Hello everyone!
Here is a little bedtime story, to add to Dell's failure of manufacturing and sending correct 17R4.
Some of you probably know me already because I asked a lot of questions before purchasing my new gaming laptop and I went with the 17R4 / 6820HK / GTX1080 / QHD screen.
I by then knew about the thermal issues, bad paste job, uneven heatsink, etc, etc. but I decided to purchase one anyway as I heard that those problems were normally fixed on "rev 2" which was sent out early 2017.
So I got mine on the 9th of February if I remember correctly.
After a few initial benches and tests, I saw that I had the uncorrected version (10° difference on cores and throttling while benching at 40x).
I then decided to lock the overclocking capability until I had the time to do the repaste job / arm bending etc.
But!
The laptop crashed last Saturday while I was away (froze on windows).
I force shut it down and start it again, nothing : no bios, only leds and fans spinning after 30 seconds and the power button giving me 2 red lights followed by one blue.
I checked the error table and saw : CPU failure.
Ok then, I called Dell's tech support and made a ticket through their website.
I got a response saying that they will need to get a new mobo and a technician would come.
Tuesday, I had an appointment with a technician at home.
I said to myself that it's quite fast: 1 day to receive the mobo and the next day the technician is at home! Great!
We open the box and there was juste a mobo, no heatsink, no paste, nothing.
So he called the dispatch that said: well, just replace the mobo and reuse whatever is left on the machine.
WTF!!!
Well, I told him to pack and come again with everything needed.
So, after two days of calls back and forth with the technical team located in Casablanca(Marocco), another tech came on Monday with everything needed.
Already looking at the boxes made me nervous... A refurbished motherboard!
So he disassembled the unit, changed the mobo, removed the stamps on the copper plates and added his own (shin-etsu), re-assembled everything and I let you guess...
Nothing, just a different error pattern : 3 reds and 2 blues.
Checking at the error table again, it says CMOS Failure.
So he tried a few more things and at the end left, with the unit opened as he would have to come again and no need to screw back everything in place.
Sooooooo.....
I emailed again the guy in Marocco and now told him that if they are unable to repair a not even 2 month old unit and that they are supplying used material,
I expect them to send me a brand new one, with the exact same specification, but with the 7820hk as mine is not available anymore and I don't want the same
problems with a refurb or another broken unit.
Here is were I am now, waiting to hear from the guy.
I'll let you know on the result.
Cheers,
Speedsweep.
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I live in Morocco as well, can you please tell me how did you get a hold of a brand new AW laptop? And how much did it cost?
I've looked pretty much everywhere, and all I found are Dell distributors, and no resellers. I was planning to buy an AW13, and I thought I couldn't get it from anywhere unless I order from Dell or the likes of HIDEvolution (great service).
Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk -
My deepest condolences for your 17R4. I'm not even surprised, DELL's french tech support can really be Awfull.
My 15R3 is my first and last Alienware. Too many bad experiences in such a short time, too many lies from Azor and Co. DELL's biggest fail ever.
On P4G French Forum, 5 peoples are happy with their 17R4/15R3.
And with you now 7 peoples had troubles involving DELL's tech support.
Cheers.
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Thanks Leeloyd.
I will see how it goes. If I am not satisfied I will ask for a full refund and go back to MSI.
SkidrowSKT, as Leeloyd said, I was talking about the French tech support that is located in Marocco. I live in France.
By the way, Dell is using Unisys for their tech services. So you have one person in contact from Dell in Marocco, who opens tickets that are sent to Unisys and they dispatch techs from their compagny or freelance guys to make the on-site repair.
I was not able to keep a correct workflow of things and actually, before the second tech came, I had a call from probably Unisys in the UK (french speaking guy with a thick english accent) and he told me that the four components were on order, including the mobo.
I told him that someone came two days earlier with just a mobo and he wasn't even aware of that.... -
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Yeah I Vasuded we tried that with the tech guy. Removed the CMOS cable, tried another one etc...
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Last Saturday it seemed that the same thing happened with my wife's 17r4, we both have the same ones. CPU error code.
