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INSPIRON 1750
It only took the moderators a few minutes to remove my post from this board, so here's the pc version (geddit?)
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Subject:
Three hard disk failures + one motherboard failure in 16 months?
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to: Laptop General Hardware Forum
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OK this is just a rant,
but I'd be interested to see if anyone else has had such wonderful use from
their investment. I paid £650ish 16 months ago for an Inspiron 1750 for my son's
birthday. Since then we have had one USB socket failure (sent away and fixed
OK),one SD card socket failure and one battery failure (sent away -and they
forgot to fix the SD socket fault, so engineer sent out, who changed the
motherboard). Two weeks later, the hard disk failed, so it was sent off and we
got a new one. THIS one failed just after my son had repopulated it with his
software/schoolwork etc (two or three weeks), but was repaired after a massive
argument as it failed just after the warranty ran out). As each time he lost all
his school project work/saved edited material etc, I was getting pretty " pleased"
with Dell ( and Dheli) and the 1/12 hours of arguing with some really "helpful" person
on the other end of the phone each time, and the big sales pitch on warranty
extensions, so I thought "Well it's got a new board, and now has it's second
hard drive, so it shouild be OK for a while, so "I'd love to pay" out MORE money to
Dell." Guess what - the second hard drive has failed four months after it was
installed, once again losing all his school work, etc. My question is this -
just how "good quality" are these drives (and I know Dell use re-furbished parts for
repairs because a visting repair guy told me so), and I'm sure Dell "aren't" interested more in the
business of selling on-going warranties than they are interested in producing
decent machines that last more than five minutes. I bought cheaper (much)
laptops for my daughters from another manufacturer, and they're both going well
- still on the first hard drives in fact! In my opinion the service from support
is "quick"," non-argumenative", and "competent". It annoys me that I've paid a
chunk of money for something which is a pain in the "pocket" and I can't communicate
with anyone who "cares". BUT MOST OF ALL IT ANNOYS ME THAT THIS
PIECE OF "GOLD-DUST" IS ONLY FIT FOR TH BIN AFTER 16 MONTHS OF USE! Did I just get
lucky and get the world's biggest lemon, or are there other Dell purchasers as
totally disillusioned with this company? AND - will this post be removed by
moderators? - well yes, it was, very quickly
ieee488
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11.1K Posts
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September 17th, 2011 15:00
The lesson in all of this - back up your data. Hard drives will fail no matter who you buy your laptop from. For my important files, I have 2 back ups - an external hard drive and a USB flash drive.
Even when a hard drive fails to boot, it is often possible to attach it to a USB to 2.5" SATA connector and retrieve your data files from it. Useful for the next time you have a hard drive failure.
dellboy15
8 Posts
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September 17th, 2011 15:00
Yes but you can't back up EVERYTHING, and you shouldn't have three hard disk failures in 16 months on a decent machine - that's just too much bad luck. Every other one of my machines has lasted for years. Dell are using refurbished parts to fix broken machines, hence rapid re-failure in my opinion.I'll certainly try to retrieve the data from the old disk, but it won't be going back into a dell, that's for sure. It's Apple for me from now on - at least you can go to the local Apple store and get it fixed comp
etently while you wait. And you don't have to argue about it for 1 1/2 hours either.
ejn63
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September 17th, 2011 16:00
Except for minor repairs, Apple doesn't repair notebooks in its stores - it sends them to a central repair facility.
ieee488
4 Operator
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11.1K Posts
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September 17th, 2011 17:00
Oh, really?
Gee, I guess the 2TB external hard drives are useless, huh????
Sheesh.
Talk about a know-it-all who knows little.
Well, I have bought 3 *used* Dell laptops, and I haven't had a hard drive fail on me yet. [knock on wood]
Wonder what you are doing that is causing this problem. Hmmmm.
dellboy15
8 Posts
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September 17th, 2011 18:00
Possibly, but I'm not expecting to need three in the next 16 months.
dellboy15
8 Posts
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September 18th, 2011 05:00
Well bully for you ieee888! You've not had a hard disk fail, so I must be doing something wrong. Strange logic. You don't live in the States by any chance? Do you back up the entire hard disk on your laptop every time you're about to turn it off? Is that that what you're saying my son should do?
And don't call me a know-it-all, (personal abuse, moderator, surely?), it just makes you sound like a smug little person. I'm just reporting what actually happened to me for the benefit of others.
I'd better get back to doing another full backup - now, just how long does it take to back up 400G? Every day, three hundred and sixty-five times a year - that's quite a bit of my life ieee888. Perhaps you've not got better things to do, I have. I like my computer to not blue screen unpredictably when I turn it on, and that's what I usually get from my other machines.
ieee488
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11.1K Posts
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September 18th, 2011 07:00
Since this is your son's laptop, I'd say there is even greater chance there is something he is doing wrong.
And, yes, if the data is *that* important to you, you do what you have to do.
I only back up my important data files, so it will take me more time to restore what I had.
Your posts are all there for the world to see. When you write something which simply makes no sense, I will call you on it.
Well, see there, blue screen is something else. You just go hogwild with your Dell hate. :emotion-4:
hrova
2.2K Posts
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September 18th, 2011 13:00
Perhaps it is time to invest in some good back up software. Personally, since I have been using Acronis True Image, I can't imagine being without it for peace of mind.
It will solve your backup concerns, as it can back up a whole disk (yes, including programs and OS) and then do automatically do incremental back ups, which only backs up things that have changed. Also, it can be set to automatically back up specific files or folders. So, doing a restore involves only restoring the most recent image you have and is probably less than 30 minutes. The rest of it is literally automated.
It is money well spent in term of the time I can save, whether it be recovering from hardware failure, corrupt software, virus, etc...
EDIT:
What's up with the anti American sentiment? It sounds very judgmental - almost like you think all Americans are a certain way. Kind of silly when you realize there are hundreds of millions of us.....
dellboy15
8 Posts
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September 19th, 2011 01:00
Thanks for the tip hrova - I'll have to look into this. Unfortunately it means throwing MORE money down the pc route when at the moment I'm investigating getting his Mac set up so it will do all the things he needs. Apparently some games won't run correctly when transferred to the Mac, or so he tells me.
I, of course, don't judge every american by people like ieee888, it's just that I have noticed over the years that if you criticise a piece of gear, etc, on many boards you will be attacked by an American poster who has the same piece of kit, and quite nastily too. (ref the tone of his post - I'm a know-it-all etc. I have become very fed up with this because it makes any sort of rational discussion impossible as any criticitism turns into a shouting match because there is almost always an American somewhere who feels that you are are attacking him because you are criticising that piece of kit.
I apologise to you and all the rational Americans out there, and I know that is the vast majority, it's just a shame that people like him are the loudest ones, and leave a lasting impression.
If you want to see what I mean, have a look at TalkBass.com, where almost every thread turns into a nasty snarly row for just that reason.
Thanks again for your suggesstion, and sorry if you thought i meant ALL Americans. It's just a shame the empty vessells make the most noise.
Cheers