Direct2Dell

im going to get a r2 i think ringin tech support again soon what a joke ill get a r2 and demand a refund lol

I ask one more time. Will this issue be solved within a very short time? Do not get me wrong here I love my m17x but we have been told that we have bought a state of the art machine.... 

My posts were deleted, I don't think what I said was unreasonable.

My rig was bought in August and has a long history of problems - stuttering is number one. All I want is a fully functional PC and you'll never hear from me again.

Has the r2 been released yet? If not, how do you know if you have an r2? I just recently bought my m17x (Jan 9th or so) and am having these audio stutters. Hasn't bothered me too much until the other night when I was trying to play a game and it was REALLY bad. Stuttering/screen halting every few minutes for half a second or less (my fps reporter was showing no framerate problems (40-50 fps) and the cpu/memory levels were fine). Since there are so many reported cases I figure I'll hold off calling tech support until I see an update here. I have the poor man's version (lol) Core2 Quad Q9000, 2x GeForce GTX 260M SLI and win7.

Hi

Do you have any information for us regarding this issue?.Its really frustrating for us all not been given updates from you,reading others posts here the lack of information on this is making people more & more angry not good.I look forward to hearing from you and to a resolution of this problem.

Regards

just got my gtx280s swapped for atis today. the tech was an hour late and almost broke my capacitive touch panel.

my full description of the outcome is here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5851949&postcount=1078

john i hope you take a look at it.

to summarize, the atis reduce the latency alot and spikes were mostly only about 5k.

i have not noticed any audio stuttering so far.

however gaming still has stutters and spikes of over 10k. it still happens but less often(from once every 5-10min to every 10-15 min)

its still not acceptable.

10 days more to one month since the last update by john saying nvidia and dell are working together and still no sign of a fix.

seeing that the r2 has problems as well, id like a full refund. or at least the ok to get an r2 once the issue has been solved or a newer model whichever comes first. i dont want to receive an r2 and have a whole new set of problems

Ok john and guys listen uP!

5th time tech man has come so far new mainboard didnt fix it then new graphic cards didnt fix it then new Ati Graphics cards dell tech couldnt get them to be reconised but the mainboard so he put in the nvida again THEY over heated 30mins after tech man came so they sent a differnt tech guy and replaced main board all the fans the graphics card etc seemed ok i updated the bios to a03 and it froze half way thru the bios update so they sent out a tech man today with new mainboard again replaced it laptop seemed ok the tech man then insatalled bios a03 and same thing happened it froze and you cant do anything so they replacin the mainboard on wed, spoke to neil and said ill get a r2 or full re fund, i heard the r2 has problems with the i7 what a joke seriously !!!

Silence.... Hmm.... I'm getting sick of the same thing over and over again! It's been EIGHT MONTHS since Dell / Alienware released this laptop. It is time to do something!

john,

i feel that you guys should send a memo through the entire dell company to every single branch and every customer service and tech support staff to notify of this issue.

i still get tech staff asking me to run dell diagnostics and reformat when i am unable to reach the senior tech handling my case.

 also, please authorize an alternative solution, eg refund/r2 replacement.

i understand you guys are working on a solution but while you guys are doing it, we are left with nothing but paper weights. my system in particular costs 7000 dollars, which is 1000 times more expensive than an overly decorated paperweight in departmental stores.

its been almost over a year since the m17x r1 has been launched and so far the 'fixes' have not helped most of us so i feel that we should have the right to ask for an r2 or a full refund for these problems.

its not our fault dell released a defective product and its definitely been too long for us to continue waiting for a fix which probably will never appear.

the tech handling my case says the problem is caused by some roxio program and audio codecs. which is not what ive heard from you so im guessing hes cooking up some stuff just like what others have experience.

come on, authorize an exchange or refund already. dell will end up losing more money due to unhappy customers than if they agree and admit their mistakes and replace faulty paperweight models with actual working laptops.

Hello John,

First of all, let me thank you because you're kinda the only person at Dell that keeps us more or less informed about this issue. I appreciate that you are not able to give us an ETA for a solution at this time. However, I think many people (including me) are starting to worry because of the uncertainty due to the long time this issue already exists. This laptop costs a lot of money, and I think you can understand no one will accept these kind of issues in a top product.

Wouldn't it be possible for Dell to send an official message in writing to all affected M17x R1 customers that the issue will be resolved as to ease our minds and stop the guessing if/when something will/won't happen (I assume that if Dell is assured that the issue can be resolved, this can't be too difficult)? I think it makes no sense for each and every M17x owner to swamp support in multiple countries with each time the same problem (resulting in different support people communicating different messages that lead to guesses and worries/frustrations on this and other forums). Personally, I'm worried that we will end up in a few months in a situation where warranty periods will be expired and that we will be stuck with an expensive but 'unfinished' product.

Best regards

hello john
a question that each person give you a different solution?
change to ati  or r2
in Spain do not know anything about this
I sent them all forums and topics with the problem
and I say they have no solution ....
that response is normal? with insitu  warranties and complete care

thks

What id like to know is, do i have to contact dell tech support or do i have to wait?

And what do i have to tell them?

Its a hard problem to make them understand what the issue is, cause the annoying sound issue is random.

Will this issue be solved within the next six months?

Hi

Well another week is nearly over & we have had no update?.What i dont understand is the R1 system is still being sold to the public on the Dell website when there is a known issue with it.Any information on the progress would be great.

Regards

This is ridiculous, we paid fortunes for these so called "best gaming laptops" , we cant even use them for its intended purpose and we are all sitting with problems. I very much doubt that there will be a resolution to this.  I think its about time we all went our lawyers to get our money back for false advertising. This laptop is not what it professess to be!

We have been promised resolves, but to no avail.

Gettting really frustrated!

