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

just have my screen (lcd) replaced.
i had AUO screen before (as the computer is the first batch of the M11x)
the current one is from SamSung, model No. is SEC5441.

the hinge is now aligned properly (at least i feel like it works now just as the first time i open the screen).

Hopefully the problem will go away =\

i was at work so could not take any picture nor was able to see the whole procedure of replacing. =\

 

Santa,
is there any diffrence in video quility on the new screen? I get mine replaced tomarrow, along with a missing back left rubber foot on the bottom.

 

People who have had both, due to a replacement, are generally happier with the Samsung and the LG compared to the AUO.

 

I noticed a little color differences (maybe).

 

I was not exactly defending dell/allienware or the business way of dealing with the situation... In fact, I really think is wrong if sales representative are inventing stories just to sell more. Anyway, I see why they wouldn't make an official statement (assuming that they don't want a recall). However, I still think that the best solution for all this mess is dell/alienware declaring that the hinge would exceptionally be cover by the company independent of warranty. This wouldn't provoke a running to "fix the hinge" and would give peace to all consumers. After all, don't dell/alienware trust in its hinge?

 

Yes I agree, I am a customer getting my screen replaced tomarrow, but what happens once I am out of my one year warrenty?

 

Put a sticker with Hail Mary prayer inside and pray, my son...

 

Hey guys. I had my hinge fixed (left hinge if you're looking at the screen) about a month or so ago.

Just reporting in that the left hinge has started to "click" as I open and close it. I'm assuming it will likely give out again. Bummer. This time around I've been opening and closing the laptop screen from the top middle of the screen, applying the pressure above the webcam area so that the tension is evenly distributed between the two hinges, and i haven't done any traveling yet since the repair, so phooey.

 

Not sure how much a single LCD assembly replacement cuts into the profit of an M11x, but I can almost guarantee that two replacements means the Delienware just lost money on that one.

Sorry to hear you were stuck by lightning twice, Zlog. I'd be beside myself.

 

Well, last Friday the same Dell Tech who replaced my first panel showed up to replace the second one that was getting more and more crooked since he fixed it the first time and was causing a scratch in long hinge that protrudes from the keyboard/bottom of the unit.

Before I get into things, I just want to say that my Dell tech was way cool. While some of the issues and what eventually happened could be attributed to him, his attitude was so cool and understanding that I plan to use him again if I can.

SO, with that being said - He shows up on Friday with the replacement panel. It turned out to be another Samsung. I didn't know until he installed it and I checked the hardware ID. The irony was, I explained to him I didn't want to play the pixel lottery and was happy with my current panel but the hinges were going because it was so crooked.

So as he goes to remove it, he actually manages to tighten and straighten the original panel/hinge and asks me "Hey I managed to fix what was wrong here and get it straight. You want me to still install the new panel?"

Of course I should probably have said No, but my curiosity as to whether the replacement panel was an LG got the best of me. So I had him put on the new panel... Oops.

Not only did it turn out to be the same Samsung as before, but something was off as when the tech installed the replacement panel the seal on the long rounded hinge cover would not close on the back side. He tried to tighten it, but for whatever reason the new panel kept the back side hinge split open.

So, at this point the tech tells me that I'm going to have to get another panel

Now, this is where he won me over, as I asked him if he's going to order the part if he could specify whether to send a Samsung, LG, or AUO and if so, would he get me an LG? He said he could, and would. So we agreed to put the original panel back on, and wait for the new one.

But while he was putting the old panel back on, he accidentally stripped one of the key screws underneath and said he wouldn't be able to replace the next panel until that screw got taken out. Which means sending the whole m11x back to the factory.

Already seeing I was super bummed at the news, he whipped out his phone and called his inside Dell number and said that since this will make it the third service call*, it means they're supposed to send me a new unit and then set it up through the backline access that he has.

