*OFFICIAL* Alienware M17x R3/R4 Owner's Lounge Thread

Send me a PM with your service tag and phone number, I'll have it fixed in no time.

 

Hey mate I think you have a faulty keyboard there I had the same problem twice on m17x among other problems and it was replaced. So just give dell a call and they should either send you a replacement or a technician NBD.

Hope that helps

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

I am new to this forum but this is not my first notebook, but my knowledge is nothing compared to the combined knowlegde on this forum. So may I pose a question?

I recently got a nice M17x R4 for my own use. We all know it is a very nice machine. Alas I experience some problems. Let me tell you about it.

I have a Dell 3007 2560x1600 monitor connected to the notebook. This monitor only has dual-link DVI capability. So I bought a Displaylink to DVI dual-link adapter and connected the monitor through this adapter.

This works fine while using desktop applications (Word, Excel, simple web browsing). But if i try to use a graphics intensive application on the Dell 3007 monitor the monitor will get disconnected after a variable period of time. This can happen whithin seconds or after some minutes. When this happens the monitor gets reconnected again some seconds after that. This can happen several times in quick succession making my usage of the Dell 3007 a viewing hell . If and when it happens seems to be dependent on the viewport used by the graphics intensive application. I can reliably trigger the behaviour if i use Furmark on the external monitor. If i test with a resolution above 1600x900 it will happen within seconds.

• With graphics intensive application i mean Google earth, some websites like Google maps, watching video using MS Media player or media player classic. I am sure it will happen if i played games on this monitor but I am not a gamer. Only a simple developer wanting speedy compile times and viewing lots of code at a time .

EXTRA INFORMATION:

• I can dual boot into Windows 8 and Windows 7. This problem exist in both versions of windows.
• I have tried this with different versions of the ATI driver (Dell provided driver dated 15-1-2013, ATI
  version 3.1, ATI version 3.2 beta4). In all versions the same problem exists but the frequency at which the problem appears is not consistent.
• It makes no difference if i have discrete graphics enabled or not.
• The problem seems to happen faster if the computer is busy copying large files (say a 30 Gig virtual machine from disc 1 to disc 2 at 100 Gbps).
• The problem also happens if the ATI 7970m is disabled in the Windows devices control panel.

In my opinion there are two possibilities:

1. The Displayport to DVI-duallink adapter can't handle the load when large parts of the screen are rapidly updated. At the moment it is "overloaded" it resets. At that point the graphics card will discover a disconnection of the monitor followed by a reconnection of the monitor.
2. The displayport subsystem of the m17x has a bug under heavy load which causes it to disconnect.

So here is my question!
I have no other Displayport capable graphics card available. So I have no possibility to test the Displayport to DVI-dual link adapter. Is there someone out there who has a 2560x1600 monitor connected to his M17x R4 and is willing to test if he/she can trigger this same problem?

Configuration information:
M17x R4 i7 3630, 22 Gb., mSata 256 Gb. ATI 7970m (bios 015.022.000.001 date 2012/06/29), Sata 1Tb disk, DVD, Full HD screen. Dell A10 bios. No overclocks, mods or the like.
Windows 8 Pro fresh install with all drivers from Dell website installed first while HD4000 was enabled.

 

Maybe a long shot have you tried a lower refresh rate on graphics cards utility program?

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

 

Interesting. What happens if you replicate all tests performed so far with the resolution set lower? Also, do you have the USB cable from the dongle attached? What happens if you don't attach USB? Is it in a 3.0 or 2.0 port, if you are connecting it?

 

Anyone looking to upgrade to a B+RG panel in their R2/R3???????
I know people have been wanting to do this. so thought id share my experience so far!

check my thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...e-m17x-r3-r4-lcd-panel-replacement-guide.html

 

If set the resolution on the 3007 lower the results are the same
A valid point to enquire about connecting the USB cable of the DP -> DVI converter. It's an active adapter so it needs power and uses the USB cable to get it. At the moment I have it connected to the USB port of the monitor. But i have tried it with all the ports on the m17x.

@slikjb
With CCC 3.1 It is not possible to adjust the refresh rate at this resolution. It is fixed at 60 Hz.

 

Thanks but I didn't buy it directly from Dell Got it from a reseller, HIDevolution... and I already had to send it in for a GPU replacement. The W key works 99% of the time so it doesn't bother me that much. If I starts to happen frequently I'll take off the key and clean it thoroughly, or if it's really serious I'll check the keyboard connections. Doubt I'll have to send it in though, but thanks!

 

I kicked this over to my friends at Dell who work with the displays engineers. Once they hear back, someone with a Dell badged account on NBR should be posting some information for you.

In the meantime, just asking, is another dongle brand to test an option? Are they too pricey?

