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

The new system is AWESOME! I love the RGB LED - enough so that my wife even wants one. So we bought her one too. They have done a great job in making things up to me. Now Dell and I are BFF's.

 

Did they send you a tech to install the RGBLED screen?

 

I wish. They canceled my original replacement order (thus adding a few days) and put in another (also getting it wrong). Once I received the new R2 they had to send a tech out to add a HDD and the correct CPU (which they upgraded to a 820qm from a 740qm). But in the end I've very satisfied with my new system. And so far, nothing wrong!

 

Well got my new Red i7820 tested it out and I must say, I like it better than the 920xm. The 5870's are really nice and the system runs cooler with alot less fan noise, woot. benchmarks better than my 4870's too. All in all very very happy, and the color is also nice.

 

Oh awesome chiefs. COngrats!

Where did your 920XM go lol Can I have it?

Cheers.

 

Well right now its on ebay for sale 2100.00 start to 2900.00 buy out..lol

 

You got it from the outlet? I thought it was replacement for your 920xm machine.

 

The 920xm was a replacement and I picked this up from the outlet for 2000.00 was going to sell it but fell in love lol

 

$2k inclding tax to ca? Good deal indeed!

 

Yes there are some great deals on the outlet if you look and all of them are not lemons. I just up dated the 5870's to the new drivers and the vbios. Going to run some more benchmarks but so for a wonderful machine.

 

After hearing I was getting a refurbished one from the Tech Support, I contacted my Rep and he said he would order me a new one..
Not hearing much else I emailed him this weekend and he called monday and said it was being built... Today he called and said it shipped and I will have it Mon Not knowing the specs I was getting I cross refrenced the shipping number and discovered its a i7 940XM with dual 285s and LED screen, with a 320 HD... I almost passed out.... Very impressed, and very happy with Dells service (I cancelled the BBB complaint when they said they were replacing it) thanks for the advice guys Ill give you an update Mon. when I test drive it ..

 

Most of the time they do the right thing It just takes to long sometimes, but when you see spec's like that It gives you a warm feeling..lol
Good luck on the testing and let us know how it go's.

 

So here's an update. I went out and bought a 920xm OEM (ebay of course) and slapped it in my old one and all is great. My wife's new R2 shows up and it's all fubar so I talk to the gentlemen in Costa Rica and they sent me a replacement - overnight (original for her was a refurb so they sent another refurb). So I give her my current R2 with the 920XM and she's happy with that, while I waited for the new one. Little did I know what I was actually receiving.

Old refurb specs
I7 520
WUXGA non - rgb 1920x1200
Single 4870
320 HDD
4GB 1333mhz Ram
standard dvd and wifi

New refurb (oxymoron?)
I7 940XM
RGB LED
512 SSD Raid 0
CF 5870
4GB 1333mhz Ram
BD Rom
6300 wifi

I about pissed myself.

What do you all think? Am I the luckiest in the world? Please don't shoot me when I tell you I only spent $1440 on the refurb. . .

 

Well, you are indeed lucky sir, though the person doing the shooting might very well be your wife when she reads those specs....since apparently you just went ahead and made that lending period on your now-old machine permanent....

But congratulations sir! You have definitely made off like a bandit.

Edit- I would assume that you lucked out this time due to the fact that they were just wanting to send you a 'replacement' refurb as quickly as possible- seems to be the common experience that people receiving brand-new replacements generally tend to get very similarly specced systems, whilst people who get replacement refurbs/outlet machines get whatever they have around that is at the least higher-specced, and usually MUCH higher specced. So huzzah for you!

 

Amazing scenes ules!!!! HIGH 5!

Luckiest in the Universe oless!!!! TADA ehehehehe just wow chiefs! TOP stuffs!

Enjoy!

Cheers.

 

Here's to the big dice in the sky! I'd run out and put complete care on that puppy, you'll never see another one. If anything happens down the road and you need to replace it the rule is they will replace on the first spec's not this one. Thats a long way to fall.. So I'd warranty the s... out of it to receive same or better in the future. Just some thought!

 

Thank you! I nearly pee'd myself when I saw them. And as for my wife . . . she seems more interested in the colorings of her 'Cosmic Gourde' (she's using magenta and lime green colors for everything).

 

I've already purchase the warranty on it as I do on all my dells (I currently have 4 with 3 year warranties - which probably helped them send this out to me). And according the several people I've talked to at alienware, the new system is now 'my system' and if they replace, they replace based on that since they do replacements based off of the service tag. Now a refund, they say will be based off of the original.

