New Alienware M17x R3 Audio (headphone socket) fault & Service Tag not loaded

For the past 3 weeks I have loved my new Alienware M17x - thought it was worth every cent..... but today - that view has changed.

Playing Starcraft 2 today, I decided to plug in my headphones.....and thats where the trouble began...

• Since plugging in the headphones my speaker now NO LONGER work...I have set the playback devices and as far as they are concerned everything is working fine.... Its as if the system has NOT realised that the headphones are no longer plugged in.... after a quick google search I see that quite a few other people are experiencing the same issue - something to do with a faulty mic jack...... So, it decided to update audio drivers and when this didnt work contact DELL.... here comes the next issue:

• I am also experiencing issues with the graphic cards......playing any game - Starcraft 2 - Torchlight - the game play is jerky and not smooth...I have gone from having settings at Ultra to having them down on low...(whats the point of owning an Alienware gaming machine if you have to DOWN GRADE the graphic settings for smooth game play? nVidia GeForce GTX 460M

• my Service Tag, although shows up when you do an automatic search, is NOT recognised by the Dell Email Support webpage - nor does it recognise it when typed in to check out my machine.........so I cant email through anything to Support as you need to enter in the service tag prior to being able to complete the email..... *SIGH* - so now I am going to have to do it from work tomorrow....great.....especially if the forums that I have read about Support not helping is true....I wont have 2 hours free to sit on the phone....but by the time I get home from work the support desk is SHUT....So I have no other choice...... but to call but WHY can the webpage find my Service Tag (same as the bottom as my machine) but they webpage wont accept it?

Im not looking forward to the conversation tomorrow, as if support can not assist me then I know they will be asking for my machine to be sent back to be looked at..... and im going to be extremely unhappy as I have only had this machine for 3 weeks......There really should not be these type of issues when you pay the money that we do for a "decent" machine....maybe I should have gone with the XPS machine as I had originally planned to do.

I really am hoping I get this resolved super quick.....