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

Today I stopped by Bic Camera in Shinjuku and saw a silver R2 on display. The area around the hinges had a lot of surface scratches, but it definitely was not broken. The hinges were fine, and it still felt solid. It had the Samsung screen, which was touching the keyboard when the lid was closed. I'm not sure if they replaced the screen or not during its life as a display unit, but according to the store rep it had been there since June.

 

This isn't exactly related to the hinge issue but I have a question regarding the screen touching the keyboard. I've noticed that my screen is fuzzing up on the glass from the oil on my hands that's transferred from the keyboard to the glass. Besides wiping it off periodically and keeping it shut with the piece of felt between the two that came with it; is there anything else I can do? Also, is there a cleaning liquid I can buy/make or a cloth I could get to keep it shiny?

 

Alcohol will clean it well if you have persistent oily residue. All I ever use is a good microfiber cloth and warm water and it does the job.

Don't bother with the commercial screen cleaning agents. Waste of money.

 

After owning my R1 for 6 months, my hinge has finally given out

 

Could you provide us more details? Was you using something between screen and keyboard before? Have you had noisy hinges before? Any signal beforehand that your hinge would/could fail?

 

Yes to all of the above. I bought a 32" visio tv a while back and they gave me one of those micro thread cloths to clean the tv screen, but it was the same size as the m11x's keyboard so I used that to keep the screen from getting dirtied/scratched from the keyboard rubbing on the screen. After 2-3 months of owning it I noticed that whenever i opened the laptop that the screen popped out ever so slightly from the backing on the bottom right hand corner, but i was able to pinch the two together and it would be back to normal. Then about 2-3 weeks ago I noticed that the screen rocked a lot when changing the angle for the screen/ keyboard but thought nothing of it until yesterday when i went to open/close it a heard a cracking noise coming from the hinges. Upon closer examination I saw that both hinge cases were cracked, I also noticed that a small crack had started to form on the screen from the hinge issue. I haven't had time to contact dell but I am planning on doing to today. For warning to all M11X owners, just because you haven't noticed any hinge issues yet DOES NOT mean your hinge will be good forever.

 

Just another piece of data: recently purchased M11x R1 (Bestbuy) build date appears to be second or third batch.

No contact with screen and keyboard. There is a clear mark where the rubber stoppers meet the screen borders, and no sign of screen touching keyboard.

Based on the demo unit at Best Buy, it's pretty much an inevitable that the hinges will fail on mine. They are made of the cheapest grade of plastic on Earth.

 

A micro cloth would be too thin to cause problems, which means that things put between the screen and the keyboard are NOT the cause of the hinge issue (are you reading this, dell?). Nonetheless, I wouldn't recommend to put thicker materials between the screen and the keyboard like mousepads. Instead, a better solution would be rubber bumpers JUST in the superior part of the screen, like GNandGS did (although I would put something thinner than that white bumper). Moreover, I am considering to add some black or see-through duct tape at the rear of the M11x so as to help keeping those (cheap) plastic parts together.

PS: 100 pages and counting!
So, yes, something is rotten in the state of Denmark (or should I have said Florida?).

 

Just called dell tech support and they are sending out a technician to replace the screen/hinge. Whats to stop this problem from happening again? Looks like I will be purchasing the extended warranty plan just in case.

 

As far as we know there is nothing that's going to prevent this from reoccurring again beyond blind luck.

 

Hello, Im new here, Im from holland.

My M11x is also screeching at the moment, the hinges are not aligned and Get the very strong feeling it will not last any longer and will break.

I will call dell about this, but Im afraid I have to send my netbook en wait 4 weeks until I get it back. SomethingI dont want, because I use it for the university.
What shoudl I do, what can I do and whats the best thing to do?
Help Im scarred less. This is not worth 1000 Euros!

 

Call Dell. I would think that they'd have on-site service in Holland.

 

Dayum. To think I almost got this system. Kinda lucky that I went with the M15x in the end. :O

 

Hello, I'm sort of new to posting here but I read it a lot. I just thought I'd share my m11x experiences.

