Problem/review MJ12M 7700 ... Hey there, I hope im posting this on the right board. Its not a review but I feel I need to give you some background, before I can ...

Dojo · 08-21-2005, 08:51 AM

Hey there, I hope im posting this on the right board. Its not a review but I feel I need to give you some background, before I can explain the technical issue. Neither I'm I going to slag off Alienware as it is a damn fine powerfull system (when it works).
The system :
Invoice | SI-EU24111
MJ-12M 7700
AREA-51M 7700 D900T GREY 17" WSXGA+ W/ CAM
MB-D900TAWGRY17SXGA+
INTEL PENTIUM 4 550 3.4 1MB L2 CACHE 800MHZ FSB LGA775
CPU-3.4P4550S775
SAMSUNG 1 GB DDR2 4200 SO-DIMM LEAD FREE
MEM-MOBL1GBDDR2533S
HITACHI NOTEBOOK 60GB 7200RPM HD
MOBL-HD60GB7200RPM
MJ-12 M NVIDIA QUADRO FX GO 1400 FOR 7700 WITH 256MB MODULE
MOBL-VID900TNV41GL
W-NWEB 802.11ABG INTERNAL MINI PCI WIRELESS ADAPTER
MOBL-MINIPCIABGCM9
AREA-51M 7700 8X DVD+/-RW NEC
MOBL-D900T8XDVDRWDFN
USB FLOPPY DRIVE 7700
MOBL-USBFLOPPY
INTEL MOBILE INTEGRATED HIGH-DEFINITION AUDIO
SND-INTELHDAUDIOMOBL
+software & all the goodies
Grand total : £3,658.56

The system was ordered through the UK website on 15th-jun-2005
The system was received in Belgium on 24th-jun-2005.

I'm a self employed 3D CAD engineer, so I don't need to mention I have to be able to rely on the PC/Notebook I work with. The biggest part of my job consists of freeform surfacing en mechanical design using Pro/engineer 2001 to Wildfire2 (for who this interests

). So the station I use must be rather powerfull graphics wise. My last workstation was a Dell precision 340 which didn't give me any issues over the last 3 years. The downpoint is the bulkieness and weight. I just got tired of hauling that system everywhere (from work to home, to a customar, back to work etc). The company im currently working for recently bought the M70 Dell notebook, which really impressed my with its graphical speed and realtime capabilities of rendering surfaces when you are manipulating them. After seen that I decided a laptop workstation was the way to go. The downpoints with Dell for me were the 15.4" monitor, the limit to 1Gig ram, the 5400 rpm harddisk and the centrino processors (as it tended to become very slow when you have many parts in memory). I then started comparing different companies and their notebooks. (again Dell, HP, Acer etc). 17" workstation notebooks are hard to come by obviously and I didn't want to use Acer as they don't (didn't) offer the GO1400 nvidia card. So at last I checked out alienware and was surprised to see that powerfull machine on their website (I just knew them for their gaming machines). So in short .. system ordered.
One week later after delivery the problem started : The biggest bottom fan (for the cpu) fails to start sometimes under heavy workload. I do have to add its random, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. What it seems to be is a voltage shortage for this fan as it does want to start but can't generate the torque to start spinning. When its moving foreward and backwards a bit it does create a very irritating high pitched noise (like a frequency dirve). Eventually the system gets to hot and shuts off. I dont think I need to explain that this is unacceptable for proffesional use, nor can it be healthy for the system itself..
Soo after the first week I called tech support (international calls). The person advised me to open up the system and clean out the ventilators ???? Doesn't this affect my waranty?? naah.. I decided not to open it and see what the system does but to no avail.
I did send out a mail to tech support informing them about this incident but never got a reply..
2 weeks later the issue persisted so I called back to tech support. This operator ran me through a Bios update which in my opinion could have been a solution (if it was a known problem and the bios update included a redirection of voltage to the fans...)
But halas, problem not resolved.
Another call the the tech support.. (this time I get a french operator). Oh sir, this is a known technical issue with the motherboard and you will need to send your system back! Erm?? known ? Why do 4 weeks have to pass before you tell me this? I can only tell you sir the motherboard needs to be replaced..
But anyway, a decent explanation is not something you need to expect from the support guys and the people in charge are always on the phone or in meeting....
System shipped back to alienware 28th-jul-2005.
Lotsa phonecalls later to enquire what is wrong with the system and when it will be send back, I didn't get one step further then 'your system is being diagnosted and it will be send to you asap'. Eventually as I think they got tired of my whining phonecalls they sended it out on 11th-aug-2005.
System received 12th-aug-2005 (for once it wasn't on hold for 2 days at the DHL facility...) During the last phonecall they proudly told me that they replaced the fans and the DVD rom drive and the noise problem is solved. Uuuuh??? it came back to replace the motherboard?? Ah yeah they also replaced the motherboard. Hummm ....
Big surprise The 15th-aug-2005 the fan didnt start up again while working.
After spending 45 mins on the phone and being swapped from one operator to another they decided that it had to come back... So what are you going to change then?? I don't know sir it just needs to come back
So system sended back out to Alienware 16th-aug-2005 with a promessed 'priority turnaround in our depot'. I ensured them again i'm not complainging about the noiselevel but about a technical issue. One technical operator again confirmed that they have issues with the motherboard.
The 15th I also checked the physical adress of my network card and it was still the same as when I received the system. It's an onboard network card and this adress is unique ?? Motherboard replaced I dont think so.. (Pro/engineer uses this mac adress to configure your license, thats why I checked). When pointing this out to the technician he really didn't give a clear explanation besides, yes sir the cage is completely renewed inc the motherboard.
I'm pretty curious what they are going to change on the laptop now and when I will get it back. In approx 2.5 months I was able to use this system for about 3 weeks, luckely I didn't sell my Dell workstation so I still have something to work on.
Are there any other owners with this same issue or does anybody know how to find out what the specific issues are with this motherboard? (i think its a i915 chipset asus).

