*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Here is some information from the email signature of my Level 2 support rep. It appears Alienware recently launched a new Support Portal on the Dell web site.

 

I like the way they list numerous problems that you MAY experience as an Alienware customer.....

 

i called alienware first, im on my 5th transfer =)


20mins on hold, indian sounding agent picks up and tells me "we're too busy right now, can you call back in 20mins?" doesnt even offer to contact me.

 

Whats the craic then mate? What are your next steps?

 

You must not be in the US. I have never spoken with an Alienware rep in India. The people I talk to are always either US or Costa Rica. What they told you on the phone is unacceptable. I remember the days of talking to incompetent outsourced employees in India as an "ordinary Dell customer" and it was never a pretty picture.

 

You are lucky Fox, being in the US. For Euro customers, we have to deal with staff in India 99.9% of the time. Even Dell's Executive Resolution team (last port of call for resolution) is based in India.

I have dealt with some very good ones but also some really abysmal ones too.....they dont always "emapthise" with the customer, moreso, read off a screen.....

 

Well, that really sucks. If they are outsourced people it kind of makes sense that things often turn out poorly. Dealing with a company employee whose compensation and annual performance review outcome is dependent upon being worthy of continued employment is a good thing for customers. When outsourced people are paid under contract to do something it really bites for customers. It's also more difficult for the principal to monitor and control what hired losers do. I'd prefer to see slightly higher prices than incompetent support staff with nothing to lose for not providing a world-class customer experience. Their jobs need to be on the line every day, and that's just not the case with outsourcing.

 

Dell actually have a massive setup in India - they are Dell employees and not outsourced as such...(not like the tech's who are a 3rd party firm who come out to service your system "in house")....

 

Totally agree! But what Stevie said is true:

Sadly many companies and banks do thatm not just Dell,because it's cheaper, they're paid like 400-500 euros/month.

 

When living "in the wide world", the best option is to choose the Dell's " 4 Year North American Phone Support by Your Tech Team" It's worth every penny/cent/whatever... From my experience, also the Costa Rica techs are very good.

 

Thats all good IF you can choose it.....in the UK, you cannot. Therefore, you are stuck with India as a contact for support. Now if Dell introduced a UK based support, such as North American Phone Support, I would PAY for it.....as I am sick of dealing with people who cannot understand what I am saying half the time and show no sign of empathy simply because they are "automated robots answering a phone".....

 

Im from california. The guy never called back. Half the time, cs tells me the same line about how they don't have an extension number and no unique identifier but their first names. Like I can make a legitimate claim that john told me I could do x or y.

 

Yes, the Alienware Support Team in Costa Rica totally rocks.

How strange. Not sure what to make of that. The only phone number I call for US Support is 1-800ALIENWARE and I have never spoken to anyone from the East Indies. It's always US or Costa Rica. I don't normally wait for a call back on general questions. The only time I wait for someone to "get back to me" is when I am dealing with a specific person and have their name and email address.

 

Hey, does anyone with a GTX 580M SLi system know if both cards use the same VBIOS or is it a Master/Slave setup?

 

OMG Guys i need help! today, suddenly, my m18x crashed. just turned off itself! out of nowhere! and it rebooted itself with 4 beeps. so i called in the Dell 24/7 service and they told me its about the memory. So i removed all the memory and tried it one by one, all the memory works.

Bad news is if i put in more than one memory, I get the 4 beeps again now i am only running with 4gb Kensington 1866mhz instead of 16Gb

also it only works on the socket B, if i put it in socket A I get the 4 beeps again.. just when i thought i got a problem free M18x :sigh:

 

then try running your memory at 1333 first. then add one more stick and see if it will boot.

 

should i do that in the bios? because i dont have a 1333mhz memory with me

 

your ram is 1333 you only need to lower it... it can drop all the way to like 800.

and yes, in the bios.

 

thanks for the quick reply, but where exactly in the bios? the m18x manual doesnt say anything about it

 

no problem
you caught me on a reboot...lol

advanced
performance options
over clocking feature enabled
scroll to the bottom
memory frequency
set to 1067 or 1333
f10
save and reboot
then power off system
add next chip
and hope for the best...

 

Thanks Johnksss i tried to put it lower to 800, 1067, 1333, but no luck i'm gonna get a new mobo according to Dell Premium service.. How long does it take for the new mobo anyway? They say the'yre gonna ship it to me, i hope they sent technician too or else i had to put it together myself -____-

 

Normally motherboards are not user serviceable parts so i bet they're going to send a "tech" to do it.

