Hard Drive? Pretty Annoying

Well got the m14x monday, nothing but problems. Unlucky enough to have a seagate 7200rpm in mine.

HDTune reports the drive as on its last legs, however both the SMART and seatools report it as ok up to this point.

Got it Monday, not been in a usuable state since I received it. Updates all failed then wouldnt boot into windows to create a backup. Sometimes hanging with a cursur top left, stuck doing updates, Not downloading updates and not shutting down.

Bad luck I thought so used the recovery media to reinstall............big mistake.

Two hours just on the OS disk from booting and to the point where it rebooted. Endless reboots later, same failing updates and a very annoyed m14x owner.

Did actually manage to play stalker for ten mins between reboots. Sweet

Apparently a new mobo is being installed monday but the hard drive is some cause for concern. I have never seen so many reds in a HDTune status lol

Even from first turn on, it must have took an hour to be mildly responsive. Dell had me reflash the bios. The same bios. This helps apparently

 

I wouldn't even accept a repair for the machine. You had it for less than 5 days and already had problems.

Call them back and tell them you want a brand new machine instead of a repair.

 

pretty much of that point of view. Shame was really looking forward to getting it, all excited opening it. Will be Monday before they send out a technician, even then not convinced of the failure.

Did fail an interrupt timer in the alienware tests but not all the time, three days wasted reinstalling, head scratching and an hour on the phone today.

It happens but considering I am replacing a MBP , my judgement seems somewhat questionable.

 

happens with macbook pro's too my friend...... just bad luck

 

yeah I know happens to them all, just my turn I guess. Just meant from going from something that was relatively little trouble and reliable.........my old xps 1530 was also rock solid. Kind of begrudgingly letting the MBP go but missed portable gaming and nothing really has hit the spot. Plus have to pay for the m14x somehow

The HP Envy Beats Edition nearly tempted me but learnt they changed the screens on later Envy models which were not as good.

they are ringing me tomorrow and will tell them I just want it replaced. Not in a rush for it, theres a few imperfections on the plastic as well lol.

At the end of the day, if I bought it from a shop like it...............I would expect nothing short of a replacement or refund.

 

Just call them and tell them you want a replacement and that you need to keep the current computer until you receive your replacement because you dont have another one.

Im sure theyll let that happen since its only a couple days old.

 

damn that sucks man.

 

Why would they replace the mobo? It's clearly a hard drive problem. (Unless it's a problem with the mobo's SATA connector, highly unlikely compared to HDD issues)

 

I agree, but the diags showed that error up on a couple of occasions. Forget exactly what it was called.
Oddly the HD passes all the tests thrown at it inc Dells own plus seatools. HD Tune is the only thing so far that poo poo's it.

Why the mobo?, cheapest or most likely culprit first in my book.

Supposed to be running seatools long tests tonight but cant really be asked. Made my mind up to get it replaced.

This ones a badun , tainted , cursed....................

 

Screw tech repair on a brand new laptop that should have no problems where you paid top dollar. Demand a new replacement ASAP!

 

I agree, been grinding on me for days now. Will wait till I get the call then insist its replaced or refunded. Its not after a couple of months or a cheap laptop after all. Not bothered if they pick it up as got plenty of pc's in the house to use until a replacement arrives.

I think if they do a swap out, I'll just get more annoyed if its sitting around.

I hate investing time installing and customising something, just to repeat the process. Not only that , sick of seeing this so called powerhouse i7 gaming portable whimpering like a lethargic atom.

 

after much ado, and 5 transfers..............allegedly a new replacement will be sent. Probably means they raise a new order and wait three weeks.

 

Did you happen to read this information on dells website?:

Server and Storage Seagate Barracuda ES.2 Nearline SATA Hard Drive Hangs After Power Cycle - Product Support Quick Note (PSQN) - 352865 | Dell

NVM - its for 3.5" drives.

