*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17xR2 Edition Owner's Lounge - Part 3

I ditched AVG the moment i saw how much memory it uses in task manager.
Avast is the best free lightweight scanner imo

 

Can someone please tell me which ATI drivers are the best? The current 10.12 or the stock AW/Dell drivers?

 

Hey all. I have a 42" Samsung 1080P HDTV and would like to know if I would get a decent picture if I use my M17XR2, single 5870, while gaming.

 

that will totally depend on the game and the settings, but i'd say, most games will perform pretty well without AA

EDIT : It will be better than a PS3 or XBOX360 fo sure

 

Anyone know why my M17x just refuses to read from a 4gb SDHC card? It's by Kingston and it's SD4.

Also, got the following parts ordered just now.

5V759 DVDRW/BD-ROM, 4X, 12.7, Serial ATA..., HITACHI LG DATA STORAGE... 00001
RV546 CARD (CIRCUIT)..., GRAPHICS..., HARD DRIVE..., 5870, ATI GRAPHICS CARD..., MXM, CABLE... 00001

I ran a search and it's still confusing me since I always thought CF 5870m's come as multiple parts, not a single kit with a part number attached. Can someone verify for me? Thanks!

Also...it's good to be back with my AW crew. I'm almost officially back!

 

don't pay too much attention to the parts listed in "my orders" ... as i have had about 30 parts shipped to me since i first became an alienware customer.. and STILL don't understand how they come up with the listed parts in "my orders" ... i mean sure theres real part numbers... but they are never listed properly on the dell site... not sure why... maybe they don't want customers knowing the part names for some reason? no idea.

Anyways don't worry... more than half the time they'll ship you the right part regardless of what is listed ... haha

 

wow this looks like an M15x owners reunion, hahaha

 

hahaha..we'll always be M15x owners at heart

 

yeah i still love mine, one of the best lappy i've ever owned.

 

Whenever I turn my computer on the fans turn on at full speed for about 2 seconds. Is there a way to this off?

Thanks.

 

No that behavior is normal and welcomed. The fans are being tested by the bios before the system fully turns on. No way around it since it's built into the bios.

 

Nerdz....

 

Does anyone know if the factory cloth sleeve for the M17x has a part number? I got a prev ordered new system and would really like one for extra protection. I called tech support and was told it doesnt have a number so Im just double checking. Thanks guys.

 

I am sure it has a part number as in a company like Dell everything goes through inventory systems even "dust" .

Now the question is: is it a part number internal to Dell that cannot be sold?

 

Hmm good question. I'm hoping they can send it free?? haha. My tech guy is checking inventory right now. At first he was like you mean the cloth that does between the screen and the keyboard? I'm like I didn't know the M17x had one lol.

Update: tech guy looked for like 10min haha and couldn't find anything. So now I know it's not something easily replaced by tech support, at least it's not something they can locate. I'm wondering how people can get those replaced if theirs came ripped. Is there an AW parts specialist I can have a chat with?

 

Nope, Thats a bios test for fan function to ensure that the system will not overheat.

 

Thanks.

Also how can I update to the new ATI driver. I have the dell driver and tried to install the newest ATI driver but it failed. Is there something special I have to do in order to get it to install?

 

The part number is W508M and its called Shipping material, bag, notebook. When you call you have to go through new sales and are about $10. Good luck, I tried ordering one and was told they are sold out and that they only come with new systems. I saw some on ebay but one went for $25 bucks.

 

Hey guys got my m17x today and oh boy what a day. As I tore a new one into the packaging it shocked me to find the plastic backing piece to the lcd display not connected and missing the screws. I shrugged and powered the guy up, and got a nice message during the post phase of a non-dell a/c adapter was plugged in and asking me to enter setup or continue.
Bummed out I disabled this in bios and continued to windows and found another problem. As I was setting up my sense settings my webcam will not activate.

Now I have called dell and they told me I was given a 210watt a/c instead of a 240watt and that there may be a issue with the mobo. The rep has told me a tech guy will install the lose part, replace the mobo, and give me a 240watt a/c adapter.

