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

When the result is that I am charged a few hundred dollars for that tech to show up and fix the hinge that was clearly a stress crack and not the result of dropping the computer (which the tech on the phone insisted is what happened - he refused to accept that it could be a stress crack, even when I emailed photos) then yeah, I'd rather ship the system to a guy in Michigan and have him repair it.

I remember when one of the reasons I purchased from Dell was their tech support. I've been buying Dells since the 90s. We have 5 laptops in the house, all Dells until recently, and as a result I talk to tech support a lot. It is really painful dealing with Dell tech support these days. I like the machines enough that I am still splitting my latest purchase between a nice machine from Mythlogic and an M17x, but I cringe whenever I have to deal with the tech support.

 

Pardon me for asking, but what's been occurring where you need to leverage tech support that much? If you can elaborate on those issues, I might be able to believe that Dell might have a support problem, but I'm not having issues where I even have to call Dell for support...not in the last 10 years, at least. I've a house full of Dell products myself and have been using Dell almost exclusively the last 10 years. In that 10 years, I've only had to contact Dell support twice (each instance of support was stellar). One issue was due to a bad LCD panel in an Inspiron 8500 laptop I bought from a friend. The other instant was an issue with non-functional AV on a just-purchased system.

 

Hey guys,

my R3 made 6 beeps when I tried to switch it on. Any ideas on what is wrong with my laptop?

 

Super excited to say I just ordered my very first Alienware laptop. I finally saved up to get one & wanted to share with everyone

 

Laptops Beep Codes
Beep Code Description
1 System Board, covers BIOS corruption or ROM error
2 (*)No Memory / RAM detected
3 System Board Chipset Failure
4 Memory failure
5 CMOS battery failure (Click here to fix it)
6 Video card / chip failure
7 CPU failure
8 LCD failure

Desktops Beep Codes
Beep Code Description
1 Possible motherboard failure - BIOS ROM checksum failure
2 (*)No RAM detected.
3 Possible motherboard failure - chipset error
4 RAM read/write failure
5 Real Time Clock failure
6 Video card failure
7 Processor Failure

 

That's great man! What did you order?

 

Did you make any bios changes? You could try resetting it by removing the coin cell under the bottom cover and holding down the power button. Put it all back and see what happens? If that does not work then you need to research 'blind flash for R3', this is what I had to do.

Mine did this when I made a mistake in the bios and since the iGPU is not available (3D Model) ended up with no video - and 6 beeps!

Good Luck

 

Congrats! I made the same choice.

 

Hello. Maybe somebody interested?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...heatsink-back-plate-oryginal-msi-laptops.html
Today I have checked compatibility and it works in my ALIENWARE m17x r4 ;]. All you need is to change heatsink for nvidia. Bracket is the same like in radeon 7970m.

 

Thanks for the advice!
For the past year, I have not done any changes to my laptop. Should I still follow your advice?
(I am still a noob in these kinds of stuff so would appreciate any advice!)

 

The coin cell is an easy one, two screws under the battery and slide the base off. You'll see the coin cell. If it just did this out of the blue then either the video card has failed or maybe it has got a bad connection. While you are in there its only a case of removing the fan - top right as you look at the laptop right side up. 3 screws for the fan and 2 (maybe 3?) holding the video card. Lift it out and clean the contacts then reseat it. You'll also see all the fluff that has accumulated in the cooling fins Put it all back together and try again.

The panel connector could also have come loose but that is a much bigger job to get to, so start with this

A blind flash is probably not going to help if you have not touched the bios or tried to update it when the problem occurred.

Do you still have warranty?

 

Yea! I just renewed my warranty for another three years!
I opened up my m17x r3 before to clean the fans but should I contact support this time or just follow your advice?

 

It will take you no more than 5 minutes to do as he's suggesting. If you do it and it doesn't solve your problem you will still have a valid warranty.

 

Cool. They will want to try what I said anyway, (except the blind flash, do not try this before calling as it can cause more issues and they will think you 'broke' it.) If you don't want to open it they will send an engineer, and possibly a spare video card but that depends on the quality of the service tech!