I was thinking of heading to Los Vegas, but apparently I've used up all my allotment of luck this year.

 

Thanks! I guess everyone gets to be lucky once in a while. I've had to go through a ton of trouble with my original R1. I highly recommend Dellianware to everyone!

 

aarrrrrgggh! My heart is broken, my new Red m17x has failed me.. my slave GPU bit the dust. After 5 call's 2 disconnects and 3 hours on the phone 2 new GPU's are heading my way. Seems they won't let me change them out have to have a tech come out, told them I'll watch him like a Hawk over its chicks.. They shaped up real quick as soon as I said I'll just send it back, they deciced to send both cards. Let's hope this is the only problem I have.

 

Which are they replacing? The 5870's or the 4870's?

 

5870's and seems now they are on back order.
I hope this will not turn out to be a long road.

 

Just checking in. Seems the issues are dwindling down a lot!!! That is good. I believe AW/Dell did recognize the R1 problem and since they have been R2-ing people, the issues seem to disappear or people are sooooooo happy that the little stuff doesn't bother them as much. Mine has been spot on except for a few issues here and there and they have worked with me great on them. Still a great thread here. Thanks again OP and all others that have helped......

 

Glad to hear all is well now, you waited so lonnnng As for me my new Red m17x has issues the 5870's are shot the Bluetooth 370 crapped out, so sad. The tech they were sending never came.. what to do what to do.. I ask what would Alienwolf say? well he would say send email to you know who and see?
So at 11:00am I sent one explaining my problem.
At 1300 hours cell rings, Its a nice woman from Dell Corp she says you bought a laptop 2 weeks ago and your having these problems not good. I agree and she says what do you want us to do? Hhmmm well I would like to send this one in for repair, exchange it, or a refund. What ever you think is fair, I will trust you to do the right thing. 1630 hours email from nice lady building you a new system better than yours will receive it within 10 days wow watching my account now bet ya So moral of story, your right must be at end of problems for them to respond that fast, sure is nice

 

Now all thats left to do is extend the warranty 3 years...........

 

lol already did my Red one ,so when the new replacement comes it will be in place now waiting for the spec's

 

even tho i never described my issue here, i was in my progress. So here is a good news:

they're going to do me an exchange from R1 to R2 hooray ;p

However I have these problems and questions for you guys:

I'm really not sure about i want a black or a silver one , both are aluminum, and i own a silver one and never seen black in person. What do you guys think? Is there any gallery here on NBR?

I have 2.8GHz CPU right now, and when they get me into R2, that corresponds i7 720 with 1.6/2.8 . Do you guys think i might wanna spend $150 more and just get 740 or even 840 for $400+? I had a thought about getting it first and do the upgrade myself, and then i found this
what the hell? 720 and 740 is the same price on new egg. But if i do it myself later, wouldn't 720 that comes with the new laptop be a waste? Is easy to sell it later?

Then it's this graphic question. They offer me 2 of 285M, what do you guys think? Should I get 2 of 5870 instead for that GDDR5? The only thing that's holding me back is 285 is actually $50 more than 5870, and yes I'm cheap ;p But according to your difference, is 5870 xfire an unusually cheaper and better option in this case?

Lastly, is it something worth it to get wireless card upgrade to Ultimate N? I sometimes do use wireless network, and is it necessary?

Thanks in advance for your help ;D

 

Ok first Gratz on the exchange.. you realy didnt post your spec's but are they offering you to pay difference to change the spec's? Almost always and I mean that they post the build on your account as new order and the spec's they are putting together and you don't really get a say in what is in it. Good news is they put a nice upgrade together for you. So if you refuse their build the unit gets canceled and it all starts over again. as far as upgrades go yes like the best cpu you can get, most people hear like the ATI but I think both are good. the N6300 is best for speed some one on the forums has been selling them you can check them out easy to change out.remember anything you upgrade from newegg or ebay wont be covered by the warranty. I would wait and see what they post for you, you may find its more than you expected.. most do. Oh and Black is nice got one got Red too no Silver.

 

Oh man, without punctuation it was really hard to read!!

Anyway, i shouldve been more specific on the situation.

My current spec: T9600 at 2.8GHz, 2 x GTX 260M, Lunar Silver.