And that's exactly what he did. I called Alienware this morning and they verified that the order is in the system and that it'll take at least 3 weeks to build and won't arrive until after 9/17. Maybe this is in relation to what the other poster heard about a hinge revision being implemented after/by then?

Either way, I'm okay waiting 3 weeks as I figure that even if they send me a refurb, it'll ideally have these hinge improvements or anything else defective implemented. Going by what others are saying, I'm trusting it will be new.

I'd rather have an entirely new unit rather than a panel replacement as the wife put some small scuffs and scratches in the bottom front, and the CPU only OC's to 160, so maybe I'll get a CPU that can do 166 stable?

Posters seem to be pretty happy with their replacements so I'm stoked.

I almost hope to get it later than earlier, as I figure the longer it takes, the better chance it has of coming with the new hardware fixes.

I'll admit too, that I'm hoping a little for an LG panel, just out of sheer curiosity more than not liking my current panel.

Either way, could it be that they're phasing out the AUO? As I've not heard/read of any poster getting an AUO on a replaced panel? Is there?

Anyways, if your hinge doesn't break, I'd follow what Slickie said in another thread awhile ago. Have your panel replaced due to the hinge issue 9 months into your 1 year included warranty.

I'll post impressions on the replacement unit if there's anything of note to post when it comes in.



*As in - More than 3 service calls gets you a new unit exchanged if under warranty

 

" it'll take at least 3 weeks to build and won't arrive until after 9/17. Maybe this is in relation to what the other poster heard about a hinge revision being implemented after/by then?"

It seems like 3 weeks is around the average time between ordering it and shipping it, so I don't think that implies there is a new fix. Also, there is no fix; that was a lie told by phone support apparently. Sorry to have to be the one to tell you, but that info is in this thread. A person that is part of the investigation (Chris) verified it's not true.

On the plus side, having to wait three weeks means you're getting a new machine and not a refurb.

 

You're right! I remember reading the response from the ChrisDell that he didn't know anything about it.

I don't know why I keep forgetting that. Wishful thinking I guess.

I'm definitely giving this one to the wife knowing that there's soon to be more powerful GPU's in this form factor, but if I buy another Alienware, I'm going to bite the bullet and get the accidental coverage warranty. But I'm looking at other competitors as to what 11-13" gaming netbooks they're coming out with to compete with the M11x. If there really isn't any, then I'll get an R3 if it has a better panel option, or just wait for the tech to make what I really want. Something closer in power to my G73, but in an 11" size. I'm sure I'll probably be waiting awhile

 

I agree there. With the M11x being out over six months now and sales seemingly pretty good, I hope other companies are at work right now coming out with competitive models that are small gaming notebooks. I also would jump ship to an Asus, MSI, Sager...nearly any other company, really.

 

Buy an extended warranty before your 1 year warranty expires. My sales rep said you don't have to buy the large warranty straight away.

 

Buying extended warranty later costs more (in some countries, a lot more) and you shouldn't be/feel "obligated" to extend your warranty against a known issue coming from the production line and recognized at least by dell/alienware staff (sales representatives, who are theoretically speaking in the name of the company). Warranties are supposed to cover you against rare/infrequent/nonrecurrent/random/unkonwn events, which doesn't seem to be the case. The number of faulty hinges must be considerably bigger than the acceptable, which explains sales representatives being aware of the issue. In other words, the price you pay for a new machine is the price of a supposed "perfect" machine subject to rare/infrequent/nonrecurrent/random/unkonwn events that you can avoid buying warranty. It is not the price of a machine with a known issue. A machine with a known issue should be sold with discount, not extra-charge for extra-warranty. In fact, in a perfectly fair world, in order to distribute this discount to all consumers, dell/alienware would have to give at least coupons to all consumers if the company didn't want or couldn't garantee their own hinges. It is lame to demand that consumers buy extra-warranty for a known issue. I wouldn't make business anymore with a company demanding that.

