*XPS M1730 Problems/Dell Replacement Issues*

My system exchange got canceled too. They place the order on october 31. I double checked with the dell rep and they told me that my new system will be at my door in less than 2 weeks that the system was in the building stage. Now it got canceled for no reason!!!

 

just got my machine back from depot, they once again fixed nothing important.... my gpu is overheating like crazy, my lcd is really annoyingly bleeding and now has an intermittent line problem... ridiculous! depot is a complete joke, i would love to work there, how easy, you just half fix something that isn't broken and ignore what is, scratch the hell out of everything, ignore screws and battery's and send back the customers computer worse than it was before. incompetent people.

i might have gotten the hold thing lifted. but that remains to be seen. i was told it was but i dont believe it until i receive my replacement...

 

Talked to my one buddy who also has a 1730....Dell is offering him the Studio XPS 9000 with all the options...should he take the deal or keep fighting the fight? He uses his laptop on the go alot, but will sacrifice that to get more performance from a desktop......Any advise?

 

I too had my system cancelled today, was told it was a system glitch and they have no clue what happened,
as such I am arguing with them for a better system for the ridiculous amount of time they are wasting, and the headaches they are causing me
I will be in contact with the executive department tomm

 

My system was an exchange for a beastly 1730 that had multiple GPU failures, Including today my whole struggle took 53 Days from start of the issue to actually getting an acceptable replacement. I have had to jump through burning hoops.

they matched or made better most options but they still owe me a blu ray burner....so my fight is not fully over although now I have a m17x to help me through the wait.

 

Got an exchange offer made, though as predicted they tried to rip me off with a Duo processor (I have an extreme X9000 atm), a single 260M (Dual 8800Ms GTXs), and Windows Vista Ultimate (others are getting Win 7 and I need Win 7 Ultimate, or at least a copy of Win 7 with XP mode, as I purchased XP for this system).

Hopefully I won't have to put up might of a fight to get the QX9300/280Ms/Win 7 Ultimate.

 

Good luck with the xtreme processor, but the X9000 IS a core 2 duo so techinicially you're getting the same. I guess you can argue for an unlocked multiplier though, why not.

 

Yeah, I know the X9000 is a Duo, but it can be OCed more, so it would be a downgrade. And again, others with my specs are getting the QX9300.

I've also made it very clear in my response that I know what other people are getting (even including the part numbers). Hopefully when the rep gets back to me he will stop messing me around.

If he doesn't I'll threaten them with the loss of my custom forever. I've been waiting too damn long for this to be fixed, watching people get better machines after less time; I'm not going to settle for some rubbish specs.

And a single 260M for a 1920x1200 screen? I can't even believe he had the audacity to offer that. Dell must think really badly of their technical customers

 

Well, technically, a barebone Q9000 with 260m SLi and 4GB DDR3 RAM is a major upgrade. Yes, it will do most of everything that his old machine did, and then some.

Technically, I could take my £3,000 from last year, invest in something else. . . like the worst kind of savings account here in UK, which is already the land of bum-interest, and have enough money right now to probably buy the most maxed out M17x with 4 year warranty and complete care. Dell know this, and this is why even their stubborn-to-the-book customer-relations department issue full refunds where full refunds are due. It is an investment, and one where any potential for interest is sacrificed in lieu of a service or product. In this case, it is a product that has brought some people potential grief, and others, a blatant blow to their productivity.

Now until and unless he's complaining about an X9100 in place of his X9000, I see no logic about him getting same or better. As a consumer, I would never advise playing down the hand in such a manner. Also, while the X9000 is a core 2, it was the absolute best at the time of purchase when it was offered with the M1730, and it is that initial investment and associated spirit and intent that also count. If they had quad cores in our old platforms, I'd easily take one. Personally, he should get at least an X9100, which is rarely offered, but if not, then the QX9300 is the only other viable option. The X9000, as a performer and product, stands right under the X9100 and the QX9300 the rest of the M17x CPU offerings are inferior.

Also to note: SLi bottle-neck is best alleviated through a solid clock-jump, which is why I'd rather have an X9100 over the QX9300 for traditional gaming.

Note 2: Nvidia Physx isn't only GPU dedicated, because its real purpose is to optimally designate physics calculations between CPU and GPU, allowing each to do what they do best.

 

That'd at least be something. As it stands, my offer is actually a significant downgrade, not just factoring in the lower CPU clock speed (compared to the OCed X9000) but also a *single* 260M, which in benchmarks equates to a 10% performance drop over my 8800M GTX SLI.

I've waited almost 8 weeks now, I've had to escalate it repeatedly. I even had to escalate the unresolved issue complaint via a Dell community rep, that's how bad things are. And after all that hassle, they then turn around, and offer me a flat downgrade AGAIN?

