Alienware Ripoff Poor quality poor service Miami Florida
I decided to go with Alienware after finding out their laptops have upgradable graphics modules, as I was looking for a laptop that I could keep current for at least a few years as I was tired of buying a completely new laptop every two years.
Anyhow, my problems with this company started right off the bat in March of 2004, when I purchased it. You have to pay IN ADVANCE, that's right, they won't even start building it until they have your cash in hand, and then it took over a month to ship.
I recieved my laptop in late April of '04, had it for about two weeks, and the video module blew on it. No problem, I'd just call and get another one. I called tech support, only to be treated like a complete idiot and forced to go through troubleshooting steps I had already done. Then, after a few sessions of this, they go from treating me like an idiot to treating me like a technician and telling me to take my laptop apart and check the connection on the memory modules, video module, even the hard drive, etc. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this since I *am* a technician, but I find the sudden the jump in the skill requirements to execute their troubleshooting steps to be disturbing since I didn't do anything to prompt it - I can only imagine someone who doesn't work with electronics every day trying to take apart their laptop (in my Alienware the SODIMM modules and hard drive are located under the keyboard) - it's a recipe for disaster.
After arguing with tech support for a week they finally sent me a new video module. I installed it, everything seemed all and well. But, ever since, and it's been almost a year now, my computer crashes out with a BSOD error, generally PFN_LIST_CORRUPT or THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER. Endless e-mails and calls to tech support have come up with nothing - the answer is always "Verify you have the latest drivers", "Uninstall any custom peripherals you're using", or even "Reinstall windows". I've done all these things and I still have this problem. E-mails for any further advice are ignored, and requests for depot service have been refused countless times. What I had hoped would be a quality and reliable laptop has instead ended up being the most crash-prone computer I have ever owned and something I can't wait to be rid of once it's lifetime is up.
Christopher
Pittsburg, Kansas
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Josh
Rolla,Missouri,
U.S.A.
Memory CL2.5 and CL3 will work fine together
#3Consumer Suggestion
Tue, March 29, 2005
CL2.5 and CL3 will work fine together. Go into the bios and set the CAS latency to 3. CAS3 is slightly slower and the laptop is probably set to CAS2.5. You may also want to try swapping the two memory modules, sometimes the motherboard only reads the SPD chip of one of the modules.
Also, RAM almost never goes bad by itself. Chances are good that it got zapped by static electricity when you replaced the graphics card. To be safe, use a grounding wrist strap next time you disassemble the laptop.
Christopher
Pittsburg,Kansas,
U.S.A.
Update March 2005 I gave up following Alienware's troubleshooting procedures
#3Author of original report
Tue, March 29, 2005
In December I gave up following Alienware's troubleshooting procedures and just did it myself and found out I had a malfunctioning memory stick. It would pass diagnostics sometimes but not others, so I pulled it out and low and behold my system worked fine, but with only half its memory.
I contacted Alienware and after going through all the motions yet again, they agreed to ship me new RAM. All was good again - or so I thought.
Fast forward to March. Yes, it took them THREE MONTHS to ship me my warranted memory. Something BS about a "Backorder" status. I get the RAM and notice its inferior to my old RAM, as it uses CL3 timing and my old ram and still-installed stick use CL2.5 timing. I pop it in, and my motherboard can't deal with the different timing and refuses to boot.
After three months of waiting, I was sent an incompatable replacement. While I'm happy it at least works reliably now, my current favorite game (World of Warcraft) is *extremely* RAM hungry and the difference in performance between 1 GB and 512 MB is quite extreme. I plan on replacing this sytem within the next year - so far I think it's an even bet if it will *ever* work at 100%.
This company's service is so lousy it's starting to remind me of the bad old Packard Bell days. If they don't improve I really don't see how they can stay in business.