 

The way I see it, there are only 2 options. [1] you take a principled stand and fight with Dell/AW when your warranty expires to fix your hinges and/or wait and hope that a recall and/or discount is eventually issued, or [2] take the extended warranty and avoid the headache.

The advantage of [2] is that even if they don't ever acknowledge a systemic problem and issue a recall or discount, you'll at least have a working laptop, and if they do, you not only benefit from it, you'll have reasonable grounds to ask for a refund on the extended warranty. It's a lose-lose of course, but with [2] you risk less.

There is of course a 3rd option - don't buy the machine. But that doesn't help people who already bought it thinking they were getting quality.

I think biting the bullet and taking an extended warranty is the best choice out of the bad choices available.

 

I live in Japan and just got my i5 R2 and I have the AUO105C panel, so it looks like they're not phasing them out, at least in some regions. Overall I'm happy with the panel, colors seem good and the blacks are nice. The only thing I wish is that it was a little brighter. I was using an Asus UL20a before this, and that screen was super bright and crisp. The R2 is a few notches below in brightness and I'm still getting used to it.

As for the hinges, I haven't experienced any problem with it and my hinges seem to be lined up fine. When I open the screen, it does feel pretty tight, but I don't know if that's a good thing or not. The screen doesn't seem to be touching the keys, but I use the cloth that came with the machine between the keys and keyboard to make sure they stay clean. I've actually always done this with my laptops, and while it is a little annoying, to me its worth it. My old Vaio SZ had bad screen/key touching problems, and if I didn't use something it would have been pretty messed up.

Overall I'm loving this little guy. It plays all of my games (except Just Cause 2) and is faster for gaming than my two year old NEC with a GeForce 9600M GS (256MB). I love having such a portable machine with so much power!

 

That's not going to happen, I guess after todays replacment, I have two more to go before April 2011

 

I have my 3rd system and its the best of the bunch. There was a loose screw at the front on the bottom so you could see the motherboard but tightened it up no problem.
There is still a small noticeable difference in the gap on the lefthand side of the screen compared to the right but only small this time. I am keeping this one as its fast games well and I cant be bothered returning it. R3 will be out by the time a 100% perfect build comes my way!.
My case got to the escalation team, it could be because I sent a snotty email to michael@dell and michael_dell@dell aswell as the usual customer service agent I have been in contact with, who was useless by the way. He replied after the escalation team contacted me and was not aware they had done so, so one of those email addresses got to someone in head office.!!
Long story shortish is they offered me a free accessory up to £80 for the inconvenience caused. I declined and asked for my warranty to be extended for free. They have obliged and I now have 2 years next business day instead of 1.
Overall I am happy now but still have the butterfly in my stomach every time I open the lid waiting to hear a CLICK!
Would I buy Alienware again? I don't know is the answer. Its been a poor customer experience and extremely frustrating at times, especially dealing with customer services bottom rung of the ladder but I have a usable system for now and a 2 year warranty for peace of mind. Hopefully now I can go and enjoy this little beast and everything its capable of.

 

Ok so to carry on from my last post on page 78 i think (edited), i'd left off with the dell technician on the phone telling me they were aware of the hinge problem and were stock piling an upgraded part which would fix that problem, the ETA on these parts would be 16th Sept, he agreed the whole lcd would be replaced for the fix.

So i leave it at that thinking i'll call back on the 16th.

This morning i get a call saying a technician has been dispatched and will be at your house shortly. Although happy that i was getting the issue sorted i wasn't happy about the last minute call, luckily i'd be available for the call out so didn't fuss too much.

Dude shows up with a new LCD monitor, knows nothing about the hinge problem, tbh i believed him as hes just a local that does what hes told, he'd not even seen that many M11x already. So after asking him if this was the fixed LCD they were using and getting no good response i just left it at that.

LCD is fine, hinge is great again, stiffer like it was when i first brought the laptop, obviously this loosens as time goes on and then the hinge goes (fingers crossed it won't happen again though).

