Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, *Part 3*

It's an old trick and no it's not true. Read your warranty. It is not of the same $value but the same or higher spec's. Since they have agreed that they stuffed up with your 1730 you are nearly sorted.

 

I don't understand why everybody seems to be reflashing their BIOS lately?

There is no obvious reason why the BIOS which is a ROM read only memory would have started to create problems. Similarly why would you reflash your GPU BIOS? In some extremely rare case it could be a corrupted BIOS but highly unlikely UNLESS you start reflashing it unnecassarily......

However what I would suggest is to reinstall known GPU drivers that worked with the external display. If that didn't resolve the problem I would be running diagnostics and benchmarking tests to see if it is indeed the GPU's that are playing up or the plug. If it is not resolved then I would be getting onto Dell tech's.

FWIW When my GPU's failed it was only in Sli so a single card worked fine. Unless it was a 3d app in Sli the system for all intents ands purposes appeared perfect.

 

You have 9800 SLI. I would expect nothing less than280 SLI.

 

nickbarbar

for others in other parts of the world the crossfire 4870s cost abit more than the gtx280s in sli. they also perform better so unless you are an nvidia fan you might want to get the crossfire 4870s since you have the 9800s in sli.

do not ever agree to getting a single card. a single card in the m17x will give you lousier performance compared to your 9800sli

 

There's no excuse for how dell is treating us. After having a broken laptop sitting in a drawer for almost 9 months until finally getting action I have zero faith in them.

As I stated in the past, my replacement, 6 months old is already dying.

I should have called dell about my problems over a month ago but I have no desire to go through their circus act.

I'm half tempted to just open a chat with a tech and dump all my error messages, dates, times, problems right into the chat. If no solution is found in a timely manner just go right to the BBB and state attorney general.

I can't even begin to add up all the hours I've wasted with dell. They treat us like refuse. I can't tell you how many times I've called up and been immediately yelled at that their systems are down and then been hung up on. Or techs telling me that they have no supervisor or that there's nothing they can do with me. Or given numbers to departments that don't exist, purposeful disconnects, extensions that don't exist, etc.

Like another poster said, it's the fact that they lie, that they willfully lie and treat us like garbage that really angers me. While they may be incompetent it's obviously a strategy to get people to give up.

What good is the warranty if it's in name only? Why do I have NBD at home warranty and have to fight with a tech for an hour over honoring the warranty and not sending the laptop to the depot?

Why does a tech support call take 6 hours? Really? I've had strings of these calls last over days. Call for 8 hours only to have to call back for another 6 the next and so on. Should I expect to spend my entire life on the phone chasing windmills?

Their practices are made to simply frustrate users into giving up. You shouldn't be waiting a month for a replacement part let alone two months. Why is that acceptable? Sure they could compensate you with warranty for that period of time but I find it completely unacceptable.

Sorry for ranting but I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Hearing how everyone else is suffering just makes me even angrier. Damn them to the inferno, may they wait for eternity on hold.... just another month until paradise!

 

Nickbarbar,
Don't pay extra for switch to dual video cards. You have 9800m GT SLi; you deserve nothing less than 280m GTX SLi.

 

Hmm so you guys are saying like for like price is a ruse for the warranty replacement? You think I can push for a free card?

I suppose it could be. While i like the guy who helped me his original starting point was to offer me an M1730 with 2.6ghz proc bump and a single 8700MGT, with 6gb ram.

What do you think about a strategy, if he still doesn't budge, of accepting to pay the 250£ extra for the Crossfire card and then asking for a free warranty upgrade from one to three years (which is worth about 220£)

 

ask for both free. you have 9800s in sli which means by default you should get at least 280s in sli so you can push the dual 4870s free since they cost the same in ur area.

warranty wise try saying you have a physx card (if u did pay for it say it) and an extreme processor and the m17x doesnt have one so i guess it should be compensated with more warranty

 

Thanks for the tips - I will give it a go. I responded to his spec email but this whole time i'm dealing with him i've been nice and he's responded nicely. I will continue to be polite and appreciative of his help, I think that will get me further than anger, i suggest some of you take the same approach no matter how hard it is just remember you will never get anywhere with anger!