And to add a cherry on top I cant get my webcam to work. I have reinstalled the driver and fn+f9 the heck out of it. Every program either cant find it or gives me verticle color lines. Any thoughts. Thanks in advance.

 

I'll bet $100 that you don't even HAVE a webcam. That display was likely a replacement (hence the loose backing) and the incompetent tech didn't bother to swap the camera over to the new display.

 

Awesome! +rep.

As for your system, Dell will have all that replaced next day service. It's the phone calls that suck.

 

sounds terrible, was that a newly built system or an outlet buy?

 

Dell just confirmed to me that i will be getting an M17x. Specifications yet unknown Dont even know if it's R1-2 or 3 but probably it's an R2 i'd guess.
Cant wait for them to call me with an order number and specs. If i look at the specs of my old m1730 and apply the equal or better theory i should be getting:

-space black
-2 year next business day warranty
-core I7 740QM
-French Azerty keyboard
-English 64 bit windows
-Crossfire 5870 or SLI 285M gtx
-1920*1200 RGB led
-240W adapter

and otherwise i don't really care only that i want it ASAP !!!!!

 

Great news! Congrats, Psyloid.

The process took 2+ weeks to run its course for me from the time I received confirmation of the replacement. It seemed like a very long 2 weeks, but worth the wait. Getting the warranty and service tag transferred over took about the same amount of time after receiving the Alienware machine.

 

The ten days it took between the death of my M1730 and today took already terribly long .... the moment They give me an order number I can go check the Dell website five times a day instead of calling them everyday though.. hahaha

 

5 times a day is not that bad.....lol

 

Great news, I hope they don't stick you with a R1.

 

Yeah it was an outlet, I really hope they installed a webcam that would suck if they did not. I tried calling back yesterday and the support system went down. Can anybody tell me how to tell if a webcam hardware is even installed?

 

its just a webcam device attached into the screen plastic, or attached to the screen with a flatcable running to the motherboard or integrated into the screen flatcable, it acts as if it was connected by usb (its talks with the mobo's usb controller), only way to check if it's there and connected is opening the screen, bad way to tell if its there is looking with a flashlight into the webcam hole, it should be pretty obvious if it is not there

 

I hope so too, but i don't think I would let them, i'll push for an R2 with the specs i've listed, I want a new computer not a refurb. luckily non english european customers have better support (local native speaking employees instead of India call centers) and they are very friendly and try to please you as much as possible

 

Hey guys so yeah I don't even think a webcam is installed into my lcd assembly. I poked a flash light into there an long and behold I see no camera lenses or led light.

Some good news a dell tech is coming out tomorrow to look and fix the system. Here is hoping that is get all fixed.

 

ok nice news. just be there watching when he does his job just to report back to Dell if something is not handled the right way, because your system is like half system now. I hope you get it fixed tomorrow.

 

I got the m17xR2 system in my sign for my m1730 (x9000, 9800gtx SLI org 8700gt SLI, 400gb hdd raid 0) i also got the 940xm CPU because original specs of m1730 had a x7900 CPU which is sooo much better lol
You will love your new m17x

 

Well my m17x came in today...in the form of a m15x

Wonder if thats ever happened before to people!
Frustrated and disappointed!

Here's to hoping I get some kind of reparations!

 

I must say I wasn't quite convinced my R2 was completely awesome until I updated to the 11.1 ATI drivers last night. Now I gotta say wow.

The new drivers are a big improvement. I tested Metro 2033, Bad Company 2, Black Ops and Dawn of War 2 Chaos Rising and they all ran between 40-60fps generally with AA and high settings @1920 x 1200, not significantly worse than a desktop gtx 480!

One thing I didn't like was the inability to force v sync but by using a program called d3d overrider I was able to do it. I recommend anyone using ATI cards getting it as screen tearing makes me feel nauseous.

I also purchased breach last night, its ok but if you like that sort of thing get Black Ops.