I have an R1, purchased around Feb-Mar of this year. I am very careful with it, and rarely open/close the lid as it mostly sits on my desk. On a recent trip to the beach however, one night I noticed it was kinda akward to close and catching on the left, and as a result the hinge became totally scratched. I immediately did some searching and found this thread, much to my horror.

Well today I finally got Alienware on the line (2nd call, first time 3 days ago they said they'd call me back in an hour but didn't), and after realizing my case wasn't actually recorded at all during the first call, the person immediately said he was ordering me the parts and sending a tech out. Now the interesting part is, he told me without any prompting that the replacement has "better parts", and when I mentioned there being a sort of rumor about that he assured me that they were improved over the old ones. I don't know how true that is, but if anything, I got the feeling that he recognized this as a common issue. He also mentioned something about additionally sending me out some "plastic pieces" to put "around the LCD" and started describing how it's for preventing the LCD from splitting from the hinge problem. I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about, but I said ok. This reinfornced my feeling that he was familiar with the hinge issue on the m11x.

Anyways I just wanted to share that info with all of you, it certainly has given me a bit of hope as to the longevity and value of my purchase. We'll see what happens.

 

"Now the interesting part is, he told me without any prompting that the replacement has "better parts"

Sounds like they haven't stopping lying about that fix. That statement has been proven to be a lie by Alienware itself.

"sending me out some "plastic pieces" to put "around the LCD" and started describing how it's for preventing the LCD from splitting from the hinge problem"

You mean sending pieces to you directly that will fix it? If so, that's some more bs. The only way additional plastic could prevent the plastic + metal screw from flexing and breaking requires taking the screen and lcd apart--which a user can't do without voiding the warranty.

"This reinfornced my feeling that he was familiar with the hinge issue on the m11x."

That goes back to the fact customer support was given what to say (a lie) in regard to the hinge problem. Rather than make you feel better, it should make you more scared, since it means it's a big enough issue that they have told customer support to lie to cover it up.

 

Getting my hinges on my R1 replaced next week. There are also plastic specs appearing under the screen, this happened pretty much after i heard the hinges start to crack.

 

If possible, take and post some pictures of these plastic pieces and your screen with them. It would help us to understand what the hell is dell/alienware doing...

 

Just... wow.

I agree with corwinicre in that I can't see how "plastic pieces" to "put around the lcd" could possibly have any way of fixing the interior plastic mounting points that are breaking. Either this is a flat out lie or he did a terrible job in describing some sort of "repair kit". If there actually were something like that, it's quite possible he's never laid eyes on it.

In any case, we'll know soon enough won't we. Honestly, I'm not sure I understand why Dell support would feel there's any upside to lying about there being a fix. That's the sort of thing that bites you in the arse and looses you customers for good.

@joseph3000
If at all possible, please take whatever photos you can of the damaged LCD assembly when the tech removes it. Photos of the new one might be helpful if there's anything that looks different.

 

Due to the attention that this thread receives each day, would it be possible to make this a sticky thread?

Just to find it easy to find.

 

And seriously, I would at least add in the notebookreview.com's review(s) of the M11x that consumers have been complaining about the hinge (just that, how simple and unproblematic is that!). I have always use notebookreview.com as a reliable source of information before buying any notebook. If I was aware of the dubious hinge quality before, I would probably have bought other machine. If notebookreview's main compromise is with consumers, it should make public this concern (because dell will not).

 

Hey everyone, the tech came by today and I had a nice long talk with him about a great many things computer related. He gave me a lot of information based on all the things he sees in the field that both confirmed a lot of my suspicions and was eye opening, and he was definitely familar with the m11x hinge issue.