I suggested I think he should add another crossfire card for free, but I will be ok with paying for a warranty upgrade. I truly thing this is fair; Time value of money being totally ignored with no depreciation, they're giving me a 2100£ 2009 computer already when i paid 1600£ for my 2008 M1730, I really am just fine with this and I find its more than a fair deal. No other computer manufacturer does this kind of stuff but dell, unless i'm mistaken.

When have you ever heard you can turn in a year old car and get full resale value. I'm really fine with paying 200-300£ for this upgrade as long as its right

 

Sorry Guys, noob question here. Techie just replaced my harddrives and i elected to do the reformat myself. How do i get the dell drivers disc to install the correct drivers? Or must i do it manually and if so how do i know what drivers are needed? I remember someone had a wiki page or some info blog about reformatting the XPS M1730??

Please help

 

you need to do it manually

and you always have to do the hard drives yourself, dell wont do that for you

 

Even if he didn't pay for it specifically, that was a part of the laptop and therefore included in the base price. The same goes for the Logitech LCD screen.

 

@Psychod

The wiki died a slow spamful death.

No fear though Batboy is here.... or there in M17x world. Check his Blog top right Important Links column.

 

I agree with you on this. Maybe try and hagle for the sli card as its what you had with your previous machine. However i wouldent push it. If after some gentle arm twisting you dont get it just say you will pay for the upgrade. Your right, your getting a brand new machine which is a higher price. Personaly i would take the machine.

 

Ok I cleaned out my laptop. I was amazed with how much dust was in the video card. Some of it was stuck in the heatsink (I'm assuming it's the back part of it, that faces the vent of the laptop.). I raised the laptop's back end an inch or so to keep it cool. while surfing the net I notice it stays at about 52C. (I do notice the laptop going above 52C before kicking the fan to high.) If I do put on new thermal paste on it. How much of a different would it make?

Someone told me to put some on the heatsink. When i looked at it, wouldn't it clog it or something?

What's the best thermal paste to use? Does anyone has opinion on a brand?

 

Well, I can't speak for others but the reason I'm going to likely flash my BIOS after I get my new cards is because Dell told me there is a BIOS update on their site somewhere (anybody got a link?) that causes the fans to activate at a lower temperature, thus providing a remedy to the overheating/heat fluctuation issues people have discussed.

 

Thanks Slammin

 

I am glad people are getting m17x's as replacements but what drives me up the walls is that some people get offered a replacement system and BAM there you go, here are some specs. I was laughed at when I suggested that they give me a m17x because it had comparable specs, They tried to sneak a m1730 with 8700 sli cards and a t9600 processor I sent that back and here I am 30 days later and still have no specs and none of these guys can comment on what I might get. This is how revolutions begin.

Not sure if anyone heard but Dell just dropped into the 3rd spot for PC sales, Acer knocked them off and HP is in the #1 spot, on top of that Mike Dell states they are going to drop their cost a couple million so if you think service sucks now..... just wait.... we may be here some time in the near future reminiscing about how the quality has dropped since they pulled out of India

 

Nickbarbar,
If you -think- it is fair, then there is no better authority on the matter.

If a few months ago, I was offered such a deal, I'd probably take it, but simply because of my eagerness to move off the M1730 nightmare. Someone advised me not to put money in their hands and weaken my position and grounds for argument.

Yes, you are getting a new machine. So are others, and they didn't pay anything extra.

But maybe you're getting an okay deal, while they're getting better deals. No one ever said that there is one M17x deal on the table. Some of us get lucky, others amongst us compromise.

All I can say for a fact is that if the Dell reps know that 'customer x' is easy to negotiate with, and an easy compromise, you bet your bottom-buck they will make this customer get the crap-end of the stick. That's how they make up for the difference; the nice guy pays for something that should be his, while the stubborn-guy simply gets the same specification handed without condition. They lose one, and the win one. Even.

