Another M15x owner joins the fold.

I just wanted to thank everyone here for their contributions to the forums. I've been contemplating the purchase of an Alienware laptop for many weeks now and the information I've found here has been truly invaluable. I'm really interested in the M17x, but thought purchasing a used M15x might be a good way to get my feet wet. Specs of my M15x shown below which I've had now for a couple days. Taxes, tags, and out the door for about half what it would have cost me new from DELL.

1 224-6812 BASE,NBK,ANW,BLK,M15X
1 317-2398 Intel Core i7 820QM 1.73GHz (3.06GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache)
1 317-2401 6GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz 1 x 2048MB + 1 x 4096MB
1 320-0936 15.6-inch Wide FHD 1920x1080 (1080p) WLED
1 320-0938 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M
1 341-9754 500GB SATAII 7,200RPM
1 421-1316 Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with SP 1 - English
1 330-5414 Windows 7 Home Premium UpgradeCoupon, W0, ENG,SPN,FRE,GER JPN
1 313-8565 Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 430-0686 Intel WiFi Link 5300 802.11AGN Half Mini Card
1 312-0206 Primary - 9-cell (85Watt) Lithium-Ion Battery

Purchasing used and being my first Alienware I was a bit nervous to be honest, but having this forum as a resource made my purchase decision much easier. That being said, it was a bumpy ride for the first couple days here. Upon powering up the laptop for the first time I immediately noticed a problem. The left fan after a minute or two of logging into Windows would start running on high and continue to do so until I powered down the laptop and restarted. I also noticed the air blowing out of the left side was cold. Was not warm much less hot. At this point I shut down the laptop for a bit then powered it back up running Hardware Monitor once logged into Windows. I found that the GPU temp would start at around 40c and just steadily climb even though I was just sitting at the desktop. Went from 40c to 90c in the course of 15 minutes or so. Turning my attention to the GPU I finally realized that the GPU fan was not even working! At no time was there air being pushed out the right side. Additionally, when the laptop posted only the left fan could be heard running on high for that brief second. So to make a long story short, when taking the bottom cover off I found that the power connector for the GPU fan was not inserted. It was lined up properly and making some contact, but just sort of resting free and hadn't been pushed down into place. Once inserting the connector properly everything has been running beautifully. Both fans rev up for that quick second during post and the left fan no longer revs up and stays running on high while in Windows for no apparent reason. My GPU is sitting at a happy 40-45c and just chillin while performing non-graphic related tasks. When gaming the GPU fan actually kicks in like it's supposed to. My GPU temps have yet to go above 60c during gaming so far. Once closing out of a game the fans start backing down to a quiet whisper if that and the GPU temp starts working its way back down at a pretty fair clip. Needless to say I'm loving it! This is the Alienware experience I was hoping for.

Now there is a moral to this story. If you ever let a DELL tech replace your GPU go back and make sure the GPU fan was hooked back up properly! As odds would have it the seller had the laptop serviced a couple months ago. The GPU and hard drive had been replaced, so it looks like the tech most likely failed to hook the GPU fan back up properly. Go figure. The seller had purchased a M11x while the laptop was being serviced and decided just to sell the M15x at that point.

 

wow long story bro, but congrats.

 

Cool, good think you caught that before any major damage was done.