M14x BSOD and reliability - tempted to return it.

Hi,

I have posted here earlier about probelms with my M14x (namely it failed to boot one day with a BSOD). After much hassle (the recovery parition and discs failed to see the hard drive!) I have got the pc working again - but now I am starting to think these problems are hardware related as after 3 days of putting windows back on, I am having problems.

I am getting more BSOD's - by doing some reading, they all seem related to the hard drive or RAM failures ( I will post the errors below the message ) - any advice appreciated!

I brought this laptop at the end of May, and needless to say I am not impressed. The machine is becoming to unreliable for me to trust it as my main machine (Hardware development, bit of gaming and writing up a PhD thesis!).

I am seriously thinking of asking Dell for my money back - the help I have got from Dell support has been pretty poor and for a laptop to be having problems this soon really puts me off (I have a old toshiba laptop from 01 that still runs fine, and lots of desktops I have built - all still run fine).

In the UK with the SOGA (Sale Of Goods Act) does state I am entitled to my money back within "reasonable time" (min of 1 year and upto 6 years depending on the product) if the product is deemed to be "not fit for purpose". I am seriously tempted to haggle with them and try to get them to have it back citing UK law. I really would love my m14X but confidence in it is pretty low now - I need something reliable... Any advice on possible solutions appreciated!

// error dumps

==================================================
Dump File : 101511-27783-01.dmp
Crash Time : 15/10/2011 17:46:00
Bug Check String : CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION
Bug Check Code : 0x000000f4
Parameter 1 : 00000000`00000003
Parameter 2 : fffffa80`08eea730
Parameter 3 : fffffa80`08eeaa10
Parameter 4 : fffff800`02d88300
Caused By Driver : ntoskrnl.exe
Caused By Address : ntoskrnl.exe+705c0
File Description : NT Kernel & System
Product Name : Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
Company : Microsoft Corporation
File Version : 6.1.7601.17640 (win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+705c0
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\101511-27783-01.dmp
Processors Count : 8
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 7600
Dump File Size : 262,144
==================================================


// the one today
==================================================
Dump File : 101611-33462-01.dmp
Crash Time : 16/10/2011 16:12:58
Bug Check String : KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR
Bug Check Code : 0x0000007a
Parameter 1 : fffff6fc`40007f00
Parameter 2 : ffffffff`c000000e
Parameter 3 : 00000000`2e8e7860
Parameter 4 : fffff880`00fe0000
Caused By Driver : partmgr.sys
Caused By Address : partmgr.sys+e000
File Description :
Product Name :
Company :
File Version :
Processor : x64
Crash Address : ntoskrnl.exe+7cc40
Stack Address 1 :
Stack Address 2 :
Stack Address 3 :
Computer Name :
Full Path : C:\Windows\Minidump\101611-33462-01.dmp
Processors Count : 8
Major Version : 15
Minor Version : 7601
Dump File Size : 262,144
==================================================


both errors seem related to the computer going to sleep - a lot of people associate these errors with sata controller/hdd failure. If anyone knows how to look at the dump files and wants to have a look at them - let me know and will upload them somewhere

 

If you like the m14x, id request a new system. But yeah, dell support isn't all that great. If they don't send you a new system, id try for a refund. I'm sure you already tried a reinstall of the OS, and if that didn't solve anything,then its a hardware error.

 

I completely reinstalled Windows and I installed Ubuntu. I deleted all partitions bar a ~40 MB system diagnostic parition (a thing that can be selected via F12 on boot).

It has crashed again tonight - this time it rebooted and could not find the hdd (no bootable device) after BIOS and before GRUB - so I am really starting to think there is a hardware problem as even BIOS could not see the drive. Next power cycle it worked fine though. Anyone else experienced this?

Really not impressed with systems durability or stability . Tempted to just ask for my money back and get something else now...

 

I got a complete refund for my m1710 after 3 years 11 months. its possible! Make the complaints, and email [email protected] and [email protected]. granted, its not the main man, but some sort of exec team gets involved and you get better support. remember, be forceful but remember they're people too!

 

Cheers evilras, I am going to look into getting a refund. I can not afford the time or hassle of keep fixing the m14x during my PhD writing. Any potential replacements for the m14x? If not I will probably stick to desktops like I usually do

 

You say you got a "ntoskrnl.exe", "KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR" and "CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION" BSOD? Well I think you might got into the same problem I get last 3 weeks, and trust me, back up your data and stuff because I got that error from as a symptom of a HDD going to fail. And after 1 month of constantly getting those (Rare at first and become frequent later) BSOD, and after 1 month and 3 week, at POST stage the computer report that it cant find the HDD which is its final Error.

And I was like you, I tried everything like from doing a system restore to reset to factory image to reinstall Windows, nothing change then after I called Dell, and they instruct me to use the Dell Diagnostic to find the problem, final after 10 min waiting for the diagnostic to finish, I got an error message "2000-0142" which is a code for HDD failure. So you might want to call Dell and run that Diagnostic to see if you getting the same thing.

However you can also run it yourself by pressing F12 at startup and select Dell Diagnostic and have it do it job and wait for it to finish the diagnostic, once it finish it will report if there any error. If it do copy that and call Dell.

For the return or money back policy, they do have it, but it usually only last for either 21 days (AU/NZ) and 30 days. And so even with the UK law I dont think it would cover that because you have agree to their code and policy when you buy the laptop.

 

I am now pushing for a refund - not very happy with the products reliability or the service I got on the phone (the guy was fine, but the options provided was chronically poor). I can not afford any more off from my work to keep fixing the thing.

Wish me luck

 

I wish you all the luck. Tell us the result please because i am planning to buy m14x as well. However, why don't you ask for new laptop with the discount?

Btw, could anyone tell me how the reliable of the m14x ( sorry if this questions was asked so many time before)? It seem to me that m14x does not have very good design and it has quite a few problems. Should i wait for m14x-R2?

 

My M14x is just 2 months old but i havent had any problems with it. Usually on it every day.

 

it is good to hear that, thanks. Btw, do you carry your m14x alot? how does it feel?