*XPS M1730 Problems/Dell Replacement Issues*

I have had 3 calls from Dell in the last 24 hours regarding my system (guess I emailed/called the right people yesterday morning as that is more calls than I have had in 31 days of this). As I understand it they now have a team that is working on getting all these (ours) XPS 1730 to Alienware m17x screwed up and cancelled replacements fixed and expedited and shipped. The last caller acknowledged that they have had some major issues configuring these replacements properly (in my case all software). I was told that my system was built and as of today "properly configured" and just waiting for the "dispatch" and then a tracking number for the shipping.

Hopefully that is good news for us. I will believe when I see the box on my porch.

 

Omg that is so good!!!. I have a new order number today. Just as the dell manager promised that the upgrade will be there. However it is so strange...They still have the Dell wifi 1520...(please!! no more cancelation)The conguration is strange, it said "You have chosen a Windows Vista Premium System" then at the bottom i have windows 7...So which one do i have? lol

 

Wow.. your new order looks more messed up than mine LOL. Best of luck to the both of us haha.

 

One of the calls I had today more or less confirmed that the replacements are supposed to have Windows 7 and not Vista as that is what all new systems are supposed to ship with now. Which makes me mad because I was assured last week over and over that mine had to have Vista because that was what came on my original machine. GRRRRR.

 

Called Dell to get an ETA they said my estimated ship date is Nov. 12/09 and I should receive it by Nov. 18/09. My order date was Oct. 28/09.

 

Are they not shipping it Next Day Business?

 

hey guys ive just stumbled into this forum whilst searching around for my problems and hope someone can help.

i have an m1730

intel core 2 duo t9500 2.6ghz
8800gtx sli
4gb ram

basically i get a few problems,

1. the battery icon on the laptop that is usually blue, is now flashing red and blue constantly
2. after 10mins powering on, i think the motherboard beeps a single time

3. when playing games, i.e. warcraft and fear 2 the screen will freeze/lag for a second and then resume.again intermittantly

i called dell a few days ago and they were around yesterday whilst i was at work and they replaced the motherboard and power supply.

does someone know if this is a RAM or GFX card or battery or a combination of all of these creating my problems?

thanks in advance guys!

 

Motherboard or battery. It sounds like your system is periodically going into low power-state mode, either from thinking it's on battery power or some other fault in the power management. They're likely going to try to get you to pay for another battery if it's over a year old because that's all the battery is warrantied for regardless of your service contract. Up to you whether you want to push for the motherboard first if you're under warranty, and also not a sure bet that it really isn't the battery. Try running the system with no battery in it and see if the blinking goes away and the system stops stuttering. That may help isolate the issue (but not guarantee it's the battery at fault).

 

Ok so get this - Dell tech support just called me and told me my M1730 wouldn't be able to be serviced due to lack of replacement parts (no sherlock) and they then tried to offer me a Studio 1640!! LOL I was like sorry, I'm already dealing with another rep who told me not to deal with anyone else and that I have an order in the system right now for a replacement already and that the order is still "In Production" as of right now and very specifically told him to *not* touch *any* orders already there. He was reluctant to let me go but did so, and I immediately fired an email off to my contact asking is going on.

 

thanks for the super quick reply,

i have tried to run it on the mains only, the flashing battery light does go away.

whilst on the phone last week talking to dell, they did say that the battery was the only part in the laptop that wasn't covered in the extended warranty.

the thing is, i still hear the beep. also the laptop itself makes clicks sometimes. is this normal? im sure my old m170 didnt...

the motherboard was replaced yesterday so surely it couldnt be the mobo?

 

Do you think you're hearing the hard drive possibly? Clicks would definitely be that.. maybe you're losing a bearing on the drive and it sounds like a beep? Or maybe the free fall sensor is bad and it's trying to move the heads away from the platters and that's the clicking/"beeping" you're hearing. Tripping the free fall sensor would also cause the periodic freezing if the computer is in the middle of drive access.

 

the beep is defininatly a beep. im sure of that.

i let the laptop power up earlier with jus the battery inside. got just under 20mins before it went into hibernation.

i am thinking its the battery but i want to be certain before i shell out 70-100 for a replacement.

ive never dropped or knocked the system ever. its just sits there all day.

is RAM covered in the warranty?

also, the lettering is fading from the keyboard, am i right in thinking that unless the keyboard itself is faulty it wont be replaced?

thanks again

 

I guess not as the system ships from overseas and I am in canada

 

RAM is covered. If the lettering is wearing, that *could* be covered.. that shouldn't be happening these days for such a high price unit. Also sounds like it's the battery failing, but motherboard and power adapter aren't 100% ruled out.

