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the first Area-51 m5550 review - By Allastorm - Page 5

post #81 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:01am
oh i forgot to add... i got around 2hr and 12 mins of battery life surfing the web with the screen dimmed up 2 notches. Im guess if you adjust power management to max battery it will last abit longer. Btw did any see the battery managment option the the bios? Something about battery management enabled or disabled. Whats that?
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post #82 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:02am
Glad it hasn't shut off, Bryan. Could have been something strange...do you have any temperature monitoring software on your CPU/GPU that you can check?

Did you add RAM after you got it?

I know my battery light is fully green when it's charged. Probably worth seeing what happens now that you've got it charged up. You can try running it on battery power for awhile, and perhaps even remove the battery and just run it on AC to see if there's something odd going on in the power management hardware/software.

The Bios option for battery management probably just tells it whether or not to run the power management scheme. Just guessing here, but with my m5500, I have the option to enable max battery or max performance in the Bios...
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post #83 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:05am
Shazza, no cpu/gpu monitoring software at the moment. So far the memtest shows 0 errors so i'm confused why my lappy shut off on me last night. Well i have 30 days to return it so if anything I will run it for a few more days and if im having issues I will just call CS and return it : (
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post #84 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:13am
NEVERMIND THe laptop JUST SHUT OFF ON ME AGAIN! WHat are the odds? I just wrote that its fine it shuts off on me 5 mins later. Anyways Should I just return it and reorder another one? I dont want this one fixed... I want to start with a fresh new one. Should i just go with another model? I was thinking about the m5750 or 9700... would AW just take this one back for a refund and I just send this one back? I already called tech support and told the guy if it shuts off on me again i want a refund. Since CS is not open over the weekend I will call on monday.

Does anyone know what are CS hrs of operation?
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post #85 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:32am
I know they close at 7pm EST. It's a pain for me because I live in hawaii... which means AW CS closes at 1pm my time.
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post #86 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:34am
I think the best thing to do is calm down for now...it may seem like the end of the world, but things will be okay.

This isn't what you want to hear, but I don't want you to get your expectations up...I believe Alienware has the right to first try to make your laptop work correctly, and they may not just give you the option of returning it (without a 15% restocking fee). BUT, don't panic. It could be something simple - maybe something's not connected, or maybe the OS needs to be re-loaded. It's not fun, but sometimes things can come loose in shipping. If it's a faulty part that needs replacing...that may be harder to diagnose.

Try to be patient when dealing with Tech Support...but be persistent in a nice way. You deserve to have a working machine, and that's what they want for you to. Check the Alienware website for hrs and phone numbers.
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post #87 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:45am
Not to be mean but I'm just disapointed because I owned at least a half of dozen other laptops (apples, dells and mostly gateways) and none of them had this problem! Even my current and previous gateways never had problems (supposely the most uneliable brand) so i'm sure u guys realize my frustation after years of wanting to buy an AW and this happens. Anyways I will try to email and call CS tommorrow and see if i can just return this unit. The tech guy just told me to run it in the bios for 20 mins and with the ac to see if it turns off... Not really a great way to test the laptop w/o running applications but I pretty much did that and ran my laptop for a few hrs w/ laptop cooler and it shut down on me again.

Honestly I just want to return this one and order another one. (maybe) thanks for hearing me out guys.

I truely want to be an AW fan and hopefully AW will take this one back and I will order another one...
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post #88 of 109
8/28/06 at 3:54am
Good Luck. I do understand your frustration. I just don't want you to get mad if they won't take it back right away...but, maybe if you tell them you want to order a different model, they'll work with you. Wishing you the best.
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post #89 of 109
8/28/06 at 12:18pm
Thread Starter 
good luck with that bryan. Unfortunately you got a bad one

I hope everything works out with AW. If you can get it fixed I know you will absolutely love it!
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post #90 of 109
8/28/06 at 12:38pm
thanks everyone... Tech suport told me to contact CS to return the unit... btw did u guys know that duo core 2 is available now? i might reorder one with the duo core 2\processor : )
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post #91 of 109
8/28/06 at 7:02pm
Thread Starter 
^ yes, i saw that today and i was very mad about that!
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post #92 of 109
8/28/06 at 11:01pm
I know this an Alienware forum, but I had an issue with my wife's Dell e1705 right out of the box. The wireless card kept cutting out on me. The green light would go out and poof! No more wireless.

