*OFFICIAL* M17xR3 Owner's Lounge Thread - Part 2

How did you get it that high? Once I go past 100.25 the screen shows static.

 

It's at 105.40 now actually.

varies by CPU....my last one wouldn't go past 103.46

 

I don't know that much about CPUs but is 100.25 to 105.40 a lot? Or is it not that much?

 

Yah, definitely document it, and don't be afraid to tell him to be careful. It never hurts to tell him that he should take his time and be careful not to scratch/bend/mess up anything. And of course, get his business card before he starts the job lolz.

 

Got bclk to 106.00
....but I can't control brightness anymore lol

Guess I should ease off a bit.

 

Now it's my time to hate you kune I can't push my 2820 beyond a fracture above 100, definitely less than 101.

 

Anyone know what 1 beep means?
Got it after windows updates. Beep once, then restarted, then...booted fine.

 

Want to get some advice on an issue with my M17xR3. Have not seen anyone post my same issue, but then again, I have not read all 100+ pages of this thread. I've got a spot where the some keys and the touchpad touch the screen. They leave an outline/impression where they touch it.

Getting ready to call Dell tomorrow, but wanted to see if anyone had the same issue and what, if anything, they did or Dell do to solve the problem. This doesn't look like a simple fix, and I've heard horror stories of Dell's techs.

I've also got the media bar issue that everyone else seems to be reporting.

Memory Refresh Timer Error according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test#POST_AMI_BIOS_beep_codes. Might want to run Memtest86+ http://www.memtest.org/ to check out your memory.

 

Almost every M17xR3 affected (if not just every) by this (oh, and ENVY laptops too btw). My first unit even scratched the screen a little that way. So I dealt with it by buying Razor Kabuto mouse pad at Best Buy and keeping it inside the laptop when the lid is closed. I use the mouse anyway, might as well get both traction for mouse and protection for the screen.

 

Hi guys, posting my first issue hoping someone has had similar behavior.

Ive had my R3 for a day and the first two restarts were just fine. I shut down for the night after a bunch of windows updates(not SP1) . When I turned on the following morning there was an audible rattling noise ONLY when the system boots.It is from the HDD, but it is very audible and goes away when windows loads up.

I'l upload the sound here soon. Im trying to understand if this is a known behaviour and if I should consider replacing the part through support. Im extremely happy with the machine and have no plans to let it out of my sight.

besides the windows update, ive loaded crysis2 and WoW.
Thanks for any help/opinion!

 

Anyone's battery seem to be a bit loose? That's about the only flaw I've found with my system. I'm wondering if its the battery itself or the casing.. Might give Dell a call to send me another battery.

 

I too have the touchpad touching the screen problem. Mine happens to be the left edge of the touchpad being slightly raised. So after I close/reopen the lid, there's a visible line imprinted on the screen from the left edge of the touchpad. If I look at the touchpad area in a sideways manner, I can see that there is indeed a slight protrusion of the palmrest where it meets the left edge of the touchpad.

I'm almost absolutely sure this has to do with the build quality and assembly randomness when building the R3's. Some people might or might not have this problem depending on how well their laptops were put together. I'm probably going to return my R3 and reorder, due to this and some other build quality issues.

 

These defects in the manufacturing process have me a little worried about my new purchase -.- I hope I get one that doesn't have any!

 

I received mine yesterday. Not a thing wrong with it. Screen perfectly aligned, no dust, no media bar or keyboard issue. Definitely satisfied with the build quality.

 

Alienware warranty service is officially the best. Period.
After calling and talking to tech support about my issue with the speakers on my laptop, they said they would send a tech out to look. They never called back about sending a tech however. A few days later i get on my email account and see this

Thank you for contacting Alienware Technical Support.

We appreciate the opportunity to work with you to help ensure you continue to enjoy the use of your Alienware system.

The following information relates to your recent call. In order to resolve the issue, we have arranged for you to receive replacement unit(s).

Without even asking specifically for a new unit, they shipped out a unit on Friday with priority overnight shipping. Definitely a pleasant surprise.

 

Never had the problem at all. My one works good and I like it apart from the nvidia driver on clean install problem.