Hi John,

Any update from the engineers yet?

ETA?

anything at all?

this is taking way longer than expected. I still cant believe how Dell is dealing with this, they should offer everyone a refund or replacement for those who can not wait. I was refused to get anything and was told a fix is coming next week to address this issue. Keep lying to your customers, good idea....

John,

I'm happy to report that swapping over to the ATI 4870s appears to have solved my issue.  I'm still extensively testing the system, however the results were very dramatic... My laptop is now actually usable.

However, I do have a question...   Many of us - myself included - have been told by the Alienware technical support folks (Costa Rica call center - as recently as this morning) that there is supposed to be a BIOS update or chipset driver release this week to again partially address the M17x issues (stuttering, storage driver concerns, etc.).  Can you check and see if this is indeed the case?

If it is not, someone seriously needs to tell the support folks to just quit making up stuff to tell customers.  Much of the anger that is being directed at both you and Dell/Alienware is because the stories aren't matching up.  Any updates are appreciated.

Thanks.

Yeah this DPC problem is getting me killed in my online games! It stutters and my frames drop when Im in a fight or whatever and I die... Its destroying me.... Please fix or give me an R2....

This has already reached its limits
another week and maintained his silence
are selling their best and most expensive notebook by defects
Accept it and take responsibility
I do not care if nvidia or dell -  dell or nvidia
We have no reason to keep waiting, you had to be tested before sale m17x
customers are desperate
that are creating a bad reputation
dell   open your eyes

very very angry customer from Spain

Hi

Bios A03 was released to us M17x owners 3 weeks ago to fix this issue which it has not.I think  Dell should do the right thing by there customers i.e offer the current nVidia gpu owners Ati cards which certainly dont cure the issue but make there M17x usable as a laptop again while your working on a fix .If a proper fix is not available its time to recall the M17x R1 offer the latest model.This week Toyota is recalling up to 1.8 million cars across Europe as there cars had a problem along with Honda recalling  646,000 cars for another problem .We have had no information on fix as you said you have no information to give.John we need closure on this issue & should not be expected to hang about for a fix that we have no progress update ,no ETA.

Regards

Personally i think the A03 update isn't actually doing anything more than hiding some latency to the DPC checker, the audio stuttering for me didn't change at all but the checker is reporting a lot less latency, but still the issue isn't resolved, the problems is still there, the lockups the audio stutters/clicks are still affecting my system.

not sure why the reply to comment button isnt working for me so ill just post it here

@theplumberman

you have stutters with ATI as well? thats kind of odd.

most ati 4870 users on the notebookreview forums (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=434691) do not suffer from stuttering and only occasional high dpc spikes.

im actually asking for my gtx 280s to be swapped to 4870s for the moment till a fix is found but if the atis dont help maybe i should just ask for an r2

I have only had my M17x for a few months and have had to go through the multiple reformatting as most others have because it stuttered and froze right out of the box.  I purchased the M17x because I wanted a laptop that had lots of power.  Dell's "legendary" service reputation simply sealed the deal for me.  Right now I'm not all that impressed, but I haven't given up, yet.  I am one of the frustrated where this issue is concerned.

The odd thing is that I don't have nVidia graphics; I have a single ATI graphics card.  I say it's odd only because it seems like everyone is pointing to the graphics cards.  As far as I can see, it doesn't have to do with the graphics.  I think it's more likely that the problem is in the chipset or something.  I'm not a novice with computers, but I'm definitely not a tech, either, so that's just my opinion.

I understand Dell first asking us to reformat to try and solve the problem.  That line of thinking makes perfect sense.  However, when they continue to ask you to do the same thing over and over to fix the problem I think it just crosses the line to "stupid".  If nothing else gets changed, how can they expect the problem to just magically go away?  Unfortunately, reformatting over and over is not something that appealed to me because it takes a really long time to set everything up and fine tune again and again, and my time is valuable, too. 

Becuase I couldn't really afford to have my system constantly down while I reformatted it, I went out and bought another hard drive.  I pulled the one that I had already set up and just set it aside so that if things didn't work I still had something to go back to.  As frustrating as the glitches are, at least I could still use it for getting on the internet and doing some basic stuff.  I had to format the new drive twice, but I do appear to have a resonably stable system now.  That is, I'm not experiencing the stuttering and hanging anymore.  I do need to mention, though, that I did have to set all the hybrid settings to off and the performance settings to maximum.  The battery gets drained very quickly when I'm unplugged, but I can live with that for now.

I still don't view this as a solution, rather it's a temporary fix just to stop the annoyance of the stutter and glitch.  I actually feel that not being able to run certain games, such as Warcraft III, in Windows 7 more of a frustration, now.  I would think that XP Compatibility Mode would actually be compatible.  The game runs, but I can't actually play a lot of the scenarios.  It would be helpful if anyone has any tips.  I've tried a lot of stuff listed in forums all over the internet, but still no luck.  Sorry, I know that's completely off topic.

