Alienware Sux
i mentioned this is alienware #3 i think earlier.
this is 2300$ tower. meant to be used for DV and 3-d rendering. as a school and work computer.
it was bought through best buy , built by alienware
because they supposedly had a good reputation for high end machines and i was tired of building my own . plus it was a Christmas present from my dad. so . it was easier to just custom order a prefab.
any way .
AW #1
Purple dragon case ,
P4HT3.06 /3.07 GHTz CPU
80gig HD
Radeon 9700 pro
lifespan 2.5 months started shutting down for no apparent reason . returned to best Buy for service after it went into a loop and never recovered , was sent to Atlanta for repairs .
alienware , first said there ship a new mother board to the techs in Atlanta could fix it then said . no. it needed to be shipped back to Miami. gave best buy a run around . i watched quietly. because they did what they could ,. and the techs at 508 learned my face .
after 4 weeks it returned to Savannah . i was swapped out with AW#2
AW #2
well prices had dropped so, i got to up grade
kept the processor , because surely the same thing wouldn’t't happen again right?
well
i upgraded the HD to 120gig
and the video card to 9800pro
and The DVD burner i swapped out to the 4X ( i had a 2x i used once)
this computer was ordered in January it came in, February .
the sound was buggy . pops and such . conflicts on the mother board . i only had it 4 days . that was just enough time to get the new ultima release of age of shadows , and get a house before all the property was taken , and do a midterm project .
after 4 days . it went into the loop of death.
and was returned to best buy.
then we had CPU #3
silver pimped out case
and a 200 gig HD
new mother board this ones a P4PE
OK tech assured me the chances of anything happening 3 times is just not statistically possible.
OK OK
i ordered it . should get in 4 more weeks .
this was also the day i jokingly , asked the sales manager that since i was in best buy every day for the past 3 months when i wasn’t in classes could i get payed for it at least .
well they told me to go fill out and app and i spent the next 3 days going to the inter views and trainings and now i’m a computer sales specialist at 508…
that was about the only silver lining to the alienware thingie.. that and i met Matt at best buy.
OK CPU#3
out of the box has the same problem as #2 sound is buggy . but that was the only really noticable problem and by now i was so fed up with not having a computer for 6 months and being stuck useing lab computers . granted i’m spoiled and go to SCAD , ( www.scad.edu ) and the lab computers are dual Xenos with 21 inch CRT trinatrons . and DVD burners from hp. with a T1 .. and the lab is 24 hours so i wasn’t't that bad off
but it was still a hassle to drive to Monty, and drive home . exspecially when you work and have class and just want to check your e-mail.
well i decided in June that . i would simply try doing All the updates first and work my way around this one trying to diagnose the problem . i’m not stupid . (BUT i’m not Matt either) . but i couldn’t't get my updates until august because . i didn’t't have Internet .
yeah
by the way i was paying on a monthly deduction , from my bank account for UO at 9,99 mo. for the 6 months i didn’t't have my PC . or net, and a 6.50 chard for one e-mail i use for big stuff . so that was like $96.00 that was wasted . due to alienware negligence in putting together a PC.
in June for the hell of it . i checked my BIOS . i was trying not to really get into this machine because i have a service contract on it .
and i didn’t't bring it in because it’s huge and a pain to move around .
any way CPU temp was at 98 C,/210F
yeah
i can make tea on my possessor . oh joy .
trouble shoot #1
turn off HT
good fixed th sound problem .
didn’t help the heating issue any . and now my computer was slow ..
well it felt slow any way .
i’m was used to running a virtual 7 GHz,
3GHtz feels slow
any way tried to put HT back on ..
yeah right
had to reinstall BIOS because it crashed .
yeah restore disks
crap no net can’t install updates .
OK step #2 don’t use computer .
yeah now can’t even listen to music . buried my self in work
started brainstorming how to cool the bitch . seriously was considering liquid . (actually i still am . )
any way .
being poor and confused i just decided to use the lab computers for the time being .
heh
scad was in summer break and the library has # 1 horrible hours and #2 shit%y PCs and gen 3 iMAcs .
any way . met Matt in July . moved to new apt . got a box fan . and had ac on hight CPU was 180.
Matt added 2 fans .
160
Matt updated all the drivers ,
downloaded Sandra for monitoring .
flashed BIOS
i bought a new heat sink . (50$)
Matt installed it
when Matt removed the factory heat sink . he noticed there was no thermal gel.
ALIENWARE WTF!!!!!????
added the new heatsink (with quicksilver)
and huge ass fan i guess there called flower coolers . it’s a copper “fan” like a Chinese fan . with a huge92mm case fan mounted on top
any way next drop was to 120f
Matt also moved my pci cards and fire wire around . to increase air flow and inadvertently fixed the sound problem
Dave from best buy had mentioned that . on my motherboard that PCI1 and the AGP , share resources so i could add another video card no problem but the sound card got buggy . so that fixed it by placing it in PCI 2
so yeah . everything works now .
but i’m still pisses at alienware . who cost me . about . 200$ after market to prevent my computer from crashing and burning or catching on fire . and for time and money lost by not having access to the net .
since i’ve been out of a pc ,
first, there was ,about 8 months i wasted my uo account ,$70-$80 given i couldn’t play it so it was just tossed
and 7 mo i wasted my e-mail. =45$ish
then 70$ was just cooling,
$150 for the external hd for backup. because i didn’t trust the internal and wanted to have a chance .
um $375. ish,
not including the upgrades . between machines
which was another 100$
and if you factor , the cost of the adobe package i got for school that i was unable to use for the class i bought it for , ($1,200.00) that also was a huge inconvenice due to the lack of there ability to put thermel on a freaking heatsink.
buy the way BestBuy no longer Carry alienware
