I Don’t know where to start or to end my troubles with Dell all I know is that they have been constant and their so called world wide excellence in customer service has steadily declined and declined and declined, no longer resolving the simplest issue is straight forward and this is gaining on more and more % of Dell customers.

Anyways since my last issue with the bezel I have had more graphic card failures and repairs on my M1730 including motherboard exchange and one or two displays replaced, the graphics cards fail the 8800GTX being a 90nm process of manufactory mean they put out a lot of heat and they are certainly not appropriately cooled. the failures so far have been constant, eventually one of the Graphics cards will die and disappear off of the system including bios leaving only the other card (this is a double graphic card system SLI capable). this has happened so many times that eventually the laptop ceased functioning completely. Well After 3 or 4 phone calls and getting the case escalated further and further I finally got to someone I had spoke before and this guy is one of the few decent Support managers. My system was recalled for investigation and because I need the laptop and because I had/have a rapport with this Manager he decided to exchange it for a brand new system, exactly like for like. It all seems too easy to be glitch free. I'll never have what I paid for.

I must remind you guys that I have next day on-site repair contract until 2012. None of my issues  till this date were ever resolved next day within the repair contract terms, I’m not amused. They cheat, lie, promise one thing deliver another and squirm their way of taking ownership of the issues  when they take ownership they hung up on you and stick to their lies like if it was the gospel. TBH Im not a racist guy but does anyone working for some  so calles "support" organization in any Country is really going to respect the Customer Rights and the  Retail Law of the country that is UK? Yea sure and I'm Batman on my spare time... Not so far let me tell you. its just a big koke on you and your Money that you decided to part with in search of a decent working Laptop in my case.

When I received the new laptop it was missing the bluetooth module it took me a month and a half and two letter to get that resolved when I thought that was all of it, I find out that my warranty until 2012 was not existent anymore it took me another 2 months 3 email several letters to get that finally resolved. See the new laptop show inherit the old ones warranty but someone decided not to make it so. If you bother to read that is a direct breach of Dells own terms and conditions UK nr 11.2 Dell shall accept liability for reasonably foreseeable losses arising as a direct consequence of breach by Dell of its statutory duty. However Dell shall not be liable in certain circumstances for example where the causes or potential causes of the loss:

11.2.1 were not reasonably foreseeable by both parties; &/or

11.2.2 were known by Consumer to the exclusion of Dell at the time that the Agreement was entered into; &/or

Well this was reasonable and foreseeable for both parties since its process and procedure of Dell to ensure the old warranty is passed to new machine which was well know by myself and Dell. Took me an untold amount of time and issue is still unresolved its been now 4 or 5 months, I have written to US and no one seems to realize within Dell they have not only breached their service contract but they have also breached own terms and conditions. Incredible. The amount of time and money I lost so far with Dell I could have bought 10 M1730 I joke you not.

Latest one with my current new machine, had screen replacement 2 weeks ago for some reason screen was perfect then suddenly when colors were mixed at some website e.g. my blog header amongst a few was completely unreadable. i got that replaced now I have a great working Samsung display. I hope that lasts. Anyways I reported issue 3 weeks after I found fault since I did every single trouble shooting I could including re-install windows and run diagnostics. When I was sure and had the time and patient I reported it.

Same week I had that replaced the video cards that each core is supposed to run at 500mHz is now running at 200Mhz  (not tehe new drivers fpower setting at fault they should jump to attention on any 3D action and they did not do so) no amount of trouble-shooting has revealed any faults with video card except it 100% clear its faulty I also included speaker troubleshooting since my right speaker is crackling when on on voice/video conversations. Anyways its now going into a week and I have Managed to get a agreement to exchange and repair the issues and I was accepted to get a different video card. the 9800GTX SLI DELL part number 1GNV98X. Now instead of the dual 8800GTX 1GB DDR3, and the proised card I got the 9800GT... Oh boy... the fuckers!!

See the current 9800GT’s besides bearing the same G92 Chipset their offering in UK at the moment is the 8800GTX exact same GPU’s different flash and cooling enclosure same old balls and will no doubt cause same issues since its the same card. it will over heat it will fail like all other 8800GTX’s. nVidia is doing that as a trick to sell off the last of the 800GTX chips.

