M11x Hinge/Screen touching Keyboard Discussion (R1 & R2)

Quite a few people have reported cracked hinges on the R2.
The R2 sadly did not get better hinges....

 

I now have my third R2 I7. It is the best one out of the 3 by a long way. There is still a slight noticable difference in the gap either side of the screen with the left side being smaller, it is only a very small amount though. Slight gap where screen meets part of shell on right hand side but again very small and nit picking really.
Overall the sysyem is really fast much better than the other 2 , well the 2nd one wouldnt boot at all..........
I have been offered compensation to the value of £80 from the escalation team for an accessory but am going to push for a free extension of warranty.
I am happy now even thought is been quite stressful at times as i ordered my original on 13 Jul 2010.
I have updated drivers etc optimus is working like a dream I can oc to 166 no problem..happy days.
I can now go and enjoy my purchase at last phew....

 

It would be good to know more details, for example, the percentage of reported problems in relation to total units sold until today. Or if the problems seem to be related to a specific bunch of manufactured units or are widespread among all manufactured units.
* That data is Dell confidential. I would be fired for releasing that kind of data.

Anyway, at certain point in the (near) future, dell/alienware should make clear (and public) the result of its internal investigation and eventual solutions.
* In the past, all we would release is what actions you would take.

- I called Alienware support to see if the issue has been resolved and they told me that it has been resolved as they have changed retailers of the faulty plastic.
- It seems strange that the phone reps can talk about a fix but the forum reps can't.
- Just to make sure, I called alienware tech support again with a different rep and was told that issue is known and resolved. Plastic material has been replaced with a more heavy duty specs. Rep also indicated that these new specs are standard in production of the R2 and in all replacement LCDs this month. So if you do get a lemon hinge, call them and they will replace it with the heavier more superior stuff.
- Are we guranteed that the tech who comes to replace the hinge parts will be bringing the newer stronger parts?
* I have received no word of this from engineering. If I have not, how could these front line phone reps who do not attend the weekly Alienware meetings?

 

So long story short, it's nothing more than a rumor....
....
....
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DANG IT! Well, I guess we will just have to be patient....and buy longer warranties...

 

That is exactly why I said it, sir.

------
Having had a brief stint in a field similar to customer support, I know a lot of people will lie if they don't know the answer instead of simply saying they don't know. That, it seems, is not the case here, however, or at least not the full story. If different reps are saying the same thing, and that same said thing is as specific as using a stronger plastic in the manufacturing, either they were given a memo by the higher-ups of exactly what to say, or one of them came up with that and passed along the idea through the office.

Whatever the case, the fact that "they" devised a scripted response points to it being a widespread issue. If it wasn't, why would there be a script? ("Script", here, is a nice word for "lie".)

I have little faith in the investigation for two reasons. First, Dell did not recall the model that had a motherboard failure rate of something like 95%. That alone shows what we can expect is for Dell to fix the hinge while under warranty. Second, given that the issue can take months to manifest and the M11x has been out for only about six months, it is probable the investigation will not be able to accurately estimate the spread of the problem. The only way they will be able to is if it is inherent something specific (place of manufacture, source of the lcd, whatever) and it will fail to determine the spread of the problem if it is indeed inherent in the design, i.e., an issue for every system; again, that's because not every ticking time bomb that is the left hinge has gone off yet.

I have no doubt the engineers and investigators are good people, but I also have no doubt Dell is going to look out for its profit over customer satisfaction. Once it is determined how widespread the problem is, they'll take that number, multiply it by the expected sales of the unit (or leave this as a variable to determine later the number it must be under to save money), multiply that by the percentage that will break under warranty, and multiply that by the percentage of people who take advantage of their warranty, then compare that product to the potential costs for r&d, engineering, changing the manufacturing process (if there are changes needed), and additional replacements caused by the news that there is indeed a hinge problem ("'If there is a solution, there must be a problem,' customers will say"), and only then if the latter sum is lower than the former product will they produce a replacement. Don't hold your breath. Perhaps the R3 will see one. To throw in a classic quote,

 

That pretty much sums up how this works. Well said, corwinicre.

 

If there is no recall, the best solution for me is to guarantee the hinges out of warranty. That is, problems related to this hinge issue would be covered independent of warranty (i.e., even if warranty has expired), as someone else was saying that apple was doing for some known issues in their models that tend to happen with time. That would show us that dell/alienware trust in their hinge and care about their consumers. Simple.

 

I purchased mine on day 1, and am not experiencing pretty bad separation in one hinge. I don't know whether to be happy or sad to see this is a larger issue. So what's the take-away? Just call support and they swap out the screen/hinge?

 

I am on the phone with Dell Tech support now on hold (30+mins). My left side hing had alot of extra play in it and I was getting oily type marks on the left side of my screen for my keyboard also. Today I noticed the left hing makes a load poping sound, the hing cover is caching on the laptop fram and starting to come apart. What has other people experenced in getting this resolved withe Dell?

