*XPS M1730 Problems/Dell Replacement Issues*

How long have you been waiting?
I know its first come first basis...
Ive been down for 3weeks maybe you were first in line...

Just make sure its the EXACT same part number XM888 before they go putting it in, then bootup and test it

Dont let the techie get away with ur card until you happy

 

In addition to confirming the part #, you might also want to do a quick visual inspection. Look for holes/damage to the heat pipe as well as obvious signs of wear (bent heat fins, dustbunnies coating the fan blades, etc).

 

@ Slammin - first failure

@ vorpalchicken - manager said on phone that it was the same exact card

@ Ali3nSan - failed last saturday, motherboard replaced wednesday, got confirmation of shipment on thursday.. so i guess its been 4 days since the call to ship the card happened. Card part number XM888? its for the 8800m gtx sli right? where do i check it.. on the boxing it came in?

@ Batboy - will do..though i am not that good with hardwares.. that too with what i saw it for the first time a few days back dont know what it should "exactly" look like.. but sure will look out for obvious signs for damage

 

Its on the box, normally left side

Wow, where are you?

Mine failed 3weeks ago and still no resolution in sight!!!

 

Dude, I absolutely agree with your thinking and philosophy.

Although I should add that escalations isn't always safe, either. Once you get a rep from their side, good or bad, you get black-balled off all other options. This was my problem when I e-mail corporate and got stuck with escalations - I had no other options, and my particular 'reps' refused to acknowledge M17x as a viable replacement because 'M1730' was still officially in production. The concept that the current M1730s are much weaker mainstream laptops was a complete miss on these people.

So I'd say the first approach is speaking with a senior manager. Escalations should be a last resort, because then you're stuck with a team of either decent, or either stubborn individuals, and that is when you must seriously consider legal options.

 

Yeah I am in the same boat

Have you been able to get a M17x offered from Coporate?

 

Ah. No dude. Refer to my signature. I was already in line for a generous and decent refund, which I should be getting shortly - the machine's been returned.

 

Crap I dont want money I want a laptop

 

Let's just say that my deal worked out nicely for me, and for a fraction of that refund, I have another M1730, with warranty, and an excellent set of GPUs and CPU.

 

I suppose I could always get a M17x with the refund

 

As of a few minutes ago, mine changed to "Shipped"! No tracking yet, but estimated delivery date of Tuesday. Woot!

 

Woot! Woot! So has mine, delivery of Tuesday! Our laptops must have been on the same assembly and plane over!

BTW, found the tracking info under my Service Call info.

 

I've had my status upgraded form In production to Delivery Preparation...
Here's hoping it all goes well

 

how long have you been waiting?

 

For the laptop or in general?
My original case went to them Sep.20, but this laptop(2nd one, first one was canceled) was put into production Nov.5th

 

Thanks for the advise Elkay... I will do just that... so far they been pretty good.... Like I said in my post,,, a high percentage of Dell tech support are nice and will help you if you are nice to them... I chose the notify by email when laptop ships option.... but I still check the order status daily LOL.

 

i have given up and will be getting a xps 16... not happy, just tired, too tired to keep fighting. it has taken a toll on my health and strained my marriage. definitely not worth it anymore. i will sell the 16 and get something else unless i fall in love but i highly doubt that will happen

 

@wodstock - sry to hear that as the xps 16 is a definite downgrade, but i understand how it would take a toll on your health, it has been a difficult fight, and its not over until i finally have the system in my hands.

 

yeah. i have never given up before but this time was just too much

 

What was thier argument?

 

just wouldn't budge on what they offered. the sxps is a downgrade but they wouldn't go to an aw m17x, they refused. they put my account on hold, made me send in my 1730 in to depot 3 times and nothing ever got fixed... 4 months of a unreliable laptop and talking to dell daily, being lied to daily, and hung up on daily just wore me out. could have gotten a refund but i would be without my laptop for at least a month and who knows how much refund they would actually give me...

 

Sorry man!

I do gaming reviews so im pretty stuffed in that aspect
Luckily its just for extra cash right now and not my main line of work

Ill hear from them 2moz...

Who put ur account on hold? Corporate escalation department?