Anyway, maybe I just got really lucky when I reformatted for something like the 15th time, but I feel that changing the drive may have had something to do with the success.  And if my posting this helps someone else get a stable system for awhile I think it's worth posting.  Like I said, though, try changing something when you do it.  It's possible that a driver conflict is part of the problem.  For me, changing the hard drive was the easiest and it provided me with a way to swap back quickly if necessary.

ruby boy i have same issue when you ring tech support they seem to have no idea bout this fourm let alone what the bioas a03 update was for they just send out techs to change parts like i said i told them to wait a few weeks for a fix from john b i even sent them the link to the fourm so i hope everybody is now on the same page!

to add on, in this two weeks ive only received two responses. first was when i first reported the problem, asking if i had installed any thing before the problem occured and that my request to transfer the case to a more senior tech support staff approved. and the second was after i sent in the second unresolved issue escalation email saying the rep i have requested is checking the compatibilities of the ATI 4870s on my system. but i have not even heard from him at all.

i cant reach anyone via the phone either.

i dont think this should be the standard of customer service for a well established company or a flagship system.

john b, im sure no one blames you directly but we're all frustrated with dell and your one of the only few who actually knows what is going on and arent asking us to reformat our systems a 100 times over and to run dell diagnostics 200 times.

most of us with this sytem have spent alot and almost all of us have complete care with next business day on site warranty.

i have personally reported this problem two weeks ago and till now im getting half baked replies. despite sending in unresolved issue escalation notices two times, im still getting replies like " we are checking if the ati 4870s are COMPATIBLE with your system" from the people who are temporary taking over my case because the person i requested it to be transfered to is "out of office till 25th january 2010" today is 29th january 2010 and i still havent heard from the rep im supposed to be hearing from

I feel that dell should authorize an exchange(to the R2s),replacement to ATIs(to temporary fix the issue) or a refund to those with next business day warranty. asking us to wait for a solution is hardly "next business day" is it?

Whats the point of investing in a system with next business day warranty if it takes a few months for an issue to be resolved?

Guys. They are doing what they can to fix the issue. Surely that doesn't mean you should forget about it but at least give them time. They have come through with a semi-fix before, like the A03 Bios, so it's not like people are getting ignored. I think something is coming soon. Based on previous attempts, a couple of weeks should do it.

Let's have a little more patience. This is not the Alienware it was before, where if you had an issue they couldn't solve, it was tough luck for you. This is Dell. Things will work out. Relax a little.

We appreciate your efforts John B. The angry ones always screen louder, but there are plenty that are satisfied with you and the work Dell is putting to fix this.

(Yes, I have this computer as well, actually 2 of them, they run great, 1 has a slight pop in music, the other doesn't. Both have Nvidia)

Sad so beautiful a machine is having such an annoying issue

hey ok they just replaced both graphic cards and still the problem is still there exactly the same so both main board and graphic cards replaced nothing changed it maybe does only 1 time ever second now compared to 2 times, dell rang and said there going to take my latop away and test it and send out a new one i dont think that will fix anything i pointed them to this forum and said ill wait to see if a update comes out here first so i think alot of peole are hangin on this forum!

John, would it be really difficult to make a call with someone in engineer team and ask them how's the process is going? I assume?

Yeah there is something fishy going on... looks like they really dont know how to fix this?

Customer service representative tells people that there is a driver release next week that will address this, but John Dell who's the official person on this issue doesn't know about it?

Hi so there comming this week to repalce my 280 nvida's i doubt it will fix it will see if it doenst ill demand a desktop alienware i think, DOES anybody else have problems with the system icons not all ways comming on when you start up eg volum battery action center and network? ALSO i have made the touchpad disable it self when a usb mouse is connected but when u take out the usb mouse the touch pad stll stays disabled???

Hi, I'm from France and I have also the same issue. We all know it isn't easy to resolve but, John you posted yesterday on another post to say you couldn't be at CES this year. We kow it is very very important, much more than giving us an update for our expensives laptops .....

But could we expect something from Dellware Staff please, it is so amazing, we are'nt beta testers ... where is this going.

I apologize, but like many M17x -R1 owners I feel so upset. May we have news update ??? TY

Hi

It would help if we could have a progress update or eta of fix as more and more M17x owners are getting frustrated with the lack of feedback on this matter.

Regards

Temp fix: Disable SLI.

This has been working for me for 2 weeks now. It does put a little extra pressure on the system, but I can play all my games still, listen to music and watch videos without any stutters.

I Followed the 14 steps Jaypat posted below however, I installed a customised version of  the 195 series Nvidia graphics drivers by Dox (version 1.1). They can be downloaded here : http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/26002-forceware-19562/

Then I made sure to choose to switch Powermizer OFF while installing them. (this is mainly for those who don't want to tweak around with registry settings)

Finally I disabled SLI and Physx in the Nvidia control panel.

Also I have both Hybrid and Integrated graphics options DISABLED in the Bios. No one should have to turn off the 280m's to stop stutters.

---

So after all this, it doesn't look like it's a motherboard issue, just a Nvidia one with the GPU's power settings. They're still working hard on this to develop a software fix first so we don't have to look into exchanging hardware. Let's just be glad Nividia have stepped in.

i just tryed turning off the nvida 280 grahic cards and just run the intergrated one seems to stop the audio problem maybe they should give us all nvida 260 maybe that will fix it???

OK DELL TECH GUY CHANGED THE MAINBOARD on my M17X and it hasnt changed a single thing still pops and stutters all the time WHAT NOW???

Found this -

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:yv3pxxym-R0J:forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php%3Fp%3D5780823+DenverESullivan+m17x&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

I'm having the same issues (NVidia GTX 280M SLi). Though A03 has helped the DPC latency allot it hasn't stopped the static and pops in audio, including games. Very frustrating.

I got my M17x on 01-15-10. I noticed the clicking and popping when I started playing music to hear the speakers. (I replaced an M1530 with this, and if anyone has experienced the lack of volume from the M1530 speakers, you'll understand why I was so stoked when I heard the M17x!) Anyway, I started searching and found this post. I downloaded the DPC Latency checker and every other second it would spike anywhere between 60,000µs and 800,000µs. I downloaded the A03 BIOS and the Wireless Driver update and was still having problems. The spikes dropped significantly, but were still almost every other second. It wasn't until I went into the Nvidia Control Panel and turned everything to "Performance Mode" when I saw the most improvement. The spikes now hit roughly every 20 seconds, but only jump to about 5,000µs. I only get the huge spikes when im running a game or AutoCAD, but now the highest I have seen them hit is 80,000µs. It still lags up for a couple seconds when it does spike, and its only really annoying when I'm in raid in WoW.  It is still impossible to record my guitar at all with this latency.  It is more usable now, but I would love to see an actual fix soon!

hi, new to the M17x, add me to the list of complainers as well.