Greetings and sorry for the long story and short question
Nick Joos

Hammerhead · 08-21-2005, 10:44 AM

I think there's a program called "get thermal" that people use to manually turn the fans on with the 7700.

This thread may help too.

Alien_Head13 · 08-22-2005, 04:02 PM

yes use get thermal....but be warned as it isn't liscenced software by AW. They will not support it.

Dojo · 08-23-2005, 02:46 PM

Cheers people for the replies, I'll continue this on the thread you suggested Hammerhead. An update of my emails to AW is in there

Dojo

It4cH189 · 09-02-2005, 11:23 PM

im experiencing that shiit too , only sent it to their research depot once though, couldnt part with my computer for another 2 weeks

Dojo · 09-04-2005, 07:06 AM

Hehe, system received 24th june. It's now the 4th of september and still haven't got it back so two weeks is only in your wildest dreams, but i think for that kinda money you would expect a system with no issues, while the waranty hasn't ran out. They now claim to have installed a newer version of the motherboard, which requered also a new LCD panel? Oh, and if your willing to get your system back dear valued customer, you need to ship us your power supply (which again took 3 days and a weekend as they called to tell me that on a tuesday, got the rma number wednesday night and had it shipped on thursday. I'ts now on hold in the Ireland DHL facility due to weekend

)
My very first and last AW tbh

Nick

Dojo · 09-17-2005, 06:19 AM

Soooo we are now the 18th of sept and have my system back for about 1.5 weeks. As I still got my old but thrusty dell desktop workstation I have only used the laptop twice. The second time now and what you reckon? The same still happens. Main cpu fan cant start unless you make it start by prying a paperclip in the holes and make it turn. Oh yeah its a complete new case but nevertheless there is a serious issue with this system/motherboard/power distribution-consumption. Can I be arsed to send it back again? nah is it wont get resolved by alienware and i'm sick of being threated as a moron by their staff. (not to mention that this one makes even more high pitched noises, so does the powersupply, so its almost impossible to work at ease without some music on. There must be more people out there with the same prob...

