m15x: Dead speakers and cracking/melted monitor casing. Fun.

Wow Taco you got more then me. I haven't gotten anything. Not even a Go %^# yourself.

 

LMAO dang I think I would prefer not to get anything if thats what I got.

 

wow, talk about canned replies that actually answer not a single question asked...

 

Believe it or not, Alienware actually does use the emails that are sent to [email protected].

 

The 15x email inbox allows us to provide immediate assistance to customers with reported issues as resolutions are verified. All issues reported to the 15x inbox are reported to our Product Group.

 

Armando,

Thanks for the post. Could please provide us with some information regarding the DC'ing CPU's. Any help or input you could provide would be great appreciated here on these forums.

Kind Regards
Newf

 

I've received correspondence from Tech Support, and will be sending my machine in shortly. I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date on how long it's in for repairs. So far, I haven't been disappointed with customer service. Time will tell.

 

I was going to cancel my order until a wise man told me i can just get a refund and get a different one if anything were wrong.

 

do you live in the u.s, because if you do, you will get hit with the restocking fee.

 

I live in the UK
And out of curiosity, how much is the restocking fee?

 

it would of been 15% of your total amount that you paid.

 

which would be 200 pounds if i lived in the US. Quite alot of money nothing..

 

If I understand correctly, the 15% restocking fee only applies if you refund the machine out of your own free will. In the event that you get a lemon, and Alienware is unable to suitably repair it, you get a full refund.

I think.

 

@Fex - That is correct.

If you live in the US. When you get your laptop, you cannot simply send it back if nothing is wrong, you have to pay a restocking fee. However, if there is something wrong, Alienware has 1 chance to fix it before you can send it back without paying for restocking fee.

If you live in the UK though, you can send it back because the UK law prevents restocking fee for the first 14 days (I think).

 

True, though i thought it was seven days. but i guess thats the only perk we get for paying 17.5% interest on everything.

I feel for you fex, this whole M15x-m17x project is starting to be a huge letdown.

They dont seem to understand that we pay top quality too get well, pretty appalling standards delivered at our door.

 

the return policy is 14 days.
i was caught out by this on my first day. i received my m15 with quite a few problems. i was on to tech support for 2 hours on my first day. 1 hour of that they took over my computer by alien contact. after quite a few attempts they could not solve the problems. as a gesture off good will they verbally said they would extend my return to 30 days (i wish i had got this in writing now). after 19 days id had enough and asked for a refund at which they told me they had no record of my refund being extended.
i then returned it for repair. it came back last tuesday with a new mother board and a new case/chassis. 3D scores were almost 3000 down on my original score and the name plate on the chassis was for another company and not me.
cancelled again within 1 hour of receiving it back.

so you have 14 days to return it from the day you got it. if you go past 14 days and you find something wrong you have to return it for repair.
the day you receive it back you then start the 14 days again.
hope that helps.

 

Back from the weekend... I give it a serious thought about the M15x and I'm seriously considering sending it back for a full refund. After my computer's GPU hitting 107C I think it's time to make the wisest thing and let it go for now.
MrDJ... do you have any details on the return? Will you have to pay shippments, etc?

 

I was pleasantly surprised by tech support via phone.

The tech support assistant was very friendly, quite understandable (no mumbling, super-fast speaking, or heavy accent- just a friendly, normal voice), and very helpful (she even went out of her way to "suggest" I don't send in the original box, since tech support often doesn't return the original packaging).

The entire process took about 10 painless minutes, and I received my shipping label and instructions via e-mail immediately afterward.


Let's just hope they do as well with the repairs. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted.

 

its gone for good milcs
i didnt, i just used their same account details from the previous shipping last week.

 

Well... now there are two owners that experienced the exact same problem.
Bad luck? Not at all... Crapiest of laptop manufacturing capabilities ever.
Fex, what's happening with your laptop?
Do you guys have any idea what temps was your 8800GTX working at? It's really no surprise. Mine works around 100C and its boiling hot on contact. Obviously this will, sooner or later, lead to the rest of the crappy plastic to give in.

We really need to make something regarding this... so that AW takes an attitude. It's time for people to wake up and open their eyes. Are we sleep walking? Are we just interested on packages and appearences? We want a nice looking computer that, underneath, is not a time bomb.

 

still operating at 100C after the bios upgrades... why have u not sent it in for repairs?...

 

I did send my laptop for repairs...

Just a correction for people that do not know about the M15x...
Before the bios upgrade, the temp wouldn't go past 87C, as the GPU would downclock. Now, the GPU does not downclock and, even if the fan is blasting as fast as it can, the GPU goest to 100C.
Actually, with the BIOS upgrade, both CPU and GPU reach higher temperatures.

 

thats the first time ive seen some one say that. How alarming.

 

If it's the first time... then maybe you haven't been paying attention at all.

 

mine isn't like that -- or at least, normally. recently it started doing that but I'm pretty sure it's dust; I've gotta get a new compressed air canister before I can tell for sure.

that said, for most of the time I've been running X32 the fans coming on max would either stop or (very) slowly lower the GPU temp in programs like FurMark.

 

Do you have Crysis? Stalker?
Try playing those for long times while monitoring your temperatures on RivaTuner.
As I mentioned, I was seeing the same as you in programs like Furmark. During gameplay, it's a completely different matter.