First of all in Sweden in the weekend and outside of office hours yer s.o.l trying to get someone from tech support. So of course my wife stressed, and me too in the mix of course.
Tried various options, and for about half an hour sitting on the couch I realised that we did not try one thing, or at least we have had to do that a bit longer:
Made sure that nothing was plugged so no power etc connected.
Hard reset by pressing the power button for about 30 secs, and it started up without a hitch.
Now updated the bios, and a repair guy came yesterday, and did not have to do a thing other than testing the components, and everything seems to be in order.
What comes to mind is this:
If you have a busted cpu for whatever reason I would think it is more on the Intel side of things, not Dell's; what I have seen kinda looks like the cpu locked up, kinda like the Skylake bug like before that is supposed to be fixed by now. Could also be a 'bad luck, try again!' routine. Sh*t happens. I believe the latter, so I am not worried, seen far worse.
And regarding tech support: in our world of outsourcing and skimping on costs, be prepared for even worse customer service/ technical support. Premium ain't premium anymore, that time is 'over'.. Unless of course you run a server farm like we do in Broadcast and you need the guy in within 30 mins 24/7 yeah. But then you pay top dollar because of the strict SLA's as well..Vasudev likes this. -
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Ok guys,
After a few weeks of calls with the support, etc. they sent me a new unit with the 7820hk (see sig.)
I unboxed it yesterday and directly fired a wPrime on 8 threads at 40x with pl at 100k using XTU (because it was late and I forgot how to set the core multiplier in the bios directly: although selecting custom, I couldn't change the values...)
I think I am doomed: I saw max temperatures at 91° on cores 0 and 2 and something like 78° on cores 1 and 3.
Soooo, I assume again I have a very uneven heatsink etc...
Am I doing something wrong? I didn't enable fan perf. mode...
Should I do it while benching or should I get something more reasonable without it?
Is it because I ran this bench right out of the box?
I am trying to reassure myself that this unit is better but I can already imagine your answers..
Any thoughts @iunlock @DeeX, @Mobius 1, @Papusan etc?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Cheers!Vasudev likes this. -
have you take a peek inside the chassis to see if any thermal pad are misplaced? -
Not yet.
I picked it up yesterday but I am on vacation and I left the tube of kryonaut I just bought at home...
I'm an not sure if I would be able to see something without removing the black plate covering all the stuff.
What would be the steps to make? I guess I shouldn't fiddle with it or have it running until I am able to open it? Could it kill this one again by frying something?
I don't have any pads at home btw. -
Yeah something is definitively wrong...
Here is a screenshot of the temps idling on the desktop (only running: gta V installer, chrome and hwinfo) :
Please, reassure me and tell me it's a just a matter of misplaced **** and that I won't have another frying unit... -
Mr. Fox and Spartan@HIDevolution like this.
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I'll await your answer....
An advocate without a better solution is a dead end.
Every ODM has their fair share of problems. Including any that you'd "recommend."
::iunlock::rinneh likes this. -
Spartan@HIDevolution and Mr. Fox like this.
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Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative
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It's sad that we have to deal with some of the most basic issues among the ODM's. Some worse than others all the while some ODM's specialize in certain departments LOL...like the three legged dog. So sad... -
Without any special discounts applied, a new AW17 with 7820HK, 2560*1440 G-Sync, 32GB DDR4-2400, 512GB M.2 + 1TB HDD, W10 Pro is about $3300 USD. A new P870KM1 from HIDevolution with delidded 7700K, MXM 200W 1080 and all other specs equal is essentially the same price. So, same price for something stronger, better, faster.
For anyone that is hell bent on having an Alienware, HIDevolution sells those, too. There is a better chance of getting one that functions correctly at the time of unboxing buying it from HIDevolution than direct from Dell. -
For the price, purely looking at hardware, the dtr demolishes any tattooed machines. However, on the other end for one that wants to opt for something specific like an AW, with the new configs, they can get a semi-bare bones 7820HK/GTX1080/New QHD/8GB RAM/1TB Spinner or 180GB Sata SSD for $2299, which is $1000 cheaper at retail. -
I don't recommend buying an Alienware outside of the Dell website for a mountain of reasons.