 

I'm not sure if this is better answered in the pre-order thread or perhaps here, where people have already been using their M17xs.

OK, I am REALLY confused on what to get in terms of HD storage.

I need a minimum of 500 GB HD storage - my primary use of this system will be editing of HD videos. I can't afford the extra $350 for an 512 GB SSD (and I see them for about the same price on Newegg, etc.) So I'm looking at the options of 7500 GB + 64 GB mSata Caching drive or a 7500 GB + 128 mSata "Boot" drive.

What is the difference between the two?

 

the mSATA drive basically caches commonly used files so they are easily read. This improves boot speed and helps with the launch with commonly used programs. With a boot drive, all your system files would be on the SSD which is faster than a caching hard drive, but if you don't watch where you install things the drive will quickly fill up. Hope this is easy to understand.

 

Cool, yeah, that makes sense (I used to build my own systems but I haven't upgraded since the SSDs have become popular.)

So - the 64MB Cache drive will basically act as just that, a cache that tries to figure out what files I'm using and mirror or temp store them for faster retrieval, while the 128 GB boot drive will act simply as a second (but faster) drive, with Windows boot up and system files stored on it. How much will Windows, etc. take up and how much will be free? I could see, for example, moving files I am going to video edit (which can easily be around 8 gig of files) to the 128 GB drive temporarily, as I am working with them, to speed up the editing and rendering.

Thanks

 

I have a bunch of small programs and such installed on my SSD and still have like 50gb's left, so I don't think that would be an issue.

 

Sorry, no second adapter available. At $ 100 a piece they are a bit pricey.
If someone from Dell would reply that would be great.

 

Very cool. I assume Dell ships it with Windows installed on the 128GB SSD?

Now if I can just figure out how to connect with someone at Dell who can offer a better deal than what I configure on their web site.

 

Hey guys.

I didn't really know where to ask this so I figured the owners lounge might be a good place to post.

When/If I buy my M17x with a 7970m, is it safe to keep my overclock on 24/7? I'm hoping to get the most out of my card without burning it. I'm hoping around 1-1.1ghz or whatever is stable. Because of the Enduro issues I will be leaving the 7970m on 24/7. Unless I actually need battery power which isn't very often. Because the 7970m will be running whenever the laptop is on, is it safe to have a high overclock?

 

I definitely wouldn't leave the 7970m overclocked all the time, especially at 1000+ core. I leave my gpus on stock clocks, and then oc whenever I feel like I would benefit from it (benchmarking, demanding games that run under 60 fps, etc.)

 

That's disappointing. Lets say I went with a 680m, considering it has Optimus would I be able to run my 1000+ clocks 24/7 since the iGPU will be running when I'm not gaming?

 

1000+mhz is a pretty heavy oc to run at all times. I'm not positive about the 680m (my M18x hasn't shipped yet and I don't have my M17x with 680m anymore) but when I overclocked my old 7970m I believe the idle clocks raised as well. This put slightly more stress on the gpu even when it wasn't be used. Setting clock rates with Afterburner or Nvidia Inspector is easy, so to be on the safe side I recommend just leaving everything on stock clocks during normal/light use. Whenever you want to benchmark or run demanding games you can launch AB and apply the overclock beforehand.

Hopefully someone else can let us know whether overclocking the 680m raises idle clock rates. I'd check it myself if I had my notebook in front of me.

 

Thanks for the input. In theory it should't affect the GPU when idling as the 680m is turned off and the iGPU kicks it.

 

It's not being utilized, but it's still running at idle clock rates. If those clock rates are increased, the gpu will consume more power and be under slightly more stress.

No problem man, sorry I couldn't be more definitive about the 680m.

 

Ah I see what you mean.

EDIT: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358928,00.asp
"For these tasks the discrete GPU and all the PCI-e lanes will be turned off."

Can anyone confirm this?

 

I can assure you that the gpu isn't "shut off," it's just not being utilized. It's still running, though idle clock rates are obviously much lower than they are at full utilization. It would be nice if if someone can confirm whether or not the 680m's idle clock rates are affected by overclocks. I've just never checked to see.

 

my 460m used to have an idle clock, and then would kick up to the overclock whenever I started a benchmark or a game or something, Things could have easily change though as the 460m is getting old. and m18x now?? your crazy dude!!

 

my 680m idles at 324mhz and comes down to pcie 1.1 from 3.0 when doing nothing



the downclocked 680m

 

lmao I know man, I can't make up my friggin mind. It's my 4th laptop this year

 

So if you overclock the card, it doesn't affect the idle clocks?

 

Hmm I've seen that 324Mhz clock on my stock card/drivers before on the 680m was a driver issue for me, it was stuck in that clock even when I gamed on it. Had to update drivers for them to work properly. Idle clocks now are 135mhz core and 324mhz memory.