 

Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Turn Off the Monitor - How-To Geek

here mate, i made this and it works perfectly.. funny they dont have a combination of keys just to turn off local monitor.

 

I was bored and realized that putting on the RealD 3D glasses makes the m18x screen look funky (left blue, right yellow). Doesn't do the same for any other screen.

 

Just got my motherboard replaced! YIPEE!!

 

Gefeliciteerd! So, it's EVERYTHING ok now?

 

several days and about 25 transfers later, finally got a replacement system. dell really doesnt make it easy for their customers

 

YES it is, i got my baby back! and with A00 Bios, I am really doubting to upgrade this to the latest A03 or not, i don't want this memory thing happen again in the near future, but i am also thinking about overclocking these babies..

Suggestions anyone?

 

First, enjoy it as it is... Game, bench, work (if you must), etc. Then start the changes, upgrades, updates, OC, etc.
My 0.01 c. suggestion.

 

why isnt this page sticky anymore?

 

Every owner is making a new thread for his problem, opinion etc...

 

Just installed the m4 0009 firmware and it seems like it's running a lot smoother.

 

Yes I agree

 

Anybody else in the path of Irene? Don't think my M18X's battery will make it through a long power outage

 

Wow, what the heck? What happened to 0003??

 

Possibly for me. I think it'll weaken before it moves up to the Northeast.

Secret updates.

 

Hi, i'm going to run the Firmware update too, is there anything to change in the Bios before proceeding? because i read we have to change the Drive mode from SATA to IDE? and i can only see RAID, ATA and AHCI ? and my m18x now on RAID ? is it ok to proceed?

 

FYI - ATA is the same thing as IDE. You can leave the drives set on RAID even if you are not running RAID, but I don't know if you are required to change to ATA (IDE) for the purpose on upgrading your SSD firmware. Does Crucial indicate you need to change the setting? That seems a bit odd, because your SSD does not have an ATA drive interface.

 

If the SSD firmware is anything like my Crucial C300, (as you have Crucial M4/C400 SSD, right?) what I did with mine was to flash the firmware whilst in ATA mode (which is the same as IDE) because I read too that the flash wouldnt work in RAID or AHCI (although I have also read that some users had success whilst in AHCI). Best to do it as the manufacturer states so ATA mode should work 100%

To do that, you will probably have created a .iso image on cd to flash with.

Insert .iso cd and restart. F2 to enter bios.

Go into bios and change sata operation to ATA, exit saving changes. Get ready on the F12 key when you see the Alienhead splash screen, this time to change boot from HDD to optical...(one time boot menu)...once optical has been selected, your system will boot from the optical drive to initiate the flashing program.....

It will tell you when its done - follow manufacturer instructions.

Go back into bios after rebooting and revert ATA back to what it was previously.

Job Done!

At least, thats exactly how I did my firmware for my 256gb C300....worked perfectly fine....hope it helps.

 

yeah i have the c400, and its on the manual to change to IDE though , ok im gonna make it into ATA and go ahead with the firmware upgrade

 

well, i changed it to ATA and went ahead with the update, its done in less than 2 minutes..

 

smoother yes?

 

Quite simple really, eh? - I know its "fear of the unknown" when doing something like flashing your SSD....I know, I wanted to be 10000% sure so I didnt break my drive!

Should also run nice for you now if you switch back to the previous Sata Operation you were running before you flashed the SSD firmware.

Glad you got it sorted

 

I switched to AHCI temporarily for the update. Probably could leave it in RAID but I didn't want to waste time finding out. Just switch back when you're done and always backup.

 

well, I honestly don't notice the difference

but the manual said it wont work if u put it on AHCI, so how did it go?

 

Well, all is good as long as you are up and running at sata III 6gbp/s speeds

 

Just bought Metro 2033 this morning and finally loaded up just now.

Wow. The hype for these graphics are truly justified. Blown away. I've never seen anything quite like it. The particles.......the atmosphere.......the lighting. Insane.

On a different note - 2x6990m - stock. 2630qm. 8gb 1333. 50ish average fps with 18min fps. Everything maxed, 1080p. Default aa/af.

 

Worked fine on my end. Updated perfectly.

 

Guys! anyone knows the design temp for the hd6990m. can t find it on amd site. I am overclocking my card to 830/1100 and the following is gpu z max temp after benching.
GPU Temp. 84c
Temp. #1 85c
Temp. #2 87.5c
Temp. #3 96c??? is this the memory temp.?

 

Hi, OsOs, high temperatures should be expected when overclocking but also GPU-Z is known to be inaccurate at times, try using HwInfo.

Also have you changed the stock thermal paste? It can do wonders