Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

Totally unacceptable Kade.

Let them deliver the system and call them to send you out the BR drive?.

 

Can someone help me wiht some information please

What available memory does vista/w7 32 give with 4gb in, on my other lappy it says 3.5 available same on my wifes but on the m1730 it only says 3. Also when i overclock it and run the assessment the screen goes blank and just hangs then i have to hold the power button down, its fine at 3ghz but if i go to 3.2 or 3.4 when the fans come on full it breaks. It was fine doing this a month ago. Ideas?

 

When I use 32-bit OS I also have only 3GB RAM available (from 4GB RAM installed).

 

ok thanks, any ideas on my other problem? It wouldnt bother me normally as i dont tend to overclock it anyhow, but i know its not right and its bugging me now. :S

 

Check your Windows Update settings - I seem to recall an update to fix WEI from hanging. Do you recall which test it hangs/locks up on?

 

BatBoy, so you're now getting M17x? Awesome!

 

funny thing is at 3.4 it locks up near the beginning around the 3d settings i think on 3.2 it locks near the end just before the hard drive assessment.

im running windows 7 was on 7100 rc (assessment was fine) then last night i decided to try out 7600 thats when my problems happened, so i put 7100 back on this morning and its still funny.

- gratz on the m17 bat!!!!

 

Thanks all - I'll be posting something here shortly on the whole situation. Long story short, they did take care of it and did do the right thing in my book. So I do recognize them for that. The people I ended up working with on this were very professional and expressed genuine interest in the case as well as a desire to make sure everything was resolved to my satisfaction.

@dinks - which video driver are you running and which release ver# of Win7? The update I mentioned was for a hang issue in Vista. Looks like it could be related to a driver issue - some ATI users are seeing hangs ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com.../thread/ef81c0c1-954b-4249-824c-03744e9c156a). I know you mentioned the "only happens when OCing CPU" but could still be related to the video driver.

 

@ Batboy

I see you have the M17x on order. Will you be selling the M1730? Or will you hold on to both the M17x and M1730?

Do you expect much performance gain from the M17x?

 

Geez Batboy that's terrible news about the M17.
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Who's gonna keep me updated about 1730 drivers now!!!
: )

 

The M17x is being built to replace my crippled M1730. The M1730 is going back to Dell since this is categorized as a system replacement. I'm almost tempted to call my rep back and see about killing the order and reordering it with the anodized silver color. ARGH. Decisions... Decisions.

I do expect a performance increase over my M1730 (T9300, 8800M GTX SLI, DDR2 @ 667). The core architecture of the M17x is current whereas the M1730 is quickly showing its 'expansion age' - not much room to upgrade. It's still a powerful system and I will miss it. Especially my light up XPS wings - love that smoke gray color.

@Slammin:
Don't worry - I'll be active here as well and will continue to maintain my M1730 blog/driver updates (up to the point of testing compatibility of course...)

 

You're getting an m17X? With quadcores? Only way it's worth it...

 

Awesome man. Congrats! I'm happy for you. I'll wait for a versus between M1730 and M17x from you. Can't wait.

 

Just as a reference Dell posted updated video bios yesterday for 9800mGTX and 8700mGT

@BatBoy, congrats on acquiring the new system, I am looking forward to the Blog.

 

Blasted GadgetBoi... I was just about to shutdown the lappie and get some much needed sleep - Now I have to go check out the BIOS details you just posted. Interesting.

@Time:
Don't worry, you know me - I always post my thoughts... lol

 

Sorry dude, they say for yellow tint issue, but I am suspect and no 8800mGTX update

 

Glad to hear they finally got around to doing something for you Bat.

I'm still waiting on my 'promised' call from Sujay to update me. I've already emailed his boss too but so far no reply from them. So right now I have no idea about what's happening with my laptop apart from the fact 'another problem was found'

I don't really have idea what todo now but wait, looks like I won't get the laptop back till maybe next week, which would be past the 6th week of repair time.

 

Hi,
If I get a M1730 with single hard-drive, does it need an extra bracket & screws to take a second one?
And if so, are they easy to get hold of from Dell Europe?
Thanks

 

glad to see you got it worked out bat Trying to convince my wife i NEED one but its not working at the moment. Seeds planted though

Im still using those beta drivers 185.06 or something that you posted on your blog awhile ago, seemed to work best for me. im just hoping its not my cpu thats knackered.