 

FWIW, if money is tight, I'd go with the 64GB cache drive with a big spinner, and just make the move to OS on an aftermarket 512 SSD later when money pops up. That's just one way to look at it, though, and not the only answer. It comes down to choices and trade-offs, like everything else, obviously.

I will remind them. Can't promise they'll reply.

My personal take, which is as good as anyone else's who doesn't work for Dell- They never tested for DisplayPort-to-DVId adapters because DisplayPort was not prevalent at the time that display was released. I seriously doubt they will test for it either, since the display is way past EOL.

 

Does the AMD overdrive not work on laptops or something? I can't seem to find the performance tab in CCC, nor can I enable the feature.

 

Heyo,
Im looking for a program which one can change the led's color when the desktop background chagning too (win7). Do you know any program like this?
Cheers

 

Never heard of one although it would be nice (and easy) to have a tie into the AlienFX interface. Always been a bit disappointed that windows media player and iTunes only have a static display when 'thrashing' the LED's

 

I had found a way to enable the CCC overdrive through a "official" OC with msi afterburner. I'm not 100% sure if it works but it did for me so I thought I'd share it.

This method may also eliminate or minimize screen flicker problems (you may still get some flicker) that are associated with un-official overclocking methods such as those used by other apps and afterburner's ulterior overclock method which involves editing a config and placing two old Ati files in a windows folder.

1. Download the Latest AMD Drivers.

2. Download the latest version of afterburner.

3. Un-install any other versions of Afterburner, Trixxx, GPU Tweak etc. Don't want other apps interfering. Do not keep user settings, delete everything.

4. Uninstall the AMD drivers via Add/Remove Programs.

5. Restart your pc. Once back into windows run Driver Fusion, analyse amd and then delete all entries. Restart. (or manually remove all registry folders if possible)

6. Now you can install the new drivers. Follow the prompt and restart your pc.

7. Once booted back into windows, install afterburner. Once its installed run it, it will prompt you to restart, restart.

8. Create a shortcut to msi afterburner and place it on your desktop. Right click the shortcut, properties and add /xcl to the target box. Click ok+apply, then run the shortcut like so. Delete /xcl once you get the clock limits message.

9. Restart your pc. Once back into windows open afterburner, go to options and enable voltage control and monitoring like so.

 

Me_myself_and_I,

We ran your troubleshooting by the Displays teams. We have never tested the Club DP to DVI device on any Dell hardware. The displays team thinks the adapter may be suspect. At this time, there are no plans to validate the Club DP to DVI device.

 

I was hoping a few other owners could help me with my wife's M17 R3 that's having a couple of problems.

First off, the other week it overheated and shutoff during gaming. After doing some investigation it seems like the fans don't spin very fast. I was able to download a fan control program which allows you to set the manually. If I spin them up to 3500 or 4000 RPM (about 50% of max value), the machine cools way down. It just seems like the machine never sets them to go that fast and as a result gets very warm. The overheat was a 1 time thing, but I'm curious if something's awry here? I think I can tell HWInfo to set fan speeds manually based on temperature rather than system controlled, but I'd really prefer not to.

Second, with regards to video drivers, when the machine was new I managed to get ATI's 12.1 drivers installed. I upgraded them (since the overheat) to 13.1 by disabling switched graphics (after a BIOS update). Unfortunately this left me with a machine that could only go to 70% brightness. So I re-enabled the switchable graphics which at least sets the brightness back to normal. However now the function keys don't control brightness and Windows can't change it based on power settings. If I tell CCC to use the Intel graphics driver instead, the function buttons work again.

Any way to resolve these issues?

 

Now my R4 wont boot into Windows 8. Tried to boot into safe mode and that didn't work either. Happened when I tried to uninstall and reinstall the AMD CCC 13.2 Beta 5. For some reason it screwed up with the Intel HD4000 drivers also and I had to reinstall the drivers for that too.

 

I just wanted to make a few comments since I tend to lurk.

I upgraded from Windows 7 (Home) to 8 (Pro) maybe a week ago. I'm just now getting the system to a point where I'm really beginning to like it. Initially I had misgivings, but figured that, for $40, it would be stupid to not at least test Win8.

As well, I'm sticking with Metro. I hated it at first, but now I'm getting used to it.

I'm not a benchmarker, so I haven't done any comparisons between Win7 and Win8. Win8 feels faster and seems better optimized (note that I'm not using SSDs...I don't feel I need them for what I do with the system). I know some people think that Win8 is a tablet OS...I'm not sure if the people who say that have actually installed it on their M17x, though.

