors.

I swore off HP garbage a while ago... by far, their products are among the worst computers and they have horrible support service compared to Dell.

Going with the small companies like Asus or a white box brand like Clevo or Compal is not a good option. Their notebook computer products ares not as good and the service doesn't compare to Dell's.

I plan to never purchase anything made by Apple, so that is not even an option.

So where does this leave us?

 

nowhere.

We have to remain persistent and keep on Dell's
until a Proper Official fix can be provided. When you call make sure you show the CSR the problem through remote assistance(Alien Contact). My R2 has poor performance with the old(latest) Dell video driver from last year. I have spent over 10 hours on the phone showing that my R2 can not use the dell driver without taking a massive hit in performance and in game flickering. In 3DMark06 I loose 5,000 points with the old dell driver. For my R2 10.8+ runs PERFECT with no problems. Currently I'm on 11.4.

For my system and many others it is important to get this resolved on Official AMD drivers because ALOT has changed since those old dell drivers.

 

As we have not heard ANYTHING from Chris for such a long time, I took the liberty of contacting Dell Executive Customer Support via email to convey my problems and concerns over this whole debacle. I got a telephone call this morning from an exec rep and I thought they may listen to what I was saying.

How wrong can I be!

I wont go into all the details but its suffice to say that they know NOTHING of this particular issue. The rep took remote control of my system to check event viewer logs etc etc. I had already told him that I was running a test bios from Dell Engineering that was SUPPOSED to rectify this problem.

What do you think happened next?

Well, he wanted to flash my system to A10! - I said that A10 holds no cure for this problem but he was fairly insistent that I have the latest bios installed. I declined at that point in time and said that I know that it doesnt work because it is well documented in this thread that A10 does not work.

Even Alex said that he was happier to return to A10 than X31 and that he would "live with the sleep/brightness" problem instead.

I, for one, am not prepared to "put up" with a system that doesnt work - simply because Dell cannot or will not provide us with a fix for this problem.

So, I declined the flash to A10 (knowing it wont work to cure) and the alternative suggestion by the rep? - he wanted to have my system taken into the depot for full diagnostics etc etc etc....I said to him, listen...its NOT hardware related...my hardware is fine...the ONLY thing causing these problems is the bios that Dell have as their latest official version.

Basically, at that point, he was giving me two options - flash to A10 or have my system shipped to the "graveyard" otheriwse known as the depot.....

I have written a very long email back as I am absolutely FUMING that this is not getting rectified.

I paid ALOT of money not only for the system itself but for the WARRANTY that I purchased with it. This is something that there is NO fix for and it has been dragging on FAR too long......

 

Sorry for the double post but I wanted to keep this sperate to my last post.

As several of us have "adopted" the test X31 bios and have ran it and tested it out and have come to the conclusion that it is NOT a comprehensive fix to these problems, I have been doing some thinking on the subject.

As it seems apparent to me that Dell (as a whole) are not aware of this issue (my executive rep knew nothing of this test bios or set of problems) , I suggest that we "come together" as a whole and voice our opinions and views on this with the hope that it gets further acknowledgement.

The way I propse to do this is kind of like a mini petition. Here is what I suggest and its up to you fols if you want to participate or not. If you do, great.

We need a spokesperson and I volunteer, who will act on all of our behalfs.....

What I would suggest is that if you want to participate, PM me with your name, email address and service tag so that each and every one of us who have experienced this issue and is still experiencing problems will have a common voice.

I can then compose an email to Dell to show that its not just a one off and that this problem needs to be given more attention.

I dont know what it will accomplish but its all I can think of right now as we are getting absolutely nowhere with this due to lack of any official update. We all know that the test bios does not form a comprehensive fix to this issue - sure, it may remedy the brightness controls but to what other costs? - lose networking, trackpack functionality etc etc...

Anyway, PM me if your up for it.

Thanks guys
Steve.

 

Im going for a hat trick here, sorry......needs must as I have had an email back from Christopher Mixon today which does not look promising. I am sure he wont mind me conveying to the rest of you what he wrote to me. I paste EXACTLY what I got back from Chris as follows:

"All I know is that engineering is still investigating the issues. There is no timeline or ETA. They are reading the threads. They know what is going on. All you and I can do is wait.



CM"


So, it looks like there is no further progress from Dell's engineering team on this. This is all I got in response after quite a few emails (last of which was today) asking for updates and information on what is happening with the fixing of this issue.

This has been dragging on far too long for my liking. Thread started in January, Test bios release for testing end of February, we are now May and still no further along. I imagine that it is taking a "back seat" whilst other things take precedence.

Cant say I am a very happy bunny at the moment guys................I own a multi thousand pound laptop that wont even go to sleep normally without loss of function and Dell do not seem to care.....I dont know which is more alarming.

 

Incidentally did you R2 users try the driver they provided for the R3? It might work with the 5870's and be a better functioning temporary fix whilst they sort the BIOS.

 

Well, that is not good news (although I am not surprised).

