Replacement R3 coming tomorrow--what to do?

My replacement R3 arrives tomorrow, and I was wondering, should I just swap the HDD from this one into the new one? Cuz I have LOTS of stuff already stored/installed on here.

Please advise.

Also, what would be the best way to wipe this hdd? Do I just use the win7 disc that it came with to restore to factory?

TYIA!

 

Swap HDD if yours is performing fine. Mine were a pain to get out so be ready to gently fight it

 

If you end up sending your original HDD back and have sensitive information on there, consider using DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) to wipe the HDD completely clean.

Although, you could just use the Windows Disk if you're not that worried about someone else recovering your information.

 

Thank you for the advice guyz. I will try to swap it out tomorrow nite then, cuz I've had zero problems lately. If a problem arises again, the warranty will cover it. That's what it's there for, right?

 

step 2: decide on a bag

 

Finally, our replacement r3's our arriving. Hopefully their would be no problems like our old one. Pleaaasseeeeee.

 

My replacement still had dust under the screen. Its less noticeable and Dell offered me $50 to shut up.

Anyhow it came with a rattling CD drive so I swapped that with the old one. You should have no issues swapping HDDs if they're not in an array. Heck swap whatever you want just don't break it.

 

Hey dookie, How will you ship your system back?

 

They were supposed to supply me with a shipping label, were they not?

After all of my cross-posting today, I think I'm just gonna swap hdd and deal with the raised media bar. Cuz originally I was concerned with the 1st's gpu. Also, the replacemetn has a brighter screen. Now that I keep looking at 'em both, it appears the newer one has a whiter screen. My eyes were prolly playing trix on me earlier today...

 

No shipping label for me either. We can keep it? I think I am experiencing more kb flex on my new one.

 

My CSR had UPS come to my door and pick it up. It was absolutely painless.

 

Can I keep the sticker?

 

So when do they come? Or do you call and they make it happen around your schedule? It'd be a lot easier for me to just get a label and drop it off at the Fedex or UPS store...

Regardless of which I'm keeping, I'm gonna swap out the powerbrick and plug, cuz the original is loosey goosey, and seems like it's gonna yank right out of hte brick.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to share this. The new one has Samsung branded ram, instead of no-name brand like the original. And it got 7.6 in WEI vs. 7.5 for the no-brand ram! Woo!

 

Kind of a side note... If you swap the hard drive,
you will have a different Win7 code installed than you have on the sticker on the bottom of you unit...

i am not sure this is a "problem",
but i don't know how dell deals with this? do they void the activation of the win7 since they gave you a new machine?

i would think that there won't do anything... but I really don't know much...

 

Hey guys, you won't have a different code to the sticker underneath as I can g'tee the code used on both machines won't match.

The sticker underneath is the license to use the software. Dell use a single code on their os image. it won't be the code on the sticker.

Hope tha makes sense lol

 

Can someone confirm this? ^^

Also, when I spoke to the supervisor for the csr, he said it was okay to swap parts. I will just argue and bicker if they give me issues for swapping hdd (aka swapping codes or watever you're talking about). My warranty is 3years anyways. Also, isn't swapping the hdd the same as getting a new hdd from dell if say, somewhere down the line the hdd failed? Or are we talking about the win7 install which comes on disks that might be different?

Also, I've been outta town all weekend, so I never really got to try the replacement laptop out, besides turning it on and performing windows update and then shutting it off cuz I had to pack up and leave. Buttttttt, I did discover a bunch of physical defects: no stickers on the AW logos and power button; raised media bar; smudges on kb's rim thingy; misaligned lid nearest the hinge; and a newly discovered one: you can see the wires or something through the mesh where the left speaker grill is. They're lit up as well, maybe it's the lighting led wire/strip or something? It looks really ugly though. Also, the speakers rattle even at 25% volume. My first one doesn't even rattle/buzz when at 100% volume!

EDIT: Also: The Black Soft Touch coat on my replacement lappy's lid is not scratching/peeling off, but it did come with what I believe to be a crappy, second-rate coat of paint. It doesn't look as premium/smooth as the first. Specifically, it's got the "orange peel" type of paint on it. If you look closely, you'll see that it's got the bazillion dimples in the paint, similar to all these crappy cars they're producing in the USA with the crappy thin layer of paint on top of crappy thin/non-smooth aluminum exterior.

Yah, it's pretty crappy, and I'm very displeased. This reminds me of my PSP-1000, which I had a warranty on. I had the launch model, and bought it on launch day. 364days later, went to gamestop to have it swapped out for a brand new one, since I had the freedom to do so with the warranty. The 2nd one was MEH/Yuck/EW/Crap. It went from having super premium, smooth plastic like polycarbonate plastic, to having really crappy/you-can-tell-it-was-made-in-china-and-looks-like-USA-made plastic, with all these dimples in it. Launch models were smooth as can be, and the front was glossy. The 2nd one wasnt as glossy, and the back was crappy plasticky...

You kinda get my drift on this issue...

 

Yikes, the replacement that they gave you has more problems. Whats your plan now?