The most interesting pieces of info relevant to us that he gave me:
- the hinge problem is very common
- the parts are NOT improved and whatever I was told was a lie
- the hinge will keep failing over time because it's a design flaw

I actually was going to say more but I will stop myself because it's more about Dell's approach/attitude towards this issue, and I'm not sure it's my place to talk about those things. (Also, I didn't hear any of this from the tech... )

When I asked about the cause of the problem, he cracked open the old screen to show me. I think I saw someone post a picture of the hinge here talking about how the screws strip off? That's basically what's going on--the metal rod going through the middle of the hinge is mounted to the body of the screen, and since it's all just thin plastic, it very simply all crumbles away after a little bit of use. All 6 (I think) screws/mounts on my hinge had failed, and so the whole assembly was free-floating. Wow. I definitely use my computer on my desk mostly, and so for it to fail the way it did after just a trip to the beach where I coddled it is kinda shocking. But now I definitely see that yes, this WILL happen again, there is no new part, there is no "plastic pieces that go around the screen" or whatever, and as the tech put it, the only way a new part will work is if the screen itself was thicker, so unless you see a physically thicker screen when you get it replaced, you just got yourself another ticking timebomb. As he put it, the actual manufacturing process would have to be changed in order to properly address this issue and prevent it from happening again. Scary stuff. Wish I hadn't bought this now.

 

No need - its always on page 1 and we limit the number of stickies.

 

This is very interesting/useful information. It comes to confirm other past informations. Thank you, joseph.

Now, isn't it unethical (plus immoral) to have your representatives lying on the phone? Aren't they representing the company, so isn't the own company lying? Are they asking to be sued? They are really going to expect that their consumers spend more money to extend warranties due to their faulty design... So lame... And after warranty is expired, you are basically screw. Thanks dell/alienware for this tic-tac bomb in our hands...

 

If you don't like what Dell is selling or the way they are handling their business, then don't do business with them. Either return or sell your laptop. Nobody is forcing you to keep the "tic-tac bomb".

Because that's going to be a lot more effective than sitting there, complaining about it, and waiting for someone else to fix the problem for you.

 

Facebook creator, Mark Zuckerberg, has said and admitted that he thought facebook users were "dumbfxxk" to trust him with their personal information. Mr. Zuckerberg is now one of the richest man in the world. Apple CEO (cough cough) denied the iphone 4 antenna has flaw.

Yes, company is DECEPTIVE and money is their only ethics and moral.

 

My last post...

I remove my last line there. Dell's assumption about consumers may be right...

Yeah, I remember those cases, but they don't make (shouldn't make, for the sake of humanity) things more acceptable. If someone steal $100 directly from your pocket in the subway, you get mad, even scared, but it is okay if a politician or a bussinessman steal $1000 indirectly from you because, you know, that's how they are...

 

What, you mean this?

"They are basically assuming that most consumers are stupid unreasonable fans..."


Calling me names isn't going to solve your hinge problems. Neither will posting in this forum, and hoping that Dell issues a recall.

Do you know what will solve your problems? Buying an extended warranty, or selling / returning the laptop. You could solve your problem TODAY by doing either one of those.

 

Yeah have fun replacing your hinges every few months. Not to mention other parts that the tech will break in the process. And wasting your money and paying for it. Real good plan...

 

... or, I could take my other option, return the laptop, and not have to worry about that headache.


I don't know about you, but taking ownership of the solution and doing something about it seems a lot more productive than complaining on an internet forum.

 

kent1146, I think you will be in the minority here, I can't return mine, nore can most people with this issue, it shows up at diffrent times, usally after the return period. I think we are all just frustrated at this problem. Why should I spend extra money on a warrenty for something that is a known issue. Also why sell it, I bought it not to sell it at a loss. I like my M11X, I just feel the same way, how long is it going to last. All of what I have said has been said plenty of times.

 

A reminder to all:

see forum rules before continuing this back and forth.

 

That's fair enough. I understand that this problem may randomly show up at different times.

My point is that we all have the power as individuals to do something about this. We can either live with the M11x with all of its shortcomings, because we like the benefits. Or, we can choose to sell the M11x (albeit at a loss), and not deal with the shortcomings anymore.

To me, this is just like owning an unreliable car. If you know your car may break down at any time, then you can either keep the car and deal with the problem, sell the car to get rid of it, or sit and wait and hope the manufacturer issues a recall.