Well a couple calls to Dell and the tech told me that it probably was a OS issue, but if I wanted, he would send me an entire replacement system. I got the new one in three days. Sent the old one back, prepaid.

Has worked flawlessly since. I must say that is a great machine. Better video card than the one in my m5550 too. LOL
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post #93 of 109
8/28/06 at 11:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Allastorm
^ yes, i saw that today and i was very mad about that!

Don't be mad. It's not that big of a deal. Look at the bright side, at least you got a free upgrade on your proc!
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post #94 of 109
8/29/06 at 12:29am
Of course AW wants to charge me 15% restocking fee... supposely there is no expection even though they sold me a defective product (it cut off on me again this afternoon) anyways I will try to talk to a supervisor tommorrow and see if they can do some sort of an exchange or something... I dont feel i should have to pay a restocking fee for them selling me a defective product.

The AW CS people really dont know what they are doing... each rep tells me different stuff and they studder alot like they are in training or something. The tech guys are not much better... anyways I will make one more call to tech support and contact AW CS again so i can return this one and possibly order another one.
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post #95 of 109
8/29/06 at 12:58am
Did you let them try to fix what you have? It is very likely something minor. If they did try and you are not happy, maybe you can get a replacement. I have not had to deal with a situation like that yet. (Hopefully never).

I feel for you man. Just don't let them charge you that restocking fee. You and AW can work it out so everyone is happy. Just remember to keep your cool.
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post #96 of 109
8/29/06 at 2:26am
I will try... they have been giving me the run around (called tech support 3 x and CS 2 x)

Tech support told me to contact CS to try to do an exchange or do a return... the ideal situation for me is to return the original with no restocking fee and just order another one... and maybe they can offer me free shipping or something for my inconvience. The only thing the tech support guy can do is offer to send my unit in and it may take 3-4 weeks to get my unit back.

That is totally unacceptable IMO for a unit i recieved 2 days ago.

It maybe something minor but to me a machine turning off randomly under normal usage (web browsing) is not normal... i mean its not even under heavy usage and the machine is turning off on me. (happened 6 x already) Anyways, I will call CS in the morning again and keep everyone posted. I will do what i can to get the 15% waived... btw metal box how many laptops does one man need? lol

and yes I have been keeping my cool so hopefully they understand my frustration and work with me on this... I will keep everyone posted, thanks!
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post #97 of 109
8/29/06 at 3:00am
for the 5550, would you reccomend a laptop cooler? If so what brand or model?
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post #98 of 109
8/29/06 at 6:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by metal-box
Don't be mad. It's not that big of a deal. Look at the bright side, at least you got a free upgrade on your proc!

This is true, haha. I mean anyways, what do you expect from technology? You can never keep up and if you wait then as soon as something comes out there is talk of something better right around the corner. Your right, I got a free upgrade so thats cool. Only thing, I wonder why my processor is 1.83 and not 1.86 for core-duo. I thought they only made 1.66 then 1.86 than 2.0ghz and so on...
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post #99 of 109
8/29/06 at 7:00pm
Allastorm...the generally accepted rating for the 1.8 version is 1.83, so I wouldn't worry about that. It's a bit of a mystery as to why the Alienware site advertises 1.86...
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post #100 of 109
8/29/06 at 7:11pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Allastorm...the generally accepted rating for the 1.8 version is 1.83, so I wouldn't worry about that. It's a bit of a mystery as to why the Alienware site advertises 1.86...

Oh, thanks! I was really stumped by that lol.
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