 

Yes,and also the same problem with the colours...
I justed talked to the tech and monday they will come for a replacement for the videocard in my "new" system and refurbished ofcourse...........grrrr, for me and also the tech it's the last thing they will do with all the problems,....then maybe a refund or the m17x, for me the same i only want a perfect working gamersnotebook with of course the same specs or better.

 

@ V_C - i think you just need screws. I'm gonna nick the ones out my 1710 before i send it back. Hope so, i have a 500gb disk i want to use!

@batboy - bloody fantastic mate! i was hoping they'd do that for my m1730 and charge me an upgrade, but alas they couldnt do it! The M17x looks like a true ANIMAL!

@arniecake - Sujay is crap at calling you on time. i say "i will be available after work and at home at 4". and he calls at like 2:30 just so he doesnt have to speak to me and gets to leave a USELESS message. And his boss never once replied to my emails.

Have to echo batboy. The warranty may give you problems, but honestly its worth it in the end. I have many friends who went with uk gaming company "rock" and their RTB warranty had peoples laptops locked away for months on end! At least dell tries to fix, and then will replace if required!

 

Been calling him since midday today, hasn't been in his office once, hasn't called me back at all this week, so yet again I've gotta go through the nonces at the call centre for ages i expect.

 

Got an update, well not much of one exactly, they're still testing the laptop, for the entire week so far! No other updates so I have no idea whether they're taking extra tests to be sure or still can't figure out what the problem is.
I've been promised a call from Sujay by 6pm today, lets see if that happens..

 

Sujay is a right WANKER
He promises things then doesn't deliver you must go above his head (he will refuse to pass you on to a manager) but insist on it.

His managers e-mail is

[email protected]

Demand action now or push for a full refund and theaten to take the issue up with head office.

I have had to do the same to get somewhere.

Don't let them bully you into a compromise, which they will.

 

Thanks for you advice mate, I've sent Devi_r another email and im about to call tech support again and insist on having someone higher up talk to me.


UPDATE:

Sujay finally called me back, I complained about it was still in repair and he said mid call "Oh there's been a change it's actually with city link" So apparently I'll get it by 1pm tomorrow, I'll see if this happens.

I called the bracknell head office in the UK (an english call handler for once!) And left the customer care manager a message and my number, regardless of whether I get the laptop back I'm going to let him know exactly how bad the service is.

 

Congratz Batboy, thats really good news, epic win

 

Dell has since added a Bios update for the 9800mGT Sli will keep watching to see if 8800mGTX is added

 

I've been trying to extend my warranty online and the site is always down. Tells me Dell's online shopping is down or something similar.

 

Hey, dudes, check this out. . .

I must be tripping, or trapped in the Matrix. I'd need the right stuff for tripping, so I'm going to go with Matrix.

Anyway, now I'm getting the fun treatment of being thrown around between departments.

I told 'em that I'll look at the new unit, inspect it inside out, and if the BD-RE drive ain't a BD-RE MM616, then they won't be getting the old system back until they deliver the exact same drive.

Let's see where this ---- goes.

FYI: The laptop's estimated delivery date is 4th of August, 2009, which would be Tuesday next week.

 

it hurts my brain to read that email :S

 

I have come to know that I am currently on my 4th contact w/Dell regarding AC adapter/mobo issue. And now you have all come to know as well.

 

Looks like they tried to give you the BLUE pill Kade.

Anyway here is what i've been offered,


COLOUR CHOICE Smoke Grey with White LED Backlights
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 800MHz FSB, 6MB L2-cache)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 (64 BIT) - English
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9.0 / English








HARDWARE SUPPORT 3 Year Premium Warranty Support
LCD 17.0" UltraSharp™ WUXGA (1920x1200) TFT with TrueLife™ with Integrated 2.0MP web cam
MEMORY 6GB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM
HARD DRIVE 500GB Serial ATA (5400RPM) Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD Dual SLI™ 512MB nVidia® GeForce™ 9800GT graphics card
CABLES UK/Irish Additional 220V AC Adapter Power Cord
OPTICAL DRIVE Internal Blu-Ray RW (Blu-Ray, DVD and CD read & WRITE) Optical Drive with Software
PRIMARY BATTERY Primary 9-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (85 WHr)
Accessories