Here is the order and specs I see from Dell Support site:

1 224-8108 Lunar Silver - Anodized Aluminum
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8792 AlienFX Color, Quasar Blue
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver
1 317-3657 Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6GHz (2.8 GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache)
1 317-3663 4GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 2GB DDR3)
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
1 320-9009 SLI 1GB GDDR3 Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 342-0667 320GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-1585 Alien Schematic
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 430-3688 Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card
1 464-7384 Exchange

Basically, it's a nice upgrade in CPU and GPU, nothing else, but still very nice.

So, two more questions: is the motherboard the same with either i7 720 and i7 940 Extreme? If they're the same, and a later upgrade to i7 940 is an easy swap out, i'll just save the money for now and maybe upgrade it later. If not, i'll go with the fastest option today ;p

And what's your opinion on the warranty? When I first purchased this system a year ago, i did not choose any extra warranty, so just one year, and it'll expire in 20 days, which means i'll lose it once I get the exchanged new system. Do you think it's worth extending it? But holy mother, it's $250 something for just 1 year! I am very hesitant about this. What's your opinion?

 

Hey there chiefs,

Yup you can swap out the i7 720QM and put in the 940XM CPU anytime you like in the future.

As for the warranty. More and longer is definitely better however get as much as you can afford during the initial purchase or order. As future down the line extentions of warranty will cost a whole heap more.

Oh yeh don't forget the RGB LED screen. That is a massive upgrade and improvement over the R1 screen. Your gonna love it!

Cheers.

 

Wait, i do get RGB automatically right? I mean, it's standard as long as it's 1920 x 1200, right? And what's your opinion? wolf did say they are both good, but the more i look into it, the more i realize that it looks like none of them choose NV, woah, i mean, at least 9 out of 10 people go with 5870. Does this mean something ?

btw, just so you know guys, since this is a replacement thread, i could confirm the tip: go with a so called "Scrubbing Representative" by filling out that dead case form on Dell's website. Definitely high efficient team. I spent more than 3 months going through 2 regular tech reps, it was a PAIN, until i finally decide to contact this scrubbing team directly, and boom, within 1 week, i have a list of options of my exchange system ;p

 

Yeh your new system has the RGB LED screen. So your all good there.
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)

Concerning the GPUs. I personally would take the 5870s over the GTX 285m SLi. Unless you know that you specifically need Nvidia for a reason or just want Nvidia then the 5870s will beat the 285s in just about every way.

There was a big thread about this last time. Have a read if you like and then decide.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m17x/520830-gtx285m-sli-vs-hd-5870-crossfire.html

 

ye, i'm reading it patiently right now lol. I think as long as Firefox, Microsoft Office, and all those games on steam support the 5870, I'll go with it And I bet i've never seen anyone mentioning non-support on those things! Here I come ATI, for the first time in my life, no kidding.

btw, red is definitely stunning on this laptop man, i'll choose it over anything any one day if i'm bold enough. But learning a lesson from previously owning an orange car, i did not choose red ;p

 

I just sent that great rep an email and decided to go with 5870, saving $50 and spending it on 6300 Ultimate, haha. I finally figure out why it's $50 cheaper than 285, because it's meant to come with a better wireless ;p

 

ehahahahah

Sounds good!
Did you sort out the warranty as well? Just get as much as you can afford now. The more the better of course.

 

Ye, I think I'll ask about this rep when he gets back to me. I won't call Dell's warranty line ever again. I did it earlier this week, bunch of cheaters.

They quoted me $275 for one year. I say, no, too much. They added, we'll offer you $75 gift card from Dell. I said, give me a day, i need think about it. He said, it's just for today, you wait till tomorrow, you won't have it. I said, really, how did i happen to call you on the deadline of this deal? He said, yes, we won't have any tomorrow, and if you buy it now, i'll give you another $10 off. I said, really, so maybe i can wait a bit and buy it when the price is even lower. He said, no it's gonna be $300 something by the end of this month. I said, so you guys just set a price however you want? He said,... And then I said, i gotta consider it, sorry. He: ok, i totally understand that sir, but you realize you'll lose $75 if you don't purchase it today, right? I was like, that's interesting, I can also think of it as I saved $200 by losing $75, right? He: Yes that's right, but you'll lose $75, you know? Me: Yes, but no thanks. He: So you said you'd consider and call tomorrow, but you won't, because you are actually not interested, right? Me: I was interested, but $275 were too much for just one year. He: No you were not interested, i know you are not. Me:........OK, i'm sorry, but i can't buy it now.

