Received my NEW 9750 on Tuesday - VERY Unimpressed with AWC so far...
This is not just a bashing post here. I AM impressed with the "feel" of the 9750 and the "awe" factor associated with "owning an Alienware" laptop, but I have had little time to put the new 9750 to real use - so my pleasurable experience stops there for now, and at this point the "luster" is beginning to wear off...
I am really UNimpressed with my "back end" experience with Alienware so far. I am actually a little surprised a company with such a high PR profile and supposed reputation for quality, performance and careful attention to detail would have so many loose ends on the back end support side of things.
When I received my system, and after opting for the AlienRespawn option (v 1.0 for XP), I decided, like I normally do with my other systems, to create a 20GB primary partition for the OS (the rest of the single physical drive would be divided into two other partitions for my work platform migration purposes). My plan was to use the AlienRespawn, which is basically a bootable CD with Ghost and a companion DVD that is supposed to have the image file(s) of your system as it was shipped from "the factory."
Well, for some reason my ghost image was spanned across two files (I guess for FAT file system (DOS) compatibility?), and the second file was erroring out. Ghost would get to the 74% complete mark and request the second image file to continue, but would throw the error "Not a valid spanned file (522)." So, basically I had to scratch the idea of using the $50 AlienRespawn option to restore the "factory" image. Meanwhile, I was now looking at a image on my hard drive that was only 74% complete. Upon further investigation I found I couldn't even copy the second image file off the DVD as it was apparently a corrupt file. I tried several computers with different DVD drives, to no avail.
I understand that file corruptions can occur when writing/burning files, etc., and so did AW as they offered to refund me the $52.30 for that restoration software "convenience." BUT I think they should raise their "Alienware 200-Point Quality Control Process" to 201 points and include testing the image restoration option/process (when ordered by the customer) BEFORE it gets shipped to the customer.
So, I tell AW support not to worry, that I have installed many an OS in my 39 years (14 years in CS/IT) (and I would just handle it myself with the AW OEM Windows XP Pro CD and their "Support CD" containing the drivers for my system - well, supposedly.
To make a long story short, I could never get the Audio to work again after my install attempts and calls to "support," even with them using AlienContact to remotely work with my 9750. Here is what I've learned thus far:
1. They don't build the systems in this country, and once your system is built you can't get a copy of the image (or even a copy of a similar image) from them after that initial shipment. Actually, I think they could if they really wanted to support their customers.
2. They "can't" (wouldn't) supply me a software architecture "build sheet" to help guide me through the process of installing the OS like they build it - me thinking I must need to install drivers in a specific order due to the apparent conflict along the way with the Realtek HD Audio and the Bluetooth Audio Gateway. I asked if they could just ask one of the techs that builds the software portion of their systems for an ordered list of a basic install on their base laptop. After a lot of excuses the tech finally told me they aren't assembled in Miami (or in the country), contradicting his earlier statement that they are built there.
3. The drivers CD contains both incorrect (NVIDIA) and obsolete drivers, and my "MyHive" support area also has some software/drivers that are incorrect for my system.
3. I have learned there are other recent purchasers with this same issue (with the audio) and many who found AlienRespawn to be unusable.
The current theory I am exploring (based on information found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=195793 ) is that the AW OEM XP CD-ROM is a defective version of the OS. So, I am currently using another copy of XP Pro to see if this issue is resolved.
Alienware support is really horrible at truly trying to get problems researched and solved. If I can do this, why can't they (assuming I am working towards the correct solution)? The primary reason is a real lack of care. I started troubleshooting this online myself and by trial and error.
Shame on you Alienware!
I will post updates as I have anything more compelling to share.
This is not just a bashing post here. I AM impressed with the "feel" of the 9750 and the "awe" factor associated with "owning an Alienware" laptop, but I have had little time to put the new 9750 to real use - so my pleasurable experience stops there for now, and at this point the "luster" is beginning to wear off...
I am really UNimpressed with my "back end" experience with Alienware so far. I am actually a little surprised a company with such a high PR profile and supposed reputation for quality, performance and careful attention to detail would have so many loose ends on the back end support side of things.
When I received my system, and after opting for the AlienRespawn option (v 1.0 for XP), I decided, like I normally do with my other systems, to create a 20GB primary partition for the OS (the rest of the single physical drive would be divided into two other partitions for my work platform migration purposes). My plan was to use the AlienRespawn, which is basically a bootable CD with Ghost and a companion DVD that is supposed to have the image file(s) of your system as it was shipped from "the factory."
Well, for some reason my ghost image was spanned across two files (I guess for FAT file system (DOS) compatibility?), and the second file was erroring out. Ghost would get to the 74% complete mark and request the second image file to continue, but would throw the error "Not a valid spanned file (522)." So, basically I had to scratch the idea of using the $50 AlienRespawn option to restore the "factory" image. Meanwhile, I was now looking at a image on my hard drive that was only 74% complete. Upon further investigation I found I couldn't even copy the second image file off the DVD as it was apparently a corrupt file. I tried several computers with different DVD drives, to no avail.
I understand that file corruptions can occur when writing/burning files, etc., and so did AW as they offered to refund me the $52.30 for that restoration software "convenience." BUT I think they should raise their "Alienware 200-Point Quality Control Process" to 201 points and include testing the image restoration option/process (when ordered by the customer) BEFORE it gets shipped to the customer.
So, I tell AW support not to worry, that I have installed many an OS in my 39 years (14 years in CS/IT) (and I would just handle it myself with the AW OEM Windows XP Pro CD and their "Support CD" containing the drivers for my system - well, supposedly.
To make a long story short, I could never get the Audio to work again after my install attempts and calls to "support," even with them using AlienContact to remotely work with my 9750. Here is what I've learned thus far:
1. They don't build the systems in this country, and once your system is built you can't get a copy of the image (or even a copy of a similar image) from them after that initial shipment. Actually, I think they could if they really wanted to support their customers.
2. They "can't" (wouldn't) supply me a software architecture "build sheet" to help guide me through the process of installing the OS like they build it - me thinking I must need to install drivers in a specific order due to the apparent conflict along the way with the Realtek HD Audio and the Bluetooth Audio Gateway. I asked if they could just ask one of the techs that builds the software portion of their systems for an ordered list of a basic install on their base laptop. After a lot of excuses the tech finally told me they aren't assembled in Miami (or in the country), contradicting his earlier statement that they are built there.
3. The drivers CD contains both incorrect (NVIDIA) and obsolete drivers, and my "MyHive" support area also has some software/drivers that are incorrect for my system.
3. I have learned there are other recent purchasers with this same issue (with the audio) and many who found AlienRespawn to be unusable.
The current theory I am exploring (based on information found here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=195793 ) is that the AW OEM XP CD-ROM is a defective version of the OS. So, I am currently using another copy of XP Pro to see if this issue is resolved.
Alienware support is really horrible at truly trying to get problems researched and solved. If I can do this, why can't they (assuming I am working towards the correct solution)? The primary reason is a real lack of care. I started troubleshooting this online myself and by trial and error.
Shame on you Alienware!
I will post updates as I have anything more compelling to share.