 

some corporate chick, i finally got a hold of her (after a month of calling 3 or 4 times a day) and she told me that that there where too many replacements already, i wasn't allowed anymore. after explaining to her i never wanted a replacement in the first place, just a working frickin' laptop! she finally lifted the hold, but i wasn't allowed to get anything decent, nothing like i had, i am being downgraded big time... lesser gpu, lesser screen, no fancy lights... it pisses me off when i think about it, i want to keep fighting. my wife is sick of it though

 

Flip!

Well I want a 8800GTX or a M17x nothing else...

well I have counted 3 M17x's on this forum that have been shipped lol...
Why couldnt they give you a M1730 again? From what I gather some have been offered that...

 

wodstock - what exactly was wrong with your system? since A few of us that had 1730 are sending them back, maybe give dell one more call to see if they can snag replacement parts rather than downgrade you, just an idea

and if it is the vid cards then maybe one of the vid cards that are sent back can be fixed up to working order or something, i just hate to see someone who fought hard to go down, especially when it comes to fighting dell

 

Sorry to hear some of us can't get the replacement made...
I just got an email and the M17x is shipped, so that's 1 more happy customer.

Keep fighting guys, you'll get there in the end. Just don't let it get to you too much, health is more important than a lappy that will be obsolete in a few years...

 

6 gpu replacements so far, and for the past 5 months it has been to depot 3 times, all those times for multiple problems but mostly the gpu issues, all 3 times the gpu's weren't fixed (the first time they took my 8800's and replaced them with defective 8700's without asking or putting anything on the invoice), one time they had my 1730 for a month and a half. i use my laptop for work so every time i send it in i am out lots of productivity... i just couldn't do that anymore. i tried to get the gpu's replaced so many times but they couldn't or wouldn't... i tried to get something comparable to the 1730, or a 1730 that works but they just wouldn't do that. i fought and fought, every day i called over and over and it has come to the oint that my job is in jeopardy, so i gave up... i can make a sxps16 work, im not happy and dell has lost a 15 year costumer but whatever. when my warranty expires i will move on to something different. i know other company's have problems but the way dell has treated me is just ridiculously bad. i just cant deal with them anymore...

 

Did you go through corporate?

 

Using delloutlet!

 

I can sympathise Wodstock, I had same issues. GPU replaced 5 or 6 times on 1 machine, and 3 times on replacement 1730. 5 motherboards/keyboards/screens replaced too. I keep telling Dell that sending a mechanic over to my house 9 times and replacing the whole laptop bowels actually costs more than shipping a new laptop all together. That seemed to work for the Indian rep I talked to. I haven't been able to work for more than a few months on a Dell machine, everything kept breaking down. And I use it for Video Editing so going back to a 7 year old desktop isn't gonna cut it.

I kept disagreeing with all the offers they made me, including refunds/Studio XPS 16/depots and the lot. Eventually I said to them to think about the case for 24 hrs and call me back if they have a fair solution. They came up with a M17x. I didn't ask for it.

One thing I have to add to the whole story is that I was polite all the way. Even when a rep was telling me the single 260M on the SXPS was 3x as fast as dual 8800m GTX I kept my manners and referred to a benchmark site with stats and benchmarks. Was a close call though, the incompetence of the Indian tech reps was incredible. I just cannot believe they actually save money on overseas tech support when it's that bad. Really nice folks, polite and friendly but no idea of what they are talking about.

Have been waiting for 2 weeks now, laptop took 2 weeks to build (?) and now it's shipped. Will get it on wednesday I guess.

Long story short: keep your cools and remain calm. Write down everything that has happened to you and keep explaining it to the rep. Eventually you will get the replacement you deserve. Karma!

 

Nope, just used XPS 24/7 support line.

 

Well my saga continues, Dell have finally admitted that they can't get the cards (Nvidia) for at least 2 months, after some negotiation they agreed to go with a replacement machine, although atm the spec is not what I want, so I'm down to negotiationing with them for better parts, here's what they have offered.

