*XPS M1730 Problems/Dell Replacement Issues*

So i called again today, no news, and the engineer said to call on monday, it will be my last call, it sux because the indian guy binded the refund to the pick up of the system, so even if it was approved it will not be processed until the pick up...

 

What are the symptoms of a failing graphics card? I had one fail after I bought it, the only problem I noticed was a constant BSOD when SLI was enabled. Lately when the system is under heavy graphics load, I notice weird things happening. In one gaming session the screen shrank to an approximate 3" vertical bar on the left side. On another, I saw big black squares and "noise" flashing on the screen.

 

The first sounds like a driver issue. The latter is likely artifacting or corrupting VRAM.. your card is likely on its way out.

 

Hi, first post (now an ex. lurker) so be kind.

Long story - But I'm happy with Dell's service!

The twin 8800M gtx graphics in my XPS M1730 failed last summer after about 6 monts use. The system became unstable when sli was enabled and this got steadily worse until I had to disable one of the cards in Control Panel (using safe mode) to get a useable machine, albeit with one card crippled.

I got round to phoning Dell CS in January this year and was told I would have to renew my warranty for support. I paid £120 for a further 2 years support and they undertook to resolve the problem.

I wasted one day at home waiting for a service person to call, only to be told on the day that they couldn't source a replacement card which was now on back order and would be available in early February. This morning (1st Feb.) I received a call out of the blue and a service bloke arrived and fitted a replacement twin 8800M gtx card in under an hour. I noticed the parts box was marked 'refurbished', but it seems to be working perfectly in SLI mode in COD2.

Not a perfect situation, but given the circumstances it's credit to Dell for 'owning' the problem and resloving the matter in a reasonable time.

I like my M1730 XPS, which is way over-specced for my needs - but that's a different story (*cough* Glitch on the Dell UK web site a year ago *cough*).

Hope this helps others that may be in the same situation.

Regards [J]

 

I hope it dies a quick death. I need a new battery for my system and I don't want to spend the money on one if it is going to go TU.

 

Hopefully someone here can give me some advice!

Short version of my story, is that my laptop is having issues. It started a few weeks ago when it froze and the screen was flashing with what looked like artifacts. When I'd reboot, it would be good for a while and then it would freeze and do this again. Occasionally, I would get a blue screen that said "NM1 Parity Check", or the screen would go black. I spent a number of hours on the phone with numerous people who ran a bunch of tests but were unable to duplicate the problem. After I would hang up, the problem would happen again within 10-15 minutes. The last person said she would transfer me to software in order to check and see if something malicious on my computer could be causing the problem. The man she transferred me to told me my computer was riddled with viruses and that I would need to pay $240 to have them removed and get my computer fixed. I of course said no.

I sent an email to the escalation team detailing what happened and a man tried to contact me in response. We've played phone tag for a while but I finally just spoke to him a few minutes ago. I told him that since my initial call, I've discovered that the problem occurs when I enable SLi. Device manager shows that both cards have been stopped by Windows because they are having a problem. He says it sounds as though one of the cards is having a problem and they will send out a replacement to a local technician to diagnose and replace if need be.

So here's my dilemma. Since I purchased an m1730, this is my fourth issue with the graphics card. Clearly it's either a problem with the 8800m or the m1730 in general. Early last year, I was able to get them to send me a refurb m1730 since my original had issues. Now this one is acting up. I've seen plenty of people on here talk about having one or two problems and being offered, or being granted, a replacement Alienware M17x. How do I go about doing this? Did you call someone in particular? Did you get angry with them? Did the stars align just right?

The man I spoke to said he knew of no wide-spread issues with the m1730 and we'd have to start with the technicians visit. Is that what you all did?

Thanks in advance for any info!

 

You will probably have to wait until they say they can't provide a replacement graphics card. When they do that, they should offer you the option of a replacement system. They may try to lowball you into a Studio 16XX. If you stick to your guns you can push for a m17x.

