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    *OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M15x Owners Lounge - Part 4

    Discussion in 'Alienware M15x' started by BatBoy, Feb 27, 2010.

  1. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah, it's an easy installation that even I can do (believe me, that says something!)

    Man, talking 'bout ya good ol' holiday! Enjoy it, dude!

    Sorry to hear about the continuing problems, though. Hope get it running the way it's supposed to run soon!
     
  2. madpenguin92

    madpenguin92 Notebook Geek

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    uh oh, another blue screen. had gta running for a few hours (minimised for a while to watch TV, lunch, etc), played again for another 45 mins or so and while it was minimised, chatting to my friend on msn got a bluescreen....

    so respawn is on the way, just one question: the problems with the CC and the BIOS causing the motherboard to die, will this happen with a respawn or only with a fresh install windows?
     
  3. madpenguin92

    madpenguin92 Notebook Geek

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    Well i got a BSOD 15 seconds into watching a DVD so decided it was time and took a dive and did the respawn (which is now called dell datasafe or something... took a while to find it :p) I think things are going much better now. windows live messenger manages to log in for a start, alienfx still works and if this post works then google chrome is now working too. i'll try some games out tomorrow and check for BSODs. I guess I have to install each program one at a time and if it starts to act weird again then i'll let you guys know what program was doing it... whatever happened it certainly was doing a good job messing with me...

    edit: epic, it posted from chrome. back to having a 2000$ epic laptop than a 2000$ glowy paper weight :)
     
  4. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Man, I'm glad it finally works the way it should! Fingers crossed that it stays this way!
     
  5. madpenguin92

    madpenguin92 Notebook Geek

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    who here is an expert on alienfx? I want to try and create a "police" theme just for kicks, but i'm not sure how to go about it. using morph is too slow, just plain colours back and forth looks odd and pulse is completely spazzy... I've seen videos on youtube of an M15x/M17x (can't remember which) with a police theme where they go back and forth fairly clearly and don't have a purple transition or anything. does anyone know how this could be done? or has command center been updated and this doesn't work (or did my laptop ship with an old command center?)
     
  6. Smeggit

    Smeggit Notebook Evangelist

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    If this is the police theme you mean I see 2 possibilities. I'm pretty sure they are making the touchpad and alienhead flash in a way that we can't do so either the M17x works a little different or they are using some other software like Archlinux to do it
     
  7. revilo

    revilo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi I just got a refurb of this laptop and it has not come with any of the alienware programs that come preinstalled, is there anywhere to download these from?
     
  8. Smeggit

    Smeggit Notebook Evangelist

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    Welcome revilo and congratz on the new lappy :) You can get the applications and drivers from here.
     
  9. revilo

    revilo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Thanks for the welcome, is it command centre that controls all the lights and stealth mode etc?
     
  10. Smeggit

    Smeggit Notebook Evangelist

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    Yep and the OSD gives you the on screen display for the media touch buttons.
     
  11. revilo

    revilo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Great, thanks, is it ok to pop the keys out of the keyboard as i have a qwertz keyboard and just wanna swap the z and the y
     
  12. inap

    inap .........................

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    congrats on new laptop revilo. why do you want to swap the keys, even if you do that you still have to remap those 2 letters to the new location. i had a key pop off and found it real difficult to pop it back in. actually i never got it back in at all and call for a replacement keyboard, hahahhah.
     
  13. revilo

    revilo Notebook Enthusiast

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    my y key is z and my z key is y already so it is just a matter of switching the keys, i shall not do it after hearing that it was difficult to do
     
  14. inap

    inap .........................

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    maybe there is a trick to snap those keys back into place, but yeah it was a real pain.
     
  15. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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  16. inap

    inap .........................

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    nice run harry, if you want it official for the benchmark thread you have to add gpuz and cpuz to the shot.
     
  17. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Ha ha ha! Thanks, Inap! I have no idea what the numbers mean, I just know the higher the better. I don't need it to official, I just thought it would be interesting for people who might consider the 240 (although I am not even sure it is still offered).