Add me to the list of M17x owners with nVidia and stuttering/lockups.

This has been going on for months now. I bought this computer to do presentations involving audio and video. I have been unable to use it for its intended purposes. Dell should at least offer to swap our Nvidia cards for the ATI if we are willing.

Hey,

Just a quick shout. I've the same problems and more besides with my M17x. Gone beyond funny I think.

Like many other people are waiting for a solution to our problems. A03 bios does not solve the problem greetings from Spain

Spoke with a tech this afternoon attempting to see what could be done to address the latency/stuttering issue. He provided me with a 14 step sheet to work through and told me if it didn't resolve the issue to call back.

Well... I called back about 5 hours later and got another tech.

The tech I spoke with actually conferenced in an engineer and we both learned some very bad news... According to him, as of today all Alienware M17x nvidia chipset based motherboards are officially defective. There is nothing they can do to completely eliminate the issue.

Apparently they are working on a new Intel based motherboard revision but it will be some time before it is ready for us.

Amazing 4000 euro on a laptop faulty
I have one month in and I'm tired of formatting install follow the 14 steps
mentioned here
Spain technical support told me to format and reformat at least 14 times a month and no solution do not, according to Spain and now the technicians who are tired of telling me to format tell me to wait and do not know how long I have to wait

where this happens all my time lost in this machine? am betatester dell?

we want real solutions, and know that your time is precious but also us.
many people have this problem and give each one a different solution must be around here

sorry for my English
greetings from Spain

So um does this mean that everyone who bought a M17X and has this motherboard type is screwed?

Will they replace the motherboard/chipset with something that works for free once its done?

I paid 3200 dollars for this computer, there is no reason why I should have to buy a new PC to get a working machine!!!

Spoke with a tech this afternoon attempting to see what could be done to address the latency/stuttering issue. He provided me with a 14 step sheet to work through and told me if it didn't resolve the issue to call back.

Well... I called back about 5 hours later and got another tech.

The tech I spoke with actually conferenced in an engineer and we both learned some very bad news... According to him, as of today all Alienware M17x nvidia chipset based motherboards are officially defective. There is nothing they can do to completely eliminate the issue.

Apparently they are working on a new Intel based motherboard revision but it will be some time before it is ready for us.

For everyone? even XPS M1530 users? :o any other models than MX15/17? do you know?

Hi John,

I'm very happy to see that Nvidia is finally at the table. Since this looks like an Nvidia issue with their cards power management. What can we expect from this?

New Bios?

New graphics card firmware?

new chipset drivers?

Please keep us updated!

Hi,

I wanted to add my experience to this thread.  I know it's a bit off-topic because it's not related to gaming or anything like that, but I'm hoping I can find a fix.  I've copied this from posts I've made in forums on other sites.  I'm copying here for convenience.

I am using a Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 USB interface and I'm getting really bad popping and crackling in my speakers whenever a web page loads, I click the scroll bar and scroll through a website or click and scroll through my audio creation software (Propellerheads Record).

I upgraded to Windows 7 64 bit from XP Media Center and I have a Creative Labs Xfi XtremeMusic for my primary sound card. At first, the popping and crackling was occurring on that card, too, but I added some additional RAM and lowered the quality to 16-bit 41,000. That took care of the issues on that card but the issues on the Audio Kontrol 1 are still persistent.

I want to use my Audio Kontrol 1 for MP3's because I have my new Mackie MR5's plugged into it and they sound amazing (aside from the crackling and popping).

After digging through forum after forum, I think I've narrowed it down to a DPC issue. I downloaded the DPC Latency checker and ran it while I did every day tasks. I get spikes whenever a I load up a new webpage, or scroll through a site like Facebook or Reddit. Other sites don't cause as much of an issue. I have also scrolled through sites using the down arrow on my keyboard and my spikes stayed up in the red the entire time. I can't remember the numbers, but it was around half way, like in the image below. The popping and noise only occurs while I have music playing. If I don't, I don't have any issues.

This image below was recorded while I had the song I was working on playing, and I clicked and dragged around the devices area in Record. You can see the red lines start as soon as I start dragging around, then stop as soon as I let go. During this time the popping and crackling is awful.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...f11e5cb9_o.jpg

I've tried disabling drivers for almost everything. I thought it was my old video card that had the worst performance score in the Windows area, so I replaced that, too. Nothing has worked so far. Is this just a major issue with how Windows is handling IRQ?

By the way, I'm running...

Dell XPS 400
GeForce 9500 1 GB
4 gigs of RAM

Hi Jhon,

I am also experiencing stuttering in games, where fps drops to single digits for like 20 seconds or so and goes back to being normal. It normally doesn't occur all the time but it really ruins the fun of playing games considering M17X is meant to be gaming laptop.  By the way i have also installed new bios A03 and several different video driver without any success.  This problem has also been discussed in the link below, so could you have a look into it......plzzz

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=410440

Hello John. I'm happy to see that you found a solution for the Alienware users but what about XPS M1530 users? Had this problem for quite some time now, constantly dropps in FPS and video/sound shutters. I've tried about everything without any success; Will there be a new BIOS for us? Will the new Nvidia driver fix it? Did I miss out some fix already? Don't feel right to not get the potenional out of my 1800euro notebook.

much love Marius,

Hi John,

Since you are no longer visiting NBR after Dell failing to help M15x users with their throttling problems (which I solved for you guys..how about a free M17x-R2 for my troubles?), please let the Dell/AW engineers know that we'll be watching for throttling on the M17x-R2.

