*OFFICIAL* M18x Owner's Lounge Thread

[homank76]

You may buy stuff from any where you like and install it without any problems. If we had to buy everything from Dell I would be broke.

[bumbo2]

I think you're just talking to the wrong person and getting bad information. (Ask the person that told you that to show you where such verbiage can be found in the Alienware warranty.) I have done my own repairs with Dell/Alienware blessing numerous times. Alienware computers are made for enthusiasts, and real enthusiasts take their systems apart, if for no reason other than simple maintenance. I prefer POS over a tech dispatch and Dell/Alienware has been very accommodating with that.

Now, if you were to break something due to carelessness or inexperience trying to take apart the M18x, that damage would be a different story and most likely would not be covered under the warranty provisions for defects in the system.

The other thing is, unless you are having unusual problems with overheating, there is no good reason to take apart the M18x to re-paste anything. The factory thermal interface material (TIM) works just fine, even in overclocked systems. The M18x has an awesome cooling system and there is nothing to be gained unless the factory TIM was incorrectly applied. Doing so in the absence of an overheating issue would be a waste of time and money.

you'r absolutely right mr. fox, the dell thermal paste is good enough. unless you are having unusual problems with overheating, there is no good reason to take apart the M18x to re-paste anything.

[Mr. Fox]

Another question I was wondering about.

Am I able to add an SSD, or something like that to the computer of my own volition? Or can I only add components purchased from Dell themselves?

You may buy stuff from any where you like and install it without any problems. If we had to buy everything from Dell I would be broke.

homank76 is correct. You can do all kinds of things to the m18x... upgrade SSD, RAM, CPU, etc. As long as what you do does not break something, there's really no issue. Understandably, Dell/Alienware will only provide a warranty on what they sell you. It's pretty simple if you look at it this way. If you want the legendary Dell warranty to cover SSD drives, Extreme CPU, etc, then you need to buy an M18x with all of the goodies installed from the factory.

you'r absolutely right mr. fox, the dell thermal paste is good enough. unless you are having unusual problems with overheating, there is no good reason to take apart the M18x to re-paste anything.

Thanks for the affirmation. +1 rep.

[astkhat]

Ah right, I wouldn't expect them to replace or fix things that were not on the laptop when I first had it built.

Just wondering, is there any number I can call that would allow me to talk to someone who is more experienced with the warranty than a sales associate? It appears I've been getting QUITE a bit of misinformation here.

[unityole]

k guys i might need quite a bit of advice here as i am completely stuck.. =/, anyone thats good in this area please help me out.

currently im trying to make my m18x dual boot with win7 and xp, my xp is cracked and worked on my OLD OLD desktop, and installed on my 5 year old sony laptop just fine, so the dvd/installation works, but whenever i use it on my m18x when it loads to window or reads partition c: d: (i make a separate partition for window xp) etc, it blue screen.

thats the first step i have to get through before actual installation happens, and 2nd of all, after i installed xp on my Sony laptop to test it out i realized the drivers dont work, its meant for vista, not XP. so then i searched through the web to look for drivers for my model to downgrade, and no luck. so is there m18x drivers for window xp users out there? cause i will most likely need the wireless driver for wireless internet, sound driver, and graphics driver the 3 main ones, oh and chipset..

[TheMacs]

Ah right, I wouldn't expect them to replace or fix things that were not on the laptop when I first had it built.

Just wondering, is there any number I can call that would allow me to talk to someone who is more experienced with the warranty than a sales associate? It appears I've been getting QUITE a bit of misinformation here.

Not meaning to be rude, but read it yourself. It's a long read to be sure, but it's good to have knowledge of it and have your bases covered.

[DanXbix]

I just had to replace motherboard again recently and motherboard was in some sort of engineering mode and when first turning on the Alienhead didn't show and had engineering mode - level 47 in Yellow DOS text. will post a screenshot later. Just thought it was interesting. but now i again have SATA3 dropping to sata2 issue again! such a wierd issue as some motherboards work???

[Mr. Fox]

k guys i might need quite a bit of advice here as i am completely stuck.. =/, anyone thats good in this area please help me out.

currently im trying to make my m18x dual boot with win7 and xp, my xp is cracked and worked on my OLD OLD desktop, and installed on my 5 year old sony laptop just fine, so the dvd/installation works, but whenever i use it on my m18x when it loads to window or reads partition c: d: (i make a separate partition for window xp) etc, it blue screen.

thats the first step i have to get through before actual installation happens, and 2nd of all, after i installed xp on my Sony laptop to test it out i realized the drivers dont work, its meant for vista, not XP. so then i searched through the web to look for drivers for my model to downgrade, and no luck. so is there m18x drivers for window xp users out there? cause i will most likely need the wireless driver for wireless internet, sound driver, and graphics driver the 3 main ones, oh and chipset..

There is no support or discussion for cracked/pirated software on this forum. Please refer to forum rules. You'll need to first get a legal copy of XP and if it does not work correctly, then we can have discussion about how to make it work properly.

I just had to replace motherboard again recently and motherboard was in some sort of engineering mode and when first turning on the Alienhead didn't show and had engineering mode - level 47 in Yellow DOS text. will post a screenshot later. Just thought it was interesting. but now i again have SATA3 dropping to sata2 issue again! such a wierd issue as some motherboards work???

How strange. I'd like to see that screen shot. Did you flash the BIOS to A04 or A05 to see if that corrects the problem. I have seen more than one mobo with A00 and you need A04 or higher for proper GTX 580M support.

[DanXbix]

here we are Fox (ignore quit.app dialog as it was a screen shot of a frame of video on iphone4 as it flashed on the screen at boot really fast) the Fn + X returned it to normal

[unityole]

There is no support or discussion for cracked/pirated software on this forum. Please refer to forum rules. You'll need to first get a legal copy of XP and if it does not work correctly, then we can have discussion about how to make it work properly.

so my friend just lent me his xp cd, which is a legit copy, and i still get blue screen.
do i have to take the harddrive out and put it into my other old desktop/laptop and install xp on it, then put the drive back into m18x and boot it to XP, then install drivers?