*Dell-Alienware & AW Legacy Replacement Systems-Warranty Repair Issues*

Running a quick search for "M17x10" seems to only show R2-related results, but I am calling now to make sure that I do in fact receive an R2 system. Will post again with the results of this "being firm" you speak of.

Thanks!

 

I had 280 in sli .Dell gave me the 4870 in Crossfire. After fighting with them forever they would not budge. I have not checked this site in a while because it seems like everyone but me that had 280 sli got 5870 in crossfire. Happy with my system but checking here can if you let it give you a case of why not me . But on bright side my R-2 has not given me one problem and I mostly play RPGs, RTS and Strategy games. This sites is great as long as you dont start getting a feeling of keeping up with the jones. Plus cant whine to much started out with a xps 1730 with 8700 in sli.) Have to say buying a dell was the best choice I ever made.

 

I got a question, i had doubts about the loyalty of Dell, when i was asking for the replacement of my video card because over heating and bad behaviour they send to me two refurbished cards, which didnt solve the problem, now i got an order for a system replacement, is this new system a brand new system or is refurbished ? They say it is totally new but how can i be sire of that ?

 

Not sure man, I'm in the same boat as well right now. I've confirmed that the system I'm getting is a Revision 2, but that's about it. I attempted to upgrade to the 5870's but they are not in stock at the moment--bummer!!

 

This is sick, Dell aint playing fair at all with this, i didnt never understood why i got refurbished cards instead a new, my Lap have almost 2 months, and now i am very sceptical about the replacement, i want a brand new lap, but, at this point, i think they always sell refurbished laps with tons of makeup

 

You are not alone. Look at the last page-I posted my b4 and after specs. And I'm not complaining, but they are giving me 4870's for 280's. I'm fighting it-of course.

 

pmassey, did your original purchase include the dual 280SLI?

Cmagamez, speaking from my experience, all replacement parts from Dell are marked as "refurbished" even though they are new. If they say they will send you a new one, then yes, you will likely get a new one.

 

Pmassey. I saw that funny thing is when they gave me the specs for replacement at first they gave me lower res screen and a lowwer processor. They bumped up the screen and the proccesor a 300 upgrade but would not budge on the video cards a 100 dollor upgrade.

 

Yeah, I made sure I got the rep to tell me specifically that I would receive an i7 processor, dual 4870s and the RGBLED screen. I'll just upgrade to the 5870s later, no big deal.

 

Long story-short answer. NO! My original, which was replaced had-
Q9000
1440X900
4Gb DDR 1066
DVD ROM
500Gb HDD
260M SLi

First replacement in sig.
Second is on previous page post #1586

Again, thankful to have the R2, but had those 280s at no fault of my own. So the replacement should be the same or better. Not gonna make too big a deal of it, but I will ask for 5870s just to see.

 

I tried to upgrade to the 5870 x-fire but they said it costs 700. That seems like alot for the increase. Not sure if it is cost effective.

 

Really? Holy shnikes. They told me ~$350 over the phone. D:

One last question regarding system replacements.. how long can I expect to wait for this beast to arrive? My call status currently says "PARTS ORDERED" and the parts information is slowly trickling in. I'm guessing another couple of days for manufacturing and two weeks for shipping?

(it was initiated on the 7th and updated to "PARTS ORDERED" 12am today)

 

I thought so. That is why. Their like to like to policy only applies to your original invoice. Some people got lucky and slipped through, but that doesn't mean anyone should. Getting 4870 x 2 to replace your previous 260 then asking for 5870 x 2 certainly does not sound right to me..

 

There isn't an estimated ship/arrival date? Normally they are pretty good about picking that date. When my replacement was put in it took 2-3 weeks and got here on the day they had originally anticipated.

 

Nope, nada.
"There is no shipping information associated with this Service Call at this time."

But on the bright side, it HAS been about a week so far, and the part #s and quantities and such are filled out and I assume ready to go.

UPDATE:

Got an email from Dell with a UPS Label and some instructions on how to send my current system back, so the new one should be on its way soon I hope! Not sure where "PARTS ORDERED" fits into the grand timeline of events, so we'll see.