Yes, this is what we expect to hear from DELL, at least there's a belief that DELL would not let their customers down.

Hope NVidia and DELL will come up with a fix soon!

John,

If you look at the hundreds of posts on the Notebook review forums and those here and in your own forums you will clearly see that the latency and audio stuttering issue is still very much present for ALL M17x owners who have the nVidia 280 GTX graphics cards.  It happens evertime the cards downclock.

Myself as well as others would greatly appreciate an update as to where we go from here to get this matter resolved.  What is Dell/Alienware's next steps to help us?

There are rumors of tech support making some 'top secret' registry change to help eliminate this issue.  Why is this NOT an knowledgebase article?  We as customers have much better things to do than wait on hold for the better part of an hour so something that 'may' work when it could easily be crafted into a step-by-step how to article for us to try.

When we as customers spend $3000+ or some even $5000+ on a notebook we expect updates regarding our outstanding issues and timely fixes.  The M17x, fully decked out, is even more expensive than your Precision Workstations, your top business PCs! 

Someone from Dell should be on the phone with nVidia demanding an update or resolution for their customers.  Given Dell's sheer size and its large marketshare it shouldn't really be too difficult to accomplish something.

Hi I can also confirm that the A03 Bios doesn't work.

I have the latest drivers, fresh install and I still get spikes of 60,000+ after about 15-30 seconds.

Still needs more work....

Thanks for the continued work... but this issue needs sorting or I am going to get my money back.

LOL my Samsung Q1 600Mhz Atom 100 PC produces better audio than this PC at the moment... which is very embarrasing...

This issue is going to mentioned in a big comsumer complaint magazine very soon =(

Hi John,

I'm sure you already heard, but this BIOS did not fix the high latency issue.

Why is his case closed?

I have had this laptop since it came out. I love this laptop! I like listening to music ALOT! Sorry butt this update did not fix the problem. I have all up to date drivers and still not fixed. It sounds a little better but still cant surf the net and listen to music at the same time. It seems to do better when im not doing anything.. I love alienware. I just bought a $4000 pc from them.. Unfortunaly DELL stepped in and made things worse. When ever I buy dell theres always somethign wrong with it. I just hope alieware keeps it real and not follow dell...sorry guys try again!

John did a great job closing the issue on an unresolved problem.

This fixes all of the smaller spikes, which the end user couldn't even feel. After following all of your instructions, I still get the big spikes every 15 seconds or so, which were the ones that actually mattered. You guys fixed something that was completely insignificant. Why do I care if my DPC latency spikes to 3000 if I can't feel it? It's the 80,000 spikes that I care about, and that issue is still completely unresolved.

Dell has knowingly (and still does) sell a defective product. Nobody at Dell seems to actually care, but this isn't a problem that is going to go away in the minds of the consumers.

Hi John,

Bios A03 has definitely helped me out in terms of stability and performance of the machine.  With the new i7 refresh can the Core2Duo M17x "classic" users expect an ongoing level of support for their A00 hardware? Or will the A01 machines be the new focus and we'll have to live with what we got.

I'm specifically hoping Dell will update the ATI Radeon Graphics Drivers.  Anyway, thanks for the good work on A03, for ATI users, It seems to be a great update.  For nVidia Users, I believe there are issues with the graphics cards themselves downclocking and creating massive DPC Latency hikes.

Thanks for your help and communication.

Certainly, this A03 BIOS does NOT fix the DPC problem completely!

It just makes the reading better, but RED SPIKE still occurs occasionally!

Nagshead from DELL also confirmed on Notebookreview forum that, this BIOS is just a remedy at the moment, so we are not very happy to see you close the case that quick!

just did the update didnt fix it :( also when u install the update bios in addiation to turning raid on u need to also go to the option below it NV somthing and turn it on and also turn on all 3 things in that menu i had to ring dell if u dont do that windows doenst start, BUT STILL getting problems with the audio :( maybe not as bad BUT still there :(

I'm still getting the same problem. Audio skips but only on sites like youtube or a site that lets you listen to stuff like their podcast.

Clean install of Win 7 and A03 I still have the stutter. It seems worse in Windows 7 (was less pronounced in Vista).

I have a decked out M17x with 3 year warranty. I can't enjoy music, video or games.

Is this related to the 9400m/730i chipset? Do Intel chipsets have this problem?

Well went ahead with updating the bios to A03, Updated fine.

Did format and fresh install of Vista 64bit , Installed drivers. Stuttering Persists :(

I wished it would have been resolved, its a lovely laptop, Will be a pity to part with it.

If i leave it alone and don't touch it, it does it long and far between, but if your even browsing web pages, its frequent, using either Explorer or Chrome, Xfire, Steam, Windows live messenger, these simple little programs.

What more can a customer do, or be expected to do, The technician even asked me was i fed up with all the installing/reinstalling haha.

Must say he was a very nice chap.

Hello John,

first of all, thanks alot for keeping us informed. But as far i can see inside the
release notes:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BIOS change:
1. Fixed the RAID Setup Utility is failed in AMD VGA card platform.

EC change:
1. Update the Thermal Table 2009-08-17.
2. Match with OSD 2.20 fixed AMD card Fn+F6 issue.
3. Modify CPU thermal read method to reduce the system loading.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is this a full history of the changes in that new BIOS? If so, i can't see how that
should be fix the latency and stutter problems. The only change i could realize
so far is that i got way higher cpu temperatures now (like 5-10 deg. more).

I understand your message that way, that Dell/AW declare this as final
fix for that problem? I will see if the audio stutters will happen in the future again
and keep this thread informed...

