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January 19th, 2024 05:41
m18 R1, horror story
<All profanity was deleted. Read the Forum Code of Conduct. DELL-Admin>
Before I begin, I just want to say I owned a Alienware gaming laptop before and I never had any issues or ever had to contact support.
My m18 R1 purchase has been a disaster of a purchase from day 1. Initially purchased September 14th, when it arrived I had tons of issues, screen flickering, weird colors, power issues, graphic card issues, screen bleeding all over the place. I contacted Dell support and my options were a replacement or refund.
Me not knowing I picked the replacement (which was a mistake) and when the replacement arrived, I had terrible screen bleeding all over the corners and power/sound stutters and lag issues, which I contacted support to help me but at the end I had to do my own research and found out that the supportapp thats installed was causing these issues along with sound stuttering.
Before fixing the sound issue myself I contacted Dell support and I told them about the issues at this point I was fine with even a replacement again. But they told they cannot give me a replacement anymore since it’s been more than 30 days so the refund policy only applies from the initial purchase and no where did I see it say this. So if I keep getting a product I am basically. Interestingly to leave a review for their product you’re limited to a certain amount of days until you can’t leave a review ever again.
So with support being worthless, I had to fix the issue myself for the sound stuttering and I eventually contacted support for the light bleeding and power issues with my Bios startup.
I resent in my laptop and they replaced the screen, the power issue was not fixed but this time I had less light bleeding. I contacted support regarding the same issues, by now it’s already mid November. This time I had light bleeding only on the top right corners. They told me there was nothing they could do and told me they will send me an article on light bleeding (which was weird and I never received any email). I call again and they tell me to resend the laptop in again, it’s end of December. I resend the laptop and they email me I have to wait since the missing parts are unavailable. My ticket has been ongoing for 64 days.
I just received my laptop today 1/18/2024, I recorded opening my laptop and the light bleeding is still there, slightly worse this time but it looks like they didn’t even touch it. I contact support and they tell me light bleeding is normal.
This is unacceptable, this product costs more than 3k and I have others with no light bleeding. How is this normal and how is support this bad?
This is truly insane. And I feel like I am out of options.
tmdgm24
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January 21st, 2024 00:48
wow thats really bad, i have the same laptop but havent had all the issues you've had. I have to ask, how did you get rid of the sound stuttering? You said the support app, which support app? The my alienware app? I have the sound stuttering about every 15 minutes lasts for 2-3 seconds.
I also have light bleeding, not as bad as yours i don't think but shouldn't have it with a 2-3K$ laptop.
mattyb3
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1.6K Posts
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January 21st, 2024 23:56
@YugoEdo backlight bleeding is extremely common and basically impossible to get rid of in modern LCD panel technology, which all usually have some degree of it. It's hard to know how bad yours is without seeing it. The severity of it can be subjective with some people considering any bleeding to be too much.
The 30 day refund window is listed in their terms and conditions of sale, it's just that nobody ever takes the time to read these. Warranties are usually always based on the original purchase and not from a date when a system is replaced. This isn't limited to the PC industry.
If they fail to repair the same issue in 3 separate attempts then they will usually offer another replacement or you can sometimes be lucky enough to get offered a refund. Just note that replacement units are usually always refurbished systems, if one is available. This is also stated in their T's & C's.
@tmdgm24 It's the SupportAssist program that can cause video and audio stuttering. There are usually 3 programs to remove before it is completely gone from the system. Uninstall anything that mentions Support Assist.
(edited)
tmdgm24
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February 3rd, 2024 20:05
Thx, you are correct. The support assist app is what was causing it. I uninstalled it and it is working great. Reinstall it and it comes back. Dell support asked me to do some troubleshooting and reinstall it, but i'm debating if its worth it
Thx again.
mattyb3
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February 5th, 2024 08:42
@tmdgm24 Definitely DO NOT reinstall it. It's really not required and it's mostly bloatware
EnigmaticGlitch
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December 1st, 2024 13:36
I'm a DCSE myself, and I also have the M18 R1. However, I started with the X17. The X17 fried itself within 3 months. My M18 lasted 13 months. The X17 had worse light bleeding, and they replaced it with the M18 R1 after replacing the screen twice and then it completely cooking it's Intel processor. My M18, it's Intel GPU cooked up, and it was never taxed as I run all of my heavy applications using the 4090. Yet because they're so insistent on integrating everything and making it to where if one component dies, you need to replace everything (unless you have the hundred thousand dollar equipment to repair it yourself) which then instead of the cost being maybe $200, the cost is then exacerbated to $2,000. Which is technically against Consumer Right To Repair laws, and is going to drive major corporations into the ground with the likes of Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and Qualcomm technologies.
Either way, they definitely have reliability and dependability issues. IC's have more layers, they're thinner, the conductive materials are thinner, temperatures are extreme and pinpoint, and it doesn't seem people really care about performing with and producing quality. I mean, since when do businesses answer the phone, "Hello?". It's all going down the Tubes. Computers to Jetliners, to Space Capsuls. The "OG's", the "Pioneers", have lost their edge due to greed.
Will they learn?
(edited)
EnigmaticGlitch
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December 1st, 2024 13:50
I forgot to comment about the sound issues.
Can anyone describe the sound stutter? I do not have one. However, I did. I ironed everything out and would be glad to provide Software Version numbers for all of my drivers and such. I did not remove Support Assist.
Has anyone tried to run " sfc /scannow" or DISM 4 step thorough process?
When you all have reinstalled, did you reboot before reinstalling? Did you do a full "Clean Install"?
Always perform a clean install.
Are you using Windows Update drivers, or are you using the Official Alienware drivers using your Service Tag and dell.com/support ?
Do you have Application or Hardware Faults in Event Viewer?
If so, please list the details.
Always use Official Alienware drivers by service tag when using an Alienware. The exception is NVidia application Graphics Driver.
Help me help you. Thanks!
tmdgm24
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6 Posts
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December 1st, 2024 19:08
jeez these stories of M18's cooking are frightening. I have mine 12 months now so hearing one fried at 13 months... yikes. I just bought a LLano laptop cooler to try to cool CPU/GPU, but i've been running a year without it. Will see how it works.
Sound issue i had was every 15 minutes, almost exactly, would get a crackle combined with a stutter that lasted 2-4 seconds.
Uninstalling the Dell support assist app fixed everything. No issues since.
YugoEdo
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December 5th, 2024 03:30
@mattyb3
Extremely common huh? I had many laptops and no screen bleeding. You are wrong. I read their warranty afterwards very well. Since you been on here since 2012
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