 

I agree with you, but only if I was buying a M11X recently. Especially R1 owners would be in my position, I bought mine R1 a month after they came out, so I had no idea it would have this problem, I do my research before I buy. I bought my M11X based off of the specs and the "Rep" of Alienware. So given that, I can not choose any option you have given, and the only open ear we can talk to and sometimes gets heard (Brian) is this forum. Using the Car analogy, I bought my 2010 before they where even produced, based off the same things, specs and "rep" of GM, and let me tell you, they have had some issues, not many, but have fixed them as soon as they where known. I am on a Camaro Forum also and GM has listen to many of the members there to fix issues. So good constructive criticism is always good for Dell.

 

When I bought my m11x I also scanned every review to be a informed buyer reading all the information that I could find in the magazines and on the web. All of these sources of information described the build quality of the m11x as being of high quality, solid and sturdy. Don't get me wong, I love everything about this computer that makes it special. I am always impressed by the size, battery life, graphic power and the keyboard. I love this computer.
It's just that to knowing that the problem that now needs to be repaired is a flaw that they should have forseen from day one. The same problems that ruined the joy of owning a m15x have now come to roost in the m11x.

there is also the silence from the manufacture about this problem. There are over a hundred pages of posts in this thread. The poblem has been defined, the solution cannot be repeating it by replaceing with the same type of screen. It cannot be said that this is a small percentage of units that have this hinge problem. This tread is getting too long for that. There are times when it is better for a company to be proactive in providing the solution, not only in contacting owners of the effected computers but also providing information in forums such as this with a real workable solution in a timely manner.

 

The thing that hurt Dell the most in the Optiplex lawsuit was all the documents where they admitted it was an issue. They seem to have learned from it to never admit there is a problem (rather than to produce better machines). There is little chance that Dell will produce a fix, and unless there is a fix, Dell isn't going to admit there's a problem.

 

I am in the same boat. I have one day left to decide to return to best buy, every review was positive and i absolutely LOVE the machine. However i do not want to deal with the nightmare of busted hinges every few months along with techs who just want to be in and out without any care or concern to my situation. Unfortunately it might be best to return since Dell will not extend a warranty without a user paying, even though there is a mass problem that should be recalled.

 

Good plan apart from paying 15% restocking fee, if you are within 21 day period. If you are not, I don't think it can be returned. And if you developed a hinge problem, you most likely are past 21 day return period. I do agree on selling it though, I've already arranged selling mine to a friend. Just saying it's hard to get full price back at this point.

 

No return window option here and the loss in $ would be bad bad. Finally, the extended warranty in local currency is painful.

Im now starting to see small separation at the hinge. No noises really so its not urgent and frankly difficult to justify replacement yet.

I'll wait until the last possible moment and get my warranty replacement... then perm fix it myself.

 

LOL Its like smoking....Years ago there wasn't the shear volume of evidence there is today about the dangers of smoking. Yet people still smoke ....

We know there is a problem with some,most or all hinges. One can elect to buy the M11X or not....Simple

I chose to buy it but not "pay" for it..Therefore I am only out the cost of a super netbook in a year when the warranty is over and can elect to have it fixed or sell fopr parts,

The ONLY way to buy this machine is with a coupon on the refurb site and keep your initial cost as low as possible. I initially paid $735 then complained about not getting the TacTx keyboard advertised and asked for a return whereupon they offered a $90 credit to keep it further lowering my price of entry. No way with all the information out would i pay a dollar over What I ended up paying for this configuration....because of the possibilities of the hinges busting someday.
Mine are fine. I am happy with the machine...very happy.

I wiped the drive loaded Win 7U ,lasted Dell drivers , the latest modded GPU drivers, did not ;load and eliminated Command Center in favor of Fxlite......No issues at all. Backlit keyboard is all I needed.

 

except if you bought one like me before the "evidence" was out there to be seen.

 

Just a note: I never had any separation at the hinge.

The first indication I had something bad is going on is when the screen started to wobble (it wouldn't stay firmly in one place), but otherwise there were no visual signs or squeaking in the beginning.

Later on screen literally started to bend (!) - you can easily notice it by looking at it directly from the above and observing how the "Alienware" logo isn't uniformly lit. If the screen is bent on the sides, beginning and end of the logo aren't lit the same as the middle. Only later on during the self-destruct process did I start to see the separation and hear the crackling/squeaking noise. Just FYI - it might be worse than it meets the eye.