 

yes, I have played Crysis and watched the temps with RivaTuner (that was back in the days of BIOS GPU downclocking so I was looking to see if downclocking was still occuring) and, in that case, yes the temperature DID creep up a little bit, it would only be to around 91 degrees or so. (fan turns on at 89). I think that's the highest I ever had.

unfortunately I don't have screenshots but I would be happy to provide them once I get mine working correctly again (that is, IF I can get it working correctly, but I'm 90% confident it's dust)

 

That's exactly my point... BEFORE the Bios upgrade, my temps were stable at 87C-90C max. After the update, everything changed. GPU goes to 100C without downclocking.

If you could test it now (with Bios X32RC1) while playing crysis or stalker, that would be great.

But I could bet you will see the same as I did, as what you are describing is exactly the same behaviour I had before the Bios upgrade.

 

but no, my temps never went anywhere close to 100 degrees. as I say, they would creep up a couple degrees higher than X32 but even out at around 91 degrees with X32.

anyway, I will be happy to test again once I do my cleaning. if I tested right now then I will probably exhibit your symptoms but I have reason to believe that isn't normal and that a cleaning can fix it.

 

GRB, but did you try running Crysis with the new Bios while monitoring it with RivaTuner?
Because what I noticed was that the temps increased after the Bios update.

 

yes, that's what I'm talking about. I'm saying that once the fans go on max, it would creep up a couple degrees from the trigger temperature (from 89 to maybe 91) but no further. As I say, back during the GPU downclocking days we were all watching closely to see if some particular BIOS version fixed the problem.

anyway, I promise to get back to you on this. at this time, I have the exact problem as you milcs, but I have reason to believe it can be easily fixed with a cleaning. once I do that, if I still have the problem, then you're right milcs in saying this is a general issue.

 

For anyone who hasn't posted in or read the "new chassis" thread, I have the same problem as Fex.

 

Looks to me like ...your baby fell on,,,your baby.

 

Hahaha, that would suck... Yeah my son was born on Wednesday May 28th. On that friday my laptop broke...

 

hehe a payoff... you get the toy.. wife (?) get's the baby.. hmm my girlfriend is pregnant and I am here as well...

 

Nah, heheheh... I'd take the boy any day...

 

yeah, you'd BETTER say that!

 

I have the EXACT same issue. On the phone with tech support right now.. I've had mine since January 2008.

 

I would be interested to know if Fex or Jayon has gotten theirs back repaired properly... if they use the exact same crappy plastic hinges the problem is bound to recur.

 

Both fex and joy got theirs "repaired". Read through their posts and comments. You will see that the "scar" of the hinge broken won't be "healed".
You, Fex and Joy should collectively write a letter to Engadget with all your experiences and pictures...
Honestly, it's time AW's M15x market is put out of business. What needs to happen until they stop and do something about the biggest screw up on laptop manufacturing?

 

I second milcs. This really needs to come out into the open, I mean this is unheard of!

If it was just one person or something then i would just dismiss it but with so many people with a plethora of issues and now with this hinge issue still not addressed, AW needs to be punished!

Get this fixed AW!!!!!

 

Hey Milcs,

I read through all of Fex and Joys posts that I could find and did not see any resolution. Even their statuses still say "m15x in the repair depot" or something similar.

Give me the engadget link and I'll be happy to provide high res photos (the ones i posted here were crappy cell phone b/c i've yet to find my camera's super tiny usb cable).

 

Here's the current thread.

As mentioned there, I received my laptop back, but there are still several signs of the damage, and the replaced casing is just as creaky as the old one.

At the first sign of recurring damage, which I have perfect faith will come soon enough, I'll be making good on the lemon policy, getting my refund, and buying a cheaper, better machine.

Now that we have even more backing, I am all for organizing some serious retaliation. I will gladly write something up for Engadget and other review sites, and work with buzzin and Jayon to get as complete a story as possible.

 

fex, that is the way to go.
If you guys take all your pictures together, write a very long detailed letter with every single detail (including AW claiming this was your fault), put links to your posts, mention all the recurrent/common problems the M15x... I'm sure you can make something happen. This will only be solved by AW retracting ALL the M15xs and stop selling them. The more we find out about it, the more clear it is... this is nothing short of a crime.

 

Sounds like a plan

 

Hey guys, I am all for it. They have had my m15x in for repair for over a week. I called and asked the status and they said "in diagnostics". When it comes back the first thing I'm doing is popping off the front LCD panel and checking out the repair job. If I see the nuts secured in the same crappy brittle plastic anchors, I am requesting a full ($2300) refund. This was my first AW computer and if this is not resolved responsibly, my last. I use the laptop everyday for multiple hours a day, but it sits on my desk at work and gets plenty of ventilation and airflow. I have never ever ever (and I work in the IT dept) seen a laptop hinge that was secured by plastic anchors. The screen and hinge has always been crap because whenever I type or someone walks by briskly the entire screen wobbles and shakes. I wish I had known prior to buying it. Fex, you can email me at [email protected] and we can coordinate lemon replacement and reports to engadget or whomever.

 

moving to the new thread Fex pointed me too...

 

wherez da new thread????

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=260354&page=12