As for Dell giving you a better-priced configuration and what not else; Dell aren't the first angels to grace the holy garden. It's the law. Dozens of companies end up compensating or replacing with something of equal or better fiscal value if the original item malfunctions under warranty and a similar replacement is not available. They have done -nothing- that no other company would be obligated to do under similar circumstances. It's just that very few have had such a bloody intriguing streak of machines to go bad. So no, Dell aren't 'special' for doing something that 'every company' is obligated to do, and many have done every now and then. Dell are only special becaue their machines, as of late, seem to be kicking the bucket.

However, as I stated at the start of this post, the ideal situation is best reviewed by the customer in question. You might as well be the sanest of us all to be willing to pay them and spare yourself a ton of headaches in arguments. Only fighters get stubborn, and fighting isn't for everyone, and rarely healthy for the mind.

 

More info would help.

Latest system bios is A10. The only update in it was for the 9800 series cards.

I think your techy is confused. Dell did release bios updates for 8700(?) series systems that were eventually replaced due to soldering issues. From memory it was also for other systems but not the xps1730 by the time the issue was in the wild 8700 xps 1730 owners were just given 8800's. Can anyone refresh my memory? Any way just google it. Big issue big $'s lost. Whatever it won't resolve your issue. Go the drivers and then diagnostics, still no answer then I guess it will be hardware failure.

 

Could anybody help me ? Althrough I have made up my mind to install Win7 OS. But I still want to know why the performance of 8800GTX SLI on my XPS M1730 on XP OS is so poor.

I installed both XP and VISTA.I can hit 13795 marks on 3D mark 2006 on VISTA.
But, the problem is, no matter what NVDIA display drives I choose and used on the 8800GTX SLI, I can only hit approx 6000—7700 mark on XP. This is so weird. And I absolutely have no idea what is wrong with the performance of 8800GTX SLI in XP. Do you know why? You see that even single 8800GTX could be able to hit more than 7700 mark.
So, I am a ＦＰＳgamer, and most games like ARMA2 run more smoothly in XP rather than in VISTA. So I really want to use XP for games. And I really want to play ARMA2 well.

much thanks in advance!

 

To be fair Wang, I don't think anyone has a sure-fire answer. It would really help us if you could first do REAL WORLD benchmarks, like maybe do FPS (frames per second, not first person sho.. blah blah blah) benches in your favorite game here, on both OSes, then report back here. We could go from there. Why results behave like they do in benching software could be anyone's guess, but it could be a certain driver version on XP doesn't do itself justice on Vista, and vice versa.

 

its either sli not enabled or powermizer sticking your cards to low performance mode.

i had xp on mine once.. it ran better than vista x86 on 3dmark 06.


if benchmarks are really important to you you might want to stick to vista cos vantage and 3dmark06 on win 7 will give you relatively low scores.. or at least it did for me.

 

Been quite some time M1730 owners... wanted to give you a heads-up on a few driver updates.

1. Logitech released v3.03.133 of the GamePanel software - see: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/434/4956&cl=us,en?WT.ac=sc|downloads||dd

2. The RICOH Memory Card reader has been updated to v3.62.02. See: ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R228330.exe

3. Dell posted an update to the Bluetooth driver on 09/23/2009. v6.2.0.9600 - see: ftp://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R228330.exe

Let me know via PM if any of these throw compatibility errors on install - I cannot test since no M1730 is on hand

 

Exactly!

Magnus' system is tweaked to run most of the newly released games, perfectly. Crysis operates 'smoother' on his machine than mine, with probably equal FPS, if not slightly higher average. Yet I have nearly an extra 1000 points in my 3dMark06 score over his current best. The operative world in 'real-world-benchmark' is 'real' because that's what helps identify a good gaming system.

In fact, Magnus is preparing to release a new configuration for ARMA2, so keep a look out for that config because he's got the game running quite nicely on his system.