After we completely took the screen out, the middle part was so much bent/displaced I was surprised the plastic didn't break. The midpoint of the screen was displaced by more than 1cm (~1/2 inch) with respect to the ends and the hinge had a spherical shape like an old CRT screen.

 

Hi,

It's been a long time since I last posted here, but after about 2 months of calling and sending e-mails I've finally managed to make Dell repair my laptop. It wasn't actually because I called Dell that much, but because I was explaining my problems on a Dutch hardware site and some Dell employee read it and e-mailed me.

It's not repaired yet, but somewhere next week the guy will call me another time to make an appointment. Finally!

I think I'm going to sell it. I hate Dell from now on. I've called them about 20 times, mailed them almost every day and they've not responded a single time!

 

I had no problems getting my LCD replaced, one call started the process.

 

Alright. Got my SECOND m11x back in late July. It was a replacement for the first one, which had catastrophic hinge error.

As of today, my hinge is starting to wear.

TWO MONTHS.

I've had this machine for two mere months and the hinge is starting to give out. It's on the lesser stages of it - just dislocating when I close it - yet I am not happy in the slightest. This is INEXCUSABLE. There is NO reason that we, as customers, should have a known and established problem that Dell/Alienware should be working on fixing rather than covering up.

I need a laptop for college. This means I can't send it in. I have classes three days a week and work three days a week. Two of those class days I MIGHT be able to get a technician in, and Sundays are usually good. But I need to have this rig with me, pure and simple.

As it is, they should either get a fix in the works or offer free replacements for any hinge errors. This is THEIR fault. THEY should own up to it.

 

Holy crap! My hinges are definitely on the way out, I'll post a pic of how one is so totally mis-aligned now. Just wanted to catch up on the thread, and look for my old pic of how it looked before. But it looks totally misaligned when you lift and close the lid.

What a piece of junk. Just as I was enjoying Civ5.

For further info, I've had it for maybe 1.5 months, it's an R2.

edit: Can anyone tell me how to get the warranty exchange process started? I feel like I'll need it very soon.

 

By the way, has anyone sent this thread to engadget or any of those public blogs? This surely warrants some attention.

The worst thing is I'd LOVE to buy a second m11x for my boss, but I won't because I know the same thing will happen. I ordered a lame Inspiron 11z in the meantime... Maybe Alienware will fix this on R3.

 

good day

the hinges is a sure DESIGN FLAW by dell. i was making suggestion for us to write or make a class suit for a RECALL. this is clearly a negligence to dell in put a flawed hinge design. what will we do if the warranty is off? for my part, i cant enjoy the warranty and replacement because i live here in the philippines.

i have made a do it yourself repair 2 months after i got my m11x. i did a steel bond epoxy and the other hinge bond at the left side of my m11x had give way already and i made a new bond repair again.

here are the pics of my updated repair

 

One month ago, more or less, I sent it to a couple of sites like gizmodo, but they didn't answer me or just made comments like they were surprised or they didn't see anything wrong with the machines they had to review (right, they got them for like 2 days to review, sure everything seemed perfect... ). Anyway, maybe more people should try. If this news start to spread, then maybe dell will not play mute anymore (and their representatives may stop the lies...).

For the deniers, it is clear even observing just this forum that the hinge issue is not just a random problem affecting a minor percentage of users. Occasionally, just occasionally, we see here complaints about keyboard, heating, screen, battery... The fact that they appear occasionally here show us that these are truly random normal problems, the kind of problems for what warranty exists. However, almost every week, if not almost every day, there is a new case regarding hinge. This is not normal random defect, this is not a subject for warranty, and that is why I think is lame to have just a warranty extension as an "official" solution.

 

Remember the self-terminating Optiplexes?

Dell has already learned their lesson. Admitting to the problem, will invite a lawsuit. Better to deny it ever has an issue, and never document it as such.

 

ok so can anyone make a legal initiative for a total recall of the hinges?