Dell XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Take 2

Cheers, looks about €200 for an upgrade. Pretty expensive. I think I'll stick with Vista until there's a better reason to upgrade.

 

Yeah, but in his case, they're most probably lying. I got the same treatment. I actually have contradictory statements from two people in the same department, in e-mail. If, and once this refund issue clears up, I will have another word with them about the inconsistency in their statements.

In fact, they always delay and make excuses, which is why they often end up lying. If I list the times this very same thing has happened with me, I'd have a dossier on my hands.

Besides, if they did e-mail the details to the previous account, then this means that they're both clumsy/inefficient and deceptive. Heh. I always thought it took a certain degree of cerebral-fortitude in order to be effective at deceiving. I guess that's why we catch on so well, because if they were playing an ace game, we wouldn't be having such a conversation.

Anyway, I have an unrelated, and positive-thinking question. Magnus72, buddy, you got any links to that Tweakforce 180.84 driver? I really want to give it a shot. By the way, people should totally check out his videos; the man's an absolute connoisseur of the M1730 as a gaming rig, and he proves it by getting all these awesome, latest games running smooth as butter whilst looking as close to 'ultra' as possible.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/Magnus72

 

The fact that you guys think Customer Resolutions has me blacklisted pisses me the **** off. I can't believe this. I never thought about it in that light, but it makes perfect sense. I call and ask for different reps and managers and no one calls back. This 'corporate' guy has me honest to god blacklisted! I can't do anything but answer to him, and he won't budge ONE inch. God if I ever meet this guy in real life I'm gonna' face rape his children.

I'm going to have to resort to 'option B' in negotiating tactics. I'll update this as it progresses.

*Edit: by the way, if I seem a little crazy about this Dell situation, I probably am. Dell is NOT going to win. I went from a faulty Inspiron to a faulty XPS m1730. As far as Dell is concerned, I haven't been able to use my computer for TWO months now because of those blasted graphics cards being backlogged (even though I'm typing on it right now). But that's not the point, as George Costanza says, "It's the PRINCIPLE." I'll be DAMNED to DELL HELL if I don't get an M17X.

 

People in the UK should bring Dell to the attention of BBC Watchdog, they would love to get their teeth into a shoddy operation like Dell that treats its customers with utter contempt.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/

Watchdog is probably a better route than taking legal action because firstly it doesn`t cost anything and secondly it will be highlighted all over national TV and Dell wouldn`t want that sort of exposure considering what happened to them in the US.

 

Dude, all the best.

But c'mon. . . children? At the risk of sounding pompous and a bit too presumptuous, I can clearly see a very archetypical corporate-cog in these reps; therefore, I already feel sorry for their kids for being subjected to a life that is nothing short of being a very bland, linear, laid-out, pre-planned, unimaginative, redundant, and largely spark-less existence.

Heh. Man, I've gotta' stop making comments like the one above.

On the topic of BBC Watchdog. Yeah, I've considered these guys, and perhaps someone with a real compelling case should approach them about the wrong doings. Unfortunately, one needs a good number of people behind their case inorder to get noticed. The ugliest side of the media--from first-hand filth of the business--is the fact that we 'sell' news. Ugh.

Anyway, Magnus, I await some kind of link to the TweakForce/Xtreme-G 180.84 driver. By the way, has anyone got the Batman Arkham Asylum Demo running with good SLi performance?

 

Alright... first time hitting this thread up in a while. I finally got my hands on Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and GTA4. I know Magnus created some config files that make Crysis/Warhead run very well on the M1730... could anyone point me toward them?

 

Stig,

I couldn't agree with you more. That's kinda what I was trying to get across in one of my last posts on Thursday I think it was. Anyhow, if enough of you band together and contact them with your horror stories, who knows, it may be on your local news and here in the States as well as a "Here We go Again" story where Dell is sued by the International Commmunity too!