 

Gonna return it after swapping out the ram (2nd one has Samsung ram as opposed to no-brand, and it got 7.6 instead of the 7.5 the first one gave me in WEI for memory ). May also swap out the GPU too after trying it out first with a random GPU intense video game. ***OH snap, just remembered that they didn't preinstall any games on it like my configuration tells them to! That's totally a complaint in waiting LOLZ!

Anyhow, I do not want to swap speaker grills/lighting wires inside/media bar. Also can't swap the monitor lolz (I wish I could). I'm sure most of these are POSSIBLE to do with the right amount of effort and expertise, but dudes please remember I'm a consumer not a technician, so this computer should've come perfect. And this applies to all of us, who've poured out wallets into something that arrived crappily...

 

I think the word of the day is crappy, haha. Do you think they'll give you problems for returning the replacement and not the original? Are you going to ask for a different replacement and hope for the best? I'm hoping mine won't be bugged with all these QC issues. =/

 

Nah, I spoke to the supervisor on the day that I received the replacement, and he said it was fine that I send the new one if I wanted. He also said it would be fine that I swap parts if I needed to also.

Cosmetically, besides the minor scratch, which now looks like a small scuff on the original R3, nothing else really bothers me besides the flappy side panels I spoke of before. In terms of asking for another replacement, I might not, cuz I have the 3-year warranty + accidental coverage, which covers me for replacement parts in the FUTURE, right? <<---someone please confirm this. Thx!

EDIT: Forgot to add to my long list of defects of the replacement lappy: THE HAT IS USED! It smells sooo much like someone's sweat/B.O.!!!!!!! GROSS (yes yes, it's not the lappy itself, but comeon, they're giving us REFURBS (parts, packaging and accessories) as replacements-- what the hell!!??! QC is way outta control, mang.

 

Lol about the hat. My replacement r3 only came with a generic nameplate that says M17x on it. Ill just swapout my old one, how about yours?

 

dude that's ridiculous about the hat man. what if previous owner had like lice or something lol.. making me nervous about all this lol. at least the supervisor is cooperating with you

 

Yah, the bad news is that I haven't had time to swap out parts. I will do it tomorrow.

Say, does anyone know what thermal pastes (good ones) are available at Frys? I'm going to get some tomorrow to do the GPU swap.

 

See if they have some MX-4 or TX-4. Those 2 thermal pastes are great stuff and highly recommended.

Cheers.

 

K thank you!

 

Our frys at Oxnard doesn't have any good thermal paste. If you can't find mx-4 at frys, then don't buy anything. You can order at svc.com with free shipping.

 

Where can I go to get good thermal paste? I only have a few days left to send back the replacement comp...

 

Believe he's suggesting this: Arctic Cooling MX-4 High Performance Thermal Compound 4g at SVC.com

 

Geeze this sure makes me nervous about the replacement R3 I'm getting. But mine is supposed to be new built, so maybe it wont be too bad...

 

I guess I was lucky, my replacement has been flawless.

Dookie, I've had very good success with Arctic Silver's Ceramique thermal paste too. Have used it for years with many different aftermarket coolers, both GPU and CPU.

As far as parts go, it seems to me that yes, if you have a problem with the screen a bit down the road, your warranty should cover the replacement.

 

The Fry's in Woodland hills always had Arctic Silver...

 

buying used alienware hats that smell like fatguy sweat.

 

Frys in City of Industry is where I'd be going. They've always had AS5 as well. Would AS5 be okay? Or do I have to get something hardcore like MX-4/TX-4/Ceramique?

 

Don't go for the ceramic ones. As much as possible get mx-4 to get most of the repaste that you will do.

 

Only reason why I want to repaste is cuz I want to swap out the 6970, due to that notepad-looking-cursor-glitch thing that happened to me. Someone on another thread (his own thread) stated that he too got the wacko cursor issue. So I'm thinking it might be a gpu thing since switching to the igp made everything normal, and switching back to the 6970 kept it normal. If I can't get my hands on a good thermal paste, then should I just keep the original 6970 in the original R3? Cuz it's covered under my 3year+accidental warranty right?

 

Yes? And dookie, Im sure its just a driver or software issue thats causing that cursor bug. And yes, If anything goes wrong im sure dell would and should fix that in case something really terribly goes wrong.

 

Aha! Sounds good then> I guess I'm gonna just return the replacement. Also just watched Joebarchuck's 6970 repasting video, and it shows that I won't have to repaste if I'm swapping out the gpu, cuz you just pull the whole thingy out, which includes the heatsink as well (cuz it's already screwed in). Please someone either confirm this for me here or over in Joe's thread here : http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...70m-re-pasting-video-guide-2.html#post7424314

Thx!

 

Hi Dookie11,

Yup that is correct. You are right when you say that swapping out or moving the GPUs they come as a whole; heatsink is attached to the GPU card. Therefore if you don't want to repaste the thermal paste then you don't have too.

If you do however and AS5 is the only paste available at the time in the store that you are going to then that will also be fine. AS5 is a very good thermal paste. Highly regarded and has been around for a long long time lol.
Usually it can be harder to get MX-4 or Tuniq TX-4 depending on where you shop. I for example can't get it anywhere near me so I have to order it from overseas.