 

Are you sure it's only tied to supply issues? Not everyone had mentioned that.

 

The replacement for my 1730 will be here today. I have to send my beast back. bot I cant wait to see my m17x

 

so I too am having my xps m1730 replaced do to several hardware problems, can you guys tell me if what they are replacing my current xps with is *comparable*?
below is my current configuration:
1 GP457 Processor, T7500, 2.2, 4MB Core Merom, G0
1 5120P Cord, Power, 125V, 6Feet, SJT..., Unshielded
8 2864D Screw, M3X3, K SCREW HEAD..., MICROSOFT..., BLACK OXIDE...
1 KX412 ASSEMBLY..., BASE (ASSEMBLY OR GROUP)..., LAN ON MOTHERBOARD..., GIGABIT..., XPS-M1730
1 NX196 Bracket, Support, Side, Metal Hard Drive, M1730
1 YT963 Cable, Flexible Printed CircuitFlat, Hard Drive, M1730
0 01323 INFORMATION..., NO ITEM
1 PY771 PLACEMAT..., GETTING STARTED..., EXTREME PERFORMANCE SYSTEM..., M1730, DAO/EMEA
1 PM318 Keyboard, 101, United States England/English, Single Pointing, Ligurian
1 PN402 Assembly, Adapter, Alternating Current, 230W, Lead Free, Delta -Delta - Ac Adapt, World Wide
1 HW072 Hard Drive, 120GB, Free Fall Sensor, 9.5, 7.2K, Seagate Galileo
1 RW331 Card Circuit, Graphics, Nvidia IUPGA5D, G84
1 RY946 Card Circuit, Graphics, Physics Processing Unit, 128MB, Notebook
1 GX313 Assembly, DVD+/-RW..., 8, IDE Phillip Ben Q Data Storage M1730
1 UU290 Kit, Software, Dell Media Direct3.3, Compact Disk Drive, SIBERIA
2 MM332 Cover, Screw, Bottom, Mylar
1 MN465 Assembly, Cable, Printed CircuitBoard, Low Voltage DifferentialSignaling, LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY..., M1730
1 YU828 Liquid Crystal Display, 17 WUXGA, Video elec. Stds. Assoc.True Life, Multi-Media, LGP
1 FW331 Kit, Remote Control, Notebook Mobile 2008, Philips
1 R109C Kit, Software, Turbine, Lord Of The Rings, Extreme Performance System, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION...
1 NC293 Card, Network, Minicard, 3945ULD Dell Americas Organization
1 HX425 Kit, Software, Overpack, VHP32 A01, Digital Video Disk Drive England
1 CW725 Card, Wireless, Internal Bluetooth, 355, Windows Vista Os
2 Y9530 Dual In-line Memory Module 1GB, 667, 128X64, 8K, 200
1 XG528 Battery, Primary, 85WHR, 9C Lithium, Sanyo
1 MN461 Heatsink, Central Processor Unit, Notebook, M1730
1 XM083 Assembly, Cover, Hinge, Plastic M1730
1 FT509 Assembly, Cover, Liquid Crystal Display, W/CMRA, M1730
1 RW458 Assembly, Bezel, Liquid Crystal Display, XPS-M1730


and this is the configuration of the replacement i am getting
1 224-8106 Nebula Red - Special Edition - Anodized Aluminum
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install
1 313-8790 AlienFX Color Astral Aqua
1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver
1 317-3656 Intel Core i7 620M 2.66 GHz (3.33GHz Turbo Mode, 4MB Cache)
1 317-3660 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz
1 320-8855 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 (1200p)
1 320-8858 Dual 1GB ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving
1 330-6106 Personalized Nameplate Trigger
1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On
1 330-7840 Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter
1 342-0666 250GB 7,200RPM SATA-II HDD
1 410-0203 McAfee VirusScan Plus - 30-Day Subscription
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp 2.0 Basic
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
1 421-1573 Alienhead 3D
1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D
1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
1 430-3688 Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini Card

thanks for the help

 

You are getting a much much MUCH better machine. It was way more than comparable.