 

So yeah, all day today my ship date via the phone # has been consistent at being tomorrow even though I'm in the "Build" stage. I was skeptical, but I've never heard of the phone system being that consistent. Just now, I called and it won't give me any shipping information at all, though. Still in the "Build" stage. Oh well.

 

Well, this is interesting.

I got a call this afternoon from a Dell representative telling me that the Alienware M17x was no longer an approved system replacement option for my M1730 and that I could only get a Studio 1640. He asked me if he could go ahead and place an order for it. I called BS on that crap and told him that was completely unacceptable and not to order or touch anything. I was driving at the time so I asked if I should call back--he said he would call back tomorrow. A few hours later I was able to call Dell back and I got someone helpful this time. My order was still in production and everything, and the technician could not find any record of the person that called me telling me that I couldn't get an M17x (go figure). He said everything should be fine. I'm so sick of this kind of horrendous customer support.

 

Mine went from Nov 17th this morning to Nov 11th after I talked to the escalation team at lunch then to Nov 20th just now and then back to Nov 11th when I called a second time a few minutes later. LOL. And still in the build stage as well.

 

Lucky you, my replacement system is in the preprodcution stage. However, i still don't know how they got the dell wifi 1520 or it will be canceled again or stucked in this stage forever trying to find the wifi card. lol

 

That scares me considering I got the same call. I refused to even give them the name of the rep I'm working with.

 

Wow that is crazy hopefully they will get everything worked out and get the systems sent out. Has anyone actually received their system?

 

Some have. That's why they can't back down now.

 

Well, I called back and it finally spit out a date again, this time Nov. 16. I just wanted to hear a date, I don't care that it fluctuates like it always has. No date worried me.

 

seriously, how can dell actually basically violate their own warranty and try to give such a substantial downgrade...

looks like i will have to hire an attorney

 

OK guy here in oz has just had a new card installed.

A new improved 9 series according to Dell and the techhy.

Part number K650M and has the TV/SPIDF out port missing and a plastic blank put in.

so

F979M = 9800 gt
J951N = 9800 gtx
XM888 = 8800gtx
K650M = ??

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/3ggzx/

Is the GPU-Z spec's and it is saying 9800gtx. Can any other owner confirm if this is the same as their 9800gtx?

This guy has been promised that it is a revised card.

 

Dell have seriously lost their bearings on this matter.

 

I had a dream last night(nightmare) that i hit refresh on my order page and it too was cancelled. I called in and they said it was due to one of the parts differentiated by $1. Glad it was only a dream, but man this is killing me.

 

Hey guys,

I've been an owner of this system for about a year and a half already and just a few days ago one GPU of mine disappeared (I got 8800M GTX in SLI). I am heavily suspecting that it failed due to overheating as I just checked and my idle temp. is about 75 degree Celsius.

The problems are:
-I ordered this system from Dell's US site
-I am now in Australia and will remain here for at least another year or so
-My warranty is over already

What do you guys reckon I should do? This is really stressing me out.

 

Hi All from the rainy north east of england!

It looks like I've joined this growing list of dell 1730 owners with knackered Nvidia 8800m GTX SLi graphics cards.

Mine died on Sunday just gone, got a thermal alert and from then on no properly working display on the computer, since then Dell promised to send out an Engineer to replace the card twice, once on monday and once on tuesday, strangely no Engineer turned up!

Spoke with Dell at length and they admitted they wouldn't be getting any new cards till Jan 2010, offered me a downgrade gfx to get me by, but I turned them down, spoke with Consumer Direct (UK gov advisor for people with issues with goods) and they told me to write a letter to Dell and advise them they have 14 working days to get the issue fixed or it would be escalated to Trading Standards and they inturn tend to be abit heavy handed, anyone actually had any luck getting this sorted out as Tech and Customer support from Dell seem to be really useless when something major goes wrong!

 

Well Vorpal, A number of us have been offered Alienware machines to replace the existing XPS. Its a good trade up to be honest but the problem is dealing with the tech support hell in order to get it delivered. I personally am enjoying my 4 day of Dell morons attempting to fit my laptop in a box. ( how a laptop can spend 4 days in a boxing period is beyond me ). Good luck, Raise hell and only speak to management. Just out the peon you get first and say DIE just DIE, but only after you get you manager for me.


on a side note guys. I think we can make some money here. I know that we lot can save dell some serious money here. If they struggle with putting a laptop in a box for 4 days i can only imagine the delays in shipping they must have. I say we each ask for 100K a year and start putting laptops in boxes for them. I think most of us here would not struggle with such a simple task. WIN WIN for everyone.