BLUETOOTH Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth 2.0 Module (up to 3 Mbps) with Enhanced Data Rate EUR
WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-PCI Card, EUR
TV TUNER AND REMOTE CONTROL Dell™ Travel Remote Control
Services & Software

ONLINE BACKUP DataSafe Online Backup 2GB 1 year
Also included with your system
Gedis Bundle Reference N08X7301
Order Information Inspiron Order - UK
Shipping Documents English Documentation
Dell System Media Kit Resource DVD XPS M1730 - (Diagnostics & Drivers)
Power Supply AC Adapter 230W

Placemat Eng, Frn, Ger, Spn Placemat XPS M1730
Keyboard Uk/Irish Internal Keyboard (QWERTY)
Standard Warranty 1 Year Premium Warranty Support
Online Promotion Option for GEDIS Configs Dell Internet Order

The 6GB of ram is in place of the physx card (which i'm keeping anyway).

Also 3 year warranty from the date I get the new lappy.

Thoughts........

 

Good spec, especially with the 6gb of ram considering how expensive it is to buy a 4gb stick seperately at the moment. Plus the 3 year warranty from the start date is great too!

and sorry to sound dumb, but what exactly was wrong with your previous laptop?

 

3 X dead gfx cards, cracked bezels after engineer visit, 2 X keyboards (still not right).

Also overheating with existing gfx card.

I got so fed up with it I insisted on a new one.

 

Wow, lots of new laptops getting rolled out here! Sadly, seeing as i didnt get THE best M1710 spec, i dont think i can blag an M17x like batboy has so cheekily done so!

Was hoping for the replacement to turn up today, but no such luck. So it'll be monday. So its the last weekend of the M1710. Will be spanking L4D i think!

Quick note on the M1730 bag, its BRILLIANT!!! I love the size, the internal colours! all the pockets and cubby holes! you can drop it from 3 ft and the laptop will survive! Its fabulous!

 

Kade - email is worthless for getting things done. You must do things through chat, then randomly at your own whim disconnect. Whoever you're talking to is obliged to call you because it's "XPS support", and they get yelled at if they let customers go without 'wrapping' things up. Now the ball is in your court so-to-say, and you must start being disgruntled and making demands (have a goal, be unruly, make demands based on rational/logical claims about technology in your computer and how it shouldn't be failing based on your light work-load).

Trust me. If you want results quick in the way of replacements and new computers, you must make it a living hell to talk to you.

 

Hankaaron, i have to disagree! I got further by sending arsey emails copying in the top 12 people at dell than i did talking with XPS support or that pratt Sujay. When i asked Sujay for a replacement he said no as the system was working at that exact moment.. It was only when i demanded a replacement through email that i got a result!

That said, everyone will have their own preferred method!

 

Impressive! Very impressive! You got the BD-RE - even better! Did you have this from before?

Points taken, and put into action.

 

Regarding that 9800M GT bios dell posted, I'm debating at the moment on flashing it to the crippled 8800M GTX. If I do, I'll post results on sucess or failure later tonight.

Why not, right?

 

Didn't work for me, gave a GPU mismatch error. I tried the 9800mGT Sli version.

 

So what was this yellow tint issue? I haven't read anything on it...

 

Not sure if this is the issue, but when I had 8700m GTs. One of my problems from very early on was anything that was white on the screen had a very noticeable yellowing to it. Dell replaced my screen in a effort to resolve it but never did. I adjusted the colors in the NV control panel to compensate until they replaced the 8700s with 8800. There were several reference to this issue in the old thread and on the old Dell forum.

I am kinda suspect though, that Dell would release a Bios update just for that issue. The update utility is NVIDIA, so I am going to see if any other notebook makers that are offering bios updates for the same series card.

 

i have to disagree also, i do not call anyone, they call me sometimes but i always tell them to just email. i do everything by email. i do think it takes longer but the stress and anger i feel on the phone is just not healthy for me.

 

Agreed - I have to say, email is not 'worthless'.

Very interesting Gadget. If anyone applies that updated bios to their 8700/9800 card, can you please post back if you notice any change in thermals or fan/thermal thresholds? There may be more to it than the yellow tint issue.

 

Re : Email or calling Dell.

I'v had most success with a mixture of approaches. the biggest advantage with email is while it is indeed slower the facts are documented forever, I beleive they won't blag you off as you can obviously take the emails etc to your consumer affairs trial etc. Also their is a time stamp for their offer and follow up. Further more you have more time to consider your arguments/demands and annalyse their offers.