 

Thanks tenknics
I feel better now, was afraid i was getting something inferior even being a alienware.

 

Oh, dude! You're getting one of the best current GPUs and the spankin' new i7 platform. You've got it made!

 

How in the world did you pull that off..wow that is a fully loaded brand new m17x-r2...wow

What was wrong with your computer.

I have the same video card (8700m gt) and a higer processor and dell has parts..and is sending me a new screen, keyboard, motherboard, and ac adapter.

color me jealous

 

hey kade how is your m17x with the stuttering issue?Just got mine yesterday haven't had any problems yet? Should I be worried.

 

If Dell can't repair it, they have to replace it. If there are no equivalent graphics cards available to replace a defective one, they will have to replace the machine. I haven't heard of anyone lately getting a replacement graphics card for the 8800 and above for a M1730.

 

A week before I received my m17x they sent a tech with 9800m gtx sli to fix my rig. The tech replaced my gpu's and one and a half weeks later I have a new m17x. If i hadn't used dell chat to see what was going on I would have had no idea that the alienware was coming. Still haven't herd what I should do with the m1730 that has ran fine since they fixed the card.

 

Hah! Those new 9800m GTXs actually work, don't they? I'd say almost as good as the current M17x with 280s/260s. Or so says my experience.

Yeah, I don't experience any stuttering. I am following BatBoy's approach for the most part, and since it is structures around thorough testing and commonsense, the approach has not failed.

Few games do stutter, and if you want that to go, simply disable hybrid and integrated graphics from the boot-up BIOS. I haven't had any problems.

It's just that I don't find this computer to be--performance wise--a real upgrade from a 9800m GTX SLi + X9000 M1730. Sure, you'll get synthetic points, but when it comes to real graphic intensive games using variety of HDR effects such as Crysis and STALKER, the results are more or less the same. Perhaps a few FPS apart, and I can easily make up for those with a modest overclock on the M1730.

The real benefit I've found with the M17x R1 is the potential for Quad Cores, which is nice and can help with RTS/large scale games.

 

Problem: the code 43 for graphics cards.

I have the XPS M1730 4 gig ram, T9500, blue-ray, Vista 32bit ultimate ect but the problem is the NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX 1gig SLi card.

I had no problems for 12 months but just my luck 20 days after warrenty GPU on its . has been great laptop untill now but i have kept it on ice. I used to run a dell 9100 original DTR that i had 3 year complete cover brought in 04 and man did that have issues was on first name basis with local Dell was replacing parts every couple of months the biggest problem HEAT!!!

So with the new XPS i from new kept it as cool as could even set up a rig that ran off an old wall airconditioner keeping it as between 4 and 9 degrees I used the IK8fanGUI program to monitor temps and run fans at full all the time. I guess thats why i could get though the last 12 month trouble free but since running MW2 at 1920 x 1200 for 6 to 10 hours a day it was just two taxing on it and has now failed code 43.

I tried a factory image restore and it came good again for a week but of didn't last but when put in 09 drivers came good for another two weeks but now no matter what gpu's are flat lined and useless.

Question:
can i get warrenty renewed even thou gpu failed. doesn't dell check the system for quality before renewing warrenty.
I don't really feel like getting the run around by dell and would rather just forget it. the thing is even a new GPU will fail one day as it seems to be a problem with that card the 8 series.

 

My xps started having problems about a year ago, they then replaced my keyboard, then motherboard, then power supply, then motherboard again, then I had to video, was just beep code 331, 411, they replaced mother board again, did not help, so they had me depot the computer, when i got it back i had video but then it was overheating till it shut off by itself.
the diagnostics was saying the video card fan had failed. Hey sent the tec with another motherboard and cpu fan, when the tec got here he called them and told them they had the wrong parts, at that point the dell representative told me i had the option to have the right part shipped to get my computer repaired or I could just simply have it replaced with a *comparable* system.
it has been 21+ business days that is..