I've had no migration issues whatsoever, but I did have an issue with the the Win8 product key after I installed the free Media Center pack...solved that by reverifying with MS (I think that the system didn't like the fact that I installed Win8 and then Media Center immediately afterward). I've not experienced issues with the Killer wireless card like some people have. All of the Alienware programs (AlienAutopsy, AlienFX, and the others) worked without issue.

I've a Carbonite account and used it to restore some of my large sets of data (my iTunes music and other large directories such as photos), so that was a bit painless.

I installed by using my factory refresh backup of Windows 7, then installing the Windows 8 upgrade. It wasn't all that bad...just a bit time-consuming.

I've no complaints whatsoever. In fact, I'm thinking on upgrading the rest of my Win7 machines to Win8 (my wife won't let me touch her system, though).

 

So Ive had a new motherboard, new graphics card fitted, spent countless hours with dells support team on the phone and home visits and nearly two months on I still havent got a fully working laptop, it keeps falling over asking for the 240W PSU that was supposedly supplied with the laptop instead I was given a 180W psu and have had this problem since day one yet dell/ Alienware refuse to swap it over dispite one of their own engineers witnessing the fault whilst he was here as advising that it definitly needs the higher power PSU.Never again will i consider buying or recommendind any dell products, they are absoluty a waste of time and money imo, as for customer service, i dont think dell have heard of such a thing..... absolutly useless imo!

 

There are 2 Dell employees who've recently posted on this thread. Perhaps they will assist.

 

Welcome to the community!

In order to help you get your laptop back on its feet we need a more specific description of your issue. But let's start with some easy questions

1. Which Video Card do you own?

2. What BIOS version are you currently running?

 

Most likely ordering the MSI GT60 with GTX 680m or Alienware m17x r4 with HD 7970m today. The m17x will come out to at least $200 more with a two year warranty and accidental damage coverage, and the GT60 has a better wireless card. Why should I buy the Alienware?

I know I've asked similar questions.

 

Service after the sale, only reason you need.

 

Fair enough.

 

1080p screen, HD 7970m, Killer 1103, 16GB RAM, a mouse and headset for a net price of $1673. Is that a decent deal? Buying such a laptop is hard to justify, but I guess that is the fun of it.

Bit the bullet.

 

That's doesn't sound like a horrible deal to me, DVD or Blu-Ray? What processor?

 

3630qm and DVD. My rep wouldn't give me the 5% gift card that comes with Dell Advantage membership, but I got Next Business Day shipping.

 

Is Alienware service better than Dell service? I"ve had Dells for over 10 years, but in the last few years the service has been terrible, on average. Typically some person in India reading off of a standard reply card, telling me how they understand that I must be unhappy with a broken hinge 3 months after I purchased the computer, but hinges don't just break and therefore since I don't have accident coverage they cannot repair it. I've had several similar calls in the last few years; that one was over a stress crack on a hinge that I watched start and propagate. I had to argue with the person, who refused to let me talk to anyone else. Called back, same thing: hinges don't break on their own, you chose not to buy accident insurance, we'll repair it for several hundred dollars. I also had someone tell me I needed to reinstall Windows when I had a break in the cable connecting my LCD to the computer. The general support is really bad these days.

OTOH, the Mythlogic I purchased has people in Michigan who answer, actually listen rather than spit back "I realize you must be unhappy with your xxxx" and then give me rote advice from some piece of paper. They talk to you, listen, know what they are talking about, and really do care.

BTW - I am in the process of buying an M17x to go along with my notebook from Mythlogic, but it isn't due to service.

 

Let me know when Mythlogic sends a tech to your house to fix your broken hinge. Alienware / Dell will provided you opt for that level of warranty. There are many more cases of customers getting replacement computers and having parts shipped out and techs coming out and fixing the problem the first time than there are of people with broken hinges not getting good service. Sure bad service happens, and you'll hear or read more about that because it's human nature to whine when things are bad but not so much to praise when things are good. Good service it taken for granted (as it should be no doubt, you paid for it after all) but it's rarely bragged about.

The Dell / Alienware warranty and level of service is far and away superior to almost anything you'll get from a reseller..........who cares if you talk to some pimply faced kid in Michigan when the end result is that you need to box up and ship your $2000 or more computer back for service. I'll take the barely comprehensible non native English speaker every time and escalate until I get someone that understands my language when it results in my computer being fixed or replaced IN MY HOME.

 

Agree, I've had 3 engineer visits AND a brand new replacement over a 6 month period! You may think, *@#, that sounds bad, (and it was not a happy time!) but high-end, low volume parts are not always the most reliable around. You will still be dealing with India but a dedicated team that runs by different rules to the run-of-the-mill Dell stuff.

 

Speaking of warranty, has anyone had a good deal on extensions made after the purchase?