M17 with 4850s died last weekend... :(

UPDATE:

Ok guys...

1: I'm happy to say that I received my M17 back from AW today...via Fedex Home delivery(it's nice that they deliver on Saturdays).

2: It works! They replaced the motherboard.

My system was delivered to them on October 23rd and I now have it back. That's about a 1 week turn around time including repairs and shipping time back to me. Pretty much not what I was expecting but that's a good thing. I've already got my Q9100 back in along with the 4GB HyperX kit and the 64GB SSD + 500GB Seagate. I replaced all the thermal paste with MX-3 including the stuff on the 4850s. I have to say that I'm impressed with the paste job from the repair center...it's not the nasty stuff smudged all over the place like it came from the factory with... unless it's still my MX-3 from last time and they didn't bother replacing it... Either way I now have a working Quad core M17 with 4850s that I paid about $1,900 total for with all of my upgrades included(quad, ram, SSD, and the 500GB HDD)... all is well again. Hell, they even cleaned the system up and I almost forgot... they fixed(or it fixed itself when the mobo got replaced) a horrible creaking I was getting from the area to the left of the touch pad. I'm really surprised how quick the turn around time was. Pretty sure I'm going to keep it.


........................................................................................................

The title says it all. My M17 died last Saturday. I was playing a game for about an hour and it blue-screened. Basically it would boot but as soon as Windows even hinted at loading(before the loading screen appeared)... the system would restart and the keyboard would change colors...it would flash from blue to what appeared to be blue and red combined...to just red. It booted like that a few more times until it passed away for good. My guess is the motherboard probably died. Hopefully it's not the 4850 master card because then I'm sure I'd really be SOL. I doubt AW has any stashed away for machines in need of repair...given the limited availability.

I have 3 different sets of ram for it that I tried with no luck along with multiple hard drives(although with the system not even posting the hard drive swap was kinda pointless). Tried clearing the CMOS a few times. All of this was done on AW's B14 bios. I would have thrown the 4850 slave in the primary slot if it had a Master bios on it for display output...just to make sure it wasn't a video card... Just sent it back today. If parts are on back order and I have to wait 30-60 days to get it repaired... I guess I'd just have to demand a refund. I got a steal on this system... $1,402.53 SHIPPED(aafes.com discount)! 4850s, backlit KB, and the 5300AGN... the rest was pretty much base. I would rather keep it then get a refund if the turn around time is quick enough. I would also jump on that new M15x if only they offered a single 4870 option for it...and dual hard drive bays...

I also considered ordering the M17x with 4870's but since the cards are still GDDR3 it wouldn't be worth the price difference(and it's a big one) for me. I really hope the guys that got screwed with the whole 4870 GDDR3/5 thing... get compensated for it.



Oh well, I guess I have Fermi to look forward to for the main rig...or do I...

 

well more then likely sense they have to provide something = or greater performance you may actually get a M17x

 

Yeah, it would be nice. I'd much rather have one just for the better build quality IMO... but I'm thinking since I only paid $1,400 for my system they'd probably just offer a refund instead of throwing something that much more expensive my way.

 

They will probably give you either a refund, or an M17x with 4870 CF (since you had ATI before )

Either way, is it really that bad?

 

yea it is a refund would suck because he did have a killer deal

 

That is true, but he did get to use it for free too. Can't ignore that. We all know when you upgrade, selling a system never makes you a proffit or close to break even. He is (if he doesn't just get an awesome upgrade)

And let's not forget...if it is just the motherboard, that will definitely just get replaced then system sent back to him

 

This is sad to see. Keep us posted on what they do for you.

 

Similar thing happened to Alex Rose, and they refused to upgrade him to a M17x they just offered a refund

He now brought a Clevo

 

Just refund and buy another. This time go for something that will cause you less trouble. Try to look for a good deal

 

Yeah, I agree. What systems are shipping with good screens these days? I was looking at the NP8690 on powernotebooks.com ....I was pretty unimpressed with the screen on the G51(BB) and the M17(1440x900). If they're able to repair the M17 I might just sell it anyway.

