*OFFICIAL* "All Powerful" M17x-R2 Edition Owners Lounge!

Has anyone noticed or had the issue where the alienhead on the laptop lid flickers?

It's the eyes that flicker. When in standby, it goes from about 3-4 stages of bright to darker, and when plugged in fully charged it "flickers" from about stage 3 to 4... constantly. I don't know if it's supposed to do that, and didn't see any way to change it in command center.

Thanks in advance!

 

Received a message from Dell telling me my order is delayed again and that action is required to avoid cancellation. I am sufficiently concerned about the quality of this product that I am going to let the order expire and give Dell six months to get their act together. I ordered one of the 920XM processors and given what I have been reading here delaying my purchase seems prudent. As others have already noted, we are paying premium dollars for this gear and we have a right to expect a quality product.

I will continue to monitor these discussions but plan to be on the sidelines until I am confident all issues have been resolved.

 

Just a follow up on the VM situation, I played a lot with vmware trying to get it goin on this beast, but nothing, no setting I changed made any difference....

Here is a screenie with the message I get every time:

One word Dell/AW...FAIL

 

Unless we get the option to enable Virtualization in the BIOS we can't install a 64bit guest OS

 

Think I call them and get my $50 back

 

Yup...pretty much. I cant believe they would not put that option in..I se NO valid reason to leave it off.

 

Does that mean it does support a 32-bit guest? That wouldn't be quite so traumatic.

 

Yes, 32bit will run just fine.

 

I used virtual box with windows xp. Runs great. CPU-z shows the instruction for vt-x on, but intel txt prevents it from actually functioning.

 

Whew! Had me really worried there.

 

Unless you use 64 bit guests for your VM's.....yea I know, technically a 32 would run fine for MOST things, but certian things just cant be done on a 32 bit guest...like debug a 64bit core file (and yea, I do that stuff) or look at the threads in a 64 bit java core. You would actually need the 64 bit libraries avaliable for those.

I am still playing, hoping a couple ideas I have will work.

 

or Windows 2008R2.

 

Couldn't we somehow claim that since the processor supports it and Dell did not advertise otherwise Dell is misinforming it's customers?
I mean it never crossed my mind that 3500$ machine would not support virtualization. My freaking m1710 supports it. My m1730 supported it. Why on earth wouldn't a new, super duper extreme machine support it?!?!
We have to complain.. We have to let aw know that they can't do that to us!!

 

You might be complaining to the wrong crowd. I'm guessing most people on NBR don't care about VMs. I do but only because it's part of my job but I wouldn't put anything work related on my M17x.

 

yeah you want to look at your m17x as a form of entertainment and knowledge then everyday work.

 

This is EXACTLY why i need VM. I mostly use it for personal use, gaming etc.. BUT, i also am a software architect, so i need to do work related stuff, so instead of "contaminating" my main OS with stuff work related, i use VMWare.

 

I'm assuming you cannot do it with a 32bit OS.

 

I have the same problem, 2x256 SSD no raid as ordered Just going to send it back

 

Well, most of the time, i can get away with a 32 bit OS.
But there's stuff that will only run on 64 bit OS, mostly unix related things. And there's a principle involved as well. Since the architecture allows me to, why would AW just cut support for that ?

 

That is the weakest reason I have heard yet to send back a machine.

You might be worse than me!!

 

What's the point sending it back? Fresh windows install will solve your problem(enable Raid 0 from BIOS). BTW no SSD TRIM support if you use RAID.

 

I agree, most people woudent care here (not that its bad, just no reason to), I have called alienware and complained....did no good.

My solution, ugly as it is, I am going to install VM, use 32bit software and cross compile the libs I need on my work workstation and then use them on my 32bit VM just for my work, I can cross link the libs...ugly hack...but will get what I need done, I already did a POC like this and it works.


Ahh well.....**it happens and hopefully a new BIOS will come along that fixes this.

 

I am having a HUGE problem being patient for my new M17X to come in, 2/17/10!

 

would my newly ordered m17xr2 be problem free if its gonna ship around the 18th? that is if it is shipping.

 

WHAT

3/5/2010! Updated! NOOOOOOOOOOOO

EDIT: I feel like I've just been kicked in the nuts, ugh

 

Thank you for your service......

 

I appreciate the appreciation.

 

The ablity to purchase an m17x with the blu ray player is now an option again.

 

Just got out of AW HQ, details later but it was very interesting. My R2 has the new bios fix.

 

So it should be released today or later?

 

Well I hope it works.

Figures, they release the blu ray option now - prolly not a bad way to go if you have the rgb.

 

WOW is the flickering gone???

 

Wishful thinking....

Given the bios fiasco with the m15x I imagine that before ANYTHING gets posted on the website it's going to be triple-checked first.

My bets are 1-2 weeks minimum before WE see it. In the meantime we have our official beta tester (aka. Joker). Instead of being release A01, this should be J01

 

Yea, after we all order it...
How much would it cost to ask them for a blu-ray upgrade and a 5870's upgrade probably a couple months from now?
Doubt I would do it though.

 

I'm so confused still, I have no idea what to do.

I've been back and forth every day in my decision whether to keep this laptop or not, some days leaning towards returning it while others leaning towards keeping it based off the optimistic responses.

Reasons I've wanted to return it:
-Throttling problem (can't game in Xfire until Bios fix is issued)
-Laughable ATI driver support and current driver is causing my laptop to freeze every time it's disconnected from charger
-4870's, IMO, are underwhelming (there's better cards out already including GTX 285m's)
-Sager NP8120 18.4 inch i7 extreme dual GTX 285m laptop was just released, and I can configure with better specs for less money (better video cards)
-No BR player, which I want. Unsure of how much it will cost to have installed after the fact
-They didn't RAID my system, which is obnoxious

Reasons I want to keep:
-I already have it (shipping back, reordering a huge hassle)
-Been a faithful Alienware customer for years
-I love the look/build quality, it's unmatched
-RGB LED is the best screen on the market
-I already have it set up, and BIOS fix shouldn't be too far away (will it be difficult to do?)