I have been trying to decide which laptop to get as my "next gaming laptop" and really have no options at this point.

HP does well on the business line (what I buy for my lab) but no real gaming system.
Apple does well on the "high end consumer" line (what I buy for post-docs etc..) and I have a 2011 mbp which plays games in bootcamp acceptable (good for portability) but no real match for when my M17xR2 actually works.

So what do I get for my main gaming laptop....????.....
Cant get the m18x until I know dell/alienware have their act together in how they treat their customers.
Clevo/Sager.... possible contenders but the warranty is not up to snuff (have to send everything in to them for weeks on end).
MSI....... no way (no need to go into that fiasco)

So basically I am at an impasse.

I keep hoping Dell will get their collective heads out of their dark smelly places and take care of their enthusiast consumers...... but I have lost almost all hope in that respect after this last year.

 

Its a good thought but we were under testing guidelines from Chris to use whilst testing this bios. I have remained constant on the test bios (still running X31) and still suffer from errors and problems.

Whilst a temporary fix may be relatively good news, its not what I paid so much money for. A temporary fix does not cut the mustard. I could accept it if I had similar issues on a lesser system, to a degree but not when this is the epitome of laptops and they wont even resume from sleep without some form of problem - which can be totally random in nature.

I imagine (and as I like to use familiar examples) that if you bought a Ferrari and it developed an engine problem, they wouldnt turn around and say to you "oh....so sorry about that mr customer, tell you what...you stick with your crapped out Ferrari until we think of a way to fix it"......NO....you would more than likely get a new Ferrari WITH swanky car mats and split rim magnesium wheels thrown in to compensate you for you crappy experience.

Not with Dell......Chris' email to me more or less states that "you will have to wait while we work on it some more and eat and drink some more coffee and doughnuts......." - sorry Dell, not acceptable. Either fix it or give me a system that does work. End of story. Thats why I paid for your expensive warranty Mr Michael Dell......

Can you imagine how that scenario would pan out if you were an owner of a Ferrari? - this is the same situation but instead of the best car in the world, we are dealing with the best laptop in the world (supposedly.....still yet to see that come to fruition)

Oh, and I use Ferrari as an example only as an elite car manufacturer - I have no actual experience of what the best car in the world is because I drive a van most of the time for work purposes LOL.

(gotta keep it light hearted or I would seriously throw this laptop outta the window right now......)

 

10000% agree with this D.

Dell/Alienware need to book up their ideas in this department....how to treat customers that pay thousands for their systems. I maintain that they should actually have a fully functional system in place in their line up BEFORE going on to release the next best thing and leave the rest of us that own predecessors just "hoping" blindly for a fix that we more or less know will never eventuate......

 

I know some of you are frustrated but keep the forum rules in mind when posting.

Thanks.

 

Thread stickied.

 

Another day almost gone without a fix for our 2500.00USD+ Alienware/Dell Enthusiast Laptop....This is truly ridiculous!!!

 

Thank you mods for the sticky!!! I really appreciate it. After all the time(5 hours) I wasted trying to resolve this issue with tech support I was going to write today off as a total waste of time.....it's nice to know that the mods support our on going plea to rectify this neglected problem.

Thanks again.

 

I still have the issue as well, tech support has already updated the bios several times with the x31 and the A10, I have reformatted my hdd several times still have the problem, dell is replacing the video cards and the mainboard tomorrow but from reading everything here it probably won't fix the problem.

 

Thanks Batboy. Much appreciated.

It is rather ridiculous. When I spoke to my rep about this issue, they knew nothing about it. Obvioulsy, he wanted to go through "troubleshooting" steps which I kind of appreciate......but....and heres the HUGE but....

If Dell (i.e Chris Mixon and Engineering) know of this issue and as I posted yesterday, do NOT have a fix for this or even an ETA for a fix, where does that leave us as owners? again, I quote Chris from the email he sent me:

All I know is that engineering is still investigating the issues. There is no timeline or ETA. They are reading the threads. They know what is going on. All you and I can do is wait.



CM


In my case, they have requested that my system get shipped to the depot for further testing when if there was more LIASON between departments, they would KNOW that sending it away to the depot is only going to waste thier time and mine as THERE IS NO FIX OR BAND AID THAT DELL CAN APPLY TO REMEDY THIS ISSUE

I, amongst others, have put up with this issue since the start of the year and I think that indicates a fair amount of patience on our behalfs whilst Dell TRY and remedy - heck, we even have been "guinea pigs" for a test bios when in my opinion, that should have been something that engineering tried out before farming this job out onto its customers!

I paid handsomly for Dell warranty as did most of you and when I try and utilise it, I am getting crapped on from a great height by Dell over this issue. I didnt pay so much to have a laptop with such an issue for so long without resolution.

Bottom line for me is that I have waited and helped Dell to identify and rectify this problem, they havent done in over 5 months. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

 

Hi again guys.