08-21-2005, 08:51 AM	#1
Dojo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 24 Credits: -42	Problem/review MJ12M 7700 Hey there, I hope im posting this on the right board. Its not a review but I feel I need to give you some background, before I can explain the technical issue. Neither I'm I going to slag off Alienware as it is a damn fine powerfull system (when it works). The system : Invoice \| SI-EU24111 MJ-12M 7700 AREA-51M 7700 D900T GREY 17" WSXGA+ W/ CAM MB-D900TAWGRY17SXGA+ INTEL PENTIUM 4 550 3.4 1MB L2 CACHE 800MHZ FSB LGA775 CPU-3.4P4550S775 SAMSUNG 1 GB DDR2 4200 SO-DIMM LEAD FREE MEM-MOBL1GBDDR2533S HITACHI NOTEBOOK 60GB 7200RPM HD MOBL-HD60GB7200RPM MJ-12 M NVIDIA QUADRO FX GO 1400 FOR 7700 WITH 256MB MODULE MOBL-VID900TNV41GL W-NWEB 802.11ABG INTERNAL MINI PCI WIRELESS ADAPTER MOBL-MINIPCIABGCM9 AREA-51M 7700 8X DVD+/-RW NEC MOBL-D900T8XDVDRWDFN USB FLOPPY DRIVE 7700 MOBL-USBFLOPPY INTEL MOBILE INTEGRATED HIGH-DEFINITION AUDIO SND-INTELHDAUDIOMOBL +software & all the goodies Grand total : £3,658.56 The system was ordered through the UK website on 15th-jun-2005 The system was received in Belgium on 24th-jun-2005. I'm a self employed 3D CAD engineer, so I don't need to mention I have to be able to rely on the PC/Notebook I work with. The biggest part of my job consists of freeform surfacing en mechanical design using Pro/engineer 2001 to Wildfire2 (for who this interests ). So the station I use must be rather powerfull graphics wise. My last workstation was a Dell precision 340 which didn't give me any issues over the last 3 years. The downpoint is the bulkieness and weight. I just got tired of hauling that system everywhere (from work to home, to a customar, back to work etc). The company im currently working for recently bought the M70 Dell notebook, which really impressed my with its graphical speed and realtime capabilities of rendering surfaces when you are manipulating them. After seen that I decided a laptop workstation was the way to go. The downpoints with Dell for me were the 15.4" monitor, the limit to 1Gig ram, the 5400 rpm harddisk and the centrino processors (as it tended to become very slow when you have many parts in memory). I then started comparing different companies and their notebooks. (again Dell, HP, Acer etc). 17" workstation notebooks are hard to come by obviously and I didn't want to use Acer as they don't (didn't) offer the GO1400 nvidia card. So at last I checked out alienware and was surprised to see that powerfull machine on their website (I just knew them for their gaming machines). So in short .. system ordered. One week later after delivery the problem started : The biggest bottom fan (for the cpu) fails to start sometimes under heavy workload. I do have to add its random, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. What it seems to be is a voltage shortage for this fan as it does want to start but can't generate the torque to start spinning. When its moving foreward and backwards a bit it does create a very irritating high pitched noise (like a frequency dirve). Eventually the system gets to hot and shuts off. I dont think I need to explain that this is unacceptable for proffesional use, nor can it be healthy for the system itself.. Soo after the first week I called tech support (international calls). The person advised me to open up the system and clean out the ventilators ???? Doesn't this affect my waranty?? naah.. I decided not to open it and see what the system does but to no avail. I did send out a mail to tech support informing them about this incident but never got a reply.. 2 weeks later the issue persisted so I called back to tech support. This operator ran me through a Bios update which in my opinion could have been a solution (if it was a known problem and the bios update included a redirection of voltage to the fans...) But halas, problem not resolved. Another call the the tech support.. (this time I get a french operator). Oh sir, this is a known technical issue with the motherboard and you will need to send your system back! Erm?? known ? Why do 4 weeks have to pass before you tell me this? I can only tell you sir the motherboard needs to be replaced.. But anyway, a decent explanation is not something you need to expect from the support guys and the people in charge are always on the phone or in meeting.... System shipped back to alienware 28th-jul-2005. Lotsa phonecalls later to enquire what is wrong with the system and when it will be send back, I didn't get one step further then 'your system is being diagnosted and it will be send to you asap'. Eventually as I think they got tired of my whining phonecalls they sended it out on 11th-aug-2005. System received 12th-aug-2005 (for once it wasn't on hold for 2 days at the DHL facility...) During the last phonecall they proudly told me that they replaced the fans and the DVD rom drive and the noise problem is solved. Uuuuh??? it came back to replace the motherboard?? Ah yeah they also replaced the motherboard. Hummm .... Big surprise The 15th-aug-2005 the fan didnt start up again while working. After spending 45 mins on the phone and being swapped from one operator to another they decided that it had to come back... So what are you going to change then?? I don't know sir it just needs to come back So system sended back out to Alienware 16th-aug-2005 with a promessed 'priority turnaround in our depot'. I ensured them again i'm not complainging about the noiselevel but about a technical issue. One technical operator again confirmed that they have issues with the motherboard. The 15th I also checked the physical adress of my network card and it was still the same as when I received the system. It's an onboard network card and this adress is unique ?? Motherboard replaced I dont think so.. (Pro/engineer uses this mac adress to configure your license, thats why I checked). When pointing this out to the technician he really didn't give a clear explanation besides, yes sir the cage is completely renewed inc the motherboard. I'm pretty curious what they are going to change on the laptop now and when I will get it back. In approx 2.5 months I was able to use this system for about 3 weeks, luckely I didn't sell my Dell workstation so I still have something to work on. Are there any other owners with this same issue or does anybody know how to find out what the specific issues are with this motherboard? (i think its a i915 chipset asus). Greetings and sorry for the long story and short question Nick Joos

