Dell complaints

skiing · conscientious beginner Joined: 04 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

If you can believe this I have had five hard drives go out on my new inspirion 9400. The sent me a new laptop about 3 months ago and then I had another hard drive go out on my laptop. At this point I called the technical support department and I told them I would try one last time to have them send me a hard drive and if not I would be returning the laptop and getting a full refund for my laptop. Now they are telling because I purchased the original laptop a year ago that I can not return it and can not receive any refund even with all the problems I have had. Anyone have any suggestions what I can do??

Omega · Regular Hater Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 32

You're going through exactly what I'm starting to go through.

I have an Inspiron 9400 as well. Take a look at my thread "I have dell caught in their own legal trap..."

Lots to read there my friend. Lots. Dell has already sent me one hard drive that has already started to malfunction.

Rocke_T_Sinetist · Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2007 5:22 pm Post subject:

HDDs in portables are prone to premature failure. There are a number of reasons. Chassis design that puts user hand-pressure on the drive. Chassis design that provides insufficient cooling. Drive design that sacrifices physical integrity for size and weight. The number-one reason is that HDDs are susceptible to gyroscopic forces induced when the product is moved abruptly.

Odds are against all 5 of those drives being defective. Odds are even whether the problem you're experiencing is a result of chassis design or nominal use outside the envelope of what the drive's designers allowed for.

HDDs in portables are relatively indifferent to shock (rapid motion, plopping it on a table) with power off. They cannot be made impervious to these forces during the time they are operating.

If the problem is caused by a design deficiency in the 9400, Dell will never own up to that. Might as well buy another replacement drive while the current one is working, knowing it will fail. Then another, then another. Or shitcan the whole thing as yet another faulty Dell portable platform. If I knew whether 9400 was such a platform I would tell you. But it looks like it may be. Extensive research would be needed to determine that for sure, since not everyone words their complaints the same way (i.e., Dell 9400 drive failure, Inspiron 9400 drive failure, Dell portable HDD failure, etc and so forth).
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Rocke T Sinetist
as in, 'it doesn't take a...'

Omega · Regular Hater Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 32

I would be interested in trying to pull together an semi-formal account of inspiron 9400 owners who have experienced hard drive malfunction.

Most notably, the HDD does sit directly next to the CPU, and the CPU can get quite hot, radiating heat in all directions including over the section that includes the HDD.

I wish there was a way to get 9400 owners to come on and speak out here.