 

They'll send someone out to replace the LCD assembly under warranty. Be sure to inspect it for any signs of scratches or other damage when they do the swap as it's likely that it will be a refurbished part.

Again, ask as many questions of the tech who does the repair as you can. We're trying to determine if there has been /any/ sort of changes to the hinge and/or LCD housing that addresses this flaw.

 

you are correct, they are having a tech replace my LCD screen, and the left rear rubber foot on my laptop, I figured they might as well fix that too

 

Hi !
It's for all country ? (french inside)
Because when a friend with the R1 call for the hinge broken, they said that normally, it was not included in guarantee ( 1 the basic year), but that he would make an exception But that it squeezed the last

 

After 3 months, R1 hinge finally gave way.

Tech coming over tomorrow to fixed it.

Will update.

 

hello brothers,

i've been experiencing the hinge problem just recently.. has voted on the poll. here's the chronicle for laptop prob. the hinge starts to fail about 2 weeks ago since the laptop purchase in May.

1. border of the laptop show signs of the oil from the keyboard rubber
2. vertical "line" scratches on the hinge below the "ALIENWARE" close within 2 centimeters from both sides of the hinge.
3. creaking and cracking sounds starts about a month ago
4. two weeks ago, when i close the lid:
a. the right side hinge splits open,
b. the base of the screen slightly open up on the faulty hinge side.

 

FYI - I received my R2 on Friday. Out of the box the screen is touching the keyboard. The left side is lower than the right. I can see imprints of the keyboard on the lower left corner of the screen. Also, it looks like I have the Samsung screen.

So it does not look like they are fixing the issue yet. I'm just wondering if I should get this fixed now or wait.

 

My advice? Wait. You are still under warranty, so just keep using your laptop and "free your mind" from this problem (enjoy the machine). Eventually, if the hinge issue shows up, then you get it fixed. So far, the problem seems to happen 3-6 months after purchase (assuming that you open/close the display normally, like once a day in average). Therefore, in less than one year you will probably know if you have a faulty hinge. Moreover, if you get it fixed later, maybe you will get a display with better hinge (assuming that one day dell/alienware will finally correct the problem).

PS: What you can do now is to contact dell/alienware and let them know that you may have a problem in the future given what you are observing right now in your machine. Get a protocol number for this call. Later, when you in fact have a problem (scratches or even a broken hinge), you can say that you had warned them before.

 

Tech coming tomorrow as well. Fingers crossed.

My only complaint with tech support is that they begin by pretending that they don't know about the problem. Asking for images, what it sounds like, what it looks like, etc. They know this is out there. If someone calls and says that their back hinge is separating and producing a loud popping noise, they should proceed immediately to "we've heard about this and will send a tech to replace the LCD assembly tomorrow."

 

Thanks for the advice, Cherude. I think I will.

 

mine started scratching the screen today not good
if there is a fix i will wait for that

 

I haven't received my unit yet, but here are the relevant part numbers on my order confirmation (dated 8/26), in case it helps the discussion in any way. I ordered from the UK website.

[230-11341] Display : 11.6in WideHD 1366x768 (720p) LCD
[320-11381] LCD Back Cover : Soft Touch ? Stealth Black (No WWAN)

 

Had mine about a week now. It's got two little rubber things on the palmrest that keep the screen above the screen when closed.

The hinge feels tight, there are no irregular spaces when open or closed and the hinge is completely silent.


Maybe I got a lemon.

 

Did you put the little rubber things in your self or were they already there when u bought it?

 

Give it time

 

waiting at the door right now for my delivery, let's see how it looks

 

Keep your eye to the peep hole. It will most assuredly make them arrive sooner.

 

I will be getting my LCD replacment tomarrow I think, I will check it out as well.

 

just arrived and unboxed. hinges are literally equal in gap, no uneven sides, and keyboard is not touching the screen. smells great too, like a new car

 

Mine just arrived as well. The hinges seem even. I tried the paper test and could slide it out with little force, but it was a bit hard to push the paper back in.

I'm also a fan of the smell, lol.

 

lol indeed. make sure the rubber bumpers aren't catching the paper

 

These "rubber bumpers" you're speaking of have they just recently been added to the m11x or has it always been part of it?

I heard about the hinges being "fixed" then dell rep said it wasn't and got my cousin to cancel it, now I'm back to square one.

i think i'll just get the envy =/

 

Not the envy. I have heard they have major heat issues.
And yes, the rubber bumpers have always been there.

 

Does any PC have zero problems?

 

My keyboard left marks on my old screen which was replaced when the hinges went bad. Now, I don't want to remove the protective shipping film until I have proper protection in place!

Is anyone using a screen protector with thei M11x? What about the RT-SPM11X02? Dell sells that one, so I'd venture to call it the "official" screen protector, but it's kind of expensive.