 

Howdy and welcome to the forums.

Firstly what you've been told is the standard deal. They don't have the parts in stock but still arrange an engineer visit anyway; all the standard techs see is that the part is on backorder and due in "soon". I was repeatedly contacted by the repair contractors myself with a "Dell have told us the part isn't available but will be in soon" message.

Basically, Dell are unable to fix this in a timely manner and are eventually upgrading users to an Alienware M17X. Depending on your specs, the rep you deal with, your own situation, and how good your negotiating skills are, most people are getting very large upgrades, though this is after extensive delays and lies in some cases; I've had to wait for 2 months to get a replacement machine which gave me lots of leverage. Others have been generally much luckier in that regard than myself.


Common Dell tactics, in approximate order:

1) Accept the delay / wait

If any reps give you this BS when you next call, call them on it and say you know the parts are out of stock until at least January and such a delay is unacceptable. This is what the first level of support say; ask to be escalated whenever you call up.

2) Accept a downgraded card

You've already rejected this, which is a good idea. Dell usually say this will cost you a place in the queue, and later try to say "well you've accepted the replacement so we're not giving you an equivalent when it's back in stock"

3) Accept a downgraded replacement machine

Usually a Studio XPS. Reject this and demand an equivalent or greater machine.

4) Pay for an upgrade to the Alienware M17X

This is a simple tactic to reduce their losses, by getting customers to pay for the upgrade they're ultimately obliged to offer under their own conditions when they can't offer an equivalent replacement part. Point out to them that it's their job to pay for an upgrade if they can't offer an equivalent, not yours.

5) Offer a new Alienware M17X with inappropriate specs

Again, a cost cutting tactic. Typically the first M17X offer will have inferior specs, but it depends on your current configuration and your rep. If you have SLI, then they might try and offer a single replacement card at first or a slow processor. Dell are notorious for trying every trick in the book to get people to accept the lowest stuff possible.

6) Offer an appropriate replacement

The best tactic is to push for specific parts and say what's unacceptable about the old system. The bigger the delay, the more grounds you have for getting additional upgrades as a gesture of goodwill. For example "a single 260M is not appropriate; I paid for an SLI system" or "I paid for an extreme processor" or "Windows 7 Ultimate is essential to me because I have a copy of XP on this machine and need the Windows XP mode that Ultimate has".

If you get to this stage, insist on the full specs every time they change a part, and only confirm it when you are happy with all parts. Even at this stage they still try and pull some fast ones on you. For example I asked for the 280Ms which the rep agreed to give but he actually put 260Ms down. I didn't get them in the end and I eventually had to settle for 260s, but by demanding the full specs each time I at least avoided a very nasty surprise when the machine arrives.


As you've not been waiting too long, you can't really complain as long as all the parts are equivalent so there's not really much scope to go after stuff like 280s or the QX9300.

Hope that helps, good luck.

 

Funny, I had nearly the same dream last night, found it cancelled except when I called they said that it was because the Power Scheme was put into the order wrong, was put in as balanced but needed to be high performance. (I noticed yesterday that on all my order it was 421-0398 Power Plan, BAL but when you build one to purchase on Dell's site it mandates high performance).

And you know what, at this point I would not be surprised if that happened. So sad.

Oh, and welcome vorpalchicken and good luck. And ditto to the post right above.

 

Hi Photolysis, and thanks for the info, I will certainly stick to my guns over this, I paid a fortune when I bought it originally (wife still complains!!) the original spec was (and is):

CORE 2 EXTREME X9000 2.80GHZ CPU
17.0" ULTRASHARP WIDESCREEN WUXGA
4GB 667MHZ DUAL CHANNEL DDR2 SDRAM
HARD DRIVE 320GB FREE FALL SENSOR RAID 0
FIXED INTERNAL 8X DVD+/-RW DRIVE
DUAL SLI 512MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 8800m GTX
AGEIA PHYSX PROCESSING UNIT CARD
PREMIUM 3 YEAR ACCIDENTAL DAMAGE COVER
PREMIUM PROTECTION PLAN: 3YR XPS WARRANTY

I pretty much (except for the DVD drive) made sure everything was the best you could get at the time.

