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December 23rd, 2011 02:00

Major Alienware M17x R3 Problems going unresolved...

                    Hello, My name is Daniel , let me give you a little background on whats been happening with my one month old alienware M17x R3. I've always wanted an alienware, ever since i became a gamer years ago. This year I was finally able to get my hands on a few. First, I order two M17x R3s a little over a month ago. My first one came with the wrong screen. I had ordered 1920x 1080. It came with a 1600x900. This one was supposed to be a gift for my girlfriend, instead I had to return it. The second one arrived to me with everything I ordered, but was in horrible condition, and this is where the alienware nightmare begins. It came with a buzzing mother board, and a loosely fitting case, even missing screws. I call alienware technical support, and they send out a dispatch to repair the problem, changing the motherboard and numerous body parts. All was good, until two weeks later when I went to start my computer in the morning. No video, just 8 beeps and a black screen.
                  I call alienware technical support again, and after reporting the new issue, they tell me my only option is depot because of the numerous issues I'm having with the system. Which, to me shouldn't be my problem, its only a month old, I obviously got a lemon in the bunch. Also, I can NOT part with my computer for 2 weeks, even 1 week. I need it for my work and my school, and my entertainment, its a very important part of my life. So after begging the managers and explaining my situation,( I shouldnt have to beg them to repair their 1 month old product in my home), they dispatch yet another repair for me.  This time the technician comes with a new graphics card and motherboard.  At first, he replaces the graphics card, and it fires right up. I happily thanked him, and he left.  No more then 5 minutes after it booted up with video, it started acting funny.  The thing wouldn't stay on unless it was plugged in. Once Unplugged it gave the low battery warning flashes and shut down. Its a month old battery with 0 percent wear and 100 percent charge. Yet, another new problem! So I call the technician back to my house, and he runs a diagnostic. It turns out that now, the laptop refuses to charge, as well as shutting down once unplugged. Ok, so it must also be the mother board he said. This motherboard is only a week old mind you, and it was the same technician that replaced it the first time. So he tears open the computer to replace the motherboard. After the motherboard is replaced, It stops all the weird battery and charging issues, but now it had glitchy lines all over the screen!! It alternates between weird lines on the boot up screen, then a black screen right after and no boot into windows followed by a blue screen,  8 beeps and no video at all, and video in a small distorted window the two big black areas to the left and right. It seems random what you get with the bootup. We run the video test in that boot up area, and there are artifact looking things everywhere, as well as failing the video test.  We call dell and after being on the phone with them for a long time with the tech, they could not resolve the issue. I was late for my job as this started at 1, I didnt expect it to last until 5:30. Again they want me to send it to depot. Please understand I cant afford to part with my computer for that amount of time, nor should I be forced to. Its a month and a half old and its not a cheapo gateway, its a premium product, come on now. I can understand if it was nearing a year or two, but its only been a month and a half since ive had it!  So I declined, and he said an alienware team would contact me in 24 to 48 hours, which sadly, they never did. So I'm stuck here on the friday of the christmas weekend with no computer to play all the games my girlfriend bought me for christmas, with "the most powerful 17 inch laptop in the universe", and I'm really upset, and bummed by the situation.   I just want what is fair here. I want a quality working computer. I want to love alienware again so I can continue buying these products, because I love them otherwise. I want to happily buy the R4 and R5 and R10 with confidence that dell has my back and supports its very expensive products. But If i cant get this thing resolved fairly, I dont see that happening as much as I want to, because I would lose all my love and confidence in the company. 
               At this point I'm a little afraid for another repair for this lemon because everytime someone comes to fix it, it comes back with even more problems. I've had two mother boards, and two graphics cards in the span of 2-3 weeks.  So , I feel like, what else is going to go wrong with the machine.  What would be the best outcome of this whole situation for me would be a new build so I know its coming from the factory fresh with no defects, so I can once again enjoy playing my pc games and working with it, and that kind of treatment would restore my confidence and faith in this company to back its products to the maximum, and I'd gladly buy another.   My second desired outcome if that isnt possible would I guess be to accept another repair, but with a better gpu then the once thats not working in my computer ( the technician and I narrowed it down to a once again bad GPU, the new one they sent us was bad). But I think its fair to say, this one i have now is a lemon, who knows what else will go wrong with it, and I'd really just like a new one. I feel like thats fair after all this I'm going through, but those are the two best resolutions for me. I spent so much time on the phone with alienware that I went over my phone bill 100 dollars and 624 mintues. Thats how bad it was.  Please help me, thanks.    what are my options ? Thanks guys.

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December 25th, 2011 12:00

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