The Area 51 m15x hinge

[wintermute-II]

Hi Guys,

just my two cents:

I bought my M15x in march 09. Hairline crack appeared after about 3 months. I then used the best grade Gaffer (DUCTAPE) I could find to attempt to bind the hinge together. After reading this thread I decided to peel off the tape and peek a look at what was happening. Sure enough the left hand hinge has the tell tale case lid coming apart issue. So perhaps the tape has prolonged life a bit.. And since its silver it does show that much. (And nothing can really be called your own till you've fixed it with a bit of Ductape).

... anyway...

Phoned alienware tech support yesterday, early morning (9 am) UK time, and got through to someone who sounded like they were in a polish call centre or perhaps central europe. No offence to our central european chums intended, but the guy on the phone was not particularly helpful, and just said, please take a picture of the issue and email it to CER_aw1@dell.com. I did that and got no acknowledgement at all.

That was yesterday.

Today, I phoned the UK 0800 number at 4 PM GMT - this time I got through to a guy from the UK. The UK tech guys seem pretty clued in. When I said what the issue was he immediately admitted that there was a known issue, and that as I am still under warranty, its a replacement case for me.

He also said that the fix is a guaranteed fix that should overcome the problem completely, rather than something that will start happening again in another 7 months.

He didn't ask for any photos or anything. Just told me to pack up the machine, and arrange a time for DHL to collect it.

He also said that there was no problem with leaving the HDD out when sending it back since its just a switch of the case that is required - At least that way I can still get data off my HDD while its gone if I need to...

Before I put down the phone with him the DHL email was in my mail box.

So... if you are still in warranty, try and phone in the UK aftfernoon, say 1600 -> 1800 GMT and you should get a good result.

I'll let you know what happens next.....

Win.

[exiled]

yea i dont recommend trying to reinforce the hinge yourself until you run out of warranty. the only reason i reinforced it was cause i know it will happen eventually and since i dont have warranty anymore i decided to do something about the hinge so the best i could come up with was reinforce the plastic surrounding the nuts holding the screws in place.

[hifiman72]

how is the epoxy holding up
...

[ElDiablo2008]

So... if you are still in warranty, try and phone in the UK aftfernoon, say 1600 -> 1800 GMT and you should get a good result.

Thanks for this post. A crack has appeared on the hinge of my m15x exactly like in your photo.

So, it would appear that Alienware have finally got a fix for this then... if you believe what the guy on the phone told you anyway.

Cheers

[exiled]

how is the epoxy holding up
...

So far its been holding up quite well. No problems yet so far. Lets see how much longer this will last.

[hifiman72]

should i purchase a new top before applying epoxy...because the pastic peices to fit the nuts on mine are just about all worn away...also, is it difficult to repllace the top? last but not least, what about if i misplaced a gold nut, screw, or rubber peice?

[inap]

should i purchase a new top before applying epoxy...because the pastic peices to fit the nuts on mine are just about all worn away...also, is it difficult to repllace the top? last but not least, what about if i misplaced a gold nut, screw, or rubber peice?

I replaced a top on mine, it wasn't too difficult. let me know if you need help.

[hrlaptoprepair]

@ cha

we put some trick when we fix your laptop so if you try to open that .. you get some problem..

respect our company secret..

[Matrolz]

Hi Guys,
... anyway...

Phoned alienware tech support yesterday, early morning (9 am) UK time, and got through to someone who sounded like they were in a polish call centre or perhaps central europe. No offence to our central european chums intended, but the guy on the phone was not particularly helpful, and just said, please take a picture of the issue and email it to CER_aw1@dell.com. I did that and got no acknowledgement at all.

My hinge broke a while back, and when I called support they told me to send pics to "CER_aw1@dell.com" too. The laptop was one month out of warranty and they still repaired it. They just put a new back piece on, so I guess it's gonna break again. Well, I'm happy they did something.. :P

[oneabove]

well let me tell you REPAIRING IT WONT SOLVE THE ISSUE.... I called up alienware regarding the same issue as my laptop had a creaky broken hinge and they did the repair free as i was under warranty but when i received it after a week or 2 it had the irrritating creeaaaky noise. i emailed them with a video demonstrating the issue and called them right after that. they gave me a partial refund deducting £500 of my original £2400 (for having used it for 7 months).... and also alienware will refund the entire amount if they are unsuccessful in resolving the same issue even after the 3rd repair... hope this helps