And I just came back from the post office after sending my complaint to Dell UK, and is it my imagination, or do they not have a customer complaints procedure, I couldn't find any trace of one on their website.

 

Sorry to say, but you're screwed. Sadly, I went through this with my M1710 before I got my M1730. 2 months after warranty expired my 7900GT died. Accepting the worst, I called Dell and they ordered me the 7900GT at $423 out of my pocket. 2 weeks went by and no card. I called and they said it was out of stock but they'd give me the 7950GTX for the same price. I agreed, and gave it a week. Called back and they said they had 300 of them in stock, but that they were all reserved for warranty claims so they could not sell me one. I escalated and escalated the issue, saying I was even paying for the part, but after weeks of arguing and multiple escalations I found one on Ebay for $400 and just bought that one instead.

Good luck, since they can't even get a card to the warrantied customers. I'd start scoping Ebay.

 

I had the same except I had the Blu Ray player. Accept nothing less than the QX9300 processor (never even had to fight for that) and the 260M SLI cards (but fight for the 280Ms and use having no Ageia card in the m17x as your leverage).

 

On the issue of QX9300 - certainly! Accept nothing less! Ditto for the fight on the 280ms. Technically, you're all on equal footing even with 260ms, but if you can get them to give you the premium card of all their offerings, then that should be your goal, since you originally bought the best of their original flagship. And yes, use the Ageia-argument to cement your footing against their tactics.

On the subject of getting a new card. Oh, man. This is where I sometimes loathe Dell. I have been searching ebay for cards, you know, for D.I.Y. knowledge, and getting video cards for the M1730 is a real task. Not to mention, the prices are horrible! Way too expensive. At least with the M1710s, you can get the cards repaired, replaced and even get full 7950 GTX systems for a mere £500 over here.

 

Yes!! I called and found out that my replacement system is in the production "build" stage from pre-production with a delivery date of Nov 17. Hope that went well and won't get canceled in Saturday like last time.

 

The date in the phone system means nothing.

 

yes but now that its in production you will eventually have to wait for the boxing retards to work out the what you would think to be quantum physics of fitting your laptop in the box like me. 5 days and counting of boxing.

there is just nothing left to say nice about dell. build it in 3 days and spend a week trying to get it in the damn box................. a holes.

 

Dell has called me everyday this week to update me on my replacement order. What a surprise.

Anyway, was just told that the automated number that we have been using isnt set up to give status for replacements and exchanges, just new orders and that the info that it gives is not correct. Hmmm. Anyway, waiting to here back from manufacturing now to give the correct ship date.

 

I am wondering if most of the members on this thread understand Dells manufacturing process because many of you are complaining about the long boxing stage. So this is what the boxing stage really is and it usually take between 3-7 days.

A majority of Dell laptops for the North American market are made either in Penang, Malaysia or Xiamen, China. Once the computers are built, they are packed into a small outer box and then stacked and wrapped in air freight pallets and flown via chartered flights into Nashville, TN. Once the computer arrives at the Nashville center, they are repacked into the actual master cartons with the charger, manuals, software and other accessories before being released to either Fedex or UPS.

When Dell claims a computer is in the "Boxing" stage, it means that the computer is being flown into the US and then re-boxed before shipping it to you. Whether it takes 3 or 5 or even 7 days depends on when the chartered flight leaves, how full the flight is, and how busy the Nashville facility is.

The bottomline is that if your computer is in the boxing stage, you are most likely going to get your computer soon. So just hold on a little longer. I hope this clears things up because NO it does not take the Dell lemmings 5 days to stick a computer in a box.

 

I think it is all dependent on who you speak to about this problem. When my XPS M1730 started developing problems on Sept 21, I contacted Dell and after about 30 minutes on the line, they decided that it needed to be replaced. I was told that they would take up to 3-5 days to find an equivalent system, and if that does not happen a new system with equal or better parts will be ordered. I got a call a few days later claiming that they could not find a replacement M1730 so they have me approved for an Alienware M17x replacement. The CS rep automatically said I was getting the M17x because it is the only system that is equal or better than the M1730. I got a call 2 days later with an order number and the computer came after about 2 more weeks. I was surprised that Dell did not try to offer me anything else because my M1730 only had a T7700 (2.4GHz) cpu and a 8700GT SLi cpu. They automatically gave me the P8600 and GTX260 SLi.

