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July 5th, 2017 09:00
Extremely dissappointed by Dell Support
June 21 I bought a new AW17r4 from a retailer to replace my aging AW17(2014). I've got a busy schedule so wasn't able to fire it up until the 23rd. Did the usual; uninstalled all the progs I didn't want, ran all the updates through SupportAssist; the laptop bricked itself on the BIOS update.
Support call into the Alienware queue had me talking to a rep within 5minutes. Less than 5minutes after that, the tech understood the situation and dispatched a tech to replace the motherboard - apparently it's a common issue? Since it was a Friday night, next business day support wouldn't happen until Tuesday. Fair enough.
Tuesday at COB I get an email saying the part was backordered and would be there that Friday for installation, the 30th. I patiently wait. Friday at COB I get another email, still backordered - it'll be here the 5th for 1pm installation.
Today, I get an email saying it's still backordered and will be here for installation on the 10th.
I'm now past my window for in-store exchange. Dell will not replace the whole laptop. I'm now sitting on a $3200 paperweight for really no good reason.
By *FAR* the worst support, communication and turnaround time I've ever experienced. In our household we've got two x51's, a Precision 5510, and XPS13, and AW17 and this new one - I've been a long time supporter of the Dell family in general and have gotten stellar support on products that weren't "next business day replacement" supported.
This sucks. Can anyone recommend an alternate brand?
Eimy_B
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4.4K Posts
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July 5th, 2017 10:00
Hi compugeek5150,
We are very sorry about the whole situation. Unfortunately many times we have no control over the availability of the parts, that is when this type of situation occurs. But we completely understand the way you feel about it.
It is not like this is a common problem with this model, what happens is that with the new release of the Kabylake processors the user needs to be very careful when running the BIOS update as the current Bios files will have a larger filename with the following explanation:
S1.1.7 = For Skylake Processors, Bios version will be 1.1.7
K1.1.6 = For Kabylake Processors, Bios version will be 1.1.6
Before updating any Bios, verify which version the system has installed and confirmed you are going to do an upgrade and not a downgrade (depending on which processor the computer has) , otherwise the system can experience a No Post situation.
Also, when you're running the update the system will show you a message asking the user to disable in the Bios the Overclocking and the CPU Performance. If these settings are not removed, the motherboard can experience a No Post with 7 Beeps.
It is possible that your system has failed for any of these reasons, or it may have failed for some other reason. You can send me a private message with the Service Tag and I will check your case.
compugeek5150
24 Posts
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July 5th, 2017 16:00
Actually, what bricked it is that I had overclocking/performance *enabled* before the flash. It should be disabled. It was apparently a known problem. No notification came up.
As for checking for the correct version; Why?! I used the Dell system Detect utility to do this for me - it's the patch rollout team's fault, no?
I'll PM you the service tag, but I'm pretty sure you're going to do nothing but give me the backordered status that I've already gotten. Lame. None of this addresses the issue of not being next business day support. Or next business week. You guys are totally on target for next business month support however.