XPS 730x General Hardware Discussion thread

Hi All,

I'm posting my problem here in hopes of finding someone from Dell who can help me out once and for all.  I originally ordered my XPS 730x on Nov 27.  The system was shipped out to me on Dec 5th, 2008.  From the day I setup the machine, I've had issues with it.  First off, the lights in the intake section(underneath the power button) never matched the other 3 zones.  AlienFX has dubbed the 5 zones on the 730x into the following:

1) Drive Bays

2) Left Intake

3) Right Intake

4) Interior

5) Rear

To make it clear, zones 2 and 3 have always been a different color from the other zones of 1, 4, and 5.  While I could use AlienFX to change the colors, zones 2 and 3 were always different from the other 3.  If I changed all zones to be blue for instance, 2 and 3 would become green.  The first call I put in, I spoke with a first level tech from the Phillipines who logged onto the system and tried to use the AlienFX.  I told him that the issues were from the second the machine booted on (before the BIOS splash screen), so I believed it to be a hardware defect.  He insisted that it is a BIOS issue probably and to wait for the BIOS revision to be released. 

After a month, I still did not see any BIOS revisions released so I opened a new case with XPS support.  This time, they believed it was the front controller board, which also controls the two 120mm fans on the front.  Well, after changing that out, the problem was still there but it was worse now.  The AlienFX no longer was able to modify the light at all.  They decided to escalate the case up to level 3 in XPS support (whatever this means I'm not sure).  I waited for about one week before receiving a call from someone who named Shreekanth.  I've attached the info here.

Shreekanth Mathangi.

Senior Support Resolver.

Dimension-XPS, Desktop, Portables, Imaging
Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd.
Hyderabad.

On Monday, Jan 26th 2009 Shreekanth contacted me and said he needed another 24 hours, but would definitely call me in 24 hours to let me know the progress.   Well after 72 hours of no calls, he finally sent me a brief email telling me to unplug all the cables and connections from the front controller and reset the motherboard.  Granted I work in IT, but your average customer should not have to be removing two fan shrouds and then tinkering with the inner electronic parts.  These are steps that should have been taken by the Banctec technician who came out to replace the part the first time.  Also later that day, I received another call from an advanced level tech named Adithya (adithya_g@dell.com) and he asked me to explain from the beginning the issues that led up to the escalation.  After about 20 minutes, he understood what I was saying.  He wanted to send out the bezel, the led modules, and the cabling for the lighting system.  I brought up to him that if I had known it would be so difficult to fix a simple problem, I would have returned the system for a refund within 21 days of my purchase going through.  He agreed and said that if the parts replacement this time did not work, he would talk to the appropriate channels to get me a refund or exchange on the system. 

Today, February 4th a tech finally shows up with the parts.  After about an hour of replacing the parts, he booted on the system and to my dismay the problem was still there.  The tech called XPS support and after explaining the problem to the tech, they replied with "it's just the lights, what is the big problem?" I called Adithya on his line at Dell and continually get his voicemail.  At this point, to say I'm extemely frustrated would be an understatement.  From the statement of apathy from the tech to the slew of broken deadlines to resolve my issue, I don't understand how Dell can operate a tech support system like this without consequences. 

I've spoken to customer care and their answer is a stiff "it's past the 21 days, so no refund can be issued.  Speak to your technician when you call XPS support".  I understand that the system does boot up and run the OS, but the lights are part of the package I paid for.  I don't think it's too big of a deal for me, as the customer, to request that I get exactly what I paid for.  If on the Dell e-commerce site, it stated "the LED lights may function or they may not, but don't count on us to care about your satisfaction" I would not expect any more out of XPS support than what I've gotten.  But the fact remains that my problems with my system, from the day the machine was delivered, have failed to be accurately and definitely resolved.  I'm hoping that the community can help me or that someone from Dell can help me get this issue to someone who will actually solve my problem once and for all.  If any of the documentation is required, I have all the email correspondance saved and can forward it for more clarification.  Also the XPS case number is 631698558.  All the correspondance will be there in the case logs as well.

