The Alienware 14 is a piece of junk - my experience

I just got off the phone again with Dell about this Alienware 14. I replaced my AW M15x with it. This one has been nothing but trouble since the day it arrived (about 4 weeks ago.) I've used the factory restore disks to rebuild it TWICE due to NTFS and crashing problems. The CPU frequently runs at ~5% speed due to a "chipset malfunction" per the error logs. Everything from Dell's own Alienrespawn software (which I mistakenly paid for an upgrade) crashes on EVERY boot to simply running Word crashes - or takes10 minutes to launch.

Is it a hard drive issue? Well, the hard drive tests good when you run HD sentinel and scandisk.

Is it a virus? No, for one, after rebuilding I'd load ESET and besides, I could hardly get on the Internet without the laptop freezing up.

So I called support and asked that they replace this one with a new working one because I don't want to go through a part-by-part exchange process while Dell determines it's defective. I think if it won't boot without the recovery media in it, that's typically a bad sign. However, Dell disagrees and wants to take the next x weeks troubleshooting. I thought they were in the business of selling working computers and servers, not selling crap and making you wait for them to fix afterwards.

They outright refuse to refund my money or to exchange the laptop.

Just wanted people to know that while some reviews give it high marks, you might just end up holding a piece of junk like I am.

 

I guess you really drew the short straw. I mean there are sometimes issues that can relate to almost every user, or at least a big portion of it. Than it's the fault of the manufacturer. But in this case you just got bad luck with probably a malfunctioning hardware.

But alienware should be able to fix your problem, since your laptop is new, the next business day home service warranty is still active, meaning that they will replace any probably malfunctioning part at your home (had it myself with the cooling of the m14x r1 and was very satisfied. Despite the fact that the cooling on the m14x r1 Really was a huge problem). The best solution for you is to pinpoint the problem's source as fast as possible and having them fix your computer.

Judging from your problems, it indeed looks like a harddrive problem. Or a smaller chance that it's a motherboard problem. So first thing you can do is, try borrowing a different hard drive from a friend or that you have yourself, replace it with your hard drive in your pc. install any operating system on it. Doesn't matter windows or linux, and quickly run a few programs some benchmarks stress tests. If everything is fine, it's yoru hard drive, (though I don;t know if you have the mSata drive, that might cause the problem too, if you have one just pull that one out for the time being). And you can report it to alienware in detail so they will replace it.

If the same problems occure. I doubt it's your cpu because that would have caused crashes and bluescreens etc. Which is not the case I suppose.
If it's a virus, simply check your task Manager (ctrl + shift + esc), go to the tab processes sort to CPU usage and DISK usage if a random program you don't know/use, uses a lots of your pc resources, or if you even cannot access your Task Manager it's a virus indeed.

Edit: forgot to mention, if you are using Windows 7 instead of 8, you cannot see hard drive usage of the processes in the Task Manager, for that go to "resource Monitor". Simply type it in the start menu and it should appear. Go to the tab Disk and sort the processes on "Total". And see if a process uses the hard drive excessively.

If non of these are the problems, I think it's a problem on your motherboard. So yeah. Do all of these and report your results to alienware. And they should fix it in no time

 

Run digs and see if anything fails. Hit f12 continually when you turn not he machine and choose diags and run full diags.

I am pretty sure you have a easy fix if you allow them to do their job and replace whatever is bad. My 14 and i am sure thousands of others have been flawless. It sucks you have issues but fi you allow them to help you get it sorted the machine is well worth it in the end.. My 14 puns out hours of BF4 a week when i am at work.

 

Send me a PM with your service tag Bradl, I'll jump in on your case and help you any way I can. -Natalia

 

Even when a hard disk tests perfect it could still be causing the issues you mention.

 

Could be memory, hard drive or a motherboard malfunction, if a machine is faulty and basic steps don't fix it (on receipt) it really needs to be sent straight back.

 

Good luck! Im on my 4th repair for my aw 14 and if this 3rd motherboard doesnt do it I have to petition for a replacement. Alienware has always been good to me until this laptop which is having me consider spending money elsewhere next time.

 

Oh lord....and I was just about to set my mind on buying an alienware 14 this April....is this a common issue on 2014 models?

 

how many reports have you seen?

 

My 14 has had 0 issues and rock solid even over clocked to crazy speeds on gnu. Remebe the internet is almost always a avenue for complaints not praise. Also as we have seen the original OP ha snot been back since....

 

This is usually what happens. The forums are always filled with issues and weird symptoms, that does not mean that all PC's experience the same things, it's just that the majority of people that have issues with a machine will try to look for help online while the people who have had no issues with it won't take the time to post how good their experience have been.

 

Throttling and Crashing seem to be the normal complaints, not sure how "weird" this is as nearly everyone who has issues states these. I have yet to get a solution to my issue and I have done everything told by customer service and by the rep that posts here...

 

Have you attempted to monitor temps when playing games? Install HWMonitor and or MSI Afterburner and log some temps. Throttling is usually heat issues. Let us know how it it is running when gaming...

 

Core 1-4 78C GPU 68c

 

I have re-pasted and cleaned the fans