There are many sites telling you that the 8800GTX is 90nm and others saying that its 65nm, all I know its that it's 90nm chip. maybe one of the latest version is 65nm but lavalys Everest says 90nm at the 8800GTX's and its saying 65nm at the 9800GT but Im not happy that I didnt get what I was promised, thats a direct breach of the agreement Dell and I made and further infractions to their terms and condition not to mention my UK Customer rights.  

I have my contacts within nVidia unfortunately for Dell this person has provided me with all the info I need but I cannot disclose their identity for obvious reasons. if you put the specs of the 9800GT and 8800GTX side by side you will see that its is the same card remanufactured. this is a fact that is splatterred all over the net.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_8800m.html

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/page/geforce_m_series.html

and then that all the info/specs technical info you can find, is that not a bit odd to begin with? Why hide all the geeky info? There’s only one reason it occurred to mind, that when they remanufacture a chip the average Joe is none the wiser.

Because nVidia know if you put the specs side to side it will be obvious they made it difficult, I have requested this specific info from within nVIDIA Vaults and so far nada zip, ziltch. 

A while back Dell was selling in UK M1730 with a new 9800GTX which funnily enough is a true and only 65nm process card and completely different chip.

I’m still waiting on DELL going on a week to resolve both my video card issues and my right hand side speaker crackling issue which I decided to leave for last because its not that exciting even though they are obliged over the next business day contract to resolve it.

Speaking of which out of all the service calls I had only 3 calls which were resolved next day so so much for not breaking the contract  clauses you pay a fortune for.

Enjoy shopping with DELL and good luck. to your sanity and all!!

If I missed something ill update this later there’s so much I’m bound to have done so even though I re read this a few times before hitting the post button. this is a relatively small post to the amount of issues I’m going through I hope I did not fail in capturing the essence of the case (s).

Until next time.

P.S. I think I may have to write in to Dell this time as well to get this sorted… Oh Joy!

I recently needed a NAS enclosure and well I shop all over the Internet like most of us do I suppose, So I wonder off to my trusty http://svp.co.uk/ which amongst all the online retailers I ever visited hold a fair amount of gadgets at good prices and above all their Customer service so far is second to none. It as always been my number one reason why after so many years I still go back even when things go wrong. SVP is 5 STARS shame about their choices sometimes but hey we all make mistakes eh!

I decided to whack of my WD 1TB HDD sata II on one of their enclosures that had support amongst other things bitorrent they call it a EDATA 3500 NAS BT Nice built aluminium look durable but what about the rest, soon found screws missing to Hold HDD inside no Tools but me being a sort of resourceful guy that was not about to stop me but alarms started going off.

Well soon Find out the dammed thing kept coming on and off and after wrestling it for a while I managed to upgrade the firmware to no avail it still was not working properly, after wrestling with it for the weekend I decided enough was enough and got a replacement/exchange from SVP after letting them know what I found or not in this case (like the missing parts) and the list of issues as its recorded on the support tickets to SVP. I went for the DATASTATIONII JBOD I don’t know why I thought maybe hard luck the first time around it happens you know. A great design solid aluminium great detail again and I though that a company that has clearly invested on design would have put guts to support/match the design, besides that now this is now a NAS anymore it supports USB 2.0 and mean while I decided to get another sata II 1TB drive out and try out this JBOD on Both WRT350Nv2 and WRT600Nv1 Both with beta firmware not available to public quite yet since I am waiting for the bug reports I sent to be addressed and fixed before you guys have them as good as possible either way these support USB 2.0 mass storage devices and distribute via Network pretty much like a NAS. Even connected straight to PC performance to 1 Meter away sucks big time and JBOD is complete failure straight connection to PC as I start to create  Folders and well mapped a Network drive did some FTP tests and suddenly I’m only getting 1TB showing.

Just to make sure I wasn’t seeing thing I wacked a Western Digital My Book Premium 2TB USB 2.0 to see if its me again of what the heck is going on. Na not a site of any issues with the WD drives chugging away like a champ and then as if by miracles they spin down as the signal to the drives ceases... mmmmm!!! Interesting! I admit I didn’t break the 6 meg barrier but I wasn’t far off funny thing is that the First HDD on this Glossy shiny DATASTATIONII JBOD is exactly the same drive as WD uses on their boxes hell I could have taken the whole lot appart just to put my mind at rest and swap the drives with the WD enclosure but it was clear to me I don’t need any more evidence that I have another failure on my hands.