Regards,

Wayne

I am having some issues with my new dell xps 730x the specs are in my sig.  Anyways I have been experiencing some freezes. Sometimes it will not shut down which just today i shut it down at 1am it said shutting down so i shut off monitor and left the room I came back tonight at 7pm to find it stuck on the desktop frozen and the clock at 1:02am stuck.  For some reason it seems to have issues shutting down and coming back from being left on at times.  The other night i left it on and when i tried to get it come back up the next day the fans spun up the monitor came up no signal and it wouldn't do anything just reved up like on a normal boot only then did nothing.  It happens with some reboots after installing programs that ask for a reboot to finish installing as well.  It just seems to happen randomly.  It also seems to freeze alot whenever i start a download using firefox i then force the process to end in task manager start it back up and it starts the download and is fine.  I usually look at the performance monitor and it lists no more than 6% processor usage and 25% memory usage during these freezes.  I just ran adaware, spybot scans and mcafee virus scan at same time and cpu went as high as 32% and memory no higher than 45%.  I also have been getting freezes now and then in left 4 dead where I will play a campaign go back to lobby the host will hit start another game and left 4 dead will then freeze up and I can't alt tab or do anything but go in task manager and force it to end.  Then if I try to restart the game it won't unless I reboot the pc.  I checked temperatures it listed internal temp at 73.6 and ambient was around 68.  The Crysis demo also freezes up it will play the initial cut scene but it will then freeze once it switches to playable.  I have the latest video and sound card drivers installed.  But like i said it happens in programs as well and even on reboots it will freeze.  Firefox is not a heavy program and runs fine except for when i start a download the download progress window pops up starts and then both the download window and the browser stop responding.  The other night I had to constantly reboot to be able to play l4d as I would play a campaign and it would freeze when I would try to start another and yet last night it didn't do it once.  The freezes only seem to occur in left 4 dead when I finish a campaign go back into server lobby and then the host hits start another while playing it runs flawless.  I also have an issue with steam friends where while in game it beeps a message so loud compared to normal.  It's like ringing a bell at a hotel desk vs ringing a church bell and it only happens while in game or just leaving a game.  Also in counter strike source whenever a notification pops up from steam friends it puts a black background behind the ammo and all other hud displays.  Is there any diagnostics I should run? Any ideas whats wrong? Can anyone provide me with links of which dell are I should contact for all these issues.  Also for some odd reason it won't recognize my printer a dell v505w that is connected to the same router the pc is with ethernet cables.  I ran the disc and tried it both connected to router and to 730x with ethernet cable but it only sees the fax part and not the printer part the only thing i didn't try is usb cable yet.  And my laptop prints wirlessly to it so i know it's working.  Any help would be great and any advice on where to contact dell would be great I would rather do online rather than over phone. tnx

Now tonight I ran left 4 dead no issues but firefox still stopped responding. And this time when I hit shutdwon it started shutting down blue screen came up I didn't have time to write it down but this is what it gave me on next boot.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Problem signature:

  Problem Event Name:                        BlueScreen

  OS Version:                                          6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3

  Locale ID:                                             1033

Additional information about the problem:

  BCCode:                                               a

  BCP1:                                                    FFFFFA800F03E058

  BCP2:                                                    0000000000000002

  BCP3:                                                    0000000000000001

  BCP4:                                                    FFFFF80002470EE0

  OS Version:                                          6_0_6001

  Service Pack:                                       1_0

  Product:                                               768_1

Files that help describe the problem:

  C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini020509-01.dmp

  C:\Users\Ryan\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-109356-0.sysdata.xml

  C:\Users\Ryan\AppData\Local\Temp\WER507F.tmp.version.txt

Read our privacy statement:

  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

Also here is a list of the problem reports.

Product
left4dead.exe

Problem
Stopped responding and was closed

Date
2/2/2009 9:55 PM

Status
Report Sent

Description
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name:    AppHangB1
Application Name:    left4dead.exe
Application Version:    0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp:    4967fda3
Hang Signature:    2201
Hang Type:    6144
OS Version:    6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID:    1033
Additional Hang Signature 1:    052e98490c0550a3e10afaa0195ae130
Additional Hang Signature 2:    3ec3
Additional Hang Signature 3:    f2a3fef96b8ffc53e3fcf24e8d673990
Additional Hang Signature 4:    2201
Additional Hang Signature 5:    052e98490c0550a3e10afaa0195ae130
Additional Hang Signature 6:    3ec3
Additional Hang Signature 7:    f2a3fef96b8ffc53e3fcf24e8d673990