Good Luck

 

What's up guys, long time

Whoever's got BF3 add me up on Origin. Just got Battlefield 3 Premium Edition

Origin: Omnitika

 

The one laptop had a recurring stress crack failure of one of the hinges. Another had an apparent crack/break in the wiring in the cable connecting the LCD to the computer. One had a fan that just stopped running. One had a power supply issue. Let me think, another had a GPU that failed. Another was an LCD that suddenly developed a very dim area in the lower left corner. And there have been others.

Until a few years ago, the support was superb, and a reason I purchased from Dell. Recently I just get the Indian support people reading from their scripts, polite but usually pretty useless. At least twice I've had people argue with me (and I am usually polite to a fault when dealing with tech/customer support, whether it is airlines or computers) and tell me I was lying to them (one the aforementioned stress crack issue) because "hinges don't just crack unless you abuse them."

I didn't mean to go on so much about the support but people asked - my point was just that by and large the tech support has become something I have to deal with rather than a feature.

 

Alienware support is actually based in Costa-rica and not india if you call 1-800-Alienware. They have always taken care of me and are a lot easier to get things fixed then regular dell support. Just my ten cents. each to their own after all.

 

Thanks - I had asked the question earlier if Alienware support was better than Dell support (or the same) and never saw an answer.

 

Hi, Some of it depends on which country you are in. For me in the UK it is an indian helpdesk but, it is a dedicated AW line. If I call Dell's main number, after giving my service tag I get transferred to the AW helpdesk.

In my experience the level of support is very close to business level. I had 400+ dell laptops to purchase and look after in my last job (in US) and dell won the contract for 3 cycles mostly on the support along with the quality of the hardware. I fully expected consumer support to be lacking but so far they have looked after me very well

You sure have had some sucky experiences

 

I got the base model with upgrade to the 1080 screen and 8gb memory, nothing special but I'm really glad I was able to get an alienware.

 

In the interest of brevity over tact, I'd ask, why in the world would anyone dial up tech support when Dell and Alienware have robust social media support channels like @DellCares, @AlienwareTech on Twitter, Facebook.com/Dell, Alienware reps working on these very boards almost full time? (no offense intended at all; just asking)

 

Hey MickyD1234,

Is the graphic-card heat sink fan harder to remove? This is because I could not remove it after I loosened the screws whereas the other fan is much easier to remove.
I dare not use too much force as I am afraid I might break it. Besides, I still have a stripped screw in my laptop( worried about my warranty).

Thanks for the help!

 

Hey, NP.

Both fans just lifted out for me. 3 screws right? Give it a little prise with a flat blade driver on opposite sides, maybe it's just stuck a little? HTH.

 

Just got my little beast recently

And I have some questions now - is it worth replacing the VBIOS? Will it bring some improvements over the original one? What do you guys think?

 

VBIOS flashing, is up to you, if your going to undervolt/overclock the card then go for it, otherwise if your going to be using a mild overclock through msi afterburner or using it stock then dont need to. Also it can help with any throttling you get, but run a few games first see if your happy with its performance.

 

Well, I ran Hitman Absolution at 1080p with MSAA off and all other options maxed out. It was like 40+ FPS, but there were some spikes also. Nothing critical but still, maybe flashing can help.

 

Hi guys. The 1TB drive in my R4 looks to be on the blink after only a few months. I've changed it from a dynamic disk to basic, and now formatting it using disk management, and despite doing a quick format, it's still going after 2 hours when this would only take a few seconds. Is this normal or is the drive busted? Is there any other way to check?

As it came with the laptop, do I phone Dell and they'll replace it for free if it is indeed defective? Thanks for any assistance.

 

Just call it in. They will ask a few questions and send you a replacement, that's how it went for me . If they offer an engineer call, you can decline and they will send you the part (and return label) direct.

Good Luck.

 

I wonder how came this laptop - AFTERSHOCK X15 (NVIDIA GTX680M) - Hitman Absolution, Far Cry 3 - YouTube - has 60+ FPS with all on ultra while the M17X with the same GPU gets 40+? What's the catch?

 

Run a benchmark, maybe 3dMark11 or something like that, post your scores, should be getting around 6000 for 3Dmark11. Just use the free basic version. Otherwise could be driver issue or hardware issue.

