m15x keyboard problems - need advice

Hey guys, Ive had my m15x since mid April and Ive been happy with it since, until now that is...
In the past week the lights under some of the keys on the right of keyboard have gone off and my left shift key has become loose and comes off if I press it on the sides instead off the center.
I am not a keyboard masher and Ive been taking extra care of it since its **** expensive so its obviously keyboard failing and poor quality.

The keyboard needs to be replaced as I cannot be expected to be satisfied with half the keyboard lights off and keys flying all over the place if I dont target their exact center.

The question I had was would Alienware send me a replacement keyboard and allow me to fix it myself or would I need to send it in ? The reason I ask is I need my laptop everyday and cannot send it away to Alienware because I dont know how long they would take to fix a simple thing like that and send it back to me and also knowing them I would also get it back with a downclocking GPU !!
Oh Im in the UK by the way

 

Well, I sent in my m15x when I was having with keyboard response issues, and they replaced it. (it didn't fix my issue, and I wound up returning it, but that's besides the point.) For me, I was without my machine for about a week and a half..but I live in New Jersey. I've got no idea how long it would take from the UK. The good news is, I think they will be more than happy to send you a keyboard and let you replace it yourself. There should even be instructions on their website...or you could have a tech guy walk you through it over the phone.

 

Oh another thing, does the keyboard unit have the lights embedded in it or is it a separate component/ part of the chassis?

 

Mortis, the keyboard and lights are together. Please PM me with your account info and I'll help get an illuminated keyboard out to you ASAP

 

PM sent. Not sure if you can help as Im in the UK

 

well regardless of if your in the uk or not sounds like you will need a new keyboard.

 

you wont have to send your machine in. they will send the part to you and you can replace it by yourself. if you dont trust yourself look at the guide or call a customer service rep.

 

Ok thanks for the advice guys, Ive sent AW James a PM and hes getting a new keyboard sent out to me. I will be able to replace it myself, Ive assembled a lot of desktops before and I have the AW m15x guide so it shouldn't be a problem.

P.S. How do I do the thingy to enable the tilde(console) key in games like Crysis and Oblivion?

And BIG Thank You to AW James for quick response and help !!

 

oh yeah i've been meaning to ask that too for a while now... where's the tilde key? oh yeah, and what button combinations enable "scrolling" and "num"?

 

Isnt the tilde key ~ <-- that one?

 

obviously. but where is it on the keyboard?

 

Right next to the #1.

 

nope. not on my swiss keyboard, at any rate. it's AltGr+(the key to the left of the backspace) for me. dammit, that probably means it won't work in games. argh.

 

Its just under the escape key .
So how do I do the console fix thingy?

 

Ok guys, I am happy to say that I got my replacement keyboard from Alienware today. It has taken them about a 6 days for them to get it to me from the time AW James offered to help me which is Awesome !! I am happy to say that as far as I am concerned, after my m15x was delayed for aaaages when I originally ordered it, there has been an improvement at AW UK. But then again it is only a keyboard and I did not send my laptop in.

But still, a big THANK YOU to AW James and AW UK for getting this sorted quickly.

I have one question though. I will install the keyboard on the weekend but is seems to be REALLY thin !! Is this actually an illuminated keyboard ? It is about double the thickness of the keys including them. Is this a bit too slim? Can anyone who has replaced the keyboard before confirm its thickness before I install it so that I can get another one if AW has made a mistake?

 

Mortis,

You should be able to distinguish this model by the cable.

Please check out this Knowledge Base article: http://4help.alienware.com/cgi-bin/...3RleHQ9bTE1eCBrZXlib2FyZA**&p_li=&p_topview=1

 

Ok checked this, it has an extra orange cable which should be the FX cable.
Thanks

 

I have the same problem.. i just spent a ton for this m15x and my S key is loose... it keep comming out (half of it) it makes it impossible to type stuff.

And yeah the keyboard time response is very low, 75% of the time when i type 2 same letters (ie: ff) it doesnt pick up the second f.

Overall laptop is nice but not as powerful as I'd had expect for that price...

Alienware-James, i tried to send you a PM but i cant find the button...

I have it for not enough a month

 

I can agree with the response time issues but not powerful enough? What exactly are you trying to do?

I don't think you can PM people until a certain amount of time or posts.

 

It's lagging.... im not doing anything special... im on firefox... im opening a new page and its taking up to 6-7 sec to open... not all the time but still... i get lag every once in a while.. annoying but games runs great...

keyboard is what **** me off the most atm..

 

Vico, first see if you can get a replacement keyboard for the loose "s" key problem then try out my workaround:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=288995&page=4

Scroll down a bit and you should be able to find it. It has addressed the keyboard response issue for some people and it might work for you.