Dell complaints

[protegechris]

Guess who's back?

Few more experiences...
My power cord's rubber insulation started splitting off, leaving exposed electrical wiring... got a replacement, new one is doing the exact same thing. They sent the wrong adapter, but didn't make me send the wrong one back, so I can sell it at least

The rubber feet near the "strike zone" fell off. Asked for replacements, and they sent me the WRONG FEET, and even better, almost 30 of them. The included bill ("disregard this bill") showed $60 for those fuckers. I'm glad I paid the extra $30 for the 1year warranty now I'm going to hate to see what the price will be to renew it at the end though.

Now, the new LCD has this little blotch on the screen that shows no color, it's just like a white blob. On anything but light backgrounds, it doesn't show. If you're on a white page or have a light desktop background, it's annoying as hell.

In the end, I might be better off selling it.. hell, I might even get lucky and get what I paid back.

Intel Pentium M - 1.73ghz, 2MB cache, 533mhz FSB
128mb shared video
14.1" widescreen
3USB, external monitor capable, PCExpress slot, DVD-ROM/CDRW
2.25GB DDR2 RAM pc4200

Overall price after shipping, taxes, and a 2GB RAM upgrade was $639

Off to kill their tech support people again

[sfcspanky]

Hey, does that blotch appear at POST (when the machine first boots up with the big Dell logo)?

If not, it may well be a software issue, believe it or not. My Inspiron 2200 when i got it had an annoying blob on the screen that I discovered after a few days. At first I thought I had a bad LCD screen.

Eventually, I had wound up doing a full reload (with a true XP OEM CD, and not the crappy restore discs from dell) and I have not had the problem since. Granted, I had to download the drivers from Dell's website and burn them to CD, but it still solved the problem.

You might be able to get an XP cd from a local computer retailer; they will probably want to see your license sticker on your laptop so lug that in with you.

If you cannot get one from them (they might say that they can't do it legally); or at least they charge a ridiculous amount for it ($15-$25 for a cd they probaby have an image of anyway) you could either ask a friend (make sure you are getting a legit copy and not a pirated 'corporate' edition) or you could email me and arrangements could be made involving me mailing one to you for a reasonable price. In case that emailing users has been disabled on this forum, my address is george(AT)tc-online.us (Replace (AT) with @).
_________________
Money is the root of all evil. It used to be that companies actually cared about their customers and their satisfaction with the product. Support was also better- there were folks that spoke the same language that also cared.

If it weren't for greed, perhaps things would be much better in the world (including outside computers)!

[protegechris]

Thanks I can't really tell if it's there at post, the blotch just disappears if it isn't on a white or grey background

[sfcspanky]

One more note to clarify my offer of an XP cd:

I would not be trafficking ANY pirated copy of windows. It would merely be a copy of a true OEM cd that is useless without a legit product key. No key would be provided, as this individual already has a legal license to run xp.

I can provide either XP home or pro (the $500 laptop prolly just runs home anyway). I could also provide the drivers for the machine, as long as I had the service tag for the machine; granted that shouldn't be necessary unless this is his/her only machine.

Just thought I'd make that clear!!
_________________
Money is the root of all evil. It used to be that companies actually cared about their customers and their satisfaction with the product. Support was also better- there were folks that spoke the same language that also cared.

If it weren't for greed, perhaps things would be much better in the world (including outside computers)!

[sfcspanky]

That sounds EXACTLY like the problem I had.

Just do a fresh reload with a standard OEM windows cd, install drivers from dell's website; and life should be good.
_________________
Money is the root of all evil. It used to be that companies actually cared about their customers and their satisfaction with the product. Support was also better- there were folks that spoke the same language that also cared.

If it weren't for greed, perhaps things would be much better in the world (including outside computers)!

[protegechris]

Started a few days after I formatted the drive and reinstalled everything. I'll boot up with a linux distro and see if it's there later.