New X51 Nightmare in progress

This beast was delivered 2/12 with the graphics amplifier. However due to work and upcoming shoulder surgery it was only used a handful of times. Unfortunately the week of my surgery was day 30 so I am stuck with it.

My X51 R3 has had this issue since day one. Randomly when powering the system on (not a restart) it will freeze on an aqua (I’m color blind) screen with the little circle if dots. (See pic) on more rare occasions it will do this on the login screen. If I force shut down with the power button and then power right back up it boots fine and runs with no issues.

After spending two plus hrs a couple of days ago with AW tech support I was left with no resolution and no answers. We ran the pre boot assessment with no errors, a software test with no errors and he re-flashed my bios with 1.2.4 which I already had. His only parting advice was that if it continued doing it was to reinstall using the recovery image. this was all done running the graphics amplifier with an EVGA GTX980 SC - P/N: 04G-P4-1982-KR. Video driver is 361.91. And I have installed WoW, Office 2013 and my printer driver.

After the tech call I disconnected the graphics amplifier and went back to the internal GTX 960 and am seeing the same lockup mentioned above plus something new. Occasionally when you press the power button, the power button light comes on but the X51 does nothing, no lights no fans just dead. After a forced shut down with the power button some time it boots right up and some times locks on on one of the two screens mentioned above.

Does anyone have any additional ideas on what I can look for? My next step is to reload the factory image and install nothing and see if it continues. I would like to escalate this to a resolution specialist. I did ask my support agent at the time and met so much resistance from him we ended the call with me never getting transferred. Needless to say this has been an unpleasant experience.

Thanks

 

I have had this with my X51 R2
After a few fresh reinstalls and it continuing I discovered that it freezes due to certain usb devices being plugged in but not turned on
I.e I have an lg external usb 3 blu Ray burner if that is switched off but plugged in it causes the same issue

Also I have a hard drive sata interface that is plugged in using usb 3 which is OK even when turned off but if I leave a drive sat in it as well then I get the swirly lights of death !! As you have mentioned

Obviously this is my own personal experiences and problems so all I would say is make sure you only have your keyboard/mouse and monitor connected to the PCs and try it , if successful then slowly add other devices until you get the problem with the system freezing

Good luck

 

I would keep calling and letting them log the problems. If you can't get it sorted maybe you can at least swap to another one.

 

I did call again and got a very good rep this time, within an hour we had worked out doing the return of the X51 and GA for a full refund. Now that that is settled I ordered another X51 with the same config except it now includes the GTX 970 ;-) Also ordered the GA since it was on promo at $179 and I already have a GTX 980 that needs a home. Only a $76 difference in price between the two so hopefully #2 will be trouble free.

 

That doesn't sound bad at all. Hope the next one is good for you.

 

We're glad you were able to work your issue out with one of our reps. Please do let me know if you need anything else.

 

For as much guff as people give AW and the support team, they usually get it right eventually... sometimes it just takes the right rep or explanation. I have had similar issues and they have been more than accommodating. This is why I nearly always buy dell/alienware.