If the Alienware M17X are defective, what to do?

It seems more and more likely that My Alienware M17X are defective- and im not alone.....and i'm hearing that from even more people as the time goes by.
If its so, how would i confront Dell with this ? i bought my M17X in july last 2009.
Tried talking to a Dell technician today but he werent aware of any issues (!) with the M17X and i was instructed to run the familiar diagnostics (like i haven't done that already- told him that) The diagnostics revealed nothing, as usual.

Could i request a refund ?
since if My M17X are defective there are several costumer laws here in Sweden wich gives the buyer right to have the money bank or the item completly replaced since it was defective from the beginning (if they confirm that it would say)

Can i get the defective part replaced ?
I don't like this option since i might be without a system for several weeks- not that i suffer much because i havent been able to use my M17X anyway.

I have tried everything, again and again but i can't get rid of the lockups, bsods and DPC latency spikes over 80000k (!) I'm so dissapointed at this computer! and at Dell for selling this troublesome machine....

I will keep you updated on how Dell handle this in Sweden, were i live.

 

I think some Mods will object to you saying the M17x are defective.

maybe you should conduct a poll into everybodys experiance to try and established what percentage of people agree with you.

 

The M17X is not defective, some of the machines have some issues, but there is no indicator from Dell that they have been labeled defective. Personally, my machine ran perfectly, no stuttering, audio drops, nothing. I wouldn't count on Dell calling them defective either. Dell also has a return policy. If you are still under warranty and are having issues with you computer give them a call and try and work something out, maybe a mother board replacement. If the video cards are the issue, try replacing the nVidia cards with ATI's. Don't count on getting your money back if your outside of the 30 day return policy though.

 

Call dell. Some people were getting their Nvidia SLI card replaced by ATI XF which made everything better. The ATI XF are about the same performance as the 280m AFAIK

 

4870's are faster

 

I should clarify what that i was refering to my defective m17x absolutely did not meant that all m17x's are defective. I really like this laptop and i don't want anything more than to get it working as it should.

I have talked to Dell customer support several times today but we didn't get anywhere (all though i heard them talking in the background about a recall and R2 replacements.....) We'll see...

 

BSOD might be caused by bad drivers as well as lock up. Can you install a clean OS and try to install as least drivers as possible then run it for a few days? For diagnostic purpose only of course.

 

This is the route you can take if you have already contacted Support.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5713924

 

This route was a complete waist of time for me,

I sent multiple emails using this form and 3 weeks on a have yet to be contacted.

 

you are in the UK right? Send a PM to Kade Storm - he may be able to provide some tips on this. In the US, its the quickest way to obtain a response to a 'brick wall' issue already reported to tech support.

 

I have everything in hand thank you.

Since I stopped talking to Alienware and have been dealing with Dell again, i have manged to resolve all my issues.

well i think i will, the guy thats helping must have a day off today, i expect everything to be sorted tomorrow.

I final found out the specifications of my replacement system this morning 5 mins after Dell canclled the postman delivered the order confirmation!!!

however this is great news as i can now use my contacts in Dell to get the right system specs ordered.

 

I've done atleast ten clean installs without any success. Giving up sort of.

 

have you tried this?

 

Yes, didn't help me at all... have done it atleast six times that way...

 

So fanboyism makes it way into this topic as well. . . Anyway, I will say that if the unresolved issues link doesn't work, then there's two straight options, especially for us here in UK.

File a fresh new query/complaint to technical support. Or. . . corporate carpet bomb, which can be a double-edged sword because once you get an escalations rep., the technical arguments go out the window because these guys refuse to argue which machine is equal and which machine is better. They will simply leave people with straighter options and how to go about with those options - potential refunds - system replacements - etc.

 

Dunno Kade, that's a little harsh. Fanboyism does not equal stating the facts that the ATI's are the better cards in the M17x for stuttering issues this is pretty clear, they're even being deployed as a fix in many cases by Dell. They also do perform better.. There's a reason why they dumped the nVidia's in the R2s. So people are just sharing information, not hating on nVidia.

If you haven't already filled your form online, just KEEP CALLING DELL. You will eventually get somone who will listen to you and take care of you, I'm sure of it. I went through a similar experience with Dell UK, just remember it's a large call center, hang up and call back if the person isn't helping you out. Make sure you do this calmly from home I know it's hard

1.) state from the outset that you've been through a lot and you hope they can help you, in a kind way, before giving your service tag number.
2.) remain clear and firm about what you want. Don't agree to go through any troubleshooting steps or whatever if you've been through it before. Tell them to check their case files again if possible.
3.) Ask for level 2 support to contact you asap. Get them to agree when to call you back. If they miss the target, call them back ASAP and start again.


Try to remain calm and keep things in perspective. It's a huge company and you know what you want, you want a resoultion and a system swap. Especially if you have the invoice, tell them you have written documentation that Dell is supposed to ship you a machine.

Remain calm. Remain vigilant. You'll get there.

 

I am going to squash this 'rumor' right now. Dell has not (as of 1/26/2010) made any official statement on this issue stating that switching the GPUs is a viable fix which they will offer to all customers/owners.

Until Dell openly states this, either here on NBR or on their own blog posts/site that the DPC Latency issue is being 'fixed' or 'resolved' or 'handled' or whatever by replacing NVIDIA GPUs in the M17x with ATI GPUs then this is nothing more than another rumor. Feeding the rumor mill just makes you look bad when its found not to be accurate. Do not post rumors please.

What occurs on a 'case by case' basis is another matter. If you are not happy with the DPC Latency issue or Dell's response to the issue, you have every right to call tech support and open a service call with them. How the rep decides to handle it is Dell's business. If you feel you are not receiving a proper response from phone support you also have other options which are detailed here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5713924

Given the above link, this thread is now closed as it has moved to discussion on the DPC Latency issue. We have a DPC Latency issue thread - http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=434691

Searay and any others who make use of the Unresolved Issues link - feel free to post regarding contacting Dell on this in the link I provided. That is the thread to discuss unresolved issue contacts. Thanks.