I thought I would let you all know that I have created a thread on this very subject over at the Dell Community Forums Alienware Club. I have done this hopefully to raise even more awareness to this issue.

If you would like to submit replies to this Dell Forum Thread, you can do so by visiting here:

SLEEP/RESUME/BRIGHTNESS CONTROL ISSUES WITH M17X - PLEASE CONTRIBUTE. - Alienware Forum - Alienware Club - Dell Community

I have also updated my initial post with the link for those who are only just finding out about this problem.

Kind Regards
Steve.

 

When I try to post there it says access denied....

 

They dont like you. (j/k)

You have to 'join' the Alienware Owners Club before you can post in that section.

 

Ok, I just posted my thoughts on that thread (minus any foul language that slipped out before... sorry about that)

Hope dell is listening.

D.

 

I did...lol

Too tired...Just got off the phone with Dell...was on the phone for 3 1/2 hours. The brightness sleep issue happends with AMD or Dell and Generic video driver. Still not resolved. I will call again tomorrow.

 

Lmao!.....I thought they didnt like me either....took me long enough to post the thread....typical Dell style....always long and drawn out stuff and never easy and straightforward !

I am actually suprised I didnt have to submit stool/urine/blood/dna/sperm samples to become a member!!!

Thanks to you both (D and Sky) for posting your thoughts and comments....lets get this ball rolling over at Dell Forums too! - repped the pair of ya!

 

Got up this morning to get back on the case of trying to get this resolved. You guys know that I started a thread over at Dell Forums, right?

Well, I posted there last night, got up this morning to find that my post had been deleted for some reason. I could not fathom why. I will paste what I wrote over there and if someone has an idea of why it was deleted, that would be nice to hear - I, personally, didnt think I had posted anything "out of order".......getting really sick of this. Its almost like the problem is being "neutered" by them....Anywhere here it is:

My own experience with this is that I have been suffering from this problem for almost 6 months. I have tried dealing with Dell over the issue with regards to being patient and agreeing to use my own system to test out bios X31 released by Chris Mixon. During my testing periods I have found that this bios does not resolve the issue comprehensively. It may rectify the brightenss controls but only at the cost of losing other features such as the network and trackpad. This test bios X31 is by no means a cure and as we have already tried on bios A10, this also holds no cure. Official bios A10 may work to cure battery plugged in/not charging but nowhere in that bios release notes is any information to indicate that it was engineered with ANY cure for ANY sleep problem. It was released mainly and solely as a fix for the bad battery messages. Chris himself has already told us that Dell have no ETA on a fix and as this is the case, I am not happy that I have already endured this problem for many months. I paid a hefty premium like you guys for a Dell Warranty and for Dell backup and support. I could live with this issue if it could be rectified by hardware swapping but it CANNOT be done by this approach. It needs bios engineering to rectify and as this engineering seems to have no timescale for a fix, I am not happy as a paying customer who has parted with several thousands of pounds for my "top of the line" Alienware, to fins that the system will NOT do simple tasks like resume sucessfully from S3 sleep. I used to own a £500 Sony Vaio FW11E which was a dream of a laptop - maybe not a top flight gaming system but it was ROCK solid....never gave me ANY problems whatsover. Now, since I PAID Dell thousands for what is supposed to be the epitome of laptops, I find that it cant even go to sleep without problems. NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR AMULTI THOUSAND POUND SYSTEM! As already stated, there is no fix in the imminent future and I for one, after having had to put up with this issue now since the start of the year 2011, do not wish to endure it any longer. I have had enough of trying to assist Dell with fixes and fail to see why I, as a "valued" customer, should be fobbed off with excuses like "wait a bit longer" or "we will just have to see how it goes" or "we are working on it".....those kind of excuses do NOT hold any water with me. I like to use an example. If you bought a Ferrari and it developed an engine problem, Ferrari would NOT turn around and tell you "oh, mr customer....please bear with us whilst we work towards finding a fix for your engine.....we need to work on a fix for the piston rings in your engine design...once we have a fix, we will let you know...in the meantime, please continue to drive your faulty Ferrari." - NO WAY!!!! - They would give you a brand new Ferrari and deal with the faulty one themselves. Same logic should apply here.....we have bought the elite equivalent of the Ferrari in laptop terms.....as such. we should be treated with the same kind of ethos in mind. END OF STORY. We have all worked WITH Dell to try and solve it - it hasnt been solved - its time to take a different approach for those of us that have gone through the mill with this issue.

This is ALL I WORTE and it was deleted.....actually, I just read why....

Your post contains language that we believe reveals non-public information about Dell or another company or person. The Terms of Service do not allow users to post this type of information, which generally includes the names, telephone numbers and/or personal email addresses of Dell employees and Dell Community participants, as well as tracking numbers, customer numbers, order numbers, or service tags.

So, basically, it got deleted because I mntioned Chris Mixon or the words "test bios" or maybe the fact that "the test bios doesnt work"......well "EXCUSE ME".....thats plain ridiculous! - people have a right to know this stuff!!