Regards,
Andreas

Sorry didnt see you updated your topic at the top, I think will wait till i talk with the technician tomorrow so he cant say to me that he told me not to do it and i did ;)

It was yes, Dell----Alienware support,

I tought what you said about them knowing about it, but funny somehow they didnt seem to know about it, i found this most strange, they think that it is driver related. Maybe they know now.

Im a bit crosseyed from looking at the screen all day lol so could you point me to the posted instructions? Or is this the instructions in the bios download section?

Thanks

A responce, finally. 

The technician i was dealing with told me not to install the bios update, So if i go ahead and do it, i void my warrenty if a problem occurs, this is what he told me.

Also, i have read no posts that say the A03 Bios fixed anything, Everything ive read, people say its the same

I seem to have reduced it drastically since the last reformat, using vista 64bit, it didnt start until i installed command center, yesterday it was fine until i installed synaptics driver

At the minute, it only does it now and then, But having a XPS M1730, using the m17x is a joke imo, Selling faulty goods.....Thats really smart. 

From Ireland here, and same problem, bought the system last week, reformatted like 4 times, w7 and vista, back and forth, Coming from a xps m1710 then m1730 to this m17x....SERIOUS muck up with the m17x, the cheek of dell to sell this pile of problems to customers and the problems known for months and not fixed, going to be looking for refund tomorrow. very disappointed dell

Hi there. Im writing from Germany. I have this described problems since I bought my M17x in November '09. Before my Alienware notebook I owned two Hi-End XPS notebooks. I recommended DELL to all of my friends and comrades in the German Airforce for many years because of my positive experiences. Right now I must say that I deeply regret my recommendations. This situation is absolutely not acceptable. It seems that DELL is only interested in business customers. DELL is about to loose their dood reputation here! They should not underestimate the power of the retail customers and to hear something through the grapevine...

DPC readings looks better. But non of the issues were fixed....

i have all the three symptoms discribed in your post John, non were fixed with the new BIOS. I did a full shutdown and restart, disconnect power and battery, still i get all the audio stuttering and video/audio syncing issues....

Some people at the notebookreview forums are reporting high temps on the CPU and GPUs, which i will have to check later...

whats going on?

do you guys have something against AW customers or something?

Better.... but still stutters every once and a while :( come on cant we get this fixed!!

Snagged the A03 BIOS off the FTP site and I still have the stutters.

Well, the A03 BIOS is available, and while it does lower overall DPC latency, the huge spikes causing audio stutters still persist. This still seems to happen across a broad number of machines as seen on the notebookreview.com forums. I'm not sure what the next course of action should be, but I think it's only fair that you have a chance to respond before attempting to escalate things.

John,

We know you guys are very busy working on the M15x, but if you could just give us an update as to what is happening with the M17x A03 BIOS update it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Chris Rivadeneira

we are waiting and waiting.

its time to get your act together. We are not trying to pressure you John, but leaving us in the dark like this is extremely rude. 

John,

We'd appreciate an update on the status of the new A03 bios for the M17x which supposedly addresses the latency and audio playback issues under Vista and Win7.

Your last series of posts indicated that it would be released today.... (if not sooner).

As you are by now fully aware, myself as well as hundreds of other M17x owners are anxiously awaiting this update.  Owning the 'most powerful notebook in the universe' as it was marketed does little good when out-of-the-box it can't handle simple audio/video playback.

We understand that the botched M15x bios update may have thrown you guys for a curve... understandable.  However, that doesn't diminish the fact that we're still here... we're still waiting.... and still having major issues.  As you've probably found out, Alienware owners are much more vocal than your average customer.  We spend the $$$, we expect what we paid for.

Hmmm, as you promised new A03 BIOS for M17x will be out Monday (today) or earlier. Can you please provide any updates??

We all have been waiting for this day

Judgement Day John! What have you got for us?

While I'm here I was wondering - What is Dell's Strategy with regards to Updates and Drivers for Alienware Systems? As I'm sure you're aware, if Dell means to be serious about it's gaming lines, especially relating to ATI Laptops for which ATI Does not supply drivers unlike Nvidia who does supply laptop graphics drivers, can we expect Dell's team to release drivers regularly and close to the refreshes from the chip manufacturer (AMD/ATI?)  There have been two new versions of ATI's catalyst since the last Dell ATI Driver has been released two months ago.  Can ATI HD 4870 users assume that they will not be able to run the latest drivers? This has a significant impact on game compatibility and performance as well as bug fixes.

Also, now that Dell has said an i7 version of the M17x is being released, can core2duo users expect ongoing updates to their system or is Dell going to leave them behind?

Hi John,

Is this fix going to help people with the Studio line of laptops as well? I (along with many others it seems) am having the same problem on my Studio 1535.

Thanks

Well, as the recent A03 BIOS is out for M15x. I am aware that all M15x consumers BRICKED their computer (new motherboard required) after flashing to new BIOS.

I do hope M17x A03 BIOS will be tested carefully before releasing. This is getting embarrasing, we have been patiently waiting for a proper fix, not something which makes situation worse

Please have a look here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=449444

Is the coming update specific for the m17x? My girlfriends m1220 has this problem too..

I just got off the phone with Alienware Customer Support, I requested to talk to a supervisor and was put on the phone with Stephanie.  She told me that the BIOS entered the approval stage sometime this week, she would not specific the date.  She told me that the approval should be very soon and the BIOS should be ready for release very shortly.  Hopefully John can confirm this.

Hi John,

Any updates on this is greatly appreciated. Many people are having the issues described in your post. People at the notebookreview forums are very angry at how dell is treating this issue.

Any estimates on when we will see this Bios update?

Hi John,

Any updates in the current situation? When can we expect A03 BIOS revision to come out?

Cant wait for the new BIOS Hope it works !!!

An update on this issue would be greatly appreciated...  We've patiently given Dell time to validate their fix.

