On the brink of tears... RIP M17x R2?

Hey....

Just thought I'd post this stretch of bad luck, see if anyone has an advice/suggestions, thoughts, etc.

My m17x =[

1. It came with a battery problem, the one plaguing everyone, it doesn't work.
2. Ok, next, the fans stay on full-speed from start up and remain at full speed until restart at random occasions, today I left my comp on for an hour and the fans stayed at full speed (maybe not peak speed, but very very loud, definitely not idle), the computer was cold as it hadn't been used for over 12 hrs.
3. During any time, start-up, or when I've been using it for an hr.. what ever, my mouse icon on screen (the pointer) appears on the screen but the rest of the screen goes black.
4. BSOD - Self explanatory, its started crashing lately, not a lot, but every so often it feels its time for a memory dump ><
5. Touch sensitive button's don't turn on, or turn off randomly.

Now, I called dell, and they have a technician who will contact me in 2 days time to organise for a 'repair'

Since that call today, another fault has come up, the computer always used to start with the power cord plugged in and switched on, tonight, it was plugged in, properly, switched on, I spammed the alien head to turn the pc on and it was completely dead, just.. wasted. I went to take a recording of it and then wouldn't you know it, first time I press it in the recording it turns on.

I'm making an effort to document when things go wrong so I have evidence to show I'm not bs'ing cause it is all sparodic faults. So far I've got the fans on record at peak with temp readings on computer to show no overheating, I have video of the black screen with the mouse, photo's of the BSOD.

At first I thought, ok, dying motherboard? Then it progressed to the black screen with the mouse icon, which is very very strange, it means the screen is connected fine (mouse icon showing) but nothing else... is that GPU related? HDD related? I have no clue!!! BSOD appears after nothing laboring, I just open Opera Browser, open MS Word, do some work and I get BSOD, nothing strenuous to the system what so ever.

I mean... I'm typing on it right now, sometimes it boots up and its gold like it should be, but then it goes and s itself with a problem or two. I've finished a full backup today so I won't loose anything should the worst happen.

Anyone have an thoughts on any of the problems???

I did do an update of my GPU drivers and my bios to hopefully solve the issue (as dell tech had advised over the phone) but it has done nothing, problems have re-occured since the updates =/

 

Sounds like it has some issues, just let Dell try to fix it. Worst case scenario; you'll get a replacement.

 

He should ask for an M18x for the replacement. Naw, but seriously good luck with the fix.


KJ

 

In my experience you just have to persistant, they may try and fob you off, but keep cool and stay firm. I finally managed to get a replacement for my M17x R1.

 

you're on the right track.

document everything - what goes wrong, who you talk to, names, dates, what they promise and what they deliver, etc...

if doesn't get fixed, call back and politely demand you get what you paid for. you can always ask to speak to a supervisor right off the bat.

 

Thought I'd keep everyone updated =]

Dell tech came out yesterday, very nice guy, can't fault him or his work, gentle with the laptop and knew what he was doing.

For some reason dell blamed my fan speed on a fault of the fans, so I got a bunch of replacement fans =S Anyway.

On the upside, the battery works!!! =D =D

On the down side, I can't plug into an external power supply when the computer is turned on, likewise I can't disconnect from an external power supply if the PC is turned on, cause the laptop freezes the moment its dis/connected. So, thats very weird. Doesn't happen all the time, its an intermittent fault, I'd say 8/10 times it crashes the laptop.

Apart from that I haven't really noticed anything different, it still freezes when absoloutely nothing is going on.

The GPU's are running cooler which is nice, on a 3000 frame burn test with all features in fur-mark enabled we only get to 69C which is very good IMO.

Again, it seems one thing gets fixed and another gets broken. For some reason now all my alienware lights flash white and random times (its not set that way either! =P). It can be very annoying and distracting then half your keyboard flickers white for a few seconds =/

Stealth mode button doesn't work, sleep mode doesn't work anymore, dell is blaming that on software but I find that stupid when it worked before the parts swap, which I got 3 news fans, a heatsink, touch pad and a mobo with the same bios. =/

Anyway, suppose to be hearing from them again today, so will see what eventuates, better not be more parts, this is my second laptop to go down and I can't keep staying home from work for this =/

 

Geez, doesn't evoke much confidence in the AW brand for us first timers

 

I understand your pain but again you are doing everything correctly. Can you give us your specs and the BIOS version?

Also I know this is extreme but try to boot into another version of windows on your laptop if you can. That eliminates any driver issues. While your problems sound much more severe than drivers it may still help.

I had weird IO problems (random key interrupts) and a new windows was what solved my problem.

 

two steps forward, three steps back, eh?

try booting into safe mode to see if the power supply issue persists.

download an ubuntu livecd and boot into that and try the same thins with that (power supply, sleep).

the stealth mode and lights both could be connected to control center. you might try an uninstall of control center & the osd. and then reinstall them. there is a thread about the "new version of command center" in here somehwere....