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID:    459909669

Product
Firefox

Problem
Stopped responding and was closed

Date
2/4/2009 8:01 PM

Status
Report Sent

Description
A problem caused this program to stop interacting with Windows.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name:    AppHangB1
Application Name:    firefox.exe
Application Version:    1.9.0.3257
Application Timestamp:    4934ead8
Hang Signature:    b447
Hang Type:    0
OS Version:    6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID:    1033
Additional Hang Signature 1:    4c448661a5b63bfadbf1f69f0136cc76
Additional Hang Signature 2:    6685
Additional Hang Signature 3:    4d2321c72cccf657bc6b8e05b23b50af
Additional Hang Signature 4:    b447
Additional Hang Signature 5:    4c448661a5b63bfadbf1f69f0136cc76
Additional Hang Signature 6:    6685
Additional Hang Signature 7:    4d2321c72cccf657bc6b8e05b23b50af

Extra information about the problem
Bucket ID:    413149277

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

I am completely lost here.

Is there ANYBODY at Dell who can help me? PLEASE.

I ordered my 730X on January 23/2009 at 6:31 a.m. - I was given an estimated shipping date of February 2/2009.

On the day that I ordered the 730x I phoned up and confirmed with VISA that DELL had requested to set aside the appropriate sum of money for the purchase. This did not mean however that Dell had transferred the money from my account - it only meant that they had reserved the money through VISA. VISA, however, will only reserve funds for five days.

At the end of that five day period DELL still had not withdrawn the funds from my VISA account. Instead, they sent me this message:

-------------------------------------------------- Dear Dell Customer, We regret to inform you of a delay in your recent Dell order. If your order has not shipped within 5 business days, we will provide you with an update. Otherwise, you will receive a notification when the order has shipped from our U.S. manufacturing facility. No further action is required from you at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience experienced due to this delay. If you have any questions about this order, please call us at 1-800-847-4096. ---------------------------------------------

Here's the problem. The five days have now come and gone, and DELL DID NOT send me a notification. I have absolutely no idea when or even if the 730x I ordered is going to arrive. If Dell informs me that they'll send me an e-mail notification in five days, and then don't send it, am I not entitled to be a little bit worried? Right now I have absolutely no idea whether or not I'm ever going to get this computer.

Somebody in this thread suggested that I just cancel the order. Here's where it gets tricky. Computer speakers were included with my order. I didn't want these speakers, but Dell forced me to buy them as a part of the package. The speakers have already arrived and the money for them has been removed from my VISA account. In other words, the only part of this package that I didn't want, I've got. I can't really cancel an order when part of it has already arrived! (And yes, I've already opened the package and unboxed the speakers.)

Also, I've just gotten off the phone with Dell 'Customer Service' for the fourth time - and I still have no answers.

This last time I called they didn't even seem to know what my name was. Eventually I was transferred over to 'Online Sales' -  but when the call went through I got a recording informing me to 'call back' during business hours. At that point I was ready to start crying - and I mean that literally.

I am completely lost and frustrated at this point. If there is ANYBODY at DELL who is reading this would you please help me.

Thank you.

(And PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't delete this post! I'm begging you not to delete this post. Everything I submit to this forum is being deleted. I'm at my wits end about this. This computer is costing me over two thousand dollars. It took me over a year and a half to save up for this. Please take this post seriously and don't just delete it. Thank you.)

fordmustang16,
* Click Start- Run
* Type MSCONFIG
* Click OK
* Under the General tab, click Diagnostic startup
* Click Apply- OK
* Restart the PC
* Check the PC out. If it runs without lockups, then some software in Normal Mode is conflicting causing the lockups

WabeWalker100,
The lead times on the XPS 730x were extended. Not sure why. I do not see any record of your post being deleted?

wke555,
* Reinstall the bios
* Restart the PC
* Remove the Dell AlienFX application
* Restart the PC
* Install this version of the Dell AlienFX application
* Restart the PC
* Adjust the LEDs. Do they work?
* Please remove Shreekanth last name from your post and delete that duplicate post of yours

Wow I can't believe I got mine within 3 days.  I am curious to know how that happened.

I have been running some stress tests the last 2 days and I haven't had any problems or reboots yet.

