*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

Hi, Katalin_2003, thank you for your help. Now with HwInfo the highest temp. is 94c, 2c less than what gpu-z indicated and I am still on the stock thermal.

 

My 580m's just arrived and as expected the tech Dell sent was less than intelligent. He proceeded to apply like 13 ounces of thermal paste to one of my cards before I just told him to stop and fixed it myself. I had to leave for work unfortunately, and as of now it's not working. He told me over the phone that it's getting an 8-beep error code which means the screen needs to be replaced... I looked up the code myself and it says to reseat the video card. To top it off, they only shipped one heatsink, so I used an AMD heatsink for the secondary GPU. It seems to fit properly, but that was totally uncalled for.

LOVELY Dell. Now I get to sit at work wondering whether or not I can actually fix this crap when I get home.

 

OMG! Really? that is nutso.. my dell engineer from NL is very great, he replaced my mobo within 1 hour and applied new thermal paste for me!

 

@Nicholaus.rossi:

Completely believable re: the tech. Sounds like my own experiences. I usually just check to see if he has the right parts and ask him if he can stand by while I do his job..

That's just.. wow

BTW, where did you look up the POST codes for our BIOS, I wasn't able to find a specific list for our machine, just a generic one that I don't terribly trust.

 

my replacement came in with a stuck/dead pixel. I tried to run one of those pixel unsticking programs, as well as putting pressure on the spot to no avail. Any of you guys have any advice? I dont want to deal with customer service anymore, there are hundred of bad reps for every good rep dell has

 

if its just one pixel away from center deal with it, i say.

 

oh? on a 3k computer, you think I should deal with a deal pixel?

 

If the rest of the system is fine, you don't have to return it, just call Dell and they should send someone to replace your screen.

 

i thought about it. the first system had a distortion issue on the screen and the macro keys dont work at all.

this replacement has the dead pixel, which is why I asked for advice on how to unstick it, if at all possible. otherwise its going back too. I dont know how comfortable I feel with a tech after hearing the bad stories about them, especially after I had just gotten the computer

 

I'm not judging you for that, you are right but I thought since the dead pixel is the only thing wrong with your system it'll be a shame to send it back, instead of having the screen replaced, to (probably) receive another laptop with more serious issues.

 

Screen replacement seems fairly easy. Get them to send a screen out, or ask the tech to come and be nice to him and tell him to take his time as he replaces it.

Alternatively live with it.

In windows, when you put the mouse on the time there is a semi circle glow. I have that sort of size dark patch just to the right of it. Its noticable on uniformed lighting when looking for it straight on, and also more noticeable at an angle. It doesnt effect me, and i'd rather live with it, than face the efforts with dell. Everything else is fine except the back right of the command center panel doesnt sit flush since i installed ram under keyboard.

Sometimes u have to sit back and think, can i live with this? If the answer is still NO after a week....then call Dell.

 

probably, we'll see how dell deals with it. I'd rather unstick the pixel myself so i can get on with the whole ordeal. which was my original question, any advice on how to fix it myself?

I tried running of of those pixel unsticking programs for a good 20 mins and no go. pixel is in quadrant 1, closer to the middle, which is why it bothers me. It's directly in my field of vision.

 

how far is the dead pixel from your cross hair (or the center of your screen) ? I have one dead pixel, with the alienhead chrome wallpaper, its on 5 cm from the left outer head of the alien.

I totally agree with katalin_2003, I can live with it, one dead pixel is no prob with me, and mine is only visible on black, other than that i never notice it.. but if you really really really bothered with it, just call their rep and tell them you want a replacement screen, although in their policy said if it less than 2 your warranty doesnt cover it..

 

ill see what they say. so now way to unstick it?

 

yeah man, unfortunately... You just gotta live with it or call dell to get your screen replaced..
let us know what they say about the screen replacement, kinda curious now..

 

Future owner of an M18x. Will be getting mine on September 18 if I'm not mistaken.

 

Dead/stuck pixels make me.....sad.

If the dead pixel is bothering you now, it is just going to get worse. If you can't stomach the idea of a tech replacing your screen, send it back ASAP. It is your $3000.

 

Hey welcome! What's the spec of your m18x?

 

Thanks

Space Black Anodized Aluminum
Intel Core i7 2720QM
Dual AMD Radeon 6990M Xfire
16GB RAM
320 GB HDD which will be upgraded to an SSD and will add a 500gb Hybrid drive for the secondary one.
DVD burner

I think that sums up the most significant specs.

 

I'm looking to purchase an M18x in the very near future, and I've been weighing up my options on spec.

What's become very clear to me, is I'd be financially better off buying an SSD & Memory from a 3rd party and installing them myself.

I'd appreciate some thought / opinions as to what SSD & Memory to go for.

The SSD is for the OS only, and I'll be going for the 2720 or above processor.

 

Depends on how much you want to spend. Crucial m4's a great bang for your buck SSD. Not the fastest but close and way cheaper. RAM is cheap now at around $40-50 for 8GB.

