*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Boom! NBR Marketplace

 

Thank you, now to find out how to post on this thread...oops, i don't think i can yet

EDIT: Never mind, just found out how.

 

you disappointed with the 6970's?

 

Yes, very disappointed, most of the games i'm trying to play come with screen tears and missing textures, games that on the nvidia 460m worked fine, that's why i am considering selling these cards and getting the 460m's

 

i have to agree with you. sometimes i feel frustrated using ati than nvidia. but no doubt those 6970s are powerful.

 

That sounds quite extreme, you must be pretty frustrated.

I have the crossfire config - after updating the drivers they seem like they can take anything I can throw at them. Crysis, crysis 2 etc.

Im not seeing tearing though it could be the games you are playing.

I've also got The i7 extreme 2920, OZC vertex 3 ssd and 8gb 1600mhz ram.

Your Market to sell feels quite limited - better to look at your config and drivers and maybe persist a little more.

 

I already have been looking at all the config and drivers. For example, Crysis 2, where i could run almost maxed out on the 460m, with the ATI i have to change the name to rift to run it without any tearing. I have never had to do that before! And i am running on the new drivers! That's why i feel a bit frustrated with all of this.

 

If some others have no issues with those same games... and you have installed already the latest drivers, etc. maybe there is a manufactured problem with your cards?

Hope you will find an adequated solution and teach us here.

 

Well, that's another thing, these cards have already been replaced...

I am calling the tech support again today to see if i can swap the cards or not, if not, well, i'll have to buy new 460m's and sell these ones.

 

It's funny, I've actually thought about getting the m18x with the 2x 460m's. I just, for whatever reason, tend to enjoy using Nvidia cards more.

Maybe it's purely psychological, who knows.

Anyway, I'll be picking up one of these bad boys the second Dell or Aikimox puts an upgraded display in this system! (My money's on Aikimox)

I was wondering, m18x owners who have had the R2, how is the build quality compare directly? IMO, Dell has lately been cutting some corners with their build quality on almost all their other laptops, whether consumer or business.

Is the m18x the same kind of armored tank, through and through, as the R2?

 

Overall build quality is the same more or less. It's just a lot harder to take apart compared to the R2 and prone to damage easier. Metal shell though is exactly the same.

 

So youve already had open heart surgery on it... That really explains your frustration and measures.

Might you be better to just send it back and then order another. I know you don't want to hear it, but could it be more than the graphics card at play hear.

Really hope you are able to sort it out ok - not what you want at all. I'm feeling for you. I don't like the thought of having to open and then open your machine again and again, it's not meant to be that way.

Ati isn't my first option and the driver situation for whatever reason feels less polished though I'm told nvidia had this problem some years ago. The 6970/ with the ram are pretty powerful and when working as they should certainly pack a punch.

 

Well, after being an hour on the phone being transfered like a ping-pong ball to the Customer Care team and the Technical Support team, what i've figured out is that a) they are all liars (to get a refund is 7 days past the delivery day, not 30 as i was told), and that i can't talk to a manager directly, i have to send them an e-mail AND wait for a call back (i was told yesterday that i just needed to call the Tech team). To be quite honest, i am really starting to get pissed off, so i think i am going to sell this laptop to pay most of the finance and go back to an Asus laptop, where i never had any problems before.

 

Yea that sucks it's only 7 days for UK returns what a joke

 

Do you have a UK equivalent of the Better Business Bureau you can contact (I believe that's a US only a organization but I could be wrong)?

Also, instead of demanding new vid cards, demand a whole new laptop. You spent a lot of $$$ on it and you damned well should be happy with it. My two cents...or as you call them pence

 

Unfortuantely, 7 day returns window in the UK is law. Regulated under Distance Selling Regulations

We do have bodies that would assist if things get messy - they are Citizens Advice Bureau and Consumer Direct

I would use those as a last resort if Dell dont want to "play ball". I would recommend trying to come to some agreement with Dell if you are not happy...the best way out of a mess is to discuss it amicably.

You can also try to resolve your issues via Dell's own Unresolved Issues route. Use it as thats what it is their for!

Most importantly, when resolving issues, be prepared to work WITH Dell and you will get treated better - tantrums and the like will get you nowhwere.

I say this as someone who has had a great deal of experience in, lets just say, "problem resolution" with Dell. Hope it helps with whatever you decide to do.

Good Luck! - (if you need any help, PM me )

 

Totally agree! Remember to keep your temper! The people on the "other side" are just sensitive working persons as you and nobody -unless it is a masochist- like or accept 'tantrums'...

 

I would like to thank everybody that send your remarks about this, i spoke to the tech team again and, after explaining to them what i wanted and all the tests that i did before, the tech said that he would send an e-mail to the tech manager and that i would get a phone call from him on monday...now let's see what happens.