    By the way, bro, all games - including Altitude - are ready for action! Man, I really hope my internet stays like thios anf that I can really enjoy it more than 4 gig a month cause downloading is a breeze!
     
  18. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Unfortunately the GT240M us still available in a few countries. I wish they would take it of the options already, so I would officially be one of 9 AW M15x owners with this card in the whole wide world! :)

    Edit: Weirdly enough there is only the option for the FHD screen, and the choice between 6 and 8 gig ram on the US site. Those simple changes might cost them some customers.
     
  19. inap

    inap .........................

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    yeah hopefully they will gave you the unlimited plan you as advertised. but yeah the 240 and the 260 is gonna be a thing of the past with all these ati being better and cheaper, hahahahh. really hope nvidia start getting back in the game, i really perfer them over the ati becuase of driver support.
     
  20. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    10 years from now my lappie will be an epic relic worth millions and millions (rubles, probably)! Ha ha ha!

    How is driver service and such of ATI? Nvidia is quite good in such details. Sorry,. I had stopped reading after the first sentence! That's what I have read as well.
    Nvidia seems to have some serious problems with the release of the Fermi based chips, though.
     
  21. inap

    inap .........................

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    drivers are ok for ati but nothing for specific cards, just a driver for a broad range of cards. unlike nvidia as you can see just the 260 have like a dozen drivers, hahaha.

    man a lappy lasting 10 years, now thats epic hahahaha
     
  22. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm gonna treat it with plenty of love and after it becomes an epic collector's item (thanks to the video card nobody wanted :p ) I'll sell it and become rich! LOL

    Do you think Nvidia will catch up with ATI in the short run? They have lost a lot of ground after staying behind with the new release to compete with the 5870.
     
  23. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    The "bicep-pumper" shipped today, estimated delivery date the 26th, sweet.

    Have a question, I did order it with the 1 year basic warranty and I´m wondering if I can and should upgrade it to 1 year advanced so I can upgrade it later?
     
  24. inap

    inap .........................

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    nvidia is still good but just wish they stop rebranding stuff instead of actually coming up with something new. both nvidia and ati are great, just ati is better at the moment, but who know things change fast and maybe nvidia will be top dog next year.

    man is it just you and me on here, hahahhah
     
  25. inap

    inap .........................

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    yeah you can upgrade the warranty later but its always cheaper to get it together when buying the laptop. got me an awesome deal for 4 years completer care.
     
  26. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    So I can upgrade so advanced later? Paying DPA but don´t wanna add too much more money, gonna pay everything off at the end of summer and my driver´s licens is a little bit over $2000. Was thinking 80 bucks is fine and then upgrade to 3 or 4 years next year.
     
  27. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    That's no problem, Raz. Just make sure you upgrade before the 1 year term expires!
     
  28. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    Okay cool but can I upgrade from basiv to advanced? :S
     
  29. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm trying to find out, Razz! It's not easy to find information on this, but I won't give up.
     
  30. inap

    inap .........................

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    probably best just to gave them a ring to confirm it.
     
  31. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks Harry!
     
  32. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Giving them a call would be best, yes, providing you happen to catch a rep who knows what he's talking about, of course! Not a sure thing nowadays!

    I am currently registering my system on their site to see if I can upgrade from there.
     
  33. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    Okay, let me know if you can. Do you have basic warranty?
     
  34. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    I'm getting this meaasage when trying to retrieve my warranty information:

    Dell Services Store - Your Service Contract Details


    Existing system service details are displayed below. Click Continue to view additional service purchase options.


    Welcome, Harry the Fish. (If you are not Harry, click here)

    The system was unable to retrieve contract and warranty data for the following service tag(s): XXXXXXX. Please contact a Sales representative to upgrade, renew or extend warranties for these service tags.

    View Another System

    So, I still don't know.

    Edit: All I can find is that you can extend your current plan. There is talk/writing if upgrading, but nothing on how to do this after the purchase. I think it is safe to assume (yeah, I know, I'll make a butt out of u and me) that upgrading your Dell is NOT possible after the purchase.

