730 XPS ShutDowns

Just to wrap up my part of this chain of XPS 730 H2C misery...

After having the motherboard, then the motherboard (again), I/O board, power supply, and CPU replaced, and accusations from Dell that I voided the warranty by overclocking the system (seems most of them Dell folks don't even know that Dell sells "factory" overclocked systems...), they finally agreed to send a replacement system.

Today, I received an XPS 730X H2C - roughly equivalent to the XPS 730 H2C it is replacing (now a intel 765 oc'd to 3.73, 6 gb ram, sli gtx 280, ...), plus here and minus there.  I'm still on shaky terms with it, but it hasn't acted up, yet.  I'm having trouble convincing myself that the SLI is really enabling given that the crysis benchmarks are reporting negligable change in FPS before and after enabling SLI (on the old 730, the FPS improved by nearly 100% at 1600x1200, 4xAA). 

The temperatures on the new 730X, at least, look better: around 80 F instead of 80 C.  Think I'll be keeping a journal with periodic readings - I am now paranoid.

So, anyway - thanks for the help, folks.  Here's to hoping I don't need to come back to the forums on the similar 730X topics that are floating around here...

the last thing anyone should try before sending back a problematic PC is to do a full format and reinstallation of the OS, i'd bet $ it'd take care of a whooole lot of  PC Gremlins that come about after installing bad programs or going to harmful websites that try and trash anybodys PC, spyware/malware/activeX can bring on problems like what I am reading here. maybe it should be the first thing instead of the last thing.

sry, HG

Hello Hoosier Girl,

A very good suggestion, however, having done that with my system in the begining, I can tell you that does not always work.  I reformatted and reinstalled the OS when my system started this, but it really did not make a difference.  I am still running my original XPS 730 H2C rig, but am on my 3rd MOBO, second H2C, second QX9650, new HD, new RAM etc.   Do I love this rig, you bet, the 730 series is the best rig for the buck out there, and yes it does have a few issues,  but I still would not trade it for some other brand.

And despite what I read here in the forums about Tech Support, I would have to say the people there are working hard and truly do care about helping everyone.  You have to hand it to them, because they are working in a call center some customers do treat them a little less than nice and that would make their jobs just that much harder.  My personal take on Tech Support is they are generally good and overall helpful.

My last call over there was one of the best, he was familiar with the issue and fixed it by remote and I am very pleased.  So I continue to advise anyone, "Call Tech Support FIRST, before you do anything else, they really do want to make your Dell work for you."

Best wishes,

Darrell WV

I can also confirm that a reformat and reinstall of Windows did not resolve the problems my XPS 730 H2C was having, but I also have to admit that I didn't even bother to try until Dell had agreed to send a replacement system.  I realized at the time that I should have tried it sooner.

I do have to admit, though, that the new system (now a 730X rather than the former 730) is still running strong - though it is only one week old.  My 730 was prone to many BSODs (usually IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL), even in its first week - but not a single BSOD from the 730X, so far.  Of course, my 730 didn't start refusing to boot until few weeks later, so I'm still a little paranoid - but so far, so good.

Wow this is exactly the same problem that my xps720 is going through. First few weeks i had it, got the blue screen. Loud noise in the fan area. Then complete system failure. They kept sending motherboards and processors at it, but it only seems to fix it for a month or so.

How did you get the system replacement? Ive gone through 2 motherboards,power supply, 4 gigs of new ram. new hard drive, a new processor. They told me that after 3 part replacements they would replace the system, they havent and now that my warranty expired this month they dont want to deal with it.

This sounds like they need to recall all these systems something is wrong.

If your warranty expired, then I don't know.

For my own situation, I guess I should consider myself lucky that I got a replacement system given that it really started showing catastrophic problems (failure to boot) after 6 weeks, which exceeds Dells typical 21 or 30 day policy.  On the other hand, I think it boils down to telling Dell that they either need to fix the system or send one that works - but that line only carries any weight if you are within the warranty period.

I was fortunate - I was a bit timid since I was trying to keep myself at yelling in frustration at the tech support/customer service folks.  But after griping at them that tech support told me to talk to customer service, and customer service told me to talk to tech support, they finally put me on the line with a customer service rep. that steered me into saying that Dell either needs to fix my system or send a replacement - it seems they can't make that offer, but as a customer, we can make the request (again - within warranty).

Same problem with my fctory overclocked 730HC2. still waiting for parts to arrive after having nothing but a paper weight for the last month because they didnt have parts in stock. Sounds like a common problem guess that explain while there are none in stock. All started with the computer just shutting down randomly within the first few minutes of booting up then it would not reboot unless I waited a long time and retried or if I just kept trying to reboot about 5 times then it may get through the loading screen. It would give some cpu frequency error and say to reset it but Im not resetting it as its factory Overclock. Then the system died, HC2 CPU pump failure message and shutdowns within 10 seconds. So here I sit broken hearted after paying obscene money for this paper weight on my desk waiting for out of stock replacement parts. Bad enough the system arrived dead and need the mother replaced when I first recieved it.

I cant tell you how many hours I have spent both online and on the phone with Dell tech support to little or no avail.  I have tried to find an address or phone number for their corporate offices to express my unhappiness with their product and their support, again to no avail.  All I ever end up with is someone in India.  Some of my phone sessions have lasted up to 3 hours while I am shuffled back and forth to the wrong department, disconnected, left on hold listening to their monotonous music for half an hour at a time.  It has taken me two days this time to get a part number for my CPU fan that needs to be replaced and I'm not even sure that is my entire problem.  Next time I buy a PC it won't be from DELL!  Thats a promise.

  maddawg1

Dell Inc.
One Dell Way
Round Rock, Texas 78682 USA
512-338-4400

Bev.

maddawg1 Dell Inc. One Dell Way Round Rock, Texas 78682 USA 512-338-4400 Bev.

Thank you, thank you very much!!

  maddawg1

:emotion-21:

Bev.

My 730 finally bit the dust.  After two times in the repair shop under warranty, and now out of warranty, the H2C pump went out, again, fluid everywhere and cpu and mb issues.  I have finally decided to replace the mb with an MSI and upgrade to the i7 processor.  Never had my system working like it should have and had the same DELL SERVICE throughout owning my system.  All in all not a good experience.

So, GPAWOOD, do you think you will buy another Dell?  Thankfully I didn't buy the liquid cooling for my XPS.  I wanted it but it was over of my budget.  I tried isolating my problem with Dell Hardware Support.  That was an exercise in futility.  On each of three seperate occasions they recommended replacing three different fans and then the mother board as well, not to mention trying to convince me to sell my two year old XPS and buy a new Dell.  They might be right about selling it, but I wont be replacing it with a Dell.  Why should I ever bother to call Dell Support again?  I can take their approach and just begin randomly replacing parts until I resolve the issue myself, lol.