 

It is an issue with all G92 cores (8800/9800/260/280), and an issue of thermal cycling (going from cold to hot to cold to hot. . . you get the idea; it exposes a bad solder point). This is why an overclocked X9000 (making fans run at maximum speed), helps many users get good life out of their 8800s or 9800s. As for M17x, the system is cool by default, so GPUs never have those high-temp cycles that might create a problem.

 

Update: over the past 3 weeks I've been emailing every couple of days asking if they have the specs of my replacement system yet, I always get told the details aren't finalized yet, but it will most likely be a refurbished M1730 of equal or better than my current 1730. Yesterday was the last email I got saying all of that.

This morning my dell account has this on the order status page:

1 224-5967 Black Metallic $.00
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install $.00
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver $.00
1 317-0821 Intel Core2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) $2460.00
1 317-0856 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB $.00
1 320-1000 1GB Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M - SLI Enabled (NB10E-GT1) $300.00
1 320-8140 17.0in, WUXGA,LCD,ANW,M17X $150.00
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving $.00
1 341-0013 640GB (320GB x 2) 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) - RAID 0 $100.00
1 410-0180 Microsoft Office 2007 Small Business-Eng QS $279.00
1 410-0203 McAfee VirusScan Plus - 30-Day Subscription $.00
1 410-1883 ADOBE READER 9.0 MULTI- LANGUAGE $.00
1 421-0360 Avatar1 $.00
1 421-0364 Power Plan, BAL $.00
1 421-0389 Window Style, DFT $.00
1 421-0399 Time Zone, CENTRAL $.00
1 421-0405 Automatic Updates ON $.00
1 421-0410 Wallpapers, C01W $.00
1 421-0720 ALIENFX RED $.00
1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $.00
1 421-1724 Soft Contracts,Dell In Home,Alienware $.00
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $
1 430-3558 Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n 2x2 MIMO


My 1730 was a T9300, 4gb of ram, Bluray drive and SLI 8800gtx. It looks like they got everything right except for the bluray drive, but for whatever reason they upgraded to 2 320gb hard drives and ordered me the quad CPU so I can live without bluray :lol:

Now just to cross my fingers and hope it actually ships.

 

Chevy you should definitely get the blu-ray. The HAVE to give you that because you have it in your current set-up. You should complain, though I can see why you'd be hesitant to (for fear of losing something else right?) . If you can live without it, then it's all good. That's a very nice looking upgrade. 260m gtx sli are beasts!!! You also seem to be getting "Avatar1" the movie...lol...that made me laugh. I know it's just the little emblem thingie. Congrats.

 

Yeah I know I should, but I don't currently have the extreme CPU, so I really don't deserve that... so knowin my luck they'd give me bluray and "correct" the CPU lol.

I've only used the bluray drive a couple of times, I can live without it to get the extreme cpu.

 

is there anyway to tell by looking at the order details if its brand new or a refurbished?

I assume its probably new, but they've been telling me all along that I'll be getting a refurb.

 

Its new Chevy, they upgraded some of my stuff to because they didn't have blu ray. Have they told you what they want you to do with the old m1730.They fixed my 1730 and still sent me a m17x.

 

You have an order in the system, and that CPU is a hefty upgrade. DON'T mess with it. Trust me from experience, I almost never got mine.

 

Wow I am happy I found this thread. I am in the process of getting my M1730 exchanged. The guy on the phone said its probably going to be a XPS 16 but that is nothing close to my Specs now. The M17x seems like a comparable exchange.

This is week 1 they said it will take 3 weeks for me to receive my exchange but after reading some of this thread seems more likely to be 3 weeks to even find out what system they will exchange it with.

