Another m15x Bites the Dust

My hinge broke today. Bought it in October of 2008. I was in Fort Sill, Oklahoma at the time - now I'm in Germany. This is going to be the biggest headache of my life. I am very displeased with this kind of service...I paid $3,500 for this. With this kind of rampant deficiency, I'd expect Alienware to offer all of the customers effected by this kind of crap a free lifetime warranty. Doubt that'll ever happen.

Not to mention this isn't the first thing that's ever bee wrong with my laptop. Right out of the package, the WLAN and the turbo cache memory card were broken and I had to wait upwards of 1.5 weeks for a replacement that I had to install myself and was charged for despite my 1 year Alienware warranty.

So not ONLY did I have to pay for the new WLAN and turbo cache memory card, I will probably have to pay for shipping from an APO address and spend about a month disconnected from my family in America.

Pictures follow:

 

Question, was it skullcap or ripley. I am guessing ripley

 

Ripley as usual.

 

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8708/alienware002jw6.gif (WARNING: This image is probably the worst hinge incident I've seen so far)
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1470/alienware003pz8.gif

 

That's bad.

I'm worried now, looking at those pics.
Hmm before this did the side of the lightpipe, start coming off. So the gap where the light strip is, was it slightly larger near the bottom (hinge)?
Mine has a large gap there, though mine is a skullcap..

 

I have no idea. Tonight I opened it after I got done with what I had to do today and *POP*. Ridiculous.

Well, I know a lot of my buddies were looking at an Alienware. I'll be sure to tell them to never even consider buying any of their products. If this is how they build their products and treat their customers, they're definitely not getting ANY buyers from 1st Squadron, 91st Airborne Cavalry.

 

sorry to hear, but i am going to be devils advocate for a minute.

1. not AW's issue that you are currently overseas.

2. you should not have been charged for the items you said you were. usually they put a hold on the CC in the amount of the items shipped/replaced until you return the faulty items. make sure this was the case. if you did not return the items, then you may have been charged.

3. it is an imperfect world, things will happen. better to deal with it professionally, then get upset over it. they will fix the issue as your item is under warranty, but yes it will take time.

4. contact Roswell in my sig. offer them your side of the story and events and see if they can assist you in expediting the issue/fix.

5. cant see the links (due to the net at work)

6. again, sorry to hear, and hope they can resolve the issue for you. best of luck.

 

I never said it was Alienware's fault I was stationed overseas - that is nobody's responsibility but my own for volunteering for the United States Army.

I contacted Roswell and a woman named Michelle delivered a prompt reply. Very professional and impressive.

Ryujin, check out the pictures when you get a chance. The hinge is completely destroyed.

 

your original post i can understand was full of emotion. but you came across as if everything, to include your overseas issue, was AW's fault.

i am ex-military as well, so i understand. just wanted to open you up a bit.

glad Roswell was effecient in helping you. they are more then a step above standard customer service, that is why i suggested them to you. if you stick with Roswell, your unit and AW will still be top notch as you thought they were...

i will when i can check the photos. maybe add them as an attachment for others to see as well.

good luck and keep us posted.

 

I've heard about some different m15x issues, particularly overheating, that is now worrying me as well, because my m15x heats up pretty well after about 20 minutes of usage. I'm currently elevating it by placing a 1.5 liter water bottle between the back hinges and my lap.

By the way, Ryujin, who were you with? I'm with 1-91 ABN CAV, 173rd ABN BDE. Gearing up for a deployment soon.

 

dependant on your BIOS version. you may want to look to see what version you have. x36 i think (so many numbers anymore) is the resolution to fan speed.

also, i would recommend a zalman2k cooler. i have one and it works to assist the cooling.

as far as military:
tac sat in army, then sat comms in navy, now civ and deal with sat comms, missle defense, and XXXXX (cant tell ya everything)

(now you know more about me whizzo.... )

edit: GL with your deployment, ok signing off for the night now....peace

 

How do I go about checking my BIOS version?

 

Download CPUZ (google it), and it will tell you in the bios section (or just read till you find bios..)

 

I have version vX36 P3. Is this the latest version?

 

Yes, I believe it is.

 

weird, I have a m15x too but Skullcap my hinge has no sign of squeaking or cracking noise, althought on the back of the lid there is a place where the case actually crack (not the hinge) I suspect it's because hard contact with some hard surface to cause it to crack, but I use a tape and now it's fine and sound.

Maybe consider Skullcap upon sending for repair??

 

Maybe you could put in a special request with AW USA and ask them if you could get it repaired at the UK service center. At the very least you will save on shipping costs and if your lucky, your turnaround time could be shorter.

 

Didn't a ROSWELL FORUM REP come on here and STATE THAT THE CHASSIS AND HINGES HAD BEEN REINFORCED SINCE JULY 2008?!?!?!

Uhh. WHOOPS!

 

well, to be fair, we don't know if MNAirborne's m15x is a pre-July or post-July model... he got it in October, but it might be an old(er) chassis they still had in stock.

 

well if it is a old m15x chassis they should of trashed it if they sold older broke crap that is unacceptable

 

well, the question is if all older m15x chassis would've gone bad at some point, or only a certain number... because then, it might be more economical for AW to just use up the stock of older chassis and then use new chassis for the repairs later on. not that i'm condoning this, just pointing out why AW might do it.