Bifnewman's M17x-R2

[Guest bifnewman]

Hey guys, this thread is mainly just reserving space for the documentation of the benchmarks/mods I plan to do to my notebook. I am typing on it now and I just took it out of the box. I would like to thank Niteskie @NBR for selling me this awesome notebook for a great price. Arrived 5/4/11 at 10:42AM(too bad i was at school). I got it for $1250.

Specs:

900p Dual-CCFL Bulb Screen

Intel Core i7 620M Dual Processor

4GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM

Dual 5870 in CFX

250GB 7200RPM

Intel 6300 WiFi

Original Accessories and Boxes.

This thing is seriously awesome. I haven't even played any games on it yet and I love it. Currently, my planned projects are the after-market 1200p RGB LED panel upgrade and the installation of Gentoo Linux (it will be great for taking advantage of all the processing power this thing can have, i should throw in a 920xm). I have ordered what I believe is the panel on eBay for about $100. It arrives 5/7/11.

UPDATE 6/9/2011:

Hey guys,

I thought I would update the first post since I haven't really payed attention to it. I got a replacement M17x R2 because the strong tape that was holding the screen in place caused me to break it upon removing the panel. It wasn't until after I tried it that I realized I needed a LED board instead of the inverter. Oh well. The replacement I got is fully loaded as you can see from my sig. i7 940xm, 8gb of ram, blu-ray burner, rgb screen. now I can sell the screen i bought. to anyone interested, pm me because it may still work with an LED board. I can't guarantee success though. You can watch our threads in the OSes forum to see how linux runs on the R2. I will be attempting an ArchLinux install. I need to perform the retention mod so I can get better temps for overclocking. Once I pick up some thermal paste I can perform this mod and fix the keyboard flex. I also need to repaint over a small area of the top case and the back of the hinge since this a refurb and the paint is scratched off.

Edited June 9, 2011 by bifnewman

[Brian]

Congrats on your new M17x-R2! Looking forward to seeing if that panel you ordered does the job.

[Guest bifnewman]

the keyboard on this thing is amazing. it is so comfortable to type with. even better than my g15. having some issues with my amd cards. i was trying to overclock and couldn't overclock the 2nd card. get no temp readings from the 2nd card and i enabled the crossfire logo and it shows up in crysis warhead so im not sure what the problem is. the performance in crysis warhead isn't great either and im only on 1440x900... shouldn't i be able to max it out w/ 8x aa. i cant even max it out w/ no aa without lag... reinstalling 11.4 drivers now...

[Guest bifnewman]

hmm.... after reinstalling, gpu-z states crossfire disabled but supported and catalyst says crossfirex enabled... hopefully this isn't a big problem.. should i open it up and check the crossfire cable?

EDIT:

just checked the cfx cable and looked normal. didn't even bother to remove the keyboard. after reboot, gpu-z confirms crossfirex enabled (2 gpus)! must have been something stupid like i unplugged it or something. still trying to figure out exactly what the fn+f7 key combo does since there isnt an igpu. i think i should definitely get like 6 or 8 gbs of ram because i get out of memory errors while running crysis warhead.

also, does anyone know how to fix the laggy trackpad?

Edited May 5, 2011 by bifnewman

[StamatisX]

for the trackpad update to the latest BIOS revision from the Dell website

[unreal25]

Yeah, I think the keyboard is pretty good, even compared to thinkpad keyboards (which are just awesome). Definitely let us know how it goes with the screen. I think you got the good price regardless.

[Guest bifnewman]

for the trackpad update to the latest BIOS revision from the Dell website

it works. i downloaded the modded bios last night and i just realized the mouse lag stopped... the screen should be here on 5/7/11 which is saturday. can't wait to have rgb led. hopefully it works.

[mw86]

Congrats bifnewman glad you picked up an R2... your going to love the RGB. Hope it all works out.. i'm rooting for you.

[Guest bifnewman]

thanks everyone for your support. i just got the screen. haven't installed it yet. looking at manuals and stuff.

i noticed that when you're looking at a white webpage and load a dark one it looks like i just lowered the brightness. its kind of wierd because it has never happened on any of my previous lcd's.

[Brian]

thanks everyone for your support. i just got the screen. haven't installed it yet. looking at manuals and stuff.

i noticed that when you're looking at a white webpage and load a dark one it looks like i just lowered the brightness. its kind of wierd because it has never happened on any of my previous lcd's.

That's the dynamic contrast of the CCFL panel I believe. The RGB LED doesn't have that.