The best thing: I received an email from Dell later this week, and it says “extend your warranty by the end of your contract and receive $75 gift card”

I'm very hesitant about this gift card thing, because when i was purchasing my first M17x system a year ago, it clearly states in my invoice that i'll be receive $50 gift card in a month, and I never received as of yet.

 

Ah buggers ey true trues. Yeh when I bought my initial warranty it was like only $200. That was with my order though and I'm covered till 2013 still atm so I'm all good for now. See if you can get a hold of someone else cause it shouldn't cost that much with a new machine.

Yeh I'm not a big fan of gift cards. I'd rather the universal currency LOL. Pure hard Cash!

Good Luck!

 

So....it seems I am up for a replacement. Let me get you up to speed.

Ordered my M17x from the outlet back in April. I got an R1, T9800, 8GB Ram, 260GTX SLI, 1920 screen with 25% off, paid about $1500 incl. 2 year complete care.

Since April, I had about 15 items replaced on the laptop. believe it or not, 80% of those were from the technicians breaking them. A guy came out once to replace my motherboard because of a bad BIOS update with the whole PSU reporting problem. He didn't know 2 screws held on the media bar and he proceeded to pry it off. Needless to say, he broke the bar. That visit cost Dell a MB, Media Bar, GPU and CPU fans(he evidently broke those as well). When the tech came out for that next visit, he broke the keyboard and media bar again.

That was 2 of 4 visits.

The latest incident was my sons doing. He knocked(pulled) the laptop off of the kitchen table. It survived with the exception of a big chunk out of the glass at the very tip of the lid. Same tech as before came out to replace the LCD and broke the keyboard. I called up Dell last Friday, told them about the broken keyboard so they sent me a new one. I made sure to have them send it to me and not a tech. Anyway, got the keyboard yesterday and it came out of the box looking like someone used it as an accordion but the box was in perfect condition.

Called Dell up last night to get yet another keyboard and the guy asks me to hold for a second. He comes back on and says that instead of sending me a keyboard, based on all of the parts that have been replaced on this thing he will be setting me up for a replacement. His supervisor then got on the phone and said he has approved this and is expediting it along.

All of this could have been avoided if these techs would just review the tear down manual for these laptops. It is crazy the amount of parts that were replaced on my system because a tech broke them.

I noticed that there are a ton of replacements in the outlet but he said it would be 3 weeks before they could get one. Ugh, going to be lost without my computer.

 

You may get a new one instead of a refurb they tend to do that, so you have a less chance of more problems. They build the replacements in Tenn. as my Red one I bought form the out let for 2k is being replaced with the spec's below. Bought it on 10/27

Quantity Item Number Description
1 224-8106 Nebula Red - Special Edition - Anodized Aluminum
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8569 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 313-8791 AlienFX Color, Mars Red
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 317-3665 8GB Dual Channel Memory (2x 4GB DDR3)
1 317-5662 Intel Core i7 840QM Quad Core Processor, 1.86GHz (3.20GHz Turbo Mode, 8M Cache)
1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p)
1 320-8988 CrossfireX 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870
1 330-6175 Standard Nameplate
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 330-7841 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 342-0674 500GB Raid 1 (2x 500GB 7,200RPM HDDs)
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language
1 410-2460 MCAFEE Pearl MUI,36mth,With Media
1 410-3942 Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student, English
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp
1 421-0092 DELL-DOWNLOAD-FLAG
1 421-1304 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
1 421-1359 World of Warcraft Preinstall Edition
1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed
1 421-1398 Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate, 64bit, English
1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D
1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x
1 421-2965 EVE-Online, English, German, Russian
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 430-3688 Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card
1 464-7384 Exchange

 

I already have an aftermarket 128SSD and a 500g 7200rpm Hybrid to replace the 2x500 and a n6300 wifi card then transfer the 3 year complete care and I'am good to go..

 

Hopefully this one takes care of you! I finally (knock on wood) have a good performing fully functioning laptop. After 4 replacements.

 

I received an email that my case has a DPS number. Any idea how long from that step to when it shows up on my account page?

 

check on your account page then click missing orders mine showed up there first then on the reg one..then I got order canceled this morning. Then it came back up as in production with a new order number, head spinning

 

Guess I don't know my customer number. I have like 8 associated to my account but none of the work with the DPS number I was given.