 

I'm in the same boat now too Shubox! Dell sent out replacement graphics cards for me but they didn't work in my computer. The tech that installed them has worked on my computer a number of time so he called Dell and recommended a system replacement. They told me 25 days and it would either be an m1730 or an upgrade (which I'd assume to be Alienware). Now the wait begins.

 

Just thought I'd post my experience with Dell so far. Had an M1730 system which I bought off of somebody in January 2009, they'd bought this system directly from Dell and it was specced out with the X9000 Extreme processor, twin M8800GTX graphics cards, 2x250GB hard drives in RAID0, a Blu-Ray writer, and 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I started experiencing problems firstly with the hard drives, it turns out that they failed to load at times for some reason or another and the graphics cards also started playing up as soon as I updated the graphics card drivers. I rang up Dell and said these needing replacing at around mid-November time and they informed me that the parts were not in stock for the graphics cards and that all they could do at the moment is replace the cards with lower specced cards until the others came in stock.

A few weeks later my power adapter was giving me issues with the laptop not being able to detect the power supply connected resulting in my battery not being charged when plugged in, I rang up Dell and they arranged for somebody to come round and replace the motherboard and provide me with a new power adapter which fixed the problem.

Then a couple of weeks after this replacement my graphics cards stopped working altogether, with no output on the screen. This is now most of the way through January bearing in mind, so I ring up Dell and they diagnose the problem, seemingly both the LCD and graphics card need replacing and they organise a technician to come over the next day. I then get a voicemail sent to me on the same evening it was arranged and the technician can't come round because the part isn't in stock. At this moment in time I'm quite confused as to what happened, I thought it may have been the LCD not in stock. I ring the next day and they say that if I was to wait a week the part would be back in stock, I say this is unacceptable and ask to speak to a supervisor to arrange a replacement, the supervisor can't do anything about it and so I ask to speak to a manager, the manager is supposed to ring me back on the same day and did so duly.

Speaking to the manager regarding a replacement she informs me that there are certain procedures that the staff have to follow and she can see I have been having problems more more than a month and a half and assures me that if I wait 5 more days the part will be in stock, I said that this was unacceptable and she later cut that down to letting me know by the next day. The next day (a Friday) I missed a call from the Dell repairman saying that my part was in stock and that they would be coming on Monday to repair the laptop, later on I receive a call from the manager saying that the part wasn't in stock still and as promised they would replace the system with an Alienware M17x and that she would provide me the specification on Monday.

Come Monday a Dell engineer actually came round to my house to fit the parts, the Dell technicial was informed that Dell had agreed to replace the system completely and simply laughed about the fact that he had been called out unnecessarily and was very polite, blaming it on lack of communication between them and Dell themselves probably because Dell contract the repairs to an outside company.

I ring Dell asking for my specification and they send it to me. I would have been very happy with a replacement graphics card up until the point I kept receiving conflicting advice. The first person I spoke to informed me the graphics card would be in stock the next day whereas his supervisor said that he wasn't able to say the same thing as there is no guarantee and as a supervisor he would be held responsible, then the manager says the part will be in stock for Monday and at this point I don't know who to believe. This is why I was skeptical about anybody coming round at all and pushed for the replacement to be put through as soon as possible as I had already taken 2 days off work to deal wait for the technician in the first place.

Several problems with the proposed specification however, the Processor replacement is a T9600 at 2.8GHz instead of an Extreme processor, no blu-ray writer, the hard drive is 160GB rather than 500, the graphics cards are no longer SLI but a single Radeon 4870.

I ring up Dell and make my complaint regarding these issues, at this point everytime I want to discuss my case I am forced to speak to the same manager, so I ring up technical support get transferred to somebody who asks for my service tag only for them to pass me on to XPS technical support who then ask my service tag, who then contact this manager whilst placing me on hold and telling me that the manager will ring me back by the end of the day. 2 phonecalls everyday to Dell going through the same process over and over again I finally get an updated system specification which I am happy with. This includes QX9300 at 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, Blu-Ray writer, 500GB single HDD rather than 2x250 in RAID0 and SLI Dual 280GTX .