 

Everyone,

I got my M17x late Friday evening and it's freaking awesome to say the least. The temps on this thing while playing the games I played on the M1730 are much less (Highest 260 card temp was 63 degrees Celsius as compared to the M1730's 8700MGT card being as high as 81 degrees Celsius for the same time of game play). I just went online and found out that they used only a standard nameplate on bottom using the "M17x" instead of my name. Oh well, can't complain since I feel like a got a great deal. My system is much faster when playing games than my previous M1730. BTW, I think that Bluetooth capability comes standard on the M17x. I know mine did and I didn't have this on my previous laptop. Also, your return shipping label is suppose to be in the plastic shipping label bag on the outside of your shipping box along with return instructions. They sent mine in the generic black box and inside was the nice looking Alienware M17x packaging with a hat, nice black bound owners manual, and an Alienware mouse pad. They of course include the system restore disk, any additional software you have installed like M.S. Office, etc, along with all your drivers. The restore disk has Dell's version of your operating system on it for those who may not know. Also, they include a Windows 7 upgrade coupon. Use it to go to a Microsoft website, key in your code and contact information,etc, and Microsoft will send you the appropriate version of Windows 7 for your laptop free of charge with no shipping cost. Pretty cool if you ask me!

 

so just spent an hour on the phone talking to a dell rep
they are sending a replacement vid card for me in 2 weeks
my 8700m gt sli for a single 9800gtx

and as for getting it upped into an alienware its still "under debate"
can any of you give me any advice on how to deal with this situation?
specially since they aren't dealing with m1730's properly anymore

btw i'm from canada

i apologize for my use of abbreviations and horrible typing etc i'm just really annoyed at dell while working on a project that is to be presented tomm at 10am

 

You sure it's just one 9800? I coulda' sworn anything more than the 8700 was always two cards.

 

From what i can tell yes its is a single 9800 which makes me sad

By the time that 9800 shows up it'll be a month since one of the vid cards has gone bye bye

one month to replace a vid card.... last time it took em a month they replaced my entire laptop

and dell can't say bout it not being a vid card prob since they sent a tech out to me already
and even the tech was like "yea looks like one of the gpu go bye bye".... well roughly thats what he said

 

Guys, I think one of my speakers (the left one) is going bad. It makes some weird sounds when playing low notes (like bass), it's distorsioning at high volume (over 50% or so).
Did it failed? Is there a solution to fix it? Without replacing the whole speaker...

 

it will be an sli card. no such animal as a single 9800 gtx, if you do in fact get the gtx card that's awesome, but the failure rate is high and the stock for the 9800 gtx is nil...

 

Oh great... now it's completely dead.

 

If it is distorting/popping @ increased volume it is probably blown/close to it. Best to replace it. Part# is: MN458 (approx. $30 USD). Removal/Install Process is HERE.

You can pin it down to the speaker - attach externals or headphones, same behavior? If not its the speaker.

 

I tried listening with headphones. Sound is fine with the headphones (tried both jacks).
I see if I let it alone (I mean, I don't listen music or anything) for few minutes, it works again, but then again, it makes that distorting/popping sound and if I increase the volume, it dies again.
I can't find the speaker anywhere here in my country, only on ebay and is 15$, I can't order it from there.
Should I take it to warranty? It is worth it?

But how this happened? I didn't listened at the maximum volume (I usually let it at about 70%), I used WMP everytime...

 

Not sure how/cause... could've been from a game, who knows really. If you are still under warranty, perhaps they can just dispatch out the part to you and you can install it. Its fairly straight forward. Not a lot of work or hard to access.

 

Well, I bought my laptop from a re-seller online store, should I just call them and ask for the piece?

 

Doesn't hurt to call. Hopefully they can assist. At the very least, I'm sure they can order the part for you if they wont cover it.

 

Maybe low bitrate music or games could affect the speakers? Last days I played a lot Crysis and TimeShift, sometimes I raised the volume to maximum to hear the steps... I can't belive that, used my internal speakers for 3 days (before I had an external audio system) and one of them is dead now.