I've had to spend huge amounts of my time chasing this up, researching the issue, and that's before you factor in the lost productivity because the machine is virtually unusable. A powerful machine is important in graphics work, which is why I brought it in the first place - it is a business purchase.

Sure, Dell could get away with offering me the most minimal upgrade possible (they've still yet to reach that standard of machine at time of writing), but after all that, what incentive would I ever have to use them again? Even after repeated escalation, an outrageous delay, they're still trying to avoid an equivalent replacement, and yet readily give large upgrades to people with worse systems than myself who have been waiting for a quarter of the time. My first premium system with Dell in a decade of using their systems, and it's been endless trouble.

As far as I'm concerned, the least they could do is offer a huge apology for the disgusting way they've treated a 'premium' customer, and offer the upgrade they've been giving to others as a gesture of goodwill. But no, the guy would still rather treat me like I'm some ignorant moron who had no idea of the specs and will blindly agree with what they give.

I'm not unreasonable; delays sometimes happen. I'm not one of those people ringing up because NBD turned out to be 3 business delays, or a week or two. I work in the retail trade, and know all about supply problems, especially with large organisations. But even I have my limits. Being lied to repeatedly, and even when caught red-handed still having blatant tricks tried on me, is well past those limits.

So after all that, and considering what I had before, I think it's entirely reasonable to ask for a QX9300 and 280M SLIs and Win7 Ultimate. And unless they want to permanently lose thousands of pounds of custom in future, not to mention more via negative word of mouth (and that people I know ask for my opinions on products), I'm going to get it. Dell have taken me for a ride, it's time to get something out of them for once.

 

. . .indeed. I hope for the best for you on this front, and I'll advise that you maintain your stance, but do not put more in their pockets. They owe you better, and then they owe you some more for your troubles.

 

cancelled, reordered. i informed them again if it has to be reordered again im going request more upgrades. i havent dealt with it as much as you all but im tired of the bs at this point.

 

Everyone that has had canceled orders, maybe you should post the configuration that's being canceled so we can look for a pattern, if any. Still sounding more and more like BS run-around to me at this point.

 

well i had 2 calls from them today. The guy tried to BS me, by saying that "well sir the reason it was cancelled was that it did not match your old system specs" which i already knew because i had the old order number. They so say expedited my order and are trying to get my system to me in 7 days, but i also explained that all of you are having similar issues. His BS was not very good, but i told him "what else am i going to do but take your word"

yes sir i understand, blah blah. I want my new . Really i was happy with my XPS m1730, but now i am ready for this new system.

 

Great news, i woke up this morning and tried to get this order cancelation resolved. i waited for 40 minutes in the dell chat. then the person that i connected with was the manager. He is very nice. after some explanation, he give me a motherboard upgrade to 210mgs. then he is sure that i will get my order in the next 4-5hours

 

Here is my cancelled order:
1 224-5967 Black Metallic $0.00
1 310-0173 Airborne Documentation, System Exchanges,Factory Install $0.00
1 313-8977 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive,QuickSilver $0.00
1 317-0821 Intel Core2 Extreme Quad QX9300 2.53GHz (12MB Cache, 1066MHz FSB) $2560
1 317-0856 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB $0.00
1 320-0762 SLI Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce (NB10E-GTX1) $600
1 320-8140 17.0in, WUXGA,LCD,ANW,M17X $150
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving $0.00
1 330-5414 Windows 7 Home Premium UpgradeCoupon, W0, ENG,SPN,FRE,GER JPN $0.00
1 341-0013 640GB (320GB x 2) 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) - RAID 0 $100
1 410-0173 ADOBE ACROBAT READER - Eng $0.00
1 410-0204 MCAF,15MTH,MUI,ANW $89
1 420-3251 Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 $0.00
1 421-0360 Avatar1 $0.00
1 421-0389 Window Style, DFT $0.00
1 421-0398 Power Plan, BAL $0.00
1 421-0399 Time Zone, CENTRAL $0.00
1 421-0405 Automatic Updates ON $0.00
1 421-0410 Wallpapers, C01W $0.00
1 421-0415 Mouse Pointers,STANDARD $0.00
1 421-0726 ALIENFX BLUE $0.00
1 421-1724 Soft Contracts,Dell In Home,Alienware $0.00
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $0.00
1 430-3558 Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n 2x2 MIMO $0.00