So if this wasn't the fixed LCD and he was just putting on the same old hinges that would in my mind eventually break again i only have like half a year left before my warranty expires. Like everyone else i'm worried that the damn thing is gonna hold out till a few days after my warranty expires then break.

So after being told a fix was in the works i'm gonna keep checking things out, if i ever get wind that the new R2's have a new and improved hinge system i'm gonna be on their case but untill then i'm happy to just let it drop and forget about it, what the heck laptops aren't for life right.

P.S.

How do i tell what make my LCD is now?

 

I was told by "Chris" with Dell from the Dell forums that he has heard of no stock pilling of LCD's. The only fix is to replace the LCD with the current parts on hand. So we are all in the same boat I guess. I it truly a shame that such a awesome little laptop could have such a issue.

 

Device manager/Monitor/properties/Details/Drop down to hardware id's

 

I did... Google sent me to the owner's lounge thread, which is where I would ask owners such a question. I found that one on my own too... after logging in and using the forum search proper.

 

Update on my Hinge issue. The tech came today, opened my M11X R1 and one of the chassis screws was stripped probably at the factory. So the tech could not repair it. He called the Dell "Bat Line" and they told me they would send me a empty box so I can send my Laptop to a service center where they will fix it. I guess this is ok, I wish they could have sent me a replacement, it's a 9 Day turn around . I asked if I could get a faster solution, and they said no. Also the left bottom foot that came off, they sent a complete bottom panel to replace it. The tech left it for me just in case they forget to fix it at the service center (that never happens ).

 

Can you use the seam where the edges of the halves of the screen and the seam where the hinge cover meets the base of the m11x as a straightedge to check the hinge alignment?

 

That's what they first tried to do with me, but since the tech confided that the policy is if there's more than 3 service calls under warranty, they're supposed to replace the entire unit with a brand new one.

I insisted on this as it would've been the 3rd call. I won't get a new system for 3 weeks as they build it, but I'd rather do that than have mine serviced at this point.

But if you're in a hurry to get your machine back, then maybe an exchange isn't the best option. But yeah, if you get a stripped screw in the wrong place it can bugger your whole machine from getting fixed.

Good Times

 

I am ok with what Dell is doing at this point, this is service call #1

 

I have the AUO LCD Panel...just received my M11x R2 after A LOT of research and I now stumble upon this thread -.-. For the money I paid for this laptop, I expected nothing but top notch build quality, which is what I thought I had. It felt really nice and solid compared to other laptops I've used. I realized the issue with the keyboard touching the screen and it didn't bother me too much, I'm still using the cloth that came with it between the screen and keyboard. But now I see this...and I'm frightened as hell. Is it possible to ask them to warrant a replacement even if the hinges are not yet faulty ? I definitely do not want to go through this headache after spending this much money.

 

I seriously doubt they're going to replace your display if nothing is wrong yet. That said, it never hurts to call them up.

 

You should wait until you have in fact a problem like scratches on the screen or a broken hinge. In doing so, you have better chance of getting a display with improved hinge system, assuming that dell/alienware one day will develop an improved hinge system... By now, just relax, enjoy the machine and wait the problems come first.

Anyway, i think it is so ridiculous that they managed to avoid much more complex problems like heat and stability in such small but fairly powerful machine, but failed in developing something so simple as a reliable hinge...

 

@Flynn

Rubber feet? Both of mine fell off... :-/ Now the laptop can slide on the desk....

 

Hey everyone I just wanted to chime in on this thread to say that I have a M11x R2 order date 6/19/10 and ship date 7/13/10 with an AUO screen that has no hinge issue or no keyboard touching the screen issue either.

