New M11x freeze

I just received my new M11X R1, 4gb RAM, 250gb HDD. First off there are some scratches on bar that runs across the top of the keyboard, intersected by the power button, but those are minor, as well as a faint scratch on the back bellow the lit up logo. My main concern is that after using it for an hour or two, while using alienfx, the computer simply froze up. I could not do anything, no ctrl shft esc, nothing, except hold down the power button for a hard boot.
Now I've used pcs long enough to have done that exact same thing countless times, but never on the first boot up while using a single program preinstalled on the computer. I've checked some of the other threads, and while similar, I haven't found the exact same problem before. It's currently not OCed and hasn't been yet, so that's not the problem. This all occurred right out of the box. I'm just curious if I should be concerned, whether I should call order support, or just diagnose any problems myself. Thanks.

 

I would call Alienware ASAP and tell them what is wrong.

There is absolutely no reason why a brand new laptop (and not a refurbished unit) should have any cosmetic damage or have the lock-up problems you mentioned.

 

Thanks, I'll let you know what they have to say.

 

Sorry to hear that you are having problems with your m11x. The bar above your keyboard actually has a layer of film. It is very likely that the layer of protective film is scratched. Try to peel it off

 

Right you are. Thanks. I couldn't see the film as it wasn't the sides that were peeling, but the blemishes were in on the strip itself. Now the mark on the back still has me baffled (though I must admit I cleaned it a bit and it doesn't look nearly as bad anymore).

 

No problem. You should definitely call Alienware and request an exchange.

 

I spoke with them yesterday and they told me to update the video drivers and chipset and get all the windows updates (as the crash happened before all this). I've done that and it's been running smoothly... for now. Maybe it would have never crashed if I had updated the drivers right away. Who knows. Unfortunately all I can do now I guess is wait and see if it happens again. Thanks for the help.

 

Yeah, My r2 did the same thing until I'd run through all the updates. Since then only one lock up in a game (Fallout 3). I went the clean install route the minute the thing arrived, so I kinda expected some issues.