Just got Dead Space 2 will post some comments re game and performance once I have downloaded it.

 

twin 5870s rip any game to shreds...

and Catalyst Control Center can force V sync.. i think?(or is it radeon pro).. but which game doesn't have the option anyways? all the games i play do

 

I have experienced v sync issues with Metro 2033, Dawn of War II and Bad Company 2. there is an option that says it will force it on in the Catalyst control centre but it doesn't work. The tearing was so bad in Metro I could only play it for 10 minutes before I felt unwell.

My friends and I have had some issues with ATI cards in the past but they were all fairly low spec I think once you get to the high end stuff they start to be really good.

I measured the temperatures as well and the hottest the primary card got was 69 degrees c. Looks like someone has finally designed a cooling solution that works in a laptop.

 

Just off the phone with my Dell rep, I'm gonna get the system in my sig, still debating about the CPU and the warranty. they want to give me a I5, but it has lower cache than my old CPU so i want I7 740, and i had 2yr warranty on my old system, so i want that on the M17x as well...

 

CPU apparently is determined by speed and number of cores. So if your CPU was a dual, then I doubt they'd give you a quad. The warranty should be added on by Dell no problems.

 

And still they gave me the I7-740QM as swap for a Core2duo T9300
I was pretty persuasive and convincing
So all is finally arranged now i wait for an email with my order number

 

@Psyloid : Great news on your m17x, an i7 quad for a core2duo I will take that any day.

@wordtothawiae: where did you find those updated drivers? Are those the new ones for the R3?

And speaking of drivers, where do I find the ATI software on my system? I am running in stealth mode because of the AC adapter issue, but shouldn't the software be already installed?

Finally another report on my system. Dell tech is coming out today to fix the system. I "hypothetically" removed the top lcd cover, since the lcd backing is off anyway, and would you now the camera hardware is completely missing.

I was on the phone with tech support for a hour doing remote diagnose to find out something I already knew. :-(

Here is hoping that today will be a better day for my R2.

 

they always do that, even if you can tell exactly what the problem is ....
in the end all that matters is that it's fixed

good luck on that !

 

Would it be worth it to pay 90€ for 4GB cas7 1333 DDR over the cas9 that is standard in the machine? or wouldn't i notice in games and daily use. I don't do benchmarking.

 

no you won't notice it

 

actually we both noticed a slight difference with hyperx ram but nothing special.

 

nothing worth 90€ I guess ...

 

With that ram its not really worth the money just for small performance increases when you can get the same results or better with software tweaking.

 

So great news guy, the Tech came today and replaced my A/C adapter and had the hardware to fix the plastic LCD paneling. He saw that I was missing a webcam and contacted dell support.

The only thing that was jacked up was the tech support rep on the phone, from India (no disrespect), told him that my computer does not rate a webcam. After a few minutes of the tech telling him it was an Alienware and and reading the R2 specs from my android phone (thank you Sprint and HTC EVO), a new LCD assembly has been ordered. The home tech told me for all the issues I have been through he hooked me up with the 1900x1200 res screen instead of my 1440x900 one.

And I have to say this machine at full power is mighty impressive, even without the webcam, for now.

 

well i just did my first run on my m17x r2 from dell outlet.
Specs: i920 5870 CF 4 gig ram RGB screen. Everything stock settings and got the following result in 3dmark vantage: 14716. Seems to be a good score stock right?

edit: Bad FPS dips in games. During survival on L4D2 (usually most intensive game mode) FPS dips to 20s then shoots back up to 100s. Crysis has really bad flickering that causes the game to be unplayable with FPS of about 10. I have yet to install throttlestop and will need more education on it before I decide to use it (afraid of shortened CPU life). But regardless, I should not be dipping to the 20s in L4D 2...i mean come on!? What gives?

 

Hey, i did a clean install of windows and everything seems to be running great except for one thing. When i put my pc to sleep then wake it the audio over hdmi stops working and doesn't even recognize that its plugged in but the image projects fine. I have reinstalled the drivers to no avail could use some help.