IDK guys. I know I'm a pain because I'm far from one of the more optimistic ones on here, but this is a lot of money we're talking about and I want to make sure my decision is the best one as I simply won't have the money to change this laptop for years.

 

Which driver you using? Stock or the modded 9.12?

 

I understand your thinking... But Joker isn't involved with Alienware, he just lives by them. He's a consumer like me and you. They would have shipped his back with A00 if it wasn't ready. Could brick his PC or cause any other number of problems if it still needs testing. They've obviously already tested it thoroughly for it to even be on his computer. Unless you honestly believe they're using his property (the M17x he owns) to test out their possibly faulty software. There might even be a legal issue there.

 

Hard as fast rule: Do what makes you happiest, man.

EDIT: I had an M17x on order as you know, and I was burning up with anticipation - from the day I ordered it I wanted to have that thing yesterday. But I know ultimately I'd have regretted buying without the exact specs I wanted, so I am postponing after the cancellation.

If you like the machine you have, keep it. If you know you're gonna hate that choice down the road, think about your options.

 

I believe the modded 9.12's. DXDIAG still displays stock drivers, but I followed the instructions for installing the mobility modded 9.12's and the charger issue didn't start occurring until after that. Plus I've heard other's talk about this issue as well.

 

-Throttling problem (can't game in Xfire until Bios fix is issued)
-Laughable ATI driver support and current driver is causing my laptop to freeze every time it's disconnected from charger
-4870's, IMO, are underwhelming (there's better cards out already including GTX 285m's)
-Sager NP8120 18.4 inch i7 extreme dual GTX 285m laptop was just released, and I can configure with better specs for less money (better video cards)
-No BR player, which I want. Unsure of how much it will cost to have installed after the fact
-They didn't RAID my system, which is obnoxious

1. flickering will be fixed with the bios update.

2. 9.12 drivers work fine for me, i don't know what your issue is there. you definitely have a bad motherboard, power supply, or graphics cards.

3. 4870's in xfire are more powerful (and reliable) than any other mobile GPU's right now. a single 5870 isn't going to beat it and the 285's make me laugh. Underwhelming? Switch to a desktop then. Seriously. I've been through dual 8800M GTX SLI, 9800M GTX SLI, 280M GTX SLI and let me tell you, I've had hundreds of problems with drivers (never found one single reliable driver ever). I come over to the ATI camp with the 4870's and find that there's a whole different world where things just WORK. Wow, thanks Nvidia.

4. Sager is crap. A: are you forgetting completely the build quality of this laptop? Aluminum chassis, edge-to-edge RGB display (shall I go on?) All of that is gone as soon as you switch to Sager, or anyone else except a mac for that matter. B: 285's are about as powerful as 4870x2, they have slightly more juice, but have fun with the drivers.

5: Playstation 3 Slim

6: I'm not even going to cover this, are you a nub? Raid it before you do the mandatory Clean Install. Sticking with a manufacturer's OS installation is about the nubbiest thing you can do.

 

A few harsh words there from zen but he hits the spot on most points tho.

 

That's why I asked. I still have the stock drivers and have no adapter problems. Have you tried going back to stock and seeing if the problem goes away?

 

I had the freezing issue as well when I unplugged from the charger.

Turns out, Xfire was disabled. Turned it on, it quit.

 

I'm a harsh person... i don't mean to be.

 

I can imagine this would be an issue for a lot of potential buyers of such a machine. Not exactly a 'feature' they advertise. I'm thrilled that 32-bit clients work because that suits MY specific needs for now (primarily supporting my software development on older Windows platforms, separating work/non-work computer use, etc).

I certainly appreciate that lack of support for 64-bit clients would be a huge obstacle for others, such as yourself. Sure hope they sort that out shortly too. I would use it if it was available but it isn't nearly so dire for me if it isn't. Having no VM support at all would be... problematic.

 

If memory serves, there is a few postings earlier on in this thread about a Panasonic UJ-235a slim blu-ray internal slot-load burner that can be installed. Cost is something like $399 USD and was listed as the only known drive to work?

Apparently they are in very short supply (might be why they aren't offered by Dell at the moment) and I think the upgrade process was more complex than other things, but was at least possible.

 

Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) [Included in Price]

Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) [add $150 or $4/month1]

Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BR-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) [add $300 or $9/month1]

 

This is the drive you are refering to:

http://www.digistor.com/Panasonic-S...3eTaxePaNqNe34Pa38Ta38Lbxz0?sc=2&category=827

 

I'm definitely keeping it. I've decided.

I'm currently reinstalling windows, raiding my harddrives, and I'm going to leave the video drivers stock until after the bios flash. Hopefully by then the new catalyst drivers will be mobility modded.

I also just got off the phone with Dell, and yes, the blu ray drives are available. They quoted me at $250 to send the drive out, and another $69-$99 to have it installed in my home by a tech. They also assured me as soon as newer cards become available and are modded into the bios, the same can be done for them.

In short, I can't give up my AW. The RGB screen and build quality are worth it. It's been a bumpy road, but now that I know bios updates are not far off and I can definitely have a BR drive installed as I originally wanted, my faith is restored, and so is my temperament.

 

Kind of an odd-ball question...

Iis it possible to use the display on the M17x as an external display for another device? IE, plug in a PS3 or something else (via DisplayPort presumably) and have it run on the laptop's display? Kinda like what the 27" iMac is capable of.