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New week old Inspiron 11 3000 3558 (touch) stuck or broken button on touch pad--warranty parts replacement?
I've had this machine about about a week, so far I really like it. Can't say yet that I love it yet, but it does what I need it to and the price is better than a tablet with the same functions and already has a keyboard. This machine is kept in a padded case when not used in my desk drawer it does not bounce around in my briefcase etc.
This morning the left button on the touch pad does not work. At first glance it sort of looks like it is caught on something or stuck, the right button works great a broken switch under the button is also possible but this thing doesn't move at all I'd think a switch would still move just not contact properly inside. I need my machine and I've made a couple of upgrades like a SSD for the stock hard drive and a 8 gig ram chip, I am not thrilled about pulling those components in order to return for warranty replacement etc. as I'm pretty sure you won't be returning the same machine I sent in. I'm considering pulling it apart to see if it is indeed stuck so it can be pushed back out from the inside but if this is a common issue with this machine I'd like to know that...
Can I be sent a new touch pad component, I believe I saw this is a separate board that attaches to the motherboard with a ribbon cable? I'm not afraid of this procedure myself as I've been building desktops since the 90's and this is a really simple hardware to work on from the looks of it. Only thing I fervently wish this motherboard had is a second wireless socket for a cellular internet card, it's currently wifi only. Sigh, I guess you can't have everything for the price level of this machine. Looks like I have to settle for a stick or one of those wifi router things that connect to the cell