    So you would still be able to extend it, Razz, but if you want an upgrade you better do it right away!
     
  35. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    I have no idea, Razz! Just what came with the system but the site won't tell me what I have. It's been fixed once without any trouble, next day at my house. Last machine I bought through the exact same channel came with 3 year advanced warranty but given the price for this with Alienware that's unlikely to be the case.
     
  36. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    Okay thanks brah, gonna call and see if I can upgrade my warranty to 1 year advanced, haven´t recieved it yet so why wouldn´t I.
     
  37. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Shouldn't be a problem, Razz. After all you're offering them to spend more money!

    Good luck buddy.
     
  38. inap

    inap .........................

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    hahaha only if the customer service is as good and friendly as you harry,lol
     
  39. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Ha ha ha! Yeah, if they were half as dedicated as people in this thread there would be no complaints about them! :)
     
  40. inap

    inap .........................

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    man sorry harry been a busy day, not alot of time to chill, hahhaha actually have to do some work today.
     
  41. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Don't worry, Inap. I've got the same problem. Still 4 days away from my boring-project-deadline and the next project is already lined-up.
    Well, it's all for the family, right?
     
  42. inap

    inap .........................

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    man you sound busy too bro, yup someone got to put food on the table and pay the bills, hahha
     
  43. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    That's the way the cookie crumbles, bro! Fortunately my job is relaxed and I can work from home, so it isn't really that bad!
     
  44. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    New estimate delivery date, 25th :D. Pretty nice they send it from TN it´s only about 14 hours away :).

    Called about the warranty, was lying in the couch and telling my hostdad what to say to the rep on the phone (did order in his name, EPP). According to him you CAN upgrade you warranty and it was too late for me to change it now. Going to give them a call when I get it, guess I need the tag number or whatevs.

    Gonna see if I´m going to need to transfer my warranty and stuff, can maybe get away with a nice deal. "We" told the rep that I´m going to study abroad in Sweden next year for 3-4 years and we just found out that I got accepted by the school :p. I´m guessing I still need to get 3 years for everything to work with the warranty, don´t know what it covers while in another country on "business" or "vacation" ;).
     
  45. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    Hey Razz, congrats on the ETA!

    As far as transferring your warranty goes, that should not be necessary if you indeed upgrade to advanced care (ask anyway). When I call for my XPS M1330 (3 year advanced care) they always ask first if the system is still where it was bought or if I have moved in the meantime (probably due to my not so Spanish name). You can also change that information in your Dell account. It can't hurt to make it official by calling of course. The warranty (advertised as worldwide by the way), covers just about everything hardware-wise, spills, machine fell out of your hands, etc. in the States as well as abroad.
     
  46. rasmusbjork

    rasmusbjork Notebook Consultant

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    Ah sweet man! Did you buy M1330 in the US and you are living outside the country? So if I get the 3 year advanced I´m pretty much coverd, with the 1 year I´m not?
     
  47. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    I bought it in Panama while living in Venezuela. Registered it online and changed the location Venezuela. I did not choose the warranty, though, it came with the machine. The machine ran into some trouble (cup of coffee over the keyboard as well as Coca Cola, screen stopped working due to a bad connection underneath the keyboard) without any fault of its own, so I had to call Dell a couple of times. They always asked where I was currently living so they knew in which country they had to dispatch the tech (Dell customer Care for South and Central America are based in Mexico and Panama). On every single occasion the tech showed up next day with the piece to be replaced even though I live on a small island. As far as warranty is concerned, no tech company beats Dell.
     
  48. vzxyz

    vzxyz Notebook Consultant

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    quick question guys... how to I factory restore my windows 7? The tech support guy asked me to hit F10 during boot sequence but nothing happens.
     
  49. inap

    inap .........................

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    you should have an app call dell data safe on the M15x. use that to restore your system.
     
  50. HarryTheFish

    HarryTheFish Notebook Evangelist

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    You can also type "Restore or re-install windows" in the start menu and choose it. Should do the same.
     
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