[Guest bifnewman]

i feel like shit, i didn't work. my dumb ass has also cracked the current monitor in the process, dell has ordered me a replacement (lol). i asked for a price on the rgb and he said 720... i was hoping they would be out of stock so they didn't have a choice but to give my an m18x, because if i didn't have this, i'd want that... well, for now, its running on an external monitor fine. it seems that the lcd data cable fits fine but the power cable is different, maybe it just needs an adapter?

[Brian]

You could always cut the power cable connector from the R2 original monitor and mod it to the new panel. Though if you kill your system, don't blame me lol.

[Guest bifnewman]

i was referring to these 2 little cables that hook into the inverter. i think they power the 2 ccfl bulbs so dell probably has some proprietary adapter installed on their rgb panels that resolves this.

[Michael]

So you ordered the rgb from Dell?

[Guest bifnewman]

So you ordered the rgb from Dell?

no, i could get it cheaper from ebay at that point...

[mw86]

Bif I'm sorry to hear what happened, how did it break and why won't dell sell the adapter cable etc...

[Guest bifnewman]

Bif I'm sorry to hear what happened, how did it break and why won't dell sell the adapter cable etc...

well, the monitor cracked when i was taking it out because there is some extremely strong tape holding it in. when i finally got it out, i discovered the new screen doesnt work. should i ask the dell technician that will come to my house if dell will sell an adapter cable? this will probably be a bad decision because then he might know i was fucking with it, or does he care? also, can anyone post pics of the rgb led screen with the top casing off?

[mw86]

Ummm to be honest everyone from their hired help is often a contracted repair tech... so its hard to tell if this person will be dell spokesperson lol or something. Set your feelers out and ask questions that would help determine if this tech u get has a stick up his butt lol... or if your lucky the person could be really down to earth.. so to be safe determine that first before mentioning anything that could "void" your warranty.

Edited May 9, 2011 by mw86

[Guest bifnewman]

Ummm to be honest everyone from their hired help is often a contracted repair tech... so its hard to tell if this person will be dell spokesperson lol or something. Set your feelers out and ask questions that would help determine if this tech u get has a stick up his butt lol... or if your lucky the person could be really down to earth.. so to be safe determine that first before mentioning anything that could "void" your warranty.

I probably won't try it with the guy in person lol. It would make me too nervous and of all the Dell laptops, he probably won't know a thing about what I'm asking him. It'd be safer to do it over the phone.

[mw86]

I probably won't try it with the guy in person lol. It would make me too nervous and of all the Dell laptops, he probably won't know a thing about what I'm asking him. It'd be safer to do it over the phone.

Good point. I hope you get the screen set up! Sucks stupid tape broke your regular lcd...

[Guest bifnewman]

Dell is starting to piss me off. I have a "Next Business Day" warranty and it's been 5 business days since I called Dell and I haven't even talked to the technician yet. Also, since I go to school during the day, I told them I was only available after 3PM during the week. I recieved 3 calls from Dell on Friday around 10:30 AM....

[Brian]

Do you have your service call number yet? If you do, you can check the status here: Dell - Support You'll know if it's been sent from the depot to your local tech. Sometimes when they are out of stock, it can get delayed for a while. Once you find the status, call Dell and see what they can do about it.

[mw86]

Don't wait for Dell ever... just call and stay on phone till you get what you were on there for!

[Guest bifnewman]

Well, the repair guy came today... He was really nice, but the replacement screen didn't work. I think it's because the RGB screen may have fried the LCD port on the motherboard. Does anyone know if the RGB screen has a different inverter board? I'll post pictures later so everyone knows what I'm talking about. I am sending the M17x in to the Dell Depot after they send me a box. Does anyone know if they have stock on M17x R2 motherboards? I am worried they will want to replace it with the M17x-R3. I bought this laptop because of the dual video cards. Is that not one of the main attractions, if not THE main attraction, to this laptop?

EDIT: I forgot to mention. The repair guy was so nice that he even made it my house after getting in a car accident and switching cars. That's dedication right there. lol. I'm serious.

Edited May 18, 2011 by bifnewman

[mw86]

I am amazed at the repair man still showing after the accident. I would say last I knew in April they still had motherboards... just don't think there are full systems left except refurb. So You should be in luck that they still have repair parts... lol mine was just sent in that has a newly replaced board maybe they can send that one... no I do think that they have some stock left for you... and don't accept an R3 unless that would be something u want...