I did however have an issue with the front right grill light having some obstruction behind it which I ended up having the palm rest replaced on my unit. Now looking at the palm rest when replacing it I noticed from the factory two of the seven chassis screws that hold it in place where stripped / overtightened. This caused an issue of the palm rest not holding to the bottom of the chassis tight which in turn would elevate your palm rest hence putting your keyboard closer to the screen when closed. Those seven chassis screws thread/tighten into the palm rest, if your palm rest has issues it will cause everything on the bottom to not be tight / aligned properly.

I also noticed when I replaced the palm rest and put my keyboard back was that the keyboard had a wave to it (noticed before replacing the palm rest) that was easily fixable by bending and shaping it out of the laptop before replacing back. Since doing that my keyboard looks more even and flush as to before. Now I never had issue with the keyboard touching the screen but I wanted to give some observation which may be part of the problem in conjunction with the hinge issue.

Build quality is questionable, due to the stripped and overtightened screws I had a partially broke palm rest along with mangled up chassis screws. What happened to QC????

 

Well said. And I definitely am enjoying it . Just wondering now though, I had a cousin living in the states buy it for me and ship it, I live in the Caribbean...If something were to go wrong, would this be an issue ?

 

Call Dell, they can send you a replacement bottom panel, or have a tech come out and fix it. It is a shame Dell did not fix some of these small but annoying issues.

 

m11x has a global warranty. So there shouldn't be a problem.

 

Alright, so I've been looking at purchasing an m11x for a while now, but have been slightly turned off by the fact that there's this rather pervasive issue with the hinges. Does anyone think that Dell is going to address the problem with a third revision, or should I take the plunge and purchase an R2?

 

I think even with the hinge issue I had, it's still a awesome little gaming machine I will ship mine out for repairs tomorrow, it's like sending it to camp for a week, I'll miss it, but maybe it will come back stronger and wiser, lol

 

Now your treating it like a kid?
But anyways, what he said.
I myself bought the M11x R2, knowing that it would have hinge issues, but it doesn't matter. Dell will repair it. And who knows, we might get lucky and they'll actually get a permanent fix for it

 

lets hope the fix come in before our warranty expires.. yikes!

 

That's my one big issue. Should I take a gamble with frist of all, the laptop when I purchase it, and whether or not it has a hinge problem, and second, if and when Dell would implement a permanent fix.

 

On the topic of this, I noticed on my R1 that it has little rubber bumpers on either side of the laptop under the keyboard. Does the R2 have these?

 

Awesome, I feel a lot less worried now

 

Yup, it does. But my keyboard still touches the screen despite that.

 

okay update I bought an envy 14. why? Well I paid about $800 less on retail for some reason got a full tax invoice so when i go overseas i get the 10% back ^^ so all up I paid 1400 AUD for a BNIB envy 14 with i5 520m processor, 1600x900 radiance display, 500gb HDD =)

though goodluck with all of you that have issues on the m11x, If it wern't for the hinges I would've stuck with my order instead of cancelling everytime hah.

 

well... get the warranty.. its a small problem. and its ALIENWARE for pete's sake. lol. love em even with bad hinges and all.. for Malaysians like me, it took me 7 years to dream/ drool when i read PCGamer mag when i gaze at alienware.. when i got my hands on em' i'm a happy lad even with the problem..

 

Hinges are no deterrent in boleh land!

 

Sadly, my first post will be here:

I own an M11X. I bought it Febuary, and recieved it in March iirc.

I have had a tech come to my house twice for the hinges. First time was the left hinge. The second time, last week, both hinges, and he also replaced the monitor due to what appeared to be flecks of plastic under the glass(?). I'm guessing the flecks occured during assembly, or possibly from the hinges themselves? Either way they are fixed.

Needless to say, I love this machine anyhow. And I will be buying the extended warrantee.

 

I sent my M11X R1 in last Friday, Dell told me 9 days max on a turnaround, I guess we will see.

 

Was sending it off your only option?

 

Yes, I asked if there was a diffrent option, but since I had a stripped Cassis screw, the on-site tech could not fix it.