On another note, and i apologize if this is the wrong medium, does anyone know why the heck does the areo suddenly turns off? I mean, the graphics cards are powerful and all, so this shouldn't happen, it really puzzles me why this happens so many times.

 

I get this too.....god knows why but it annoys the heck outta me

 

Pretty sure the Aero thing is driver related. AFAIK everyone is seeing it

 

But i had that with the Dell ATI drivers, the AMD 11.5, the 11.5b and the 11.6, so is it with all the drivers? Are all drivers cursed with the "Kill Aero" Curse?

 

I havent seen the aero bug since I updated to 11.6 drivers. But my experience might not match everyone elses.

 

Did not even know 11.6 existed.....time to update! lol

 

Ya man! I can play Empire: Total War in crossfire again So Im happy with 11.6!

 

Same here, seems like aero is working.

 

I just don't get it...every time i switch to watch a bluray or play a game, my aero turns off...and that's when it comes turned off already, after turning off the laptop...weird.

 

Some programs aren't designed to work with aero. 3dmark vantage and powerdvd being the 2 most prominent I use. Also Flight Sim X. When you close those programs out properly aero should turn back on. Ever since I updated to 11.6 it has done that for me. Again, my experience might be different from others.

 

I finally have my M18x in my hands

And Aero won't work on mine out of the box...interesting

 

Again, another sample of the lack of a Quality Control... and your keyboard is... english? french?

 

English

The only issues were RAID unconfigured, wrong FX colour, I'm not sure why Aero won't work though. I installed the 11.6 drivers, but I notice that people in this thread are saying they don't have Aero problems

 

I have the nVidia cards, and I see intermittent Aero failures too, so if it's a driver issue, it's not the GRAPHICS driver that's at fault, but something else.

On my end (and others I've heard about, both ATI and nVidia), a reboot usually fixes the issue. Saying a particular driver "fixes" it may be premature, since I can go for a dozen startups and never see the problem, but it does show up from time to time.

 

Have you actualized windows? (mean SP1, and all the etc. etc. etc.)?

 

Hi everyone,

For those of you with Xfire 6970m, do you guys notice whether the core speed of the GPUs intermittently change between 400mhz and 900mhz when playing games? Does anyone else have this problem or is this how the cards work?

-dracosmasher888

 

With my other laptops the Nvidia drivers had a tendency to fail and then recover intermittently when using Aero. Aero hasn't worked at all (except for maybe 4 minutes immediately after installing 11.6 drivers) since I got the laptop. Mind you that's been for all of 4 hours

Yessir.

 

As far as I know, that's how the cards work. Probably to keep temps down. But I have noticed it as well! It hasn't affected my gaming sessions though.

 

I believe that's how the PowerPlay feature works, similar to Nvidia's Powermizer.

 

Is it recommended to disable PowerPlay if you are going to leave the m18x at a desk for most of the time and does anyone know how it impacts on heat?

 

Powerplay in some cases may be cause of stuttering and lag. However, disabling it can be a hassle, as you have to edit line by line a CCC xml profile, may create system instability, and even cause new issues if it's not done carefully.

Concerning the heat problem, it can be solved in phase of editing the profile by increasing the percentage value of the GPU's fan to 100%.

I have seen how this is done, but haven't tried myself yet. Maybe someone here already did it succesfully.

 

I'm still having the Aero bug with 11.6. An asus laptop owner on another site had the same problem and resolved it by removing the ASUS OSD software from his system. Could it be possible that dellienware's OSD is doing the same thing?

 

Dell has yet to process my return. Seems they only charged my Amex for the amount over my Dell Prefered account. Could have have the M18x for a 3k discount if I wasnt honest.

 

Does anyone have a pic/link to the WirelessHD mini card?

Thanks

 

Mine disappeared completely at random and Aero works fine now

 

Well, normaly, you will find more honesty among the NYC drifters then among polititians... Well done!

 

Actually, considering the nature of the Alienware OSD it's very possible that the new version might be conflicting with the driver. Maybe reinstalling the OSD could fix the Aero issue. If you remove it completely the Fn+ commands will still work, but you wouldn't see the OSD superimposed messages on your screen that tell you what's happening, which I don't think is a real problem.

 

I am pretty sure that the Alienware OSD and command center cause most/all of the nagging issues with the system such as brightness bug, aero bug, etc.

 

Im beginning to think the same......maybe its about time Dell gave those app's an "overhaul" to eliminate all the associated crap. Once all those niggles have been ironed out, this system would be 100% perfect. Im not moaning, but right now, its about 99% and sure, I can live with those little niggles but simple things like having Aero function properly and being able to control my screen brightness after resuming from sleep are just things that I expect to work without issue.

We shall see - other than this, this system is fantastic!

 

Happy Fathers Day

 

Disregard my last post, Aero is failing again

 

Never mind, figured it out. It's the same mini pcie slot.

 

have you installed the 1866 memory yet?