 

You need to get on the phone to them and demand that it'll be done as soon as possible. Say that you need a working computer, this is unacceptable for the price etc.

Or you could wait out three weeks if you don't want to deal with their call centres again.

 

Had a quick look at this, you know it refers to 3.5" drives?

I've had enough moaning to Dell for one day, I'll see how it plays out over the next couple of days. No order has appeared yet, no email on collection has appeared either.

Going to go nuts on monday if I have not heard anything.

 

Hey Croatoan

I have the same seagate 750gb hd.

I don't have any noticeable issues with it. But from reading this thread, I ran HDtune and it said health failed as well.

Should I be concerned or is HDtune overreacting?

 

could be that hd tune is incompatible ive seen that before..... how is the machine running?

 

the machine is running fine.

I think seagate drives have issues with hdtune.

 

If its running fine I wouldnt be too concerned, mine certainly wasnt running fine. Reinstalled Win 7 on a celeron with a 4200rpm hard drive yesterday was done in half the time it took to install it on the m14x.

You would notice if you had an issue, I've not had issues with HDtune before but then again a seagate drive would not be my personal choice as I have found there reliability questionable.

Both my sons machine and another media centre both had seagates in which failed, even the certified repair unit they replaced it with was DOA. Call it bad luck but thats 2 out of 3 drives. Have probably purchased around 8 samsungs over the same time period with no failures.

So not seagates biggest fan. Mind you these were all 3.5"

 

how do i find out what hard drive i have in mine ( make of hard drive )

 

Just right click on your hard drive, select properties then click on the hardware tab. Should be greeted by the above. Obvioulsy the m14x you should see the dvd,HD,Card Reader.
If it just shows the model number, then search for it. If its seagate it will start ST********

On a plus side, mines being picked up today and a replacement is in production. Seems my contribution to this forum is somewhat on hold for now lol.

Just read some idiot on CNET offering a 1 out of 5 review, saying he got a macbook pro instead. Well pleased to be going the other way.

i3 vs i7
Intel Graphics vs GT555

the list goes on.

 

lol mine says manufacture "Standard disk drive" ?????

and it only shows dvd disk drive and hard drive


whys it not showing me it ??

 

TBH I'd just download hdtune or f2 at boot and look in the bios screen.
Wouldnt have thought it would be show as standard unless you didnt have the intel chipset drivers installed correctly.

Could be wrong tho. Even downloading seatools from seagate you should be able to tell as runs on other drives also.

 

i lol at the apple tax to croatian... altho the casing is nice and battery life.... it all depends on what your looking for... as for us we are gamers and enjoy the Power per dollar ratio.... myself i would never buy a mac..... I know the OS like the back of my hand.... but i could never permit myself to spend on last years tech with such a pricetag.....

FLAME ON!

 

I know exactly what you mean. I dont think in terms of looks,screen,size,design and battery life the 13" macbook pro can be faulted.

If you compare it in terms of spec and value for money. You are correct its a different situation. Mainly I used it for surfing watching movies and sitting on the sofa being lazy lol. It was slim and light and I could use it all day, in terms of boot up from standby and ease of use...................it was unbeatable. The screen beats most other laptop screens.

As a gaming machine, it was a piece of poo. Steam games like HL2 and portal ran like crap.

Unfortunately there was nothing at the time that size that did the job and could play a half decent game. M11x was too small and the viewing angles of the screen are horrific. ( Sorry m11x owners )

m14x is for me the perfect compromise, its not too big to lug about. Has heaps of power, good storage options and a half decent screen. i7 and GT555. Whats not to like.

Its a gimp suit versus an armani suit :O)

You see I'm not an apple man, my oc'ed i7 and gtx 580 plus the five other networked pc's at home show where its at bud lol. I knew when my m14x arrived, the macbook would be sold.

Still got an ipad 2 and an iphone :OP but thats an argument for another day lmao

On a positive note, the replacement m14x arrives Friday.........................old one picked up today. That was quick!