 

I just got my alienware m17x. it's great.....

 

Is there any way to get the Frames per second on source games threw the logitech gameing screen?

 

Yes, with Fraps.

 

Wang that sounds like a chipset issue in XP. What I mean is that the chipset isn´t correctly installed or just needs a chipset update. Don´t download the chipset from Dell´s website. Go to Intel´s website or just www.laptopvideo2go.com and download the newest chipset from there.

Personally I force install the chipsets and try different versions until I get the correct one that yields more FPS combined with right GPU driver

I have learned through the years that a update on the chipset from time to time can yield surprising results when it comes to playing games

Look at this result on Crysis Warhead this on my old XPS M170 with a single core CPU 2.13 GHz and a go 7800GTX overclocked to 460/1250.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jH1VfcuAKc

Trying different chipsets i managed to get Crysis Warhead run smoothly at mainstream settings on a measly single core CPU

 

I need some recommendations for a new laptop to replace my Hell M1730 experience.

Ideally the latest laptop processor, something like a Q9300 or better. Sli Graphics, minimum 17 inch and 1920 x 1200, bluray optical drive would be ideal but not that important, dual Sli graphics etc and decent RAM.

Anything but a Hell or Hellianware.

 

Ohh thats gonna be a toughy stiggy, what kinda money you looking to throw at it. I wouldent give up all hope with dell yet my freind

 

I would. They're giving -him- nothing, and -he- shouldn't have to tolerate something that has been established as intolerable for his taste. Dell is a company, not an angry spouse that you take to marital therapy.

Go for Kobalt, Stig. They're UK-peeps, and that works better for you.

 

hard not to give up hope with dell, i think we are both on our last strings...

 

Stig's situation has worked out now for him, and that is with no thanks to Dell, who weren't doing him any favours anyway.

I think for those of us that get the good treatment, it's practical to stay on with Dell. However, those of us that get selected for a 'probe-job' should just walk the dell out of the problem.

 

Its fair enough wanting to go somewhere else. I suppose he has fought as long as he can. Its unfortuante that there not gonna do the honourable thing and give him a new system let alone a full refund of what he paid.

 

Dear Rubyboy79,
Hello! It is very nice to see your reply about my issue.
So you used to install the Xp, and could get more marks compare with VISTA.
Could you please tell me which display drive you used at that time?Is it 186.XX?
And do you still remember how many approx marks of 3D marks 2006 you got at that time ?

I really want to try the Xp for ARMA2 .

Much thanks in advanced !

 

Stig, FWIW, I've been pretty happy with my m17x and the way Alienware has been handling my issues so far. Of course, a year and a half ago, I felt the same about Dell since I had only had my 1730 for about a month or two. Time will tell, I suppose...

 

hello,

my highest score on xp was about 10.8k on 3dmark 06. but it was a long long time ago since i had xp. it was about a year ago. i used the default dell performance driver 174.93 if i am not wrong.

vista highest score was 10.7k with the same drivers.


but benchmark results really dont mean a thing. i had better performances with games on drivers that gave me really bad 3dmark06 scores. like dox's 185.85(i think) from laptopvideo2go

 

Stig,

my m17x is doing great as well. and by the looks of the cooling system, it shouldnt break anytime in the near future.

you might want to try sager if ur really against alienware.

 

Mate, i wouldn`t even give Hell/Hellianware a virus never mind any more money. They arn`t worth the time of day.

I hope your Hellienware stays strong and you have a good computing experience, i`m glad that i`m almost away from those bunch of COWBOYS AND INDIANS

 

I've been using the official one from nVidia.com. 185.85 seems to work great for source games on XP 32.

 

we all thought the same thing when we got our 1730's. we all thought the cooling solution was top notch and probably overkill...

not saying the aw will have a problem in the future, just this seems awfully similar

 

Well, that's pretty obvious, aint it, Wodstock? I mean, it's new. In my opinion, from the sheer technical standpoint, I don't foresee a cooling-problem with the M17x. The machine looks to be in good shape and set for a good life. However, only time will tell how things go with each component, and how Dell handle complaints, if any, by the customers.