The only problem I encountered was that the replacement M17x was ordered with a WXGA+ display while my M1730 had the WUXGA display. As soon as I found out, I called Dell and they told me that they can cancel and re-order, but it might slow the order down by a week. Instead, they noted on my file that the display needed to be replaced once I receive the computer. Although this process took multiple calls and online chat session, it was taken care of at the end. After receiving the computer, I call Alienware tech support and gave them my service tag. The found the note saying that the display needed to be replaced. They placed me on hold for about 15 min, while they talked to Dell and then a replacement display was ordered. The technician came the following day to change the display and everything is working perfectly now.

I was also really surprised when Dell call me every other day while the computer was in production to give me an update. I guess at the end of the day, it all depends on who you get at the beginning.

 

Excellent post!

 

Yeah... that's how it's "supposed" to go down. Hardly ever seems to, though.

 

I think there are a couple times during that waiting period where I got impatient and called and it seemed that things weren't happening right. However, now that I think about this whole process again, Dell always contacted me whenever something new happened and it seems that I would have been less frustrated if I had just been more patient and waited.

 

My initial replacement process went smooth as butter when they determined that I was getting a replacement. It was only when my replacement orders started getting cancelled that things went downhill. No one ever contacted me in any fashion to give me any status as to why this was happening and I had to get proactive. Now that my case is being overseen by both the resolution department and escalation department I am getting great communication and have learned that they plain and simple experienced some problems with replacement orders being cancelled, people getting misinformed as to why and they are trying to rectify the situation. At the current count I have been waiting for the replacement for 22 days and my laptop has been out of service for 35 days. Hopefully I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Well, my contact just got back to me. She has no idea at all why I got the call yesterday with the offer for a Studio 1640 to replace my dead M1730. She said that call should never have come and that she's going to track down the department that made the call and find out why it was made. She also said she just confirmed with order management that my order is still on track and it should hopefully ship before the end of the week.

Of note here is that my order online shows "In Production" still, and that the phone system says the same, but that I'm still in the "Build" stage. I'm sitting at day 29 since it died and day 27 since I first contacted Dell. Resolution at this point will be no shorter than 30 days in a best case scenario.

 

Hi all, I am currently in the same state as everyone else, as i have only had my xps m1730 for 7 weeks and it has already had one graphics unit replacement and now has been at Dell Service Centre for over a week now. I have also been told that i will have to wait 3 weeks for parts to become available, but if not a replacement XPS 1730 will try to be sourched or if not a refund (which i said was unacceptable)
Has anyone got any email address for Dell UK that i can email a complaint too.

 

You're going to end up with one of our dead cards lol. Dell never thoroughly tested their parts, and my cards will boot to windows still, albeit blue screen occasionally and I can't get the drivers to load anymore. I wouldn't be surprised if my cards ended up inside someone's repair unit. (shrug)

 

Yeah, from reading and own experience, I'd say your experience--the way it played out--was very smooth, and if you did lose patience mid-way, then I would say you were impatient. And yes, impatience ruins the experience.

Now, the real interesting bit. Your experience seems to stick out like a happy thumb in contrast to the pages of borderline misconduct that I am reading about, including what happened to my own case.

For example: In my situation, I believe I was too patient and nice. Now we can judge that however we want, but the facts say that my case began July, and what is the date today? My laptop was finally collected today, and I am cleared finally for a refund that I was promised I'd receive 'swiftly', around 20th of August.

Do you know why this was happening? The senior manager, the only one who was dealing with my case, was blatantly taking weeks responding to my e-mails, and after they got their letters that they required from the original owner, I was ignored for a straight three weeks. I didn't even receive a 'it's still in process' reply. So I sent a carpet bomb, and low and behold, the very next day I got a call about from the manager, sincerely apologising (TM) about how he was on call due to work duty and didn't have access to e-mail. Seriously, a corporate rep., of a multinational goliath - DELL, and no e-mail? That's an actual joke in the making. We all know exactly why he suddenly replied, and we can leave it at that secret assumption.

Point is that had I not been impatient and carpet bombed the executives again, I'd probably be smashing the New Year's bottle of Claymore scotch over my old busted laptop before Dell would respond.

You make a very valid point: Impatience only makes a mess of things. However, all these pages also make a very resounding counter-point: Dell take advantage of those that do take it easy, and why shouldn't they? So don't ease up on them if they are jerking you around, because it is almost scientific fact now that in a majority of scenarios, they do jerk around the customers.