 

Wonder what resolution (and on a smaller display). He only mentions FullHD, not sure, but I often lower it for frame rate without any visible difference in-game

 

Well, I'm pretty sure he's "cheating" with settings. Because SSAO & ambient occlusion brings my desktop GTX680 to its knees when turned on. So no way he can play it on "max" with such a framerate on 680m. But still, I get 42-46 FPS with those things turned off on my M17X. 3DMark is fine, temps are fine, drivers are the latest from Nvidia web-site (perhaps I should try the Dell's ones?).

 

Yeah possibly, no evidence of graphics settings in game or nvidia control panel, so take those screens with a pinch of salt. Latest WHQL or latest BETA? dont use dell ones, they are usually a few versions behind, use them only if your having driver issues basically.

 

Latest beta. I've noticed that Dell's ones are outdated, but who knows, maybe it's the Optimus issue or something like that.

 

Running latest BETA drivers now as well, no issues with optimus for me at the moment, never actually had issues with optimus personally except having to right click and use nvidia gpu a few times. If yours is working with the latest beta, just keep them, the drivers constantly aadd performance enhancements anyways.

Looks like your system is performing as it should. Maybe try tweaking the settings, see if anything can dramatically improve the FPS, although I heard hitman was a poorly ported game anyways.

 

Okay, thanks, I think I'll just test it with other games a little bit more.

By the way, have anyone tried out DayZ? Is it running okay? What's the avg. FPS?

 

No offense taken; at the time of these issues I was unaware of both this site and the social media contact options.

BTW - in spite of my bad experiences, just had a great experience with a sales contact from here and just ordered a nice M17x. It will replace this old M1710 that has been a very good workhorse computer for quite a few years.

 

Congrats on your new purchase the m17x is a nice laptop.

 

Thanks, can't wait. I ended up getting one configured with the 680M, 16 gig RAM, 750 GB HD + 64GB mSata cache drive (will add a 512 SSD later), etc. for about $2100 plus free overnight shipping and the 5% gift card. I'm sure it will be pretty amazing after this old Dell M1710 I've had for almost 6 years, especially for some of the video editing I do.

 

That's a great deal!

I just used my 5% gift card to buy 2 additional years of warranty and got a $75 gift card with this.

 

Hey, Thanks man!

The beeping sounds during startup somehow stopped. Therefore, Dell tech support decided that it will be only be necessary to send a technician once the laptop beeps again. He also recommended that I do a backup to my system before anything happens. I have not done any full backup before so do you know whether there are any good full backup softwares besides the Respawn Premium considering that it is rather pricey at £32.

 

So, just to review, you removed the GPU card and cleaned it, reseated, and it now works fine? Sounds like a poor connection somewhere.

The respawn is good enough for keeping a full backup, use the USB or DVD option for a complete off-line backup. Any other backup software will offer more options but for free it does the job. Just that you can't backup specific locations on other drives without paying for it.

 

Nice! It's gonna be a world of difference from the venerable M1710.

 

Anyone notice a new Bios has just been released today version A11 on dell support website.
I tried to download it but it seems to be a bad link as yet.

They really seem to be churning out the new bios' since windows 8 came out!

 

you find any release note by chance? I wouldn't test it till it's know what is in it.

 

So far it just says;

Fixes and Enhancements:

Fixed issue: under setup menu MSATA and ODD show "not detected"

Importance: Recommended


heheh, still not downloadable yet!

 

Seems to be standard practice with dell's bios releases for the last 3. They appear and then are unavailable. I think they limit the number of initial downloads and wait to see if there are any problems before a full release (my conspiracy theory!).

 

Yeah, and I have to say this old M1710 has been the best notebook I've ever had - it has really given me great performance for the last 6 years, and I was even able to run Fallout 3 at 1920x1200 on it with good frame rates. It's just finally fallen behind the performance curve enough, and having enough issues due to age, to give me an excuse to buy a new system.

 

I can choose two of the following "freebies" with my m17x r4: mouse, external keyboard, and headset. I think I'll take the mouse, but which of the other two might be more useful? I assume that the accessories will be "TactX" branded.

 

At last my Wifi is repaired, the first technician placed it wrong in a tv card slot?
After 2 motherboard replacements, new schreen, new wifi, new front panel haha.
So all for nothing.