Tested the 2nd HDD just to make sure it was not a dud all things right as rain this drive is as healthy as the time it come off the assembly line Maxtor do provided half decent tools to test their drives and its was like I said a thumbs up.

JBOD was a no show corrupting drive number two by creating a random number of inaccessible partitions which was the oddest thing ever. So I decided to try out the separate disk features for a while and see how that performs after of course I recovered the drive which not only new was now ready to pack it in as was I to be honest.

Drives are always screaming, never spin down and the transfer rates are abysmal and well under the 3/5mbps Tsunamitech say they should on a spanking new giga lan cat6 wire and if that not all I decided to try their support... They never addressed the fact that the second enclosure fails to operate on JBOD mode and say they sorry that the product does not meet my expectations and that's it that and I quote "Different user has different expectation on different product, we are sorry that we cannot fully satisfy yours" Is expecting your product to work is it a reasonable satisfaction or expectation you say from any customer?? Hold on a second boys and girls ever heard of UK retail law? no it seems to me? Well I have! Guess what? You having this one back unfortunately via SVP whom I have advised to discontinue the sale of these clearly glossy products with not real clockwork inside and it will be my uneducated guess that you SVP will have a few of these back before its starts to loose patience and dump you like you deserve, no one with brains on Tsunamitech side to know about Customer Service/support or even their obligations to the customers... I don't know where Tsunamytech have been since 1994 but I hope you soon go back to that anonymity and get real... Also reconsider your internal processes and retraining your staff not to make absurd claims about technology they clearly know nothing about.. I wonder what trading standards would have to say about that, maybe if you like me to act a a Customer Service consultant and technical/product trainer advisor to your company, please leave a comment my services to the industry both on Customer service levels and technical expertise on general equipment clearly qualifies me to at least set you on the right track...

My advice to any of the readers is to steer clear of these glossy well design and poorly conceived products for a good year or two and go spend a few more pennies with brands like D-link (insert your favourite brand here) you know never going let you down and if you don't know have a good scour on the Internet and read the product reviews for whatever you want to buy, though most people talk crap there on some of the reviews I find there is one or another that know what they talking about...

TSUNAMITECH you been served what you served me... Named and shamed Your Products and your Company Stink!!! 1/10 I would have given you Negative points but I have to say the design is spot on unfortunatly Beauty is only skin deep with your stuff (the Two that I tried and failed), the rest a nightmare!! 

I hate jerks that get into business to make money off of the consumer and when things go wrong, tell them well tuff! Maybe this guy that read my email was having a bad day and the boss doesn't know either way sorry, I had to do it! A gave TsunamiTech two chances You pissed me off and then pissed me off some more with the reply email I got after I actual made an effort to explain what all the issues were...

Oh I saved the communication emails... Not that expect You be requesting my professional advice. Cleary another mistale you'll make. I could definitely show your staff a thing or two about customer service and maybe train them to have a better understanding of the finer technical aspects not only of your products but other products that actually interact with yours, possible uses based on products available on market today, etc... Shame a little better testing and and it could have been a better product... I blame the guy/girl that for the sake a few pounds rushed things out the door that otherwise could have made a really great products. there's always one lured into a false sense of economy and expecting the return rate will be below a expected rate of failure... And this is how you loose customers...

You can now follow this tutorial or download the official file finally released 4 months later at my other topic

So imagine that like me, you slipstreamed the latest Service pack onto your existing install disk to make a clean install of XP (insert your edition here) and found out like me that the LLTD while its on the list of updates included with SP3 its not really... Go figure... It happens really... or does it?

LLTD just makes it way easier for Vista to see XP in its network map and maybe even make it easier for you to get things working together dure goes help... I see it like a scaled down version of Cisco CDP... Moving on :)

Download the LLTD windowsXP-KB922120-v5-ENU.exe, running it will give you a error not allowing you to install it, but there is a way around it... Seriously! Keep reading!