There's a good article on Overclocking the i7 cpu at "MaximumPC online" at

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/ultimate_core_i7_overclocking_guide_we_push_nehalem_its_limits

Chris,

Thanks for your response.  I will try it tonight as I see this is actually the first revision of the AlienFX anywhere on the Dell driver/software sites.  Also, I have no problems with removing his last name nor deleting my dupl. post, but everytime I try to modify either one of them, it gives me some kind of error.  Perhaps someone else can remove these for me?

Thanks,

Wayne

WabeWalker100, The lead times on the XPS 730x were extended. Not sure why. I do not see any record of your post being deleted?

I've had four posts deleted (I seem to be using two different accounts here somehow?). I think in one of the posts I included my e-mail address, hoping that somebody from Dell would contact me (I see now that Dell doesn't allow e-mail addresses to be included in posts. Fair enough.) But I'm not certain why my other posts were deleted.

At this point, I'm just going to wait, and hope that something happens. I'm no longer receiving any communications from Dell, however, which is incredibly worrisome.

I know for a fact that Dell, at some point, is going to have to request authorization from me to go ahead with the VISA payment, since the five day period ran out a long time ago. I guess that all I can do is wait and hope that Dell either phones me or contacts me via e-mail.

Thanks for informing me that the lead times on the 730x computers have been extended - that's at least some information to go on.

Hey Wayne (wke555) and Chris,
First, I had a similar experience with editing a post. I always received an error and was never able to edit it.
Second, I'm very interested in the AlienFX revision Chris gave you. When I check for my service tag I do not see this revision as an option.
I notice the compatibility section for this new one reads for "XPS/Dimension 625", that reads a bit different from "XPS/Dimension 730X" that I see when following the lead my service tag provides. Can we 730X i7 users safely give Version:1.0.36v2, A04 of the AlienFX software a try?
Did reinstalling the bios and updating the AlienFX software work for you Wayne?
Thanks a bunch for any advice!

Hi Folks,

I am happy to report my 730X(i7940 liquid cooled) is running well. I have however, since day one, noticed something odd. My front and right intake LEDs always appear reddish no matter what color I set. The picture below shows what I see when all my LEDs are set to blue. It is as if the red LEDs never turn off for the these two intake bays only. My only real choice is to set them to red or turn them completely off. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or seen any similar posts. I can't imagine this is a AlienFX issue as the other LEDs seem to respond just fine. Thanks for any advice!

Hi Mastin,

The pic you showed does my problem proper justice.  Yes that is the issue, no matter what colors I change all zones to the front two intake areas are always red tinted, so that they never match the other 3 zones.  EXCEPT when I do all 5 zones on AlienFX as red - it's funny that we both did the same thing to solve the color issue.  I did reinstall the BIOS and AlienFX but it did not do the trick.  I was instructed by my XPS tech that I might need to reinstall my Vista 64 in order to make the AlienFX work again.  I'm not sure if we 730x i7 users can indeed use it or not, but I would believe so.  Either way, I'm in the middle of my reinstallation and I'll report back whether AlienFX is able to change the colors again after Vista reinstallation.  On another note, I think the Dell techs are sick of me calling, and the last message I received was that they were considering replacing my system.  However, after hearing that yours does it too, I'm not sure if I should since I might potentially receive a refurbished one.  Could other 730x i7 owners on here please chime in and confirm that it's like this with the LED's never matching as well?  If we get enough replies, I guess it's a manufacturing quirk and I'll just have to live with it.

Regards,

Wayne

Hi all,

I have been keeping up on all your posts, mostly because I don't know how to turn it off the email alerts.  I too have the red LED lighting problem.  As well, my rear fan does not work.   Overall, my xps730x i7 940 works well.  The reason I did not contact Dell about these problems is that I went through weeks of Dell tech just to get my computer to run semi properly.  After paying so much money, I got a repaired system in the end, because a tech had to come to my home and replace the motherboard.  I wanted a new computer working out of the box, not something that had to be repaired out of the box.  I do not feel I got what I paid for.  I wonder if Mr. Dell would be happy buying a new car that had to be in the shop for a week or two being repaired before he got to drive it.  I'll bet he would not except a repaired vehicle as new; but he does not care if he sells us repaired computers as new.  I would love my computer to work perfectly, but I am not willing to go through hours and days of dealing with Dell tech.  I believe that Dell does not like its customers.  If you disagree, call Dell tech, that will make my point.