Your M15x malfunction

A little survey to see how long m15x lasts. If you had any malfunctions please write down what kind it was, how it was solved and after what time of usage it occured.

 

Ha! Are you planning on buying an extended warranty?

 

Well you see im thinking about buying m15x but im going to be out of my native country for quite while and if Alienware betrays me there then im screwed.

 

Nothing is perfect, sorry.

 

Although, the outside looks to be quite sturdy. However, expect to find some issues within the first two weeks of owning your machine. Personally for me, it was a blue screen that occurred upon watching youtube videos which was fixed and now I'm struggling with the camera and microphone which I still have a problem with although I probably will never use it. (If anyone can help me with this please message me) Also, your machine may depend greatly on weather you buy refurbished or new. And if you do buy refurbished, which kind of refurbished (Certified, Scratch and dent, or PON.) Although most refurbished systems look and feel like new, the brand new ones that have never ever been touched tend to outlast the refurbished in most cases. I can tell you that if you do have a problem, I heard dell support sucks and are a bunch of monkeys. Joking... Dell support WILL fix your problem (I didn't say quickly or that you wouldn't be placed on hold for a while) But any warranty you purchase comes with free next day tech at your house in 30 minutes or they give you a brand new M19X (One can dream)

 

Ii really depends on luck,bro,just like anything else you buy everywhere.What sets Alienware apart from other manufacturers is their warranty service.So far the majority of m15x owners here have positive comments about the service.As for the malfuctions wise,i can probably list out some common hardware & software related faults i myself have encountered,but have otherwised solved without calling Dell,here we go;

Hardware:
1) touch strip not responding to finger - power drain trick.
2) rubber pads on palm rest fell out - glued them back.
3) Fans on full blast for very long period after start-up - sorry,no solution,everyone here still endures this,just restart.

Software:
1) OSD not showing anything even though touch strip activated - reinstall OSD.
2) alienhead power button does not light up after power-on - solved only after i upgraded to SSD harddrive.(not implying you must upgrade to SSD,though )
3) Laggy mouse movements when using touch pad - upgrade to A09 BIOS & latest Synaptics driver at Dell website.
4) BSOD when watching Youtube - use 10.0.12.36 adobe flash plugin or disable "hardware acceleration" by going to settings when watching flash animation.(solution courtesy of EvenLikeSteven)

That's it,some of the problems describe above can be very simple to solve,but can actually freak some people out at first.My advice,always come here to post your problems first,or read through the threads for solutions,i always do that & only leave servicing to Dell as last resort or if i dun have the time to wade through hundreds of posts.

 

Have you tried running HWMonitor in the background? The HDX had this problem too and running HWMonitor solved it.

 

What's that? What's HDX?

BTW, here is a "kind-off" solution for that: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m15x/442816-m15x-fan-full-blast-startup-4.html#post6771883

 

It's a 20" HP model.

HWMonitor intercepts the system calls and allows then to reset the fan. Loading at start up and running it in the background kept the fan in check 100% of the time.

 

@JohnnyFlash,maybe i try the stealth mode trick the next time i encounter the fan full blast issue.Usually it doesn't bother me much as i will always perform a restart,takes only less than 30 sec.Thanks for the tip

 

I had my palmrest replaced because the rubber-thingies fell off

 

Well, I should call Dell to get my screen replace because the "plastic" of the screen is touching the touchpad.
But, I don't want them touch my computer, so I'm doing the solution of using a fabric between both.

Still, I consider that I have no problems with my M15x.

 

Do in most cases m15x bluescreen can be fixed by yourself or dell service is unavoidable?

 

Well, depends on the error.
In my experience, mostly you can fix the BSOD by yourself. Mostly are a driver/software issue.

 

How many times you had to contact dell personally??