At this moment I've confirmed that I'm happy with the specification and am waiting on my order confirmation email. I am very happy with the fact that Dell have replaced my system with a very good upgrade if I'm honest with myself, I still however find myself quite frustrated at the whole process.

After coming to this forum and reading several posts I realise that the 8800s were no longer in production so I fail to see how they were going to get such a large intake of stock. I understand this extreme heating and cooling cycle is what causes the issue in the first place which leads to the question why isn't there a recall, my system ran extremely hot, just touching the DVI port would have shown that the system was burning inside. Only after asking for a replacement several times, due to the fact that the motherboard, LCD, hard drives and graphics cards had either been replaced or were due to be replaced within the last months alone.

My biggest problem is having to jump through so many hoops just to get connected to the person in charge of the problem. Admittedly they did ask me to email them if I had any problems and that they would get back to me but I did not use the system due to the amount of time taken to get back to me. The other problem was that by the time the manager got back to me, it was the end of the working day, so anything that she said she would do would be done then and it was too late to be able to get transferred to her again leading to a problem that I rang about in the morning being resolved the next evening at times.

I would like to stress that I was polite at all times throughout, regardless of who I spoke to and didn't raise my voice even once. I've gone down the other route on various occassions and maybe if I kicked up a fuss a bit louder this process would've resolved itself quicker, but then again maybe not. My advice is be persistent and as others have said note down who you speak to, the durations you spent on the phone, and don't demand unrealistic specifications. In my case I was happy with just a replacement but they gave me a better spec. Inform them when you ring them what you have been through and how long you have spent so far etc and be polite and kind, maybe they will reciprocate.

For those being offered inferior downgrades such as the Studio 16's, I feel for you. When I was quoted a lower specced laptop I was quite angry and sent an email to the manager in question regarding which parts I did not feel were fair replacements as promised and duly they stuck to their original promise which was to provide a replacement of equal or better specification.

Oh and just to add, they informed me that the warranty for the Alienware and XPS were separate and that I could not carry on for some reason with the original warranty, without me having to even say a word he (the manager) said thats unacceptable, refunded me my money that I had paid for the original warranty extension and used that to purchase the 3 years Alienware warranty AND included accidental damage for free. That was the highlight of my Dell experience, a manager understanding that something was not unacceptable and on his own resolve rectifying the issue immediately.

Sorry for the long rant but maybe this will help others in the UK obtain a replacement for what is clearly a defective laptop in many cases.

 

For those of you having problems with tech support agreeing to replace your machine the best advice I can give Is don't call dell tech support. Use the chat feature on the web site I only talked to some one twice in the course of two or three days. The experience was relatively painless and now I have a new m17x.Another reason to use chat is they send you a copy of your chat log so you have some proof of what was said.

 

I *only* dealt with online chat to get my situation resolved. That way you also have logs of everything that was said and promised.

 

Me too. Chat is the most effective for me.

 

Yep, I agree... I used chat initially, and have been going by email back and forth with my rep since then.

To answer your earlier question, no they haven't mentioned what they want me to do with my XPS at all yet, I assume they'll want it back but I'm not going to volunteer it, I'll wait til they say one way or the other.

 

Well its been 10 calender days since my system exchange was initiated and now my M1730 will not even power on anymore. So I contacted DELL CHAT to see what the hold up is and was told to wait 10 more calender days how long is this really going to take?

I use the beast for work and play and work is now suffering because this is my busy season (accountant).

I now have to run out and buy a laptop to use while waiting for this to be exchanged

 

It took them close to 3 weeks to finally decide they weren't going to find a refurbished 1730 for me and put in the order for the M17x, everytime I contacted them during that 3 weeks they told me it'd be a few more days.