 

Hi everybody, I have been a lurker so far.
I'd like to share my story with you.
I'm from Italy and I bought an xps1730 (T7700 2 gb ram raid 0 160x2Gb 8800 gtx sli 1900*1200) in february 2008 (i paied almost 2600 euros).
I passed through several malfunctions: the original power brick was broken, I fried 2 couple of vga, 2 motherboards, speakers, wifi, lcd cover's leds, 1 more power brick.
The last week when I was playing shift i heard a strange pop sound coming from the bottom of my pc and I noticed the battery was completely discharged.
I extracted the battery and it was open (i mean like fuse).
I called the tech support the day after and they told me not use the pc because it could be potentially dangerous and they added that my pc will be changed and a customer support will call my in three days.
I called back the support today and they said me that my replacement is going to be delivered in 12th october and in the same day I have to pack the mine and give it to the ups man.
Now I don't know the specs of my new pc, nobody called me to propose a good replacement and above all i'm afraid that my new pc will have the 8700 sli instead of 8800.

Any suggestion???

PS sorry for my bad english!

 

Call and ask for the system specs to be emailed to you. You can always try, though Dell may not listen.
I would tell them "Dell said not to use my system because it is potentially dangerous, they are sending a replacement ASAP, is there a chance you can email me the system spec since I would like to ensure I am getting a similar system." Then if it's 8700 tell them that's unacceptable and refuse the replacement. I would say something like Dell acknowledges this system is potentially dangerous and wants to replace it with equal or better, but if the components are not equal to what I purchased pehaps I should seek legal councel.
This is how I would handle it, others may not agree, but this is just my opinion/suggestion. I am not a lawyer, so I do not know the legal ramifications if something like this is said to a Dell tech.
If you live in the US, I would throw in something like perhaps my attorney generals office would like to evaluate the faulty system, or something like that.

 

They're offering this kind of solution :



I said no thanks, because the single 260 isn't an upgrade for my sli 9800 gt.
I need an advice...crossfire 4870 or 280 sli?!?!

Please help me!

 

Thanks for your suggestion,but I live in Italy...the land where the maybe rules.

 

Ask for 280m SLi, as it has better software support. Others are getting the same for their 9800m GT SLi, so why shouldn't you? All the best.

 

What a suprise!

Last week i was told on the phone that a system replacement had been agreed for my faulty M1730, on thursday i spoke to the girl thats been dealing with my case and she said she would call back with the spec. Anyway she never called which won`t suprise anyone thats had to deal with Dell aftercare.

On friday i had to ring Dell myself for the umteenth time to chase things up and find out why she never called, as usual they had an excuse. She said that my system replacement had been agreed and it would be an M1730 with the spec in my signature, she said they had found one on their system. Anyway she said i would be getting en email at 4-30pm on friday to confirm the spec and all i had tro do was to reply to the email and the ball would start rolling if i was happy with the spec.

Anyway, no email arrived on friday. I chased them up again today and spoke to some clueless operative who wouldn`t transfer me to the girl thats been dealing with my case at which point i said i want tro speak to your manager.

He said that no replacemnt had been found for me as yet, i said why was i told last week that a system with my spec had been found and all i had to do was to confirm the spec via email and it will be sent out. He said nothing was on the system and they were still looking for one.

I asked to speak to his manager, he said he is a bit busy at the moment but he will get him to call me back before 3pm this afternoon, i said ok fine.

Anyway, no phone call as per the usual with Dell, this has been dragging on for over 5 weeks now and i have a faulty system that hasn`t been cured from 2 engineer visits which is on top of the 3 engineers that failed to show up previously.

I`m fairly certain that i`m being messed about to bide them some time just incase a customer return M1730 comes in that they can give me seeing as the M1730 has been discontinued and they are obviously having trouble finding a pile of refurbished junk to give me, ive been told previously that i can only have a refurbished system because i bought mine via the Dell outlet even though i paid very good money for it with a 4 year at home warranty as no M1730 is cheap.

I just can`t believe how these comedians can get away with this sort of service, ive been left with a malfunctioning laptop now for over 5 weeks and ive had numerous false promises in various forms.