 

About the headphone jacks, I;m just curious which one you guys use. Do you guys use the standard headphone jacks or the sp/dif jack and I know the sp/dif one is for connecting to speakers with a digital audio output but is there a difference between the the sp/dif and standard jacks when connecting to a gaming headset or standard headphones?

 

OOoooOOOhh!! Is this ferreal? Can someone else confirM?

 

I use the sp/diff one I seem to get better sound with it.

 

If I lift my computer up in the air, and press the battery upwards with my finger, it wiggles slightly in and out. I think it's a manufacturing defect. Definitely nothing to be that worried about though, since it's not falling out. You should def call about a battery replacement though. While you're at it, see if they'll just send you a free battery instead, for all this trouble >

 

Called Dell today about my keyboard/touchpad touching and leaving an impression on the screen and also about my media bar lifting up. They basically are replacing the complete inside top of the computer - palm rest, keyboard, touchpad, media bar. I'm a bit worried after hearing of all the dell technician horror stories.

 

I'm having a problem with my audio jacks. When I boot up my R3 and have a USB + audio jack headset plugged in the audio through the headset works fine, but when I pull out the USB + audio jack to use the speakers sound won't come through them. Even when I reboot without the headset in the speakers play no sound and randomly later they will start working. Anyone know the problem? Thanks

 

I did also use the USB 3.0 port, I don't know if that matters.

 

Just watch the guy like a Hawk, and make sure everything is perfect before he leaves.

 

same problem here. I only had sound through headphones. I called, and they sent me a full replacement.
Only thing they screwed up was the color, they sent me the red instead of black. I like it though.

 

Did you try changing the playback device back to the speakers?

 

It's not a permanent issue, the speakers worked fine up until now. Maybe it was just a compatibility issue with that headset because it didn't happen with ear buds. Anyways I just uninstalled IDT audio and reinstalled and it works now. Guess I won't be using those headphones anymore.

Where do I change this, I looked in the IDT control panel and in the volume mixer and nothing.

 

Anyone have this issue? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ezing-then-making-buzzing-popping-noises.html

 

M18x link is up with updated prices



For 2399$ you can get a true Beast...
That's the price with the 1080p Screen too and subwoofer

Damn :O i expected this thing to cost 3000$ with 1080p+dual 6970m

 

Nice. Have you guys seen this video? Desktops Videos | Dell

 

So I've searched around and I'm unable to figure this out. I've configured stereoscopic 3d in nvidia's panel and the 3d works when I run the test application but I'm unable to get my bluray movie to work properly in 3d and I'm unable to get a game working in 3d. (all I have installed atm is World of Warcraft). Am I supposed to do something special other than enabling it in the control panel and/or in-game?

edit: Nevermind, apparently I had to edit a shortcut in order to force it to come on. Not sure why it requires you to do that but ok.

 

Right click the volume icon to get to playback devices. It may or may not be the problem though.

 

Yea thanks I already tried that. It wasn't the problem. Whatever, I just won;t use those headphones anymore.

 

For real, i work in Mexico doing optimization jobs to several companies on my own, so i can assure you this is what you are looking for..

Altough not every HD has this option enabled to be changed (Advanced power management or Acoustic management) but if its new its much likely you can change it via software as im saying,

Feel free to PM me, i can send you the prog. without hesitate, this community has given me plenty of tips and help before .

Andrei.

 

So you know how I said that my replacement had Samsung RAM instead of no-brand ram like my first one? I swapped it into my original R3, and bootup seems longer, like almost twice as long... WEI says that it's 7.6 for memory, as opposed to the 7.5 given for the no-brand memory. Makes no sense to me why bootup is longer...

 

hdd could be misaligned

 

Took it out and reseat it. Same thing. Seems even longer. I'm thinking it may be the damn Samsung ram I swapped in from the replacement R3. But why would the 7.6 rated Samsung make my comp bootup slower than the 7.5 no-brand ram? WEIRD

 

Could that be the cause of this? http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ezing-then-making-buzzing-popping-noises.html

Hey dooks, Ive been also experiencing very slow bootups. Plus ive been experiencing some problems. Check out my link that I gave to kune.

 

Man, what a bummer and a headache these computers are giving us...

 

Not that type of alignment
Partition (data) alignment

backup needed/wanted data, wipe HDD, reinstall windows7 (not restore from an image).