After having had my M17x for a few months it would actually be nice to be able to USE the notebook. Someone at Dell or Alienware really needs to take a look at the drivers that have been released for the M17x.  Chipset driver and WiFi driver have compatibility issues with each other under Win 7, Command Center has Event Log errors from AlienFusion in both Vista and Win7.

This is UNACCEPTABLE for a $5000+ notebook!  If anything, those of us who purchased the flagship notebook should be first in line for driver and bios updates.

excuse the mistakes made in  my last post, I typed it on my allienware/dell .,aside the spelling mistake I have made, and the insertion of words into others that the M17 did on its own, fact remains that the issue on the m17 is allienware related, do not pass it on as anything else.

Hi everyone,

qx9300, 4gb ram, sli 280m, 9400 enabled hybrid mode. A02 bios

I got rid of the stutter on my M17x this way

 followed these instructions http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5620969&postcount=1363

I installed the 195.81_notebook_winvista_win7_64bit_international_beta drivers from nvidia

downloaded RivaTuner224c-[Guru3D.com]  and installed Rivatuner, and set the overclocking to performance 3d. Doing that keeps your cards spun up all the time so you should have good cooling for your laptop.

It has been a few days and I have no problems.

p.s. I got my laptop with Vista home premium had zero stutter , installed win 7 pro i got stutter. did the above trick and no more stutter.

Another week has gone by since the last report from John!

Look like we're not gonna get the BIOS in time for Xmas present  no Santa present this year? :'(]

Just a reminder for those that have asked to be compensated and denied: if you purchased your system via credit card, Visa, MasterCard and AMEX all have some sort of buyer protection program for cardholders. There are limitations on timeframe, so if you are at all concerned, I would advise inquiring with your card company.

also does anybody else have problem with the sound and wifi and batter and action center system icons not always showing and somtimes being blanket out in the options?

Thanks

"Update, 12/15: Sorry there hasn't been anything concrete to report, but I finally have something. My friends in engineering informed me this morning that a fix has been written and is now in the final testing phase. I've been assured that the fix will be ready for consumption in the next couple of weeks, barring any unforeseen incidents!"

:D :D :D

Awsome cant wait to get it im gonna format my laptop after i get it :)

WOW, not only have they not fixed this problem yet, at least one of my posts has been deleted. I didn't swear, nor was I rude. I posted my displeasure, and said how one might be able to get a refund if you purchased this laptop in the last 30 days and my post was deleted. 

Dell = Communist

The latency problem sucks as it is but I lived with it for day to day work. I tried to do a presentation with audio the other day and when I had an projector plugged into the VGA port the stuttering and locking up was so bad it was unuseable. Embarrassing!!!!!! I had to use my 4 year old inspiron that I was upgrading when I bought this laptop!

I run a video production company, this system is currently  "The most powerful doorstop in the Universe"

@esemar - I agree with you. Using this computer as a work computer has cost me losts of time in lost productivity...

So when this fix is released, will it be something we just download. Or will we have to do some tricky stuff?

Is there going to be an update on this issue in the next century?

This "silence as a good sign" nonsense is utter garbage. Either they have progressed and are closer to a solution or they aren’t. If the question “how are we going with the BIOS update” is asked, and you get no response, then i would think its bad as they have no clue what to say...

Quote from DELL-John B

“You are correct. We aren't offering refunds for this issue, and an exchange really wouldn't do you any good.

I read your blog. You're a very good writer. Like I said, though, if audio stuttering is the issue, there isn't anything the repair center or an exchange could do. I'll contact the support rep you're speaking with and get everyone on the same page.”

End of Quote from DELL-John B

What do you mean you aren't offering refunds and it wouldn’t do any good? We all paid for a $4,000+ machine that doesn’t perform they way it was intended to. I can’t even play games properly because of this issue and this “machine” was MADE for gaming.

This is just plain ridiculous and everyone’s patience is starting to wear thin, give us a real update.

Reading the posts here and on other forums it seems that Dell/AW is having these issues with the Quad Core processors.

I can tell you it ALSO affects my Dual Core T9550 processor. I got my M17x 2 weeks ago, ran clean Vista install and clean Win7 installs and on both I get horrible audio and video stuttering. Using Media player/Winamp/VLC or watching a youtube clip...it's worthless.

I planned on using the M17x for audio work, like Ableton and Cubase, but that's out of the question for now...

Thanks Dell for your amazing support and keeping us informed with updates. Not. Reminds me of my issues with the M1730.

I contacted AW more than 1 week ago and still no response. We are currently investigating your issue is what I get.

Didn't these problems arrise when AW was manufacturing/designing these machines? Did it all magically appear on the day the systems got shipped? Looks like turnover/numbers is all that counts nowadays.

For those of you hoping for a system exchange or a refund, Good Luck.

Alienware (at least in the US) isn't even acknowledging that there's a problem. I've been going rounds with them for months trying to get a replacement. I've never experienced such poor customer service.

I took the time to jot down my experience here.

You promiced an update at least once a week! its been 12 days!

whats going on?

Really don't like the "No news is Good news.." Impatience I suppose;) But I enjoy my M17x - except for the stuttering of course! I use it as my work machine, so it's pretty hard for me if I have to send it back:(

HI just wondering if we could have a update i really cant use the m17x till its fixed :( anybody else havin problem with the new task bar and the preview only last like 1 sec and going away same with alt tab?

Thanks

Just want t add my voice. Just got an M17x and the sound stutters and buzzes occasionally.  It is worst during games, but happens just listening to music on youtube too.  This needs a fix or I can't see keeping the computer.  I wasn't happy there were no audio choices in configuring this machine.  I'm glad there is someone working on this.  For my part the clock is ticking while I can still return the laptop and get a refund.