Anyway, on the note of drivers:

185.85 was a dandy driver. The best, in my opinion. Unfortunately, there are features with the 190.40+ series that just don't come into play with these older drivers.

Honestly, I just can't get the Resident Evil 5 benchmark to perform right without anything under 190.40. However, the overall performance of the drivers is not too good in my books.

 

Have you guys looked at the m17X thread? There are guys posting benches with their GPU's at 33-35C. That's HALF of what our cards are doing on the higher end of idle.

 

So.. here's a weird one..

I'm getting my m1730 exchanged for a m17x, which is still happening, I even have the order number for the new unit with an estimated ship date of Oct 27.

I just received my m1730 in the mail today repaired, and the video card upgraded from an 8800 to a 9800, what gives? Why would they bother still fixing it, if their sending me a new one?

 

So quick weekend update...

Spoke to Dell yesterday and escalated twice to find out why my cards still weren't in yet when I was told on multiple occasions that they would have arrived on Thursday. This guy tells me that apparently people were just reading the automated dispatch updates to me, and when it doesn't arrive from the supplier, it just pushes the delivery date back by a day. Not accurate at all.

So after arguing with him for a long time about how I had been lied to by multiple supervisors, made travel plans based on those lies, etc. he gives me two options...

Option 1
Lose my place in the dispatch queue for my replacement 8800 SLI cards and have them attempt to find me a single 8700 as a temp replacement. They would then add me back to the queue for the 8800 cards but there is no guarantee they'd be able to get an 8700 card and I'd lose my place in line for the 8800's. Since it wouldn't get here by my deadline of leaving town tomorrow I decided not to do this.

Option 2
Lose my place in the dispatch queue for the 8800's and have them try to replace my system. I voiced my concern over some of the forum posts on here about people being sent systems with lower end components and he said that since I have the absolute top end of what they made for the 1730's (they've since stopped making them) they would only replace them with a system with equal components since there were no upgrades available. After pushing further he admitted that if certain parts weren't available, they would have to go with the next available option. Ie. since they don't make laptops w/ 17" screens anymore they'd have to give me a machine with a smaller screen. Oh, and the machine would of course be refurbished, so I'd have no idea what kind of lifespan to expect out of the system.

I kindly informed him that neither of these options were acceptable and that Dell has basically left me no other choice than to wait till whenever the hell the cards get in, which they can't give any accurate timeframe for, and I will be sending an email to all of the top Dell executives on Monday and CCing Consumerist.com.

Anybody here have any thoughts on the system replacement? Is it an option to actually consider? Or are the chances of me getting an identical system nil?

Specs are as follows:

Core 2 Extreme 9000 2.8ghz
4GB Ram
Fastest DVD burner
Dual 8800m GTX SLI
Fastest FSB available
150GB HDD
Ageia Card
(not sure if I'm forgetting any other key specs)​

I will take this as high as I need to. That said, are the new m17x alienware systems better than this? What would some comparable specs be on one of those if I have to push for that as a replacement?

 

Ok I cleaned out my laptop. I was amazed with how much dust was in the video card. Some of it was stuck in the heatsink (I'm assuming it's the back part of it, that faces the vent of the laptop.). I raised the laptop's back end an inch or so to keep it cool. while surfing the net I notice it stays at about 52C. (I do notice the laptop going above 52C before kicking the fan to high.) If I do put on new thermal paste on it. How much of a different would it make?

Someone told me to put some on the heatsink. When i looked at it, wouldn't it clog it or something?

What's the best thermal paste to use? Does anyone has opinion on a brand?

 

whats the difference between the 8800gt and the 9800gt?

 

9800gt is a hair faster than the 8800gt.

But it's not really that noticeable.

 

That extra hair makes all the difference lol