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    M11R2 -suddenly white keyboard light is pale pink

    Discussion in 'Alienware M11x' started by Bily42, Aug 2, 2011.

  1. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    R2 is almost a year old. The keyboard white lights used to be white; now they are pale pink. If you turn the laptop upside down, you can see by the light underneath that it really is pink and not white.

    Has this kind of thing happened to anyone else? Very strange. :confused:
     
  2. tecrp7

    tecrp7 Notebook Consultant

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    Mine is the exact same way. I plan on calling it in for a warrantee replacement.

    I only use white for my keyboard.

    ALSO, my white for the speakers and the Alienware on the screen light up as light blue.

    I've had my R2 for a year as well, but the symptoms have been there for atleast the last 5-6 months.
     
  3. thehelios

    thehelios Notebook Enthusiast

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    Mine's also doing the same now.

    When I got my m11x refurb, they didn't send me the tactx keyboard with it. I called them about it and they sent my an m11x keyboard by accident. I called in again and they sent me the tactx but didn't request the m11x keyboard though. I might test that out and see if it's the hardware and not some stupid software problem.
     
  4. argwings

    argwings Notebook Guru

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    hmmm, mine's been like that since i got it 10 months ago.
     
  5. BuToNz

    BuToNz Notebook Geek

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    Top left hand side (ESC button/Tab area) mine is pink also! Otherwise everything else is white. This is on an R1.
     
  6. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    Update:
    Talked to a tech who took control of my computer to uninstall and reinstall the Command Center. This did not fix the problem. He then asked me to send him pictures of the keyboard because it may fall within their "toleration" limits.
    Discovered it was really difficult to take pictures which showed the colors well - especially with my crummy camera. Pictures of keyboard here
    There's an executable in the Command Center folder which does a test of keyboard colors (AlienwareAlienFXTester.exe). Mine failed the white miserably; others were fine.
    I expect they will say the colors look white enough to them. :(
     
  7. mardon

    mardon Notebook Deity

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    Mine is the same!
     
  8. redrapt0r

    redrapt0r Notebook Enthusiast

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    I have an M17X R2 and mine has been that way. I thought maybe that was just the coloration of the lights. Personally I hate the way it looks. I LOVE a white lighted keyboard (Had a macbook pro and fell in love with the back lit keyboards) but this is a light pink and almost "peachy" color. I am not a fan. To make things worse, the touch keys are a whole shade darker, making them look light pink. Like others said my camera doesnt capture it well but it does look way off. Honestly its not a HUGE deal but I would prefer to have a REAL white rather than this pink-ish mess.

    [​IMG]

    I believe this shot captures the color best.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  9. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    @redrapt0r
    Wow, you got some good pictures there - I really have to get a better camera.
    The keyboard was definitely pure white when I first got it because I set it to that so I would not embarrass my husband while we were on vacation when I first got the M11R2 and it was NOT PINK AT ALL at first.. :)
     
  10. redrapt0r

    redrapt0r Notebook Enthusiast

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    Yeah not bad for a camera phone eh? Ha ha Yeah mine has ALWAYS been this way. And like I said, I thought it might just be the coloration for the lights. Is it something that can be fixed in an update or is it more of a hardware issue? Its just LED's correct? So in theory it could be fixed via an update right? Im not sure, Im a bit noobish when it comes to hardware related stuff. Hell Im noob when it comes to software too Ha ha. Either way I hope it is eventually remedied. If not, its not the end of the world, it would just be nice :cool:
     
  11. slickie88

    slickie88 Master of Puppets

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    Mine has always been pinkish and it's also been widely reported here that it's common in most, if not all, m11x keyboards. There are posts going back to the release of the R1 talking about it. It's due to how certain colors are achieved by mixing LED output.
     
  12. dredd1893

    dredd1893 Notebook Consultant

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    mmm, seemed quite a number of r2's is flawed this way. I also have pinkish light when I turned white light, and the corners are noticeably dimmer than the rest of the keyboard.
     
  13. M11x ftw

    M11x ftw Notebook Consultant

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    Yeah I also have pink, never actually had a white keyboard.
     
  14. deadboy90

    deadboy90 Notebook Evangelist

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    the same thing happened with mine but the blue led went out completely, its a problem with one of the 3 LED lights that combine to create the colors, one of them is obviously going dim. My r1 was still under warrenty so i called dell and a guy came out and swapped the keyboard out. if yours isn't you can try getting one off ebay: here
    m11x keyboard | eBay
     
  15. redrapt0r

    redrapt0r Notebook Enthusiast

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    Did the replacement fix the pinkish color? I was thinking about calling them out for another problem with graphics related stuff, I might do that and then spring the faulty keyboard on him :p
     
  16. deadboy90

    deadboy90 Notebook Evangelist

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    yea my new m11x's keyboard is white as snow :)
     
  17. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    Well, I haven't heard back from Dell since the day I emailed the pictures the tech requested.
    Is that normal procedure? Am I supposed to contact them again or just wait patiently for them to respond? My warranty is about to run out. :confused:
     
  18. ejohnson

    ejohnson Is that lemon zest?

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    call again
     
  19. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    Update from OP:
    Called again and they said upper tier tech would call me back...never did...so called again and they said I had to send it in for repair because they did not know what the problem might be. Asked tech if I could send it in without the hard drive and power adapter and he said "yes" so mailed it off yesterday after they sent me a mailing box.
     
  20. Bily42

    Bily42 Notebook Consultant

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    Update #2 from OP:
    Shipped laptop to Dell repair center in Texas. After 10 days got laptop back yesterday and although they say they replaced the keyboard (and for some unknown reason replaced the speaker), the white keyboard lights are EXACTLY the same as when I sent it to them.
    Now what? Don't they test these units before they are sent out to see if the problem was fixed?
    Restored drive to original factory hard drive content and has same problem so it isn't a software issue.
    Calling Dell again today. Sigh.
    Update to the update: tech says the repair techs don't test a keyboard other than to type on it before it leaves the repair facility despite the fact that I wrote on the problem sheet enclosed with laptop that the WHITE LIGHTS WERE BAD. They say I can send it in again but all they will do is replace the keyboard again and type on it to see if it works. What kind of repair job is this?
    Very disappointed with Dell. Where's quality control in this picture??
    I'm giving up other than writing a letter of complaint to the CEO of Dell.