 

I love my crucial m4 256GB! 27 second boot!!! it's beyond my expectations!! i simply loved it! I know some owners suggest to have only 8GB, but i find 16GB is much more preferable, especially if you do alot of big files moving/copying via USB / USB 3.0 (ex: movie files) i feel the actual speed of the copying increase extremely fast, 6 GB files in less than 30 Seconds, but with only 8 Gb it takes 10 - 20 seconds longer.. (based on my experiment)

 

Looks like I'll be going for the Crucial m4 then, what about memory ? What brands are being used ? any benefits in going for the 1866 Mhz over the 1600 Mhz (assuming I go for the extreme processor, any advantages with OC)

 

I personally don't really know the big diffrence between 1866 and 1600, and i think the maximum bandwith for i7 2nd Generation mobile is still 1600 though.. i use Kingston HyperX.

Do you live in the US and gonna buy it from DELL US?

 

Hey, fellas! I created a custom ICC profile for my alienware M18x using spyder 3 Elite colorimeter. Decided to share it with ya) I really notice the difference and hate the stock blue hue!

It might not work if you simply add to as the default profile. If so do the following:

1. Download datacolor software but don't run it after installation ends!
2. Go to start/colour management/add a profile and set it as a default!
3. Go to start/profile chooser/show available profiles/choose your default one first and spyder 3 elite after it)

All windows display profiles are located here: windows/system32/spool/drivers/color

Update: the custom profile works both in 2D (desktop) and 3D (games) applications with no problems! It sets automatically)

 

Hey m18x owners,

does anyone have any problems with the media control keys?

i have issues with those keys, sometimes when ingame my volume up and down doesnt work, i have to switch to desktop to make them work.

the play pause next button doesnt really work.. They work only if itunes is on top, and if itunes is minimized, those keys doesnt work anymore until itunes is on top or maximized.

but wireless keys, eject key and alienware control center works fine..
is this software issues or there is something wrong with the media control keys???

Thanks in advance

 

It landed! Currently formatting and reinstalling drivers...

initial impression: OMG wow... Just Wow. The build quality is far and above the M17x (R1 and R2, I've owned both).

the only thing that went down in quality was the screen and the power supply.

the screen: the lack of RGB is a shame, but the WLED display is still beautiful.

the power supply: the size of the brick doesn't matter to me as much as the cord. The cord that plugs into the computer is far thicker and less bendable than the R2's A01 revision power supply. It's going to take a while to get the cord to be pliable enough to quickly fold up and go inside my bag...

 

Congrats!

As for the power brick, I had to get a cast because I dropped my brick on my bare foot. Not fun.

 

i have an extremely annoying bug. every once in a darn while the stupid power settings reset for some reason. so i would come out of sleep mode and it would ask for the stupid password even though i specifically have that option disabled!

i even have alien fusion disabled as well. grrr!!!!

 

Did you dive deep into the power profile advanced settings, or just changed the settings in power profile summary at the basic profile selections level? You probably have, but just in case you had not... LINK

If you've already tried that, give this a shot... Go to the "Control Panel". Click on "Appearance and Personalization". Click on "Change Screen Saver".
Uncheck "On resume, display logon screen".

 

Why do you have to format it and reinstall drivers? why not just do a clone? with USB3.0 it will take only couple of minutes

 

ensured those were properly configured with an unchecked display login screen and no screen saver.

i checked and unchecked it in distance hopes it would solve it, maybe a bug or something.

 

I have Rio on Blu Ray and popped it in but it says i need to update the blu ray player, anyone know if that means the software or hardware drivers?

 

Software most likely.

 

Yes, that's a frequent thing. Depending on the player software, you will get that prompt fairly often even when no update is available. The Blu-Ray player software acts as though there is a need to check for updates anyway.

 

Anyone here already tried to flash their m18x gtx580m vbios to 0,92 v ? how's the performance?

 

I like the lights overall, just wondering if there's a way to do it.

 

Right click on the Alien Command center head in your system tray and choose the option " Go Dark"

To get it back choose " Go Light"



To customize when it should go dark by itself you can choose the various self explanatory options as you can see in that menu.

 

Thanks! Strange that the corner lights and trackpad lights are still on even with Keep Status Zones On During Go Dark unchecked.

 

Try a start and see if the problem persists. It shouldn't really.

 

FN+F11 (if only you have the command center icon in the taskbar)

 

Thanks guys. The reboot disabled the extra lights.

Do you run yours all the time?

 

I run them all the time, I need me shiny lights. Bling bling bling

I haven't checked how much of an impact it makes on battery life when we switch it off.

These are LEDs after all, they consume very less power by the looks of it.

 

For anyone that has experienced issues with Aero crashing because of OSD, Dell has released an update that is supposed to correct that.

Alienware OSD Application - Dell Support - Downloads

 

Just choose the black from colour option. it turns off everything apart of the HDD access lamp and back panel alien head

 

Another way to disable the other lights without a restart is to uncheck "Keep status zones from going dark" from the right click tray menu.

 

He mentions he tried that 7 posts earlier. The reboot solved the issue for him.

 

So it only fixes it sometimes? Sounds like hit and miss if it will fix it when it happens since it only happens sometimes as well.

Anyone used this and had it fix the Aero bug so far, or it's still not a permanent solution?

 

I dont think that it means that the fix works "sometimes" - I think it means that the failure happens "sometimes"......just poorly worded. I have installed the new OSD and have zero problems thus far....its looking good as a fix for the dreaded Aero Bug.....about time too!

 

I'm so happy for you guys to hear this.
Hopefully it works for everybody.