I figured that since it was working when first tried SP3 via WU and I had this update already that there is no reason why this makes any sense... So I Googled as one does. I looked at this topic and quite honestly some idiot saying on thar topic that "All the KB's you mentioned were new features added to Windows XP after release of SP2.They would not be added to SP3, but instead be refreshed to install on SP3" makes me wonder why bother with comments like this... Clearly you need to do some reading Mr. whatever your name is... Sounds like something I wouldn't eat... Anyhow?! This is the advice someone as a MSFT title should provided regarding the LLTD...

A topic on Microsoft discussion group pointed towards http://support.microsoft.com/kb/828030 in how to extract a update to your HDD as part of the solution and then place these files on Windows Directory and system32 folder and then run the service... ok pretty easy eh? nope. What file goes where so here it is... you will also need to set folder options to view hidden files.

1. Rename the LLTD WindowsXP-KB922120-v5-ENU.exe windowsXP-KB922120-v5-ENU.exe to a simpler name e.g. 922120 and place it on e.g. C:\
2. Click Start button navigate to run prompt and type in cmd and press enter or click ok (a black window will open)
3. Type the following in the command prompt (cursor blinking)

Now you all done! Start the service by opening a cmd prompt window again navigating to directory by typing cd C:\Windows\System32 directory and issuing the following command once there on same prompt window.

    rspndr.exe -i (then tap enter duh!)

You should receive a confirmation that the service is installed and by opening your NIC card properties you will confirm by reviewing that there is a checked entry for Link Layer Topology  Discovery.

On another note maybe it would be better to rollup and add this and other missing KB's in the disk before slipstreaming SP3 and then maybe we could avoid it altogether. Or wait until Microsoft is good and ready to release yet another stream of updates to go on top of SP3 and fix this or similar issues. One can wait or do it himself.

erm feeling like XP SP4 anyone? 

XBMC for those few that don't know what it is, is simply what I call a Xbox 1 lease of life, allowing to make full use of the power that its not even slightly tapped by Microsoft and probably where in turn served to inspire Microsoft when they designed the Xbox 360. it was founded as XBMP a few years back by Frodo, RUNTIME and d7o3g4q (a.k.a. Duo Egaq)... Kudos ;)

This project is now lead by Pike (which apparently is more attractive to the opposite sex when he is drunk) and has a massive team behind it of the most talented coders, skinners, testers helpers on this darkside of the moon. CptSpiff one of my most favourite down to hearth guys, Jmarshall (the interface god who asks for help and doesn't get it) -C'mon guys be more supportive!, Donno (talented & apparently now old enough to shave), TSlayer (the master of xbmcfaq bot), TeknoJuce (who hates my guts), Jezz_X (the resident gfx guru), Smokehead master skinner (the guy that helped and supported me when I was getting into gfx design), Deanparry (XML expert that was helping me put my own skin together est. release date Never) Thx Dean for bailing out like that! and loads more that without xbmc just wouldn't be what it is today.

Speaking of which XBMC is no longer exclusive to Xbox 1 and is making its way to your living room in a Linux box, your PC and even MAC OSX (why not)... Adding of course the Google summer of Code this is bound to be yet another exciting years for XBMC users all around... (it just keeps getting better and better)

Adding to this all growing team there's yet another massive host of people that TBH so many new ones pitching in I cant remember all their names but there they are in all their glory ahhh bless!! Sorry Guys!  

So you are curious how the heck you going to take this old box you have and whack this little piece of ingenious fruit of hard work and collaboration in there and working? Well all the information necessary is on the New Website that was Designed by the God, of designer God's Chokemaniac (who has supported/inspired me in the quest of becoming a better designer) and coded by the massive Granqvist.

You can also get help in the forums or at freenode IRC channel #xbmc and from there you can goto other help channels for Linux, OSX etc...

Ok now all there is left is to say nominate and later vote for XBMC in Sourceforge Community Choice Awards '08.

Edit 18th November 2008 

Another winner thx to the cooperation and advertising we all helped put out there. Well done guys Keep on doing it. (no news like old news) hehe! I am now trying to get two projects off the ground to even further promote XBMC by developing a new program very likely based around its source code and adding other functionality aimed at a specific  market which is still untapped and it strays a little from what XBMC is ATM, The plans are to make it more appealing to a broader consumer range promoting other projects which are 100%  needed to make my Concept come alive and adopted as soon as its out. For views and more info on that please visit the link above