 

You noticed that too eh? LOL

seer

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m11x/480493-anti-glare-m11x-screen-protector.html search ftw

 

I've had my M11x R1 for some months now, i forget the exact month i got it, maybe around March/April.

The screen has always touched the keyboard leaving greasy marks which has been fairly annoying as the screen is so damn reflective. However its not really bothered me much as i know i can clean them off every so often.

My hinge however has just broken unfortunately it seems all dell laptops have a high chance of suffering from this.

My sister had a dell inspiron (i think) laptop for a year and a half before her hinge went. It took her weeks of emails and telephone calls before she got high enough up for them to realise yes the hinge is included in the extended 3 year warrenty.

I phoned up dell yesterday expecting a technician to come out next day (premium service) however was told they knew of the problem but were stockpiling a new component which should fix this problem and this wouldn't be ready till the 16th of sept.

I asked if R2 also suffered from the problem and they said yes.

I was very polite on the phone, saying that the hinge will probably come completely off soon and my screen be damaged, they agreed that this would indeed happen but said the whole screen will be replaced anyway. If however come the 16th and i've waited 2 weeks for a screen repair they fob me off i won't be so polite and thats for sure.

How can they know of a problem for atleast a year and yet still supply the faulty parts, surely it makes business sense to go back to the production line and fix the problem rather than have 100's of laptops to fix in the future costing more.

I would suggest PMing this dell representitive if you have problems with the hinge as he's gathering data to give to his superiors, hes been raising the issue for weeks (even made a post about it which was deleted because it was deemed to have too much info).

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19337909.aspx?PageIndex=2

 

September 16th eh, hmmm... should I wait 2 more weeks or just order it now.... Then again the dell rep said currently there is no fix and proving that the phone reps were talking sh** to get a sale.

 

I PMed the Dell Rep on Beerface's link, we will see what he says, I should be getting my replacment LCD screen any day, I wonder if it's the "new and improved" one....

 

12:00:01 AM Customer Matt
Hi peter Im from Australia though my cousin will be purchasing the laptop for me i just wanted to ask a couple of questions about the m11x
12:00:51 AM Agent
That’s a great system.
12:01:28 AM Customer Matt
I heard that the "hinges" are failing constantly though a couple of "phone reps" have said that the weak plastic mount has been replaced with newer stronger ones from a different manufacturer, is that true?
12:01:46 AM Agent
Yes, it's been a revamped hinge on that.


Okay I'm going to continue with my order, though if this idiot is lying to me I'm going to fly to America and kick his and make him eat my m11x hinge.

Also that idiot that scammed me $500 USD a couple years back, stupid as* thinks he can get away, i got his adress =)



12:03:36 AM Agent
I understand. It would be standard on all the new M11x.
12:03:53 AM Customer Matt
is that guaranteed? May I ask what exaclty was done to make the hinges stronger?
12:04:17 AM Agent
The exact technology is patent-pending and yes, it is guaranteed.

 

oh, ouch!!

 

I'm sorry, but that almost made me spew diet pepsi. Really? Patent-pending technology, huh? And that's why you can't give even the slightest amount of information regarding "the fix".

*cough*BS*cough*

 

So does this mean any of us who AREN'T experience problems yet, but ARE still in our warranty coverage, should make a claim regarding the hinge issue and have them replace our current hinges with this "new tech"?

 

I wouldn't do that until we're a little more certain that there really is a fix out there. I'm still not willing to believe that there is one based on the word of Dell support staff that have it in their best interest to keep a presumably upset owner (or concerned potential customer) calm about a defect that's manifesting early in the life of these units.

I'll believe it when I see hard evidence such as photos of A versus B or when someone with more clout from Dell says that there is a fix and goes into detail as to what it is so that we can then verify that ourselves.

 

way to crush my dreams slickie! ahha i kid i kid, well at least if i have that and the hinge does up they will fix it? or not?

 

Forum Rules REMINDER:

 

We (the community of consumers) will have to find out that (the existence of a fix) by ourselves. I am afraid that dell/alienware will never disclose the information regarding a possible problem and an eventual fix. If they made public (official) such information, buyers of M11x without the fix would immediatelly demand the fix and the situation would become an effective recall, which dell/alienware seems to be trying to avoid. The most probable scenario is dell/alienware remaining oficially quiet and acting behind the scenes. Sad, but no surprise in the business world (I wish dell/alienware could amaze me). Anyway, the fact that sales representatives are talking about hinges so naturally shows that dell/alienware is well aware that consumers are not satisfied (maybe they are starting to feel the pain in their pockets).

 

ah sorry! ill delete it now!

 

The deal ends today as in the m11x back to school discount thing, i guess ill be buying it now.

 

Well said,
Dell is handling this like they should from a business point of view. Just take care of the people that tell us they have a problem, rather than announcing a problem to have people then say they have