I'll probably have a budget of about $2,000 max. What would you guys recommend....and.... what site has the most reliable customer service that will stand behind their systems? I'd like to stick with an i7M system. The i7-720QM is fine for me. A single (or dual) 280/4850/4870 is what I'm looking for.

Thanks for the help...

Edit: I'll keep you guys updated on what happens with AW. There is still a chance I'll keep the M17 but if I do buy a Clevo it looks like it will be from Powernotebooks or xoticpc. Sounds like I can't go wrong either way.

 

What's wrong with the 1440x900 screen on the M17? I personally have no problems with it, although I might be upgrading to 1920x1200 if I can get the upgrade off AW.

There is no known mobile system to date that has an i7 processor, mobile processor or desktop processor, and two graphics cards.

Unless there's any particular reason, I'd keep the M17. The dual 3870s at least are more powerful than even the GTX 280M, and the dual 4850s are in between 260M and 280Ms.

 

I'm thinking about keeping it if they can fix it within a couple of weeks. I just haven't seen anything that really caught my attention. ...Yeah, I knew about i7M/i7 notebooks only having a single 260/280. I'm not saying that the 1440x900 screen on the M17 is bad...it's just not great. At least the viewing angles are more acceptable than the G51(BB) that I returned. I'm not sure if the WUXGA screen for the M17 is a decent upgrade since I haven't seen them side by side. Maybe someone that had the 1440x900 screen and then upgraded would be able to chime in... So resolution aside... is the 1920x1200 panel for the M17 a decent upgrade from the 1440x900... Better viewing angles, contrast, and brightness? If so...that would probably be next on my list...

 

Don't know if you've got a different panel but the viewing angles on my 1440x900 panel are superb, as is the brightness.

 

Good luck getting this sorted, I've been a little reluctant to wade in as obviously Im a little biased against AW EU now, but the machine is a lovely one. I know what you mean about the panel though; even with my 1920x1200 which was amazingly sharp, the picture was a little off, it's not the brightness which is fine, it's the contrast ratio and colour accuracy. Unfortunately without handpicking your screen that's always a possible issue.

Still, I hope you get this resolved quickly, and dont have anything like my experience, loved my M17, hated my Alienware

 

I have had both and the 1900 was about a 90/100 vs the 1440 was a 75/100

 

Ok guys...

1: I'm happy to say that I received my M17 back from AW today...via Fedex Home delivery(it's nice that they deliver on Saturdays).

2: It works! They replaced the motherboard.

My system was delivered to them on October 23rd and I now have it back. That's about a 1 week turn around time including repairs and shipping time back to me. Pretty much not what I was expecting but that's a good thing. I've already got my Q9100 back in along with the 4GB HyperX kit and the 64GB SSD + 500GB Seagate. I replaced all the thermal paste with MX-3 including the stuff on the 4850s. I have to say that I'm impressed with the paste job from the repair center...it's not the nasty stuff smudged all over the place like it came from the factory with... unless it's still my MX-3 from last time and they didn't bother replacing it... Either way I now have a working Quad core M17 with 4850s that I paid about $1,900 total for with all of my upgrades included(quad, ram, SSD, and the 500GB HDD)... all is well again. Hell, they even cleaned the system up and I almost forgot... they fixed(or it fixed itself when the mobo got replaced) a horrible creaking I was getting from the area to the left of the touch pad.

...I appreciate the replies about the screen quality...I've been looking at a lot of laptops lately and have come to the conclusion that pretty much all of them suck in one regard or another(no offense to anyone) except for the Studio 16's RGB screen option. I guess I'm just spoiled from desktop screens(and high quality LCD TVs) and the fact that I can't really stand a lot of TN panels probably doesn't help. I will say though the base screen on the M17 is way ahead of the LED backlit screen on the G51 in the viewing angle department. Everything else is acceptable...just not great.

Off topic: I think I'm going to go bow hunting now and probably in the morning too if I can break away from Borderlands(PC) for a bit.

 

I'm glad to hear it worked out for you mate

Alex

 

Thanks Alex!

 

Woot for happy customers!

I am working on a motherboard replacement myself right now

 

Great to hear of a good outcome, enjoy.