Alienware M17x : Base Space Black 1 S
Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo T9600(2.80GHz,1066MHz,6MB L2 Cache) 1 S
Display : 17in Wide XGA+ (1440X900) - Beyond HD (900p) 1 S
Ship Accessory : English Docs 1 S
Resource DVD : Alienware M17x 1 S
Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz DDR3 Dual Channel 1 S
Hard Drive : 320GB Free Fall Sensor (7200RPM) 1 S
Optical Drive : DVD+/-RW (DVD, CD read and write) Drive 1 S
Power Supply : Alienware 240W AC Adapter 1 S
Power Cord : UK 250V 1 S
Battery : Primary 9-cell 85W/HR LI-ION 1 S
Graphics : Single 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260M 1 S
Wireless : Europe Dell Bluetooth 370 Card 1 S
Wireless : European Dell Wireless 1510 (802.11 n) Half Mini Card 1 S
Keyboard : Internal UK/Irish Qwerty Keyboard 1 S
Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium (64 BIT) 1 S
Avatar : Alienhead 3D 1 S
AutoMatic Updates : AutoMatic updates - On 1 S
Window Style : Window Style - Default 1 S
Power Plan : Balanced 1 S
MousePointers : Standard 1 S
AntiVirus : McAfee Security Centre 10(30 day subscription)Software MUI
(UK,FR,DE,ES,IT,DK,NL,SE,NO,RU)
1 S
TimeZone : (GMT + 00.00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London 1 S
Name Plate Engraving - Generic 1 S
Premium Service - 3 years Next Business Day service + 3 years Accidental Damage
Support
1 S
Standard Service - 1 year of coverage included with your PC 1 S
3 years Accidental Damage Support 1 EX
Alienware M17x Order - UK

I'm going to hold out on a better processor and gfx and display, if they can hit the target with them, then it's a done deal.

 

@vorpalchicken - what are your current system specs anyways? just curious

 

my shipment is out for delivery via fedex, should have it by 3:00pm this afternoon. Cant wait, i watched an unboxing video, i want that hat.

 

1 224-5378 Black Metallic
1 317-0818 Intel Core2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
1 421-1399 Genuine Windows 7 Professional, 64bit, English
1 421-1723 Soft Contracts,QLX,Alienware
1 320-8140 17.0in, WUXGA,LCD,ANW,M17X
1 317-0856 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB
1 341-0013 640GB (320GB x 2) 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) - RAID 0
1 313-8570 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Burner (BR-R, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
1 421-1304 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software
1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software
1 320-1000 1GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - SLI Enabled (NB10E-GT1)
1 430-3558 Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n 2x2 MIMO
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
1 421-0389 Window Style, DFT
1 421-0726 ALIENFX BLUE
1 421-0360 Avatar1
1 421-0405 Automatic Updates ON
1 421-0398 Power Plan, BAL
1 421-0368 Time Zone, PACIFIC
1 330-5063 Standard Nameplate
1 330-5087 RESPAWN DVD
1 421-0361 Wallpapers, C03W
1 410-0204 MCAF,15MTH,MUI,ANW
1 410-0178 Microsoft Office 2007 Basic-English
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install

 

I want a personalized name tag any1 got one???

It looks pretty sweet having Ali3nSan

 

got my toy! happy now

 

Congrats

 

At least that proves that they are being built and shipped out

 

Congratulations and well done!!
Sigh!!
Im on 35 days and have still yet to be offered a solution.
Apparently it is at the highest lvl possible.

 

well i want to say it was worth the wait. i am hoping they come through for you guys.

 

Looks like my ETA is Thursday. Don't know why Dell said it was shipped when UPS haven't even picked it up from their factory in Ireland yet. Very misleading.

Oh well, I've waited this long, what's a few more days.

 

Welcome to the club

 

Congrats Elkay! My status is yet to change but hoping I'm not too far behind you!

Be sure to let us know when it arrives

 

I got it, they still screwed it up. But i have something fun to play with while they send me the next one.

 

What did they screw up?

 

Got news!

The technician came today.. WITH the 8800m gtx replacement part.
Checked..its the same part with part no. XM888 as someone in this forum had told. As I had thought, it was a refurbished one. (Just for info I am from India, Dell got the part imported from Malaysia)

Works absolutely fine now.. Finally..
My issue took just over a week. Good luck to all others fighting hard. And good luck to some lucky people getting an m17x

 

Have fun with it until it blows out again in a month. I'd monitor the temps very closely (but that discussion is for another thread).

I also wonder how your card turned up even though there are none to be found.

 

Just got offered a full refund, they are very vague on what they will pay, but im not happy that i have to ship the xps first to them and then wait for the money to be deposited into my account.
Definately not happy with that.

 

looks like they are ending this trend of replacing with alienwares.Although if you spend enough money and get a full refund you should be able to afford one