and here is the current in production order:
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) $2560.00
1 317-0856 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1066MHz 2 x 2048MB $.00
1 320-0762 SLI Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce (NB10E-GTX1) $600.00
1 320-8140 17.0in, WUXGA,LCD,ANW,M17X $150.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $.00
1 330-3924 Name Plate Engraving $.00
1 330-5414 Windows 7 Home Premium UpgradeCoupon, W0, ENG,SPN,FRE,GER JPN $.00
1 341-0013 640GB (320GB x 2) 7,200RPM (xMB Cache) - RAID 0 $100.00
1 410-0173 ADOBE ACROBAT READER - Eng $.00
1 410-0205 Norton Anti-Virus, Gamer Edition 15 Month Subscription $89.00
1 420-3251 Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 $.00
1 421-0360 Avatar1 $.00
1 421-0389 Window Style, DFT $.00
1 421-0398 Power Plan, BAL $.00
1 421-0399 Time Zone, CENTRAL $.00
1 421-0405 Automatic Updates ON $.00
1 421-0410 Wallpapers, C01W $.00
1 421-0726 ALIENFX BLUE $.00
1 421-1724 Soft Contracts,Dell In Home,Alienware $.00
1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $.00
1 430-3558 Internal 300Mbps Dual-Band a/g/n 2x2 MIMO $.00

The only difference I see is that the cancelled one has 410-0204 MCAF,15MTH,MUI,ANW $89 and the inproduction one has 1 410-0205 Norton Anti-Virus, Gamer Edition 15 Month Subscription $89.00.

Also of note, yesterday the service call for the replacement 8800's that has remained open during all of this was updated and marked Status - CNL. I will assume that means cancelled.

Hope that helps.

 

Good news, I got the QX9300 and 280M SLIs. Now I just need to get Windows 7.

 

Can you post your original system specs? I'm fighting right now for the 280Ms because my first two orders had them but the 3rd order was only 260Ms and I made them cancel it and my rep is now "trying" to get 280Ms again. She's not sure why the third order was downgraded.

 

Sure, just note that the part codes are for the UK

Edit: wait, did you mean my XPS M1730 specs?

 

Yeah, the M1730 specs, sorry.

 

Photo, the win 7 upgrade coupon is part of the new system. you will def get win 7, just depends how they are giving it to you (upgrade or already the main system). Enjoy it, the machine is nice, I am liking the design much more then I thought I would.

 

Well done, and congratulations.

 

Hmm, that might be the case (I'll try and confirm it), but I seem to recall that the invoices for such orders has a note about the coupon on it, which isn't on mine. I could handle that, but it does make more sense to ship it on the machine, especially as every other PC leaving the Alienware factory is.

Thanks very much. I'm just glad I didn't need to resort to sending a modified version of my rant from a few pages ago

 

When I was going over the original exchange request I mentioned both the 8800 SLI's and the Ageia Phys X card as things that needed to be represented in any replacement. When they presented the built exchange, it was my understanding the graphics card I was getting, the 320-0762 SLI Dual 1GB GDDR3 NVIDIA GeForce (NB10E-GTX1) was to compensate for the fact that the m17x doesnt have the Ageia Phys X. In reality I dont know for fact if that was the case, but it was what I understood when the guy went over the exchange system with me.

 

Funny you should mention that, because right before I read this I thought about that too and fired off the same to the rep working with me, that there is no PhysX processor option for the m17x. Hopefully that will teeter it over the edge and back to my original order specs.

 

Hopefully you'll get some results with that.

How many games actually support PhysX these days anyway?

 

I play Mirror's Edge, and it does pretty extensively. I was also looking into getting Batman Arkham Asylum and it uses it a lot too.

EDIT: Unreal Tournament also uses it on some levels, and I play that as well.

 

My m17x came with vista installed and a win 7 upgrade coupon. Its standard with all systems they were making this past month or two. But I didnt even use it because I have my own Win 7 Ultimate install

The system scores a 7.2 on all win7 categories except my Hdd (5.9)(320 gb 7200 rpm), which will soon be replaced with an intel 80 gb MLC SSD which should bring me to an all around 7.2

 

New system. Good luck with the whole process though. Make sure you deal with ONE person through the process, and be prepared for random canceled orders that you have to call in and about.

 

With the Agiea PPU, even fewer games are properly supported. However, those games that are supported, show good knock. The newer physx software mainly relies on an Nvidia GPU to be the main worker because of CUDA, which isn't supported by the older Ageia PPUs.

To be honest, Ageia-hardware was going to get the shaft the moment Nvidia got its hands on the concept. Quite a few consumers of the XPS M1730 were dazzled by the hypse into getting an additional piece of hardware that is by and large redundant/obsolete. So I fully endorse the idea of getting a bit of payback by using the PPU as a bargaining chip for replacement systems. Fact is that we did have to pay extra for this 'dedicated physics' gimmick.

Note: The real kicker. When I got my first M1730 replacement--the bad one--the woman said I won't get an Ageia card, and in her words, 'the new 9800m GT does physics for you. . . you are getting an upgrade'. Man, now when I hear things like that, I really lose points on patience and composure.