 

Stig,

That doesn't sound right because I too bought my XPS M1730 from Dell's outlet store and it came with a full warranty just as if it were new. This is per Dell's outlet site which mentioned this before I purchased. Anyhow, I now have my AW M17x in my hot little hands to prove that what they've told you is a load of crap! My refurbished M1730 was replaced as of this past Friday with a brand new M17x!

 

Is there an Alienware rep I can call? Like, one that doesn't double as an XPS rep? Maybe I'm going about this the wrong way..

 

5 week s here and still counting my case manager won`t even speak to me

 

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/chat/hardware_chat?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Someone do me a favor with a warranty and try to get on the Tech support Chat. Is not working for me, and I want to know if it's my end or not.

 

Thanks for your suggestion...I obtained an M17x with 280 sli as a replacement for my faulty 1730 finally....thanks to all of you!

 

Congratulations! That is very good and swift service!

 

looking for a dead or non working m1730 power adapter, if you have one please let me know it

many thanks

 

Just spoke to a rep who told me the backlog of people waiting for 8800 cards is now over 200 . He also mentioned that nvidia are not fulfiling their obligation to dell . on a better note im going to buy a new desktop and sit through this bull crap and hammer every email addy i can find .

5 weeks many more to go according to mr dell.

 

Dellinator, keep in mind he is in the UK where they still actually sell the 1730 new and it is not discontinued

 

Okay, I need some advice on this before I call Dell tomorrow morning. I want to be prepared as to what to tell them and what to request. Per my original thread here, I've been without working graphics cards in my XPS M1730 for about three weeks now. I've got a complete care warranty and this is really ridiculous.

Dell offered to replace my dual 8800M GTX cards with 9800M GTX cards because, as many of you guys have said on here, there's apparently a shortage of them. And just like many others in here, I was given the magical date of 10/5 for the cards to arrive and the repair to take place.

So, now that 10/5 has come and gone and I haven't received notification of any sort from Dell, I'm gonna have to call them tomorrow. I don't want to go through the hassle of a system replacement if I don't have to, but I might as well if I have to wait an undisclosed amount of time waiting for these graphics cards--I'm a digital media/graphic design student and not having a computer is really affecting my work.

If they get or can get the graphics cards soon, that's fine, but if not, what kind of system replacement should I request? An M17x, obviously, but I want them to get this right. Here's my M1730 configuration:

M1730, Extreme X9000, 4GB RAM, Dual 8800M GTX in SLI, 200GB HDD, 300GB HDD, Blu-Ray Burner, Wireless card, Bluetooth card, Vista Ultimate 32 bit

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Here are what im going to ask for I have the same specs as you except my set up is 2x160 gb HDDs in raid 0, note I am pushing it on the hdds to see what they come back with , lol, im writing it off as pain and suffering. I doubt they will say yes but it never hurts to ask, remember a closed mouth doesnt get fed.


SYSTEM COLOR
Space Black – Anodized Aluminum

PROCESSOR
Intel® Core™2 Duo T9800 2.93GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
OR
Intel® Core™2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit) + Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade Coupon

VIDEO CARD
Dual NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280M, 2GB – SLI® Enabled

LCD PANEL
17-inch WideUXGA 1920x1200 (1200p)

MEMORY
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz

HARD DRIVE
1TB - 2x 500GB 7,200RPM - RAID 0

INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE
Slot-Load Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BD-R/RE, DVD±RW, CD-RW)

Extras
PERSONALIZED PLATE
Personalized Nameplate (DeEzNizZeLs)

 

WOW, they must really care about customers in Italy, I do beleive you had the easiest and quickest resolve to a replacement. I have been waiting for just a confirmation of my m17x since sept 19th,2009.

 

What do you guys think, should i argue for a single 260m in an alienware as its on par with the single 9800 that they want to send me.

I have a feeling they are more reluctant to help me out since i'm up in Canada. Since i've seen people with 8700sli get 260sli alienwares.

And yes there is a single 9800GTX which is what they are planning to send to me.

 

thats a new one

 

This thread is getting too large and slowing down the forum search, so here's part 3 of this thread:

XPS M1730 Owner's Lounge, Part 3

Thanks!