Thanks for the tip though.

 

One other place to look is under service call. Believe it or not sometimes they will put the order for the parts there, worth checking.

 

isn't it funny guys, Dell sent me consecutively two identical systems to replace my current R1!!! I spent 4+ hrs yesterday to try my best to customize my OS on the new system and make it identical with my old OS, while today I just found I received another brand new system! lol

Anyone can imagine if they still want to send back two of them (1 old 1 brand new) back to Dell?

 

Here's a little trick. Log out and then search for orders via your customer#. My replacement didn't show up 'associated' with my account at all (still doesn't). But I could find it just fine as long as I was logged out.

 

Well, it looks like my order got processed....any idea what this stuff is? If that Hard drive is a 5400 RPM drive I will be sad. My current one is a 7200. I also guess since it seems to have 4870's this is another R1?

1 CD91C Base,Notebook,Black,Configure To Order,Alienware,M17X10
1 2835C Module,Documentation,Airborne,2-DAY,DELL DRCT
1 2J4FR Module,Software,Certificate Of Authenticity,W7HP64,Alienware
1 32WJV Module,Card,Graphics,M98XT,DUAL,Mid-life Kicker
1 5FJ8M Module,Label,Intel,Notebook,CI7
1 5V3DW Module,Media,Resource Dvd,Alienware,M17X10
1 6FY1X Module,Accessory,Alienware,M17X10,England/english,Dao/bcc
1 6RDR6 Service Install Module,Software,Alienware,M17X10
1 6WPVF Module,Information,Artwork,NAME-PLT,Generic,M15X
1 7W4TT Module,Processor,Clarksfield,I7-720QM,1.6,M17X
1 7X54D Module,Information,Audio,M15X
1 C465T Module,Bracket,Hard Drive, Second,With Connector,M17X
1 CP1VF Module,Software,W7HP64 Consumer Desktop,English Dao/bcc
1 CTX0X MODULE,INFORMATION,WIRELESS, BLUETOOTH,370
1 D0W4H Module,Software,Alienware,COMMANDCNTR,M17X10
1 D9KVP Module,Software,Quick Fix Engineering,W7HB32,Consumer Notebook
1 DNF92 Module,Information,CHASSIS,Black,M17X
1 GFWWN Module,Shipping Material,Pack,M17X10
1 JY579 Module,Information,Software, Alienware,ALIENFX,Blue
1 K001R Module,Liquid Crystal Display,17.0 Wide Ultra Extended Graphics Array,Alienware, M17X
1 K972H Module,Adapter,Alternating Current,240W,Delta - Ac Adapt World Wide
1 MVF7Y Module,Card,Network,DW1520,Alienware,United States
1 N971H Module,Cord,Power,125V,2M,C13 United States
1 NT799 Module,Information,Alienware,AUTO-UPDATES,ON
1 P395P Module,Software,CYBERLINK Powerdvd,8.0,Alienware
1 P398P Module,Software,NERO,9 Alienware
1 P811N MODULE,INFORMATION,DIRECTSHIP,FLEXTRONICS
1 R0N0R Module,Dvd+/-Rw And Bd-Rom,Hitachi Lg Data Storage,BARE,Alienware
1 R91CC Module,Hard Drive,320,5.4,P11,TSHBA-CB,XL
1 T013C Module,Software,Works,9 English
1 T780J Module,Battery,Primary,85WHR 9C,Dynapack International Technology Corp
1 V3C5M Module,Card,Network,370,Foxconn,Alienware,Dell Americas Organization
1 VW0X1 Module,Keyboard,Alienware,101,ENG-US,Personal Computer
1 W795M Module,Dual In-line Memory Module,8GB,1333MHZ,DDR3,2X4G
1 W871N Module,Software,WINDOWS-LIVE Consumer
1 XM544 Module,Software,PC-RESTORE Transactional Line Of Business
1 Y2FYM Module,Software,W7HP64,Digital Video Disk Drive,Multi-Language,Alienware
1 Y540P Module,Software,Alienware CYBERLINK,YOUCAM
1 Y924N Module,Information,RAID 0 Alienware,M17X

 

Would be awesome to keep one, but i'd hate to see you billed. Heck its your money not mine, see how long it takes before they notice, lol. (-:

 

Looks like an R2 with a LCD screen and a 320 5400rpm HHD to me . Nort sure what it is replacing you didnt post spec's.