08-22-2005, 04:02 PM	#3
Alien_Head13 The Head of aliens. Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Dayton, Oh Posts: 2,253 Credits: 131	yes use get thermal....but be warned as it isn't liscenced software by AW. They will not support it. __________________ *****************************************

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08-21-2005, 10:44 AM	#2
Hammerhead Community Rep Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: In my house Posts: 9,770 Reviews: 1 Benchmarks: 1 Credits: 4,710	I think there's a program called "get thermal" that people use to manually turn the fans on with the 7700. This thread may help too.

08-23-2005, 02:46 PM	#4
Dojo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 24 Credits: -42	Cheers people for the replies, I'll continue this on the thread you suggested Hammerhead. An update of my emails to AW is in there Dojo

09-02-2005, 11:23 PM	#5
It4cH189 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 4 Credits: -348	im experiencing that shiit too , only sent it to their research depot once though, couldnt part with my computer for another 2 weeks

09-04-2005, 07:06 AM	#6
Dojo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 24 Credits: -42	Hehe, system received 24th june. It's now the 4th of september and still haven't got it back so two weeks is only in your wildest dreams, but i think for that kinda money you would expect a system with no issues, while the waranty hasn't ran out. They now claim to have installed a newer version of the motherboard, which requered also a new LCD panel? Oh, and if your willing to get your system back dear valued customer, you need to ship us your power supply (which again took 3 days and a weekend as they called to tell me that on a tuesday, got the rma number wednesday night and had it shipped on thursday. I'ts now on hold in the Ireland DHL facility due to weekend ) My very first and last AW tbh Nick

09-17-2005, 06:19 AM	#7
Dojo Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 24 Credits: -42	Soooo we are now the 18th of sept and have my system back for about 1.5 weeks. As I still got my old but thrusty dell desktop workstation I have only used the laptop twice. The second time now and what you reckon? The same still happens. Main cpu fan cant start unless you make it start by prying a paperclip in the holes and make it turn. Oh yeah its a complete new case but nevertheless there is a serious issue with this system/motherboard/power distribution-consumption. Can I be arsed to send it back again? nah is it wont get resolved by alienware and i'm sick of being threated as a moron by their staff. (not to mention that this one makes even more high pitched noises, so does the powersupply, so its almost impossible to work at ease without some music on. There must be more people out there with the same prob...