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Service Manual? Or, how disassemble M51 -7700? - Page 2

post #21 of 27
4/1/07 at 10:30pm
actually i'm in EGYPT
so i donno anything about USA
but me getting the MOBO was a real pain in the A**
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post #22 of 27
4/2/07 at 11:12am
Thread Starter 
Omagian,


"actually i'm in EGYPT so i donno anything about USA but me getting the MOBO was a real pain in the A**"
RICK: Ohhhhh... I bet that hurt. well, I am finding out how bad that hurt because I am in Central Asia. I do have access to US postal service which does help some...

Rick
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post #23 of 27
4/9/07 at 8:41pm
Thread Starter 
Just a quick update...hoping that some of the trials and turmoil I have gone through will assist others...

1. I decided against shipping my Area51 7700 to GOLDEN STAR COMPUTER as they wanted me to send a money order instead of a check or credit card and their RMA process was rather strange plus a few other things which made me uncomfortable. As stated, I really liked RJTECH but they freely admitted they did not have the parts - so - I went back to the last place I can get this repair: ALIENWARE.


2. I called them and quickly got to talk to a rep (perhaps lucky?). He was competent, pleasant and we managed to wrap up everything in 36 minutes of phone time – their forms are extremely extensive. They have changed they polices since that last time I shipped this unit for repair (1 year ago...grrrr!) allowing me to ship and receive via standard USPS instead of Federal Express. I also stated that I required to be contacted by email instead of telephone which he assured me was no problem.

So, this was one week ago and now we wait and see. I have since talked to someone else here with the exact same computer who recently tried to get his repaired via Alienware and was told that they “no longer support the Area-51 7700” so perhaps either his Alienware rep was misinformed or perhaps mine was. I will post the results to include if they indeed use USPS and if they indeed will contact me via email instead of telephone and whatever bumps, nasty turns or detours I find along the way.

Regards to all,
Rick
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post #24 of 27
4/9/07 at 9:21pm
rick,

I also understood that AW wasn't extending warranties, or offering support for systems out of warranty. Warranty issues are still covered.

Did you consider replacing the m7700 mobo with an m7700a mobo? It supports the AMD processors, but I understand it's more reliable than the intel setup...
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post #25 of 27
4/10/07 at 10:10am
Thread Starter 
HH,

"...or offering support for systems out of warranty."
RICK: Well, they took mine and they took my credit card number, gave me an RMA...not sure. I might be getting an email stating they are shipping it back to me! Which would not surprise me

"Did you consider replacing the m7700 mobo with an m7700a mobo? It supports the AMD processors"
RICK: Not yet, not until I exhausted every option but it is definitely on the table of options as I doubt that a AMD processor would cost that much more and besides...I might try to do this myself. Omagian gave me lots of info and I have been digging around a lot and also met a guy here that opened one up and did some work on his motherboard (or maybe the invertor) so...anyway, if I do go that route I would ask the forum to recommend a good AMD processor (I know nothing about them as always use Intel...I own lots of intel stock) and where I can purchase MOOB and Processor... I think I heard Laptop King (or something like that) and/or RJTech... You know, what would be nice would be to get another board in there that would support the newer cooler running chips but are as fast or faster... I need to give that some thought...

Rick
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post #26 of 27
4/24/07 at 8:33pm
Thread Starter 
Updateing this Post:

1. I did send in my out-of-warranty Area-51 7700 to Alienware.
2. They did immediately charge me $259 for shipping and 2 hours labor
3. They have just informed me that they need to replace the motherboard for a cost of ~$312
4. I had to make the inital request for repair over the phone but they have since used email to contact me giving status reports and requesting approval to charge my VISA for the repair. I requested email contact as telephone is not possible for me. They have complied and also been very professional with their dealing with me
5. The only thing that remains to be seen is if they use normal USPS (US Postal Service) mail as I requested and they agreed to do as Federal Express is not an option for me.

So, they do accept out-of-warranty 7700s and they do have CLEVO D900T MOOB in stock... this is the second (and the last) MOOB in 2 years... I will not be replacing it again or anything else on this machine...it is only 2 years old and all ready has cost me as much to repair as buying a new notebook.

I hope this experience has helped others and I thank everyone that assisted me.

Regards and thanks again.

Rick
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post #27 of 27
5/12/08 at 5:03am
Hi Rick

As with my Alienware m51/7700 i had the same problem with the MoBo. After intensiv Searching in my Country (Switzerland) i have found a Reseller that offered me a Mobo for 500 Euro. The sayd its a common Problem with the Models feat. Intel P4 and P4m due to insufficient Cooling especially CPU Models over 3GHz. For the Re and Assembly the Charge 150 Euro including upgrading the Cooling Unit for CPU. To me it seems a good Deal because they claim 1 Year Warranty and their located in my Country also the store lots of New Spare Parts. If your interessted buying a Mobo send me an email. Greez Sonam
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