 

Like I said-I'm getting a NEW R2 for a refurb'b R1 I bought. I'm not complaining, just figured what could it hurt to ask, right? Anyway, just talked to my rep and he basically said it was a money issue. They cost too much. Oh well, I'll still be plenty happy.

 

pmassey, did you buy the extra warranty or do you have the standard 1 yr?
Yes, you got a great system considering you started with a refurb machine. Grats to you props to Dell.

 

All replacement systems that are R2 will be new built from Latin America units with U.S. keyboard and English OS shipped from Tenn. Way to be sure is (if) it is refurb there will be an orange sticker on the bottom stating so. Hope that helps.

 

@anodize Ok, thanks so much for your explanation, i will trust on Dell . . .take care and thanks for reply . . .

 

I have the one year, but spoke to a tech the other day that offered me a 4 year ext. for $578. Gonna get it when I get the money. Can't beat it-CC and Accidental.

 

Definitely helpful, I'll check that out when the system comes in.

Which reminds me: Dell service reps are telling me my replacement system has already shipped, and have given me a tracking number that I'm 99% sure points to the package that will contain my -current- system that I am sending back to them.. Can anyone help me out with this? The Dell Support page clearly says there is no estimated shipping time, which also confuses me. Yikes!

 

Had the same problem with my replacement. It is your system coming. Since they ship from a special build team in Tenn. the regular system has no clue what is going on including your Rep. I saw mine ship and day it came my Rep sent an email Oh your system has shipped. Just look where it shipped from its not overseas. Luck on your new system!

 

I am currently attempting to resolve an issue with a m15x, i have been on the dell merry go round and have had a refurb shipped to me. Now, realize that i was told they were"building" me a new computer. I was never called in advance of this thing shipping, wasnt consulted about color or specs. You get what you get. I got a black one to replace my ordered red one, they upped my os to ultimate, but otherwise, its the exact lappy specs that i originally ordered.

I am sending mine back, and am refusing a refurb(dunno how this will work out, but my lappy crashed the first day and has been breaking alot since)

just look for the orange sticker on the bottom, this will confirm its a refurb.
Make sure everything works! (my refurb has a dead usb port) and cosmetic issues.

There will be a return label, you just ship yours back in the box.

Make sure you like the refurb b4 u ship yours back

gl

Dominic

 

Re: http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ced-4-times-cpu-1-time-still-not-working.html

Nothing from Dell yet.

 

Okay, whew! How long did it take you to receive the system after you noticed the same message?

Gotta keep on them, man. I called almost daily, always made a note of every phonecall, every service call, everything. Make sure to tell whoever you speak with to take a good read through of the notes they will have on file for your account, even if it takes them several minutes (which it did for me) they will eventually come around and understand the situation. But this is all just from (very) recent personal experience. Good luck man, you definitely deserve a replacement.

 

Wow I disappear for a day and the thread is full of people.
Pmassey - That is a great price for CC. Nice.
And I do know that the 9800GT in SLI translated to 5870's as well as the 280's in SLI.
While the 8800GT's and the 260's SLI translated into 4870's.
Anyone that did better than that count yourself lucky and those that have been told no if you owned the 9800's or the 280's needs to decide if the argument is worth it to you. You deserve the 5870's but you will have to push for equal or better value for the original parts.
I will try to catch up with all the posts and be back tomorrow. Busy rendering and laptop is all tied up. Cheers all.

 

Superkyol got mine NBD so next day was when it came. Also anyone who has read thru these post remember the Dell warranty says they can use refurb parts and units. They have the option of using them to replace past the return phase. I have seen people return them for not working, I havent seen someone flat refuse to except a refurb for a replacement Let us all know how it turns out, your in new waters with that one and i'd like to know the outcome.