 

But how does that explain why it takes so long to boot after I swapped the old ram with the Samsung ram? Or is it coincidentally slow cuz now I have SP1 installed as opposed to before?

Also, does the Win7 disc that comes with our R3s have the "pure" version of Win7 without any spam or dell stuff aka "clean"?

 

Hmm, Sp1 COULD have something to do with the bootup times, as patches & fixes have proven before on windows that they slow down overall performance of the OS (i know this sh#"t), but since im a No update Guy (only trust on my multiple software arsenal & knowledge) i cant tell you if this is your problem.


One thing i do recommend you is to test both RAMS on the same conditions (same software installed & running from start, etc.) and check if things are as you previous stated.. if this is the case then Dell has a major prob. with Samsung hehehe.... (dont get mad, could be another way.. but take a shot on this as the first step.)

Let us know how u go.
Andrei.

 

I swapped the ram and on both (no-brand and the Samsung ones), the computer still boots up really slowly. I think it might be SP1. Waddya think? Is it Dell or is it the SP1 update? FYI, it takes like 2 minutes to finally get into windows with my desktop gadgets finishing loading (clock and the cpu/ram meter thingy, and the weather gadget). Before SP1, it took about 30-45secs total.

 

U said it.. just take a look at Windows xp before and after SP1 (dont count SP2 & SP3 cuz there weren´t much changes around), the difference in performance was day & night when copying files, booting up, etc. (tested on both low end/high end pcs), i dont like fixes & updates since a "patched" OS will not function the way it was used to in the first place (on many things), it is well known that Microsoft nowadays is very interested in security matters (after several sues from organizations & clients) & sadly, Performance goes to No. 2 or 3 priority (if we get lucky) for their customers.

If you are seeking my opinion, just grab your original copy of Windows 7, format ur HD, reinstall it & dont ever update a thing (unless you know its really necessary & you know what are you updating), as a well informed tech guy, its my advice, cuz for me, performance is all (and i reall think you can always manage to get the best of both worlds, security & performance, with a little research on your own).

Hope this helps,
Andrei.

 

I fully patched my R3 using Windows 7 Ultimate (including SP1) and haven't noticed any significant slowdowns. Someday down the road software may rely on you having SP1 installed, so I don't know how well the policy of never updating will work in the long run.

 

I have ultimate installed on my dinodesktop (AMD Athlon 64 3200+ OC'd to 2.5ghz and 2gb ram), and it boots up and then boots to the desktop in like 30seconds total (this includes logging in with my password too)! I have updates turned off, and this is NOT sp1 btw. So I think it really is the Sp1 on the R3. DAMN. Is there any way to rollback?

 

2mins boot time is far too long, I think you can do one of two things at this point, uninstall/rollback sp1 and see if that solves the issue or get a simple boot analyser program which will allow you to log most of the boot process

It actually sounds to me more like power settings or the system thinks it's on battery even then it should still be faster

also give 3Dmark6 a run and see if you generally have a performance issue - boot time might just be the first visibility of a general slowdown. In fact do this first lol

 

dookie, I sincerely believe you need to try a fresh install. Preserve your setup with an image saved externally (try clonezilla (free) for image making) and do a fresh install or respawn. You can always roll back to what you currently have by restoring that image. Besides, simply making an image and restoring from it might help.

 

Oh, btw, dookie, how large is your wallpaper image file? Try logging in to windows without a background image as your wallpaper (use solid color instead). Thing is, Windows 7 has a bit of a problem handling large background images on the desktop (at least it was a problem prior to SP1) and a 1MB image could delay the boot time by over 30-40 seconds. Had the same problem but once I switched to images 250K or less in size, booting is muuuuch faster.

And another thing... On my first (pre-recall) R3 I had a problem with the card reader misinterpreting a dummy as a card it couldn't read so it tried to read from a plain plastic for almost half-a-minute while booting, thus significantly slowing down the process by just waiting. Try booting without the dummy in your reader just for kicks.

(this will keep you occupied all weekend trying all those possible combinations)

 

Guys, my R3 won't run Windows Experience Update. I click the button and it does....absolutely nothing. No error message, no freezing, nothing. It just does nothing as if I never pressed the button.

Any ideas? I've restarted countless times. No UAC control (level is 0), etc.