Is this correct? New m11x issue

I received my much anticipated M11x today , of course on refresh day, specs are duo su7300 , 4g ram, 500g hard drive.

After registering it , I overclock it and switched graphics card on it ready to download a few games from steam but it shuts down on me...several times.

Call technician and he runs it through it paces and tells me its the BSOD issue, he can't fix it, needs a new motherboard. He informs me since the unit comes from the factory and operates normally at 1.3ghz but not in overclocked mode and " I overclocked it" not Alienware, that a new motherboard wasn't covered by the factory....

Since I just received it today, I'm transfered to return specialist who gives me 3 options.

1. Keep unit and they will give me $50 more off
2. Return unit and purchase another Alienware unit and put the credit toward new unit.
3. Or return unit and be charged 15% restocking fee...

Am I missing something here , I thought overclocking m11x was part of the allure and its promoted right on Alienwares website. I would think this should be covered under warranty......Maybe it was meant to be with the new refresh....Does this mean with any unit i order 11,15 or 17 inch overclocking voids warranty..

Thanks in Advance

Jim

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/461251-alienware-m11x-oc-void-warranty-2.html

and

Originally Posted by Jerry Jackson
I'm sorry it took a few days to get a final answer from Alienware, but it the question had to go around to the Dell Support and Legal teams before they could give me a final answer to share with the forum users here.

Here is the official word from Alienware/Dell:


"A customer will not void his warranty for utilizing the CPU overclock setting in the BIOS of the M11x. If the customer calls in for support and has overclocked the CPU bus using the BIOS setting, support will ask the customer to return the clock speed to factory setting to eliminate any stability issues possibly caused by overclocking for the duration of troubleshooting.

Only in the case where a customer has utilized third party hardware to push the hardware beyond design specifications will a customer be in danger of voiding their warranty."

 

Hi chunki,
Your overclocking did not hurt the hardware, nor does it void the warranty (assuming it isn't permanent damage). Unfortunately, the M11X has an issue with the current BIOS, and most users encounter blue screens when they attempt to overclock. I would recommend not overclocking for the time being, and your system will perform.

Thanks,
Gabe

 

Yeah his system will perform - crippled by 400 MHz. Yet he bough the same exact system as the rest of us, that was actually ADVERTISED to be overclockable to 1.7 GHz.

What a joke!


@OP:


I would strongly discourage accepting $50 back for the obviously -FAULTY- unit. Do not accept this kind of bullying. As far as I am aware, people have been getting replacements (at least in the US) for non-overclockable units. It would be nice and very useful if someone who did this either post or PM the OP with some advice. I would say this would be the starting point. If noone contacts you, you can try talking to some guys at Dell Team Blackhawk , they are often very helpful.

Then one alternative is to go for the m11x-release2 with i5/i7 CPU. It's unknown what their performance will be at this point. The new release has some practical advantages though, like the Optimus technology, and well obviously newer CPU. Again, not sure how much you paid for yours but it looks *beefy* - if the price difference isn't that big if you say leave 160GB HD and take i5 CPU (HD can be manually upgraded and it costs $100 max to buy 500GB driver from Newegg Amazon etc.). It's worth considering this in any case - if for nothing else than the fact that i5 hopefully doesn't have the same problems as SU4100 and SU7300 since it comes with a different motherboard.



In the worst case (call it the Failsafe if you will) - it may sound extreme but I would not hesitate - if you live in the US, this scam attempt by Dell can be reported to the government organization called Federal Trade Commission ( Federal Trade Commission , Federal Trade Commission - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) .

 

Thanks for the input guys, I did contact Dell again and at least convinced them to waive the 15% restocking fee if I didn't purchase another unit. Of course it took several reminders to the rep that it says it can be overclocked right on the website. The rep to his credit went to the sight and noted for the return conversation Alienware does advertise this unit can be overclocked. I did mention false advertising and maybe thats why they waived the restocking fee. I am going to order another unit , now I'm rethinking size.....

Jim

 

Barely if at all noticeable in real world application. Benchmarks =/= real world

O/P:

You never mentioned. . . does it function normally when NOT O/C'd?

 

Wrong - it's noticable when gaming.

 

It does perform fine in normal mode but I did purchase it partly for its advertised overclocking ability. Part of me wants to keep it because not a huge gamer but would like it to perform to it full 1.7GhZ potential. Would have never bought this knowing it was a non overclockable unit.

 

Not that you needed confirmation, but I got my system today (identical to yours except I have a 320 gig drive). Overclocked it out of the box, and put it through some pretty punishing exercises.

I ran it at 1980x1080 out of the HDMI out on a few games just to tax the system. Played about 30 minutes of Batman: AA (yeah, it was really choppy, but I wanted to make sure the system was stable), some other stuff like WoW, etc...

I was actually nicely surprised how well WoW ran at 1980x1080 on this system. I was getting a constant 60 fps on "high" graphics settings, and about 30 on "ultra". FWIW, I chose to keep it in "high", ultra got kind of choppy.

Of course, when I play these games at native res, I get better framerates. I just wanted to put it through the paces to make sure I got a "good" one, and it looks like I got lucky. Best of luck, hope Dell takes care of you.

 

Swap it for an i7. Even better yet, get a base i7 (maybe add on bluetooth) and get it for no additional cost. Like Unreal said before, you shouldn't have to take a compromise on a feature that is SUPPOSED to work.

 

Definitely don't settle for one that doesn't overclock, it is suppose to and does help if you are gonna game at all. In your shoes though id be really tempted to just return it and swap for the new version, as it'll be atleast as good and probably a bit faster. Good luck!

 

Just return the system and get the i7 version. Sned it back and get your refund and re-order