Good Luck buddy with your new system.

Cheers.

 

Damm! I called Dell today, and they are going to send me a reaplacement.

The only thing worng is the raised media bar that touches the screen when closed, and after the 2nd service it is not as bad in the corner, just the buttons make slight contact.
After reading this thread I am getting worried that the replacement will have the same fault and then some others
Does any one think I should call them back up and cancel?

Are the replacements really just other peoples returns, re-shipped to someone else thinking they may not notice?

 

It almost seems like the replacement I have is a refurb. The hat stank like fat sweaty man, and the alienheads didnt have the plastic stickers covering it, and there was greasy palm smudges around the kb's frame (you know, the squishy black frame around the kb). The box that the computer was in (not the shipping box, but the AW box) appeared to be used/misused too, cuz lots of bent corners...

 

I'm just curious but what exactly are you looking to gain out of repasting outside of the possibility of lower temps?


It seems like a lot of unnecessary risk to me to repaste a GPU (I've done it plenty of times in the past...but never "re-done" it on a new machine) that is under warranty from even accidental damage for three years.

And yeah, the cursor issue you experienced is probably a corrupt software file. Windows XP used to do something where all of your .icon files would disappear, making everything turn into a blank page instead of an actual icon. That was garbage.


Worst case scenario, try reformatting from the respawn discs and see what happens, it's possible you might have gotten a bad image...

 

I've decided to not repaste, cuz there's no need since the whole thing is 1 unit and just screws in (thank goodness).

Secondly, that used to happen to me all the time in XP. No idea why lolz.

Not gonna reformat or anything. I've decided to not even swap out the GPUs. I'm just gonna swap the ram, cuz it's Samsung brand in the 2nd one

But yes, I'm totally calling tomorrow to complain about the refurb machine, crappy speakers, the stinky hat, the messed up inside box, yada yada yada etc etc. Their $50off coupon doesn't even come close to covering my troubles. I do not want to buy anything else from them ever again.

 

Dookie...dose that mean no Alenware....now or ever....? you need to tell me mate.....cuz this is my first ever Dell,first ever AW, and first ever expensive laptop...i live in Australia where getting anything done by these yobos (Dell/HP) is a hassle like you wouldnt survive...

yes my last /first lappie (one in the same) was a HP DV5...as opposed to my wife's ACER netbook.... this HP and dealing with their tech support has been a nightmare

 

I really like the AW I have now, but it's been a pain up through the date I received it. Long wait, imperfect product, lots of money spent, lots of phone calls, lots of emails, lots of money if I didn't already stress that enough, and of course lots of time, which equals money.

I really want to keep it, but if this really doesn't work out, I may have to buy a cheapo notebook for grad school, one that'll at least not give me a headache since I could easily return it to the store if it had anything wrong with it.

 

aww man....i should've followed up with your return thread before going all impulsive and buying this RIG...hope for the best ...right

 

Dookie's case may not happen to you or anyone else, for that matter. Those who post on this board are a small percentage of those who buy Alienwares, and I bet many out there receive perfectly built machines and are completely satisfied with their purchase. I received my machine this week and I'm lucky to not be plagued with the media bar issue or the peeling skin. However, my DVD drive didn't work at first, but after a while, it started up on its own. Definitely keeping an eye on that, though.

That said, it doesn't mean there won't be cases where consumers unfortunately get poor quality control on their machines and receive Junkware from Dell. Dookie's case is definitely a nightmare no one should go through, no matter the cost of the machine. Any notebook should come aesthetically flawless and if there's any issues, it should be defects that aren't caught in the burn-in phase.

My advice to you - don't worry about your notebook until it arrives. Odds are that most consumers are receiving perfect machines and just aren't posting about them, hence why you load up these forums and can end up reading about others issues. We all do sympathize with them and want their issues to be resolved, but keep in mind your can arrive in a perfect state.

 

Keep in mind, you're reading an enthusiast message board.


You're in the one area where there will likely be more problems, and how to solve them (for that matter) than anywhere else. People that aren't having problems aren't posting.

Kinda like a hospital, it seems like EVERYONE is sick because that's all you see there, but in reality, healthy people have no reason to come through!

 

This is not like the service you get when walking into a retail store.

Almost a month later I have been approved a replacement, but Dell wants to get my R3 in advance and leave me with nothing until they ready a replacement.

After the 2 failed services and now the prospect of getting a replacement R3 with other or more problems, I now thinking I don't want this at all.
Is it possible to return a M17x R3 to Dell outside the return time for a full refund?

 

That's done on a case-by-case basis, but I can tell you that I was able to return mine for a full refund of original purchase price after 63 days (return period in Canada is 30 days).
It basically comes down to how good you are at talking Dell into dropping her panties for you.

 

The R3 is a nice machine, no doubt about that. The service is crap, and I just can't trust anyone to put anything right, no one real person looks after you.

If that is a case, I am going to push for a full refund. Thanks for your advice.