 

Looks like I'm getting my replacement! Late last week a dell tech looked at my laptop and installed the replacement GPUs... no luck fixing the issue though. Dell put me in for a system replacement but said it would a number of weeks. Happened to check my account today and saw the order was already in production!

Old specs:
Blue m1730
T9300 2.5ghz
8800m GTX SLi
Blu-Ray drive
Wireless N
Integrated bluetooth
WUXGA screen
4GB Ram


New system:
Black Metallic
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Intel Core2 Duo T9600 2.8GHz (6MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB
1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M (NB10E-GT1)
17.0in, WUXGA,LCD,ANW,M17x
Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n 2x2 MIMO

I'm pretty happy about getting a more reliable system! I asked if I could pay the price difference for the processor and get upgraded to the quad core, but no luck since it's already in production.

My concern though is if I got screwed on the graphics card. I'm assuming that the 260m isn't as good as the 8800's in SLi.

 

Yea they screwed you over a little bit on the graphics card. If you look at Notebookcheck the benchmarks for the 8800mgtx sli are higher than those of the gtx 260m. I would strongly advise you complain because the specs. for your replacement laptop should at least match (or be better than) the specs. of your old one. Maybe at the same time, you could weasel a processor upgrade as compensation for them getting it wrong.

 

Is that a single 260m or 2 of them? If you had SLI 8800s your replacement should get SLI 260's, and the 260s are faster and more reliable from what I've read.

 

Thanks for the info E.D.U.... got that website bookmarked now! I will definitely give them a piece of my mind if it isn't SLI.

Chevy_Cowboy, it looks like it's just the one card and not two of them. Dell has messed that up for me before though which is why I'm not 100% sure. I've talked to a few people at Dell that were completely DUMBFOUNDED by the fact that my laptop had two cards in it, and said they were only mailing out one as a replacement. In the end, what ended up making it to the repair man was the correct SLI card.

Maybe this is a typo? Hopefully a typo?

 

if you go back a couple pages and look at the build list of my replacement M17x it shows the same number on the video card as yours (NB10e-GT1) but mine says dual... so I'm not real sure what you have there.

I'd definitely fight for SLI if they're trying to give you a single though, thats not right.

 

Hi!

So I'm in the same boat as you guys.. M1730 being replaced with a M17x.

1730 specs:

T7700 2.4ghz
8800M GTX sli
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200
4 gb ram 667mhz
320gb raid 0

M17x specs:

820QM 1.73ghz (2.8ghz turbo mode)
Dual 1GB ATI Radeon™ Mobility HD 4870 in CrossfireX™
17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 (1200p) (LED on backorder, so couldn't get that)
4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
500gb raid 1 (no raid 0 in Europe for some reason)

I had to pay around 350$ for some upgrades (processor and hard drive).

I still haven't received any confirmation email. How long does it usually take? Hope he didn't screw up anything, since I was transferred around to different reps for an hour or so, and didn't get any contact info from him before I hung up.

 

Thanks for this, its good to hear from another UK person about their dell experience!

I think I'm just about to start mine Today just whilst internet browsing the whole system froze. Upon rebooting, it would just hang before any windows screen or logo would appear. I've got a dual boot of vista 64 and win 7, and no matter which i selected, the same thing would happen.
Eventually, I booted into safe mode, disabled one of the graphics cards and rebooted. (8800gtx sli btw) It booted fine then, but when checking device manager it had an exclamation mark next to the graphics cards, saying a problem is detected (on the one that wasn't disabled)

Is there anything else I should do before ringing the dell hell experience chat line?

blahsblahs, can you give me the name of the manger you spoke to that seemed to be helpful? I've been reading this forum for a year I think now, and know the value of finding a useful dell person and sticking with them!

