Regaurding the M17x-r1 Driver issue Legality??

Am curious as to my rights regaurding the m17x-r1 only being able to use old drivers, When i purchased my system i was completely unaware of these issues, i based my purchase on m17x almost solely on the power of the 3d cards as i need them for work. I will be starting e-mailing dell soon regaurding this situation(hopefully with a little more tact then the thread i have just read about it), and wondered if anyone else had any similar experiences, I'm not begging for an upgrade or anything of the like, i basically just want what i paid for, Including the ability to upgrade my drivers and get better performance out of my 280m's

Thx

 

???

What's stopping you from using the latest drivers? Nothing "illegal" about that.

 

BSOD, and black screen lockups?

Ive just upgraded from 260M to sli 280M
Finding a driver that works well for your system is hard work.

 

Lucca: You say "Am curious as to my rights regaurding the m17x-r1 only being able to use old drivers."

This is a really baffling statement to me. You can use any drivers you want to use. There is no big issue of legality. There might be an issue of utility, but that's totally different.

Dell's (and many others) download sites are wide open to anyone, and they want it that way. Now, of course, not any old driver will actually work right, but legality has nothing to do with it. If you start emailing Dell about "it", as you say you are about to do, I suspect they will just scratch their heads and send you back some goofy boilerplate responses. Keep in mind, the issue of updating drivers is always non-trivial, for all of us. Dell only does that carefully, with lots of testing, and they probably won't do it at all with older machines.

Are you having some specific problems with your machine that people here can help you with? Try asking, as there are tons of people in this forum who do experiment with other versions of drivers, especially with graphics cards. Dell, I suspect, won't be of much help to you in that regard.

 

I see what your saying but it really boils down to this doesn't it really,

In my M17X i have a 280M GTX, so far in over a year of use i have found one driver (Dells) that allows me to use without semi-constant bsod's or lockups, Updating drivers is part and parcel of any high performance system, So my system is not performing as advertised is it?

Fair enough there driver works but it gives -poor performance and needs updating hence the reason why drivers get updated in the first place. But i can't use any of them.

If i bought a new car and the engine constantly cut out while driving around while i was under warranty, what do you think the solution would be??? A couple of repair attempts then a new car. The exact same legallity applies to the situation with these laptops.

 

No, your assessment of the situation is not correct.

"so far in over a year of use i have found one driver (Dells) that allows me to use without semi-constant bsod's or lockups" --> Then I think you have proven Dell's OEM driver is the current best one! Okay, good starting point to keep in mind.

"Updating drivers is part and parcel of any high performance system, So my system is not performing as advertised is it?" --> It IS performing exactly as advertised, just as you say in the previous quote, IF you use the OEM driver. Updating drivers is done to correct problems (and you aren't claiming you are having any with the Dell driver) and it isn't like you are just perpetually entitled to ongoing updates simply because you purchased a high-end system. On the contrary, updates should be far LESS necessary on a high-end system with high performance hardware. Isn't that pretty much the whole reason we buy them? Drivers are supposed to actually work, and it costs money to craft them, so it isn't like they are just taking shots in the dark, making mistakes, and then are just going to be updating them constantly like it's some game of serendipitous software exploration. It is costly to hire programmers to write drivers and they take it seriously.

"Fair enough there driver works" --> Yes!

"but it gives -poor performance and needs updating hence the reason why drivers get updated in the first place" --> This is why I said perhaps you should post about specific problems you might be having. People here can often help you tweak settings and the like, and MAYBE even find a different driver that is better in some respects (but might be less than perfect otherwise).

Do not assume that the purchase of a machine implies an ongoing contract with the manufacturer for open-ended driver update "services." It doesn't, it won't happen, and the industry simply doesn't do business that way. And on older machines they probably will not make any attempt at all unless absolutely necessary. They will try to fix demonstrable problems, but you aren't exactly claiming any, so please post back (or start a new thread) with some clearly defined specific problems. People will try to help.

"what do you think the solution would be??? A couple of repair attempts then a new car." --> Oh, don't bet on Dell giving you a new system over "driver updates" (which obviously would be simply a download-and-install fix anyway) because that isn't going to happen, and they absolutely don't owe it to you. Forget that. You must have clearly demonstrable problems that are hardware related, and then they will service the system to repair it. If you are having those, call them and they will help you (you say you are under warranty, right?)

When you buy a product, especially a tech product, you are buying the technology OF THE DAY. You are buying the performance achievable at that level of technology. You are NOT buying a contract to be updated continuously to the latest achievable performance level and hardware, no way. You yourself have already claimed here that their OEM product is the only one that really works well (imagine that!!), so they have not harmed you one bit. They have produced an excellent product that achieves everything it was advertised to. If it can be tweaked a little to run even better, so be it, but that has nothing to do with "legality", the OEM probably won't get into it, and if you do, you are just doing your own experimentation. Experimentation is great; the world is better for it. But it isn't a legal issue, and pursuing it as such is going to go VERY badly for you.

 

Stop using cheap gasoline.


Seriously though, you are searching for a legal stance on a non-legal issue. Call for technical support, be polite & explain your BSOD/lockup issue. Just do not mention taking legal action or they will immediately stop helping you, refer you to their legal department, & end the call.