 

Well had the 8800 was given the 280sli then given the 4870. I got new system at the begining of July and I went cold turkey on this site. I stopped looking because evertime I saw someone get the 5870 it got me mad. I was set to go to Micheal Dell but stopped and start enjoying my system. I am happy and stress free. Just because on my first system they gave me much more than I thought I was going to get does not mean they had to do it this time. These battles with Dell can become all consuming. I gave up took my amazing machine and had fun with it. I even got a m11x. It is a reburb so going over that one with a fine tooth comb

 

I got the 4870's on mine and I am quite happy with them. Seems alot of people are having probs with the driver support from Dell on the 5870's.. Remember your running two of the second best mobile GPU's that you can get. Is that realy that bad?

 

NBD? Not quite sure what that means. And yes, the guy I spoke with tonight said by the looks of things on his end I should receive the system tomorrow; I'll be pretty blown away if this is in fact the case.

 

How did they build so lightning fast? Gratz superkyo!

 

NBD = Next Business Day

That's what my replacement had as well for shipping.

 

Yes to all. And this is why I am MORE than happy with the R2 they are sending me. And the simple fact that they are giving me a R2 makes me more than happy. As far as 5870s go, would be nice, but not absolutely necessary. I had 260s originally-they didn't have to give me the upgrades in my sig, so I am very grateful and happy with the new system.

 

I have a question to all those who got their system replaced and hope this is not wrong. I have a new m17x coming and in case I need to replace it in the future, can I choose a different color or name plate? I was half a sleep when I placed my order and my name plate is pretty much unwanted now.

 

No on color, doubtful on nameplate.

The options were never even presented to me and I know a few others tried to change color but all were denied I think. Otherwise my R2 would have been Black rather then Silver, though the silver is still awesome I wanted to see the black first hand. But, if you have a custom nameplate your new one ships with the same and you are allowed to keep the old one unless it is the stock M17x one.

 

Another user on here was offered a Nebula Red as a replacement system, but it wasn't a 'choice'. I believe in the end he got a Space Black with better gpu's so he was happy with the change. It's all about what is available at the time of replacement. Nameplate = doubtful but you can always ask.
As far as gpu's and which you deserve as opposed to what you are being sent... I did stress that it's up to you to decide if the argument is worth it. For me rendering is everything, so yeah I would. Ultimately it's whether YOU are HAPPY with the replacement. If you are happy ignore the posts and have fun with your laptop when it comes.

DeltaWing - As has been said, keep record of everyone you talk to on the phone, keep all emails and jot down a summary of the phone calls and what advice you've been given. Everything is important right down to the amount of time you are on each phone call. I will PM you with some info. If you already have it, ignore me. Remain polite and courteous but also stay firm. It sometimes seems as though they are trained to put you off and make you accept less than what you are entitled to. (Disclaimer: not all reps are like this but many are very combative when it comes to simply getting an equal value system or parts)
Keep in mind exactly what Alienwolf has said in a prior post. All systems and parts for replacements can be refurbs after the 21-30 day return period of a new system. The orange refurb sticker will alert you of this. But also remember that just because it's a refurb does not automatically make it faulty. If it works, enjoy! Sometimes these parts come out of returned orders that had nothing wrong with them.

 

Whoa, nice! How'd you manage that? I didn't get any options at all.

 

Superkyol - Congrats on the quick build time. As far as NBD you can always call and ask them what shipping method they're going to use. My first replacement was 2day shipping and I begged for NBD, but they didn't upgrade. Still I have seen others get NBD by asking.

 

I'm in Canada so it might be a bit different, but sounds good to me so far.

How do I know they haven't already shipped it though? Dell says they have, but I really have no idea because the so-called Status History page shows nothing but "PARTS ORDERED," like caps lock is really necessary.

 

Do you have a tracking number? If so... mystery solved.. if not call and get one. They should be giving you a way to track the package. You have to sign for it so you need to know... (not that you don't already know this just if you call and speak to them, you could argue this.)
The way mine showed up was similar, no updated web page, no word on when, then an email pops into the inbox with Dell package delivery. It did give me a way to track and find out about when I needed to hang around to sign.
Others may have just had their laptop delivered without signature confirmation but I definitely had to sign for mine.

 

I've been wondering this for quite sometime...

I've got an R2 with 4 years accidental warranty, and its got 4870s + 920XM.