 

That's strange. the dell manager said that my order will be here, but i don't see it. Maybe i need to wait some more time also...i forgot to get the contect infromation of that manager...kinda not good now

 

Sorry to hear about everyone's CS troubles. Makes me really hope that my M1710 doesn't burn out on me for the third time (I CANNOT go without a laptop for as long as most of you in this thread - Comp Sci Major as another poster earlier in this thread).

I just checked the Dell website and AAFES (for military) and the latter is showing the ESD as 11/20 while the former says it's 11/26 for the M17X, both sites configured for the T9600, dual 280s, 4 GB RAM, and a 256 GB SSD (delaying the date by 4 days).

I hope everyone's headaches end with great euphoria (either in the form of an awesome new machine or a full refund for a trip out of Dell hell).

Cheers

 

So after getting my system canceled, I finally got it ordered again.
I will not jinx it tho by saying anything, I can only hope I get it in time
so that I don't fail my courses.

 

Yeah, it sucks when they give you blatantly wrong stuff like that. On the other hand it can sometimes work for you when you point out that you know that's wrong; if the rep realises you know more than them, that gives you a bit of leverage.

I got my Win7 upgrade, but he changed the cards, so I'll get him to revise them back to the 280Ms as he promised.

Almost there!

 

Indeed. It gave me leverage, but not at that point, because the woman was trying to compensate for the lack of Ageia by giving me crappy upgrades. I had a plan to simply go renegade on them and pull out the Ageia card from my original system.

However, the whole semi-busted and downgraded machine helped me secure a decent refund deal. Although given the time that it has taken--and still continues to take--the 'win factor' has greatly declined. After details were finalised yesterday, they have given me the DPS number and a collection for Wednesday next week. Following three-working-days of that collection, I should have the refund in my account, meaning Monday the week after next.

 

Got the card switched. Just need the full specs in writing and I'm good to confirm it.

Now I just need to get the exchange details sorted. The rep wants to take the old system away first before ordering the new one, something which leaves me very vulnerable to delays.

I'll try and get them to give a pre-paid shipping box and exchange it for the new system when the courier delivers it.

 

Have the same issue, they want to pick the 1730 up before sending the M17x. Rep told me it's the only way to go. Oh, and my M17x comes with Vista 64bit.. I thought all M17x that are made now get Win 7, no matter what?

 

Argue for Windows 7. it's what I did.

I firstly said that Win XP mode was essential as I have an OEM version of XP licensed on this machine (dual boot with Vista), so I needed Windows 7 Business/Ultimate. I also said that as new systems are being shipped with it, and replacement Alienware machines are receiving the appropriate upgrade (e.g. Vista Home Premium to Win 7 Home Premium) that offering Vista would be inconsistent.

They quickly replaced the OS with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

 

My order is already being processed and I don't want to cancel it now...I just hope there's a coupon in the box for Win7... You know what can happen if they cancel orders...;-)

 

If it's already in the process, then yeah, cancelling it is not a good idea. Hope you do get the coupon though.

 

Did you already get production date's/delivery dates for your M17x?

 

I still haven't signed off on the specs, but my rep seems to think it should take about a week once the old system has been picked up (which as I said, I'll try and arrange something else if I can). No exact dates yet though.

 

Nah that's not correct m8, you should be able to get the new system before they pick up the old one. It's what happened to me with my 1st 1730 when swapped for another one. I had to keep the defective 1730 stored at my house for like 3 weeks whilst briefly enjoying the 'new' 1730.
Where are you situated? EU/USA?

 

UK. As I said, I'm sure I can negotiate something better, I'm just repeating what I was last told

 

Yeah I understand
Let's hope they hurry getting us our systems...Im working on a PIII now...Awesome 64MB VGA onboard. Who needs a M17x?!?

 

Simple:
State that you need your machine for work-related reasons, and cannot let it go until you get your replacement system, which allows you to have a functional machine in hand, and sync your data across the two. I don't know. They didn't argue at all with me. I simply said I need machine for work, so they said that I can return the old system once the new one is with me.

 

That won't work for me though, my 1730 is actually 'fried' now... even smells like burnt plastic/electronics.

 

That's a good argument Kade, thanks.

This machine might be almost unusable with no graphics cards and a CPU being massively underclocked due to the unrecognised power supply, but it's far better than no PC and I can at least browse the web!

(it's actually quite sad seeing such a fast and high-spec machine being reduced to a crawl)

iTunes seems a particularly bloated offender. Though even MS Office 2007 was slow; I tried to put a PDF of the specs I wanted and it was actually painful to do, and took about 30 minutes to achieve some simple editing

 

No problem. The only protocol where you must return the system first, is when you've been issued a refund.

 

Gah, refuses to give me the 280Ms after all and I can't get him to budge. I've settled with the 260s instead. Oh well, I get some upgrades, and it still is a large improvement. I Can also get the old system picked up after the new one has been delivered.