 

My experience was not for a replacement, however, I have to say i have noticed an attitude change with customer service over the last year. This is with Dell Canada. I originally called in last June about my battery failing just after the 1 year mark, at which point I was informed by the XPS support line that I was SOL and could purchase a battery for $200. As well I had issues with my memory card reader in which I would have to send my laptop in, and my keyboard keys wearing off which would have to be sent in again for after the memory card issue was sorted. I was perplexed and put it off till now. I stewed over the battery issue and this being my 3rd laptop from Dell, I had never had a battery fail, even my 7 year old laptop. So I called in again, this time had a clearly canadian rep on the line, told my story, tech volunteered to get a manager, they sent me a new keyboard to replace myself, and they sent me a new battery as a 1 time exception. What can I say, a big change in attitude. I still declined to send in the laptop for the memory card reader, I still have a little over a year left on the warrenty, maybe i'll send it in near the end, or by then maybe i will suffer the same video card failure with my 8800gtx's as everyone else in this thread by then.

In any event, I just wanted to share that Dell appears to be listening to our pleas, and are responding and making the necessary efforts to stand behind their product. This alone very well could save me as their customer.

 

I'll be ringing them tomorrow to start the ball rolling. I'm really not looking forward to the hassle of all this...
I think as I'm from the UK it'll be indian/asian call centres as well, so it'll make it harder to get them on my side.

 

Ok not off to a good start so far, took 30 mins to finally get connected to XPS support, after giving my details, outlining the problem.... the call disconnects! Arghhh.

Haivng to go through it again now...currently on hold listening to the worst hold music ever, combined with terrible sound quality! lol

 

do you guys in the UK have the option of tech support chat online? If so I'd recommend that route rather than the phone.

 

Unfortunately not, it isn't available for the xps, only inspiron and a couple of others

Well, after 2 hours today on the phone, I get through to technical support. Spoke to a bloke there called Mohammed, who turned out to not only seen to know what he was doing, but his English was excellent, and I had no trouble understanding him.

Went through the usual dell diagnostic tests, and he agreed that it was the graphics card at fault. He logged to service call, and despite me mentioning what I'd heard about the lack of 8800GTX's, he assured me that there was a backlog back in december/January, but thats now cleared and they have cards in stock

Apparently the engineer will be coming out on Wednesday to fit the new cards, but he'll ring on the day to confirm.

What I'm thinking is either: They don't have the cards, and tech support aren't aware of this... or all you lucky people who swapped your m1730 for M17x's have now given dell enough 'useable' 8800m's for them to refurbish and send out again

I really hope its the first option, I really want to avoid the hassle of going through several sets of crappy used cards.

After this was agreed on the phone, Mohammed's manager asked to speak to me, wanting to know if I was satisfied with the outcome so far, and if there was anything else he could do. I was pretty surprised at how courteous and helpful they were being.... however I haven't ran into any problems yet, we'll see how it goes on Wednesday.

I have both Mohammeds and his managers email addresses that were included in the follow up email, so at least now I have a point of contact I can stick with, and a manager that I can get in touch with should it all mess up on Wednesday.

I'll post back wednesday evening and update

 

They will most likely send you a 9800m gtx. That is what I got but they had already ok'ed system replacement. Or they will send out a 8700 m gt so check you part number.

 

Ok, the most unexpected, unlikely event occurred.


The engineer phoned about 1pm, turned up at 1.30pm. He had a box with him, allegedly containing an 8800mgtx sli card.

Despite my extreme scepticism, he installed the card and re-booted. Checking device manager, it identified it indeed as an 8800m gtx.

Off he went!

So, fearing I've been given a dodgy refurb card (the box did have refurbished on it) I've just got home and got temp monitor software running. Temps seem good, lower than before! 3dMark 06 got me a score of 11411 (previous was 200 points higher, but that was done about 10 months ago) so its close enough.
Going to do some gaming now and see how it goes.

Still very puzzled where these cards have come from...