Just wondering if it happens to have an "accident" in a year or two, will i get a new notebook with the best processor at the time and the best videocards?

Will they ask any questions about what happened?

Will Dell give me a refurbished system?

 

As I have come to understand it, if Dell does in fact approve a system replacement, they will give you the to-date equivalent of your current parts. For example, the previous R1 model's video cards translate to R2 as follows:

260M SLI = Dual ATI 4870
280M SLI = ATI 5870 XFire

It's best to think of it that way and not blow your expectations out of proportion.

 

*slow burn...*

Okay, so got a call from Corporate today, wonderfully nice man, and at least now I guess I'm making progress of a sort. Going to send me a nice box to ship my rig back to them so their team of 'engineers' can go over it with the fixes that they say are supposed to 'work', which apparently include BIOS flashing and display drivers! Oh well. So I'm going to be out a brick for the next 7-10 days, and then when it comes back, going to have to go through all the diagnostics again to find out that odds are it still doesn't work- though I hope I'm wrong and it runs beautifully.That would be great...but also, at this point, not something I'm inclined to put faith in.

Question now is does the actual Dell site do anything differently than their (outsourced) techs would and/or their tech support would advise you to do over the phone?

 

I wasn't offered any options at all. My original R1 was basically maxed out, I could have gone with SSDs and that's it but I'd rather have storage space over the bit more speed, so the R2 they first offered me was fully maxed except SSDs and the Intel Wi-Fi card. So I went with it since I didn't care about those things. The NBD was what they gave me from the moment it went into production. I could check on the build status and it would say the estimated arrival date and NBD shipping for the option. Tennessee isn't but a few states away from me so that could play into it maybe. Who knows. All I know is I am happy with my replacement overall and that's all that matters so long as I can continue to opt out of certain updates that may hinder it from performing as I paid for (ex. BIOS A08).

And also to further what infernia said about refurb parts, not all are actually defective. I believe if an order is canceled or something is changed but the system was already being worked on, the part goes into refurb status because it was already in a system. Whether it left the facility or not. The replacements are built in Tenn., so that is also why some options may be flat out denied. They don't have the surplus of parts that the main facility over seas has when a system is first ordered.

I can't say for sure but I would assume the depot is able to do more then the techs that come to your house because they should have a work station rather then just a box of goodies. They would also be able to exchange parts as needed. If they can't get it working my guess would be that they would call you up and offer a replacement without sending the old one back to you. When it came to that stage for me I was offered Depot or Exchange. I went for exchange and then immediately sent an email off to corporate stating how I wanted an New R2 not another R1 because the hassles I have dealt with for so long and all the replacements they already tried.

 

Awesome, good information to know, thanks!

UPDATE: Got confirmation from Dell that the system is currently being assembled, and should ship out today or tomorrow, and take 3-5 business days to arrive. I will update when I hear more or receive the system, hopefully all goes well and this example will help anyone considering going through with a system replacement.

 

Thecodebreaker If your system has an accident you will get the same system you have, unless the parts are no longer being offered Then you would get the next closest equal or better that is being offered. So depends if your specs are still around in 2 years they could be or maybe not If an R3 or something much better comes out, I plan on giving this one to a family member and get another new one one for myself

 

Paretorian - look on the bright side your near the end. With some luck you very well get news they are keeping your old one and send a new replacement. I have seen that several times here or when you get it back it has problems and they just send a new one. You are close to the end, and in my mind it has taken too long! Good Luck!

 

Got mine today. Seems real nice. Haven't had but 10 minutes with it. Question-I don't need RAID. I would rather have the storage. If I just disable it in the BIOS, will I be able to boot into Windows and just use the seperate or have to reformat? Don't want to lose the Respawn feature either. Didn't know if changing the RAID would mess it up or not. Anyone?

 

It should not mess it up if you disable it in Bios.have mine set up that way.Go ahead and make a back up image on a flash drive or a spare HD I did just in case.

 

I think the only way you will lose the respawn is if you do a fresh windows install....i did that with one of my systems which hhad dell datasafe on it (same thing just rebranded by dell to confuse people!) and after fresh install, no datasafe and no apparent way to get it back.