Long post, if you just want the simple question that is the last sentence....

My first time posting on this site so if I'm doing this in the wrong spot I apologize.  I received my Alienware Aurora on 2/18/11 and was initially very impressed with the performance.  On 2/24/11 the machine blue screened and rebooted suddenly.  Once it booted back up the system lighting did not come on and a few error messages popped up which I took screenshots of and saved to show to support.  Being that this was the first time I had an issue (even after only 6 days) I popped open the case made sure the RAM/Video cards were all seated properly, the HD/fan cables were all connected securely to the motherboard, and booted up once again.  All was well for another week or so and then once again I booted the machine to find the tower lights didn't come on.  Logged in and the same errors popped up regarding the AlienFx controller blah blah.   I then found out that after 15 minutes of normal use while the lights on the tower are off the machine crashes (no blue screen, just a screwed up video display and a loud monotonous WAAAAAAA noise from the speakers).  I then decided to use my warranty support and give Dell a call. 

First time I called the technician had me hit F12 at the splash screen and run the PSA test, which took about 30 minutes and found nothing wrong.  He then flashed the BIOS (same version of the BIOS the machine already had) and reinstalled AlienFX Command Center.  The machine seemed happy with the attention so the ticket was closed.  After another week or so the symptoms of booting up with no system lights returned.  I smartened up after the first time it crashed with no lights and decided I better reboot the machine until the lights come on.  This technique worked well for about a month as there were no further crashes while running the machine with the lights on but eventually the computer did indeed start crashing regardless if the lights were on or not. 

Second call to Dell support I once again was instructed to run the PSA which again found no errors.  He then flashed the BIOS (no new version of the BIOS yet) and reinstalled AlienFX Command Center, eventhough I told him this was already done and he confirmed that he saw the notes from the last support call doing the same exact thing.   Before hanging up with me he something to the effect of "a lot of times when this occurs it's dust on the circuits.  make sure you blow the machine out regularly."   I took this advice and purchased a DataVac Electric Duster and have been blowing this baby out on a weekly basis since. 

Needless to say this did nothing to stop the computer from crashing.   I do not have the 60-120 minutes per day to give Dell a call so they perform the same exact troubleshooting techniques that find nothing every time.  So for a long while I just dealt with the issue and kept rebooting till the lights came on, then walking away from the computer for 20 minutes after booting,  as it seems that if it's going to crash it will happen within 20 minutes or won't happen at all.  I've had the computer turned on (sleep mode when walking away) for days at a time and have had no issues at all.  It seems that after a prolonged period of being off (2 hours or more) this issue pops up.  I tend to boot up in the morning before going to work then shutdown for 12ish hours while at work/commute, then boot up again when I get home.  As of last week I was getting about 2 good boots per week, meaning when turning the machine on the lights would come on and no crashes would occur through the time I turn it back off.  Most of the time I'd have to reboot the machine 3-4 times before the system lights would turn on. 

This Monday 6/4 I called support back again to report that the same problem that has been happening since 6 days after booting up my machine for the first time is still occuring.  Once again ran PSA (found nothing), ran another diagnostic test on the HD/RAM (not sure what this one was called) and that found nothing also.  He decided that those diagnostics were enough to say conclusively that nothing is wrong with the hardware and asked if we could bring the OS back to factory defaults to eliminate any possible software problems so we did this. 

Yesterday (6/5) I had to call support back because the same exact problem started occuring again.  Ran the PSA again (this time it at least crashed twice during the PSA where I had to start the process over again).  Once it got through the PSA, again finding nothing (despite the crashes..weird) he decided that I should remove the video card.  I can only assume that an Alienware support technician knows these machines very well, so I comply.   He then tells me to boot the machine and see how if it works.  I tell him I have nowhere to connect my monitor as the video cards are not in the machine.  He then gets very condescending and very slowly (because i'm the idiot and not the customer) tells me that you won't have the graphics performance that you are used to but you will still have the "basic motherboard connection" (yes, that's how he said it).   I told him there is no integrated VGA on this motherboard and then he told me that's "impossible".  Since I was obviously being a huge jerk and mentally blocking out an invisible "basic motherboard connection" he sharply told me to hold, which I did for 5 minutes before he came back on the line and said "put the video cards back in and take out 1 stick of RAM" (you would think a little apology was in order but nothing).  I played along and did as he said.  This time the machine booted and the lights didn't come on.  He connected to my machine flashed the BIOS and reinstalled AleinFX Command Center.  Rebooted the machine and the lights came on so he said I will call you back tomorrow to see how things are going. 

He calls back today and I report that within 15 minutes of our call ending I had yet another crash but the machine hasn't crashed yet today.  He then asked if he could close the ticket.  I told him that I don't think it's appopriate to close this ticket as this same problem has been occuring since less than a week after I broke this machine out of it's box.  Each time I call we go through the same exact level 1 support steps and each time they find nothing.  He refused to do this and said if the machine crashes again you are going to have to call us back so we can run the same tests.  I asked him how does a case get advanced to level 2 support?  He said "there is no level 2 support and that everyone I will speak to is on the same level".   I asked if there was a Dell certified tech that could either come to me or I could bring the machine to them so they can see the issue firsthand and maybe have an idea of what is wrong.   His reponse to that was we will not just send someone to you to "take a look".  They will only go to your house to replace a specific part and leave. 

 

Is is true that there is no escalation process at Alienware tech support?  If so what is my best bet of getting someone who is familiar with these machines to see if they can figure out the problem?