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Edit. Sorry, they offer the 180GB ssd for free.Last edited: Apr 16, 2017 -
But even at retail for that semi bare bones AW, it'd still be way under 3k for a retail customer with them purchasing a m.2 and ram aftermarket.
+300 would get them a decent m.2 and enough ram to get them on their way.
Nevertheless, where the price comes into the equation for AW is in the engineering and build quality. The GPU is same as any other... And as we know crazily enough the HK chipsets are just as much as the desktop counterparts. Crazy world we live in....
::iunlock:: -
Then add as you said 300 for ram and ssd. I expect your math will be the same as what I figured And right back to the TRIPOD mess and useless outsourced tech, but this time without overheated ssd's And you compare i7 BGA with the desktop counterparts. I expect @Mr. Fox ain't totally agree with that conclusion -
I'm saying how pathetic it is for mobile Intel chips to cost the same if not more than desktop chips.
ie... Mobile chips should not cost the same or more....
::iunlock::Papusan likes this. -
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iunlock likes this.
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If this was 3-4 years ago they'd replace the entire damned thing. That's some Bullsh!t there especially with how much that machine cost.
Are these issues present in the current models? Like the newer AW 15? If so, my friends and I are not giving them a penny.Last edited: Apr 16, 2017 -
Last edited: Apr 16, 2017 -
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Mr. Fox likes this.
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However, to be fair it is possible to luck out at times with the unlocked mobile chips and that gap isn't as a wide of a margin than the HQ's... there is an order of hierarchy lol regardless.Papusan likes this. -
iunlock likes this.
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I would never do such a thing. -
Maxed AWBOOK 17. Only $6000Usd Nice. Only 2x 1TB NVMe ssd's + 1TB hdd. And what ssd brand? Liteon?
hmscott likes this. -
ie...for those that don't get that joke, just because something costs $x, doesn't mean....well nm...enough said...
So how's the weather?hmscott likes this. -
But yea you're right...there's no way in heck to justify paying that much for that machine when you can get a SLI 1080....one would have to be insane. -
iunlock likes this. -
Haha, I love all these debates on bga/lga etc but in my case the aw was the cheapest with those specs in France because our VAT etc. And they did replace the broken one with this one which has the kabylake, twice the ssd, faster ram and it has the new screen. So for me that was kinda the only option to get an hk and a 1080 with the money I could spend. So I intend to make the best out of what I have now.
So back on topic.
I tried gaming yesterday and my temps where at between 78 and 86 with no overlooking.
I will open it tonight when I get back home and look at the pads and put some kryo.
Should I order fuji pads and do the rework as soon as I get them?
For those like you @iunlock who have the 7820, wasn't the uneven pressure fixed?
I am trying to see what improvements where made and what I should look for while I have it open.
Thanks in advance. -
Once you unleash the power limits, like every other gaming laptop, it'll start to sweat.
The improvements have been and are gradual with Dell working on new things...I can't go into detail just yet, but I can tell you for sure that things are getting handled right now to improve further on what has already been worked on.
So both of my new 17R4 Kaby's had very good core differentials, stock. Other owners of the 17R4 Kaby has also posted up screen shots showing their stock temps. It is much better than the Skylake 17R4 (core differential).
Enjoy your new unit.. -
I didn't realize it was that expensive outside the US in some markets. Ouch....holy cow...
Yea at those prices, a DTR is a no brainer.
The IMG doesn't show for me, could you reupload it? Takk -
Some places is much more expencive than US. See as well the same fully stripped down AWBOOK 17 If you buy it in England. +$4500Usd isn't cheap for a stripped down gaming Book who cost $2,704.99
in US. People in US maybe earn less, but still... Electronics is Cheap over there
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Last edited: Apr 18, 2017hmscott and FrozenLord like this. -
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Papusan likes this.
The life & death of my 17R4
Discussion in '2015+ Alienware 13 / 15 / 17' started by speedsweep, Mar 28, 2017.