The advantage of the phone is that you can waste their time. ; )

 

Indeed. I'd say some things work for some people, while other things work for others. BatBoy managed to get an M17x through largely e-mail negotiations, although there were tons of phone calls as well.

However, Hankaaron57's real point comes in the attitude and tone that one should take in these 'negotiations'. I'd say that his recommendation about being firm-er is valid. I think, the more you try to cooperate, the more they take you for granted and try to get you to compromise. Now this can stir up quite a bit of debate, considering that one person's 'firm' is another person's 'rude'. I've never been rude with these people, but I find that subjecting myself to extreme control can sometimes hinder me from making snappy, and on the spot arguments that might go in my favour.

An excerpt from one of my many conversations with a Dell agent:

My idea of firm would be that one shouldn't fight. One shouldn't hate on the person handling the call, regardless of their carelessnes. However, one should firmly state whether something is unacceptable and wrong, and express their outrage without getting vulgar. Yeah, I'm working on the last part myself, but you guys get the idea. I've learnt a lot from most of you over the last few weeks alone, and what I've seen in pattern, is that when you take a firm stance, and show resolve, they will eventually give you something better! BatBoy got a no, but he held his ground - ditto for Chief_Barker, but even he's got something that I'd consider a very positive result.

I've received considerable, and very valuable quality advice from some of you, and it's really appreciated. It's also been very enlightening. You see, I generally found myself between two camps of opinions with one camp emphasising firmness, and the other emphasising politness, but holistically, they're both actually saying the same thing, "Be firm, and show resolve, but don't bite their heads clean off their shoulders during the process."

Of course, there's finer, individual differences on exact strategy (Ask for a better CPU. . . Extend the warranty. . . Demand more RAM. . . Request a new M17x. . . etc.), but generally speaking most of us are on the same page, I believe.

 

I had my 3 + year old Inspiron 9300 replaced in January with a M1730. I decided to try email and had great success. I was very firm and almost demanding but ended every email with something like: "Your help on this matter is very important to me and anything within your power that you can do will be greatly appreciated" I had my new system sent next day (2 days total from when they decided to switch out) I left my cell phone off so it would go directly to voice mail. That way I would not have to suffer on the phone with them. Using email kept me from having to go through the "script" that all of them seem to use. Also, I would respectfully suggest using the email list of "Higher ups" and if someone at dell comes through and does you good (Has this ever happened? brag on them to their supervisor.
Trump

 

I upgraded the 9800gt vbios, can't say I really notice a difference.
I snapped a couple pics, before and after, but they look like crap.

Also, thanks for the heads up Gadget! +rep

 

I guess you guys got some good techs to talk to if you got good results with email. I've NEVER had an email responded to, which is why I opted for phone call/chat communication. It's faster. I'm also very extroverted and I have no problem cussing people out over the phone, especially if it's over my $2600 laptop that isn't working. I guess what I'm saying is, I have no problem being an ahole essentially. I can get into the character quite fast, and sometimes when I recommend that, I tend to forget not everyone has a propensity for being so blunt and sticking up for themselves - though I've always been an advocate for this kind of behaviour.

Look at it this way. I originally had an Inspiron e1705. I burnt the 7900gs in that machine probably 5 times, and then motherboard went. They wanted me to wait for more motherboards to be in stock, I said no - I needed the computer for work (I don't need the computer for work), so I argued my way through three different tiers of Dell support staff, until I got the senior support rep. I then got an xps m1730. Except, it had one 8700 in it - the equivalent (they say) to my old 256 mb 7900 gs card. As soon as I started reading this thread, it occurred to me that the 8700 wasn't adequate. Was I in any moral way entitled to an 8800, especially after I got an upgrade like an XPS from a crappy Inspiron? No. But I simply didn't want an 8700, when I could have an 8800. It was back to the phones and more finagling with the support staff. How did I justify it? I basically argued the 8700 was such a bad card, it was essentially worse than the 7900 gs I had in my inspiron. I went to wikipedia and researched both cards a bit and found something (I don't remember the specifics) that could be construed to say the 8700 was a downgrade from the 7900 - something that is against Dell's warranty policy: the replacement parts must be equivalent or greater than the original stock parts in the computer. So, I eventually went from a single crappy 8700 to dual 8800 GTX, and I was finally satisfied.