Same issues with my M17x. I can't understand how this product was considered ready to ship with an issue this basic and so widespread.

Hey John,

Update yet?

Hello John,

It has been a week since your last update. Are there any news about BIOS update. We have been waiting for patiently for the fix, so we all hope it would be resolved before Xmas.

Also, do you think that we should stop using ours Alienware M17x until a new BIOS revision comes out? as using current bad BIOS version may damages the system?

Best Regards

Anders

hi any update my m17x is the same sound and playing videos it shtters few times every min

Andrew

I have the exact same DPC problem on my Dell XPS M1530. Couldn't figure out anything, I have tried almost all possible variations of reinstalling Windows Vista, 7, or XP, same goes for drivers. Sometimes the spikes are even in the range of 60ms-300ms and the stuttering wont stop till a full system reboot. I've experienced that right from the start when I first recieved my laptop.

Is there a chance that this problem can be tracked down on other systems as well (like my M1530) or even a BIOS fix too?

That is great news.  Can we get an estimated date of completion?  You have to agree that we have been very patience with the problem for the most part. 

As a quick FYI for a quick fix for listening to music with Winamp on m17x machine.

I went into the "options" Preferences" and found the "output" setting for the audio and maxed out all the buffer options.  This did a fix on the music skipping while using Winamp.

I would suggest looking for similar options on what media player you have and see if this works as a temp fix.  Not really an option for the gaming aspect, but at least I can listen to music and do my work.

I received this machine (m17x)  last week.  other than looking pretty and booting up fast....it audibly will serve better as a heavy weight to beat a bell.  I'm going to rip my hair out if the sound doesn't stop skipping!  Its great business practice to ship out something as expensive as this with multimedia "skipping problems."   (Spoken in sarcastic annoyance) 

I want to add that I have had my Alien m17x for a little less than a month and for the money I paid I EXPECT it to work.  For it not to work is just plain criminal.

the m17x sound stutters and pops and skips for any audio source.

What is the prognosis?  Do "they" think there will be a fix anytime soon? 

If this is not going to be fixed in a timely manner, I'm going to demand my money back and return this thing.  What's the use of having a monster system with sound that is partially disabled?

Any updates on where we're at with getting this fixed would be appreciated, thanks.

Hi John,

Thanks for the update, we're anxiously waiting to see what Dell has identified as the root cause this week.  Cheers

Nick

I've had my m17x for about 2 months. I don't remember having these issues prior to putting windows 7 on it. Is it just me I was using the system for a month before i received win 7. I had watch TV shows online and did not notice any of the stuttering that i have now. Since the problems have arouse. I went back to vista thinking it was something that i did with the whole install of win 7 and programs that were put on and did a whole new reinstall of 7 and updated the all the drivers ready to go back to vista where it seemed to run video fine. Do not play any games on system so barely use to its full potential. I even have someone else that saw it and used it prior to win 7 going on it and they loved it. They even called up to price one out.  I have since told them of the issues and they are holding off until problems resolved. Its like owning a fancy car that you can't take out of first gear.

I'm surprized there is no information in THIS thread that is actually technical.

Shouldn't this thread be the official one? So far, we have one person saying its the Hard Drive?? I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the harddrive, and the problem ONLY happens if the NVIDIA drivers are installed. How come noone is talking about this?

Uninstall the NVIDIA drivers for the GPU and the audio stutters are gone. Now of course, a gaming laptop without a GPU is pretty useless....

Thanks for the post.  Some of us have contacted Dell prior to this and were told a BIOS update was already in the works and is currently one or two weeks overdue.  Could you please confirm this?

Also, if you need anything, my M17x is also available for testing. 

Hi John

First it's good to see you here, and thanks for your update. It is a pity that however that it takes visibility from so many dissatisfied M17x owners over several month to contact other publications in order to get a response from Dell/Alienware for some traction, so I hope a valuable lesson is learned here too..

To be constructive, rather than open the floodgates for anyone with a problem, what information can we, your premium customers (in my case after spending £4100) do for you Dell/Alienware to identify and more quickly assist in resolving this specific and well publicised issue? We are frustrated because, as many of our community are in the IT sector and pretty tech savvy, we would like to offer our expertise freely if used constructively and objectively towards a proper resolution - as a two way street.

I appreciate as many of us will, that you rely also on updates from OEMs such as nVidia for drivers, and so this responsibility should be shared there too, as this is hurting your customers current and future potential sales and reputation.

This is a great opportunity to work with your customers, and we will respond, and try to separate the understandable frustration from the constructive feedback. Please let us know what you need in terms of testing and feedback and we will rise to the challenge.

Kind regards

Trelawney (UK)

P.S. The DPC issues reported may not all be related to the same root cause, however as the M17x is a gaming platform, it is also during games that such stutters have been seen to occur and cause framerates to briefly freeze. In my experience, my stutter issue is due to the RAID 0 Seagate drives 'clunking' / parking several times a minute and then trying to perform a cache. Alienware tech support tell me is quite normal and a known 'issue' with certain Seagate drives. Not sure I agree here even though SMART shows they are otherwise fine, but I hear varying reports of the same too which may for some be part of the same symptom. 

While I'm glad you guys are finally responding seriously to this issue, I have a problem with the fact that this is an issue to begin with. It's a problem with the industry as a whole, and not necessarily specific to Dell, and that's a lack of testing on released products. I personally own an M17x and I find it unacceptable that on a simple Windows install using only Dell released drivers that audio playback (even while doing nothing at all) skips and stutters the way it does. IF I were tweaking or deviating from factory spec, I could understand that, but it's totally stock!

I will add that I love the machine otherwise. It meets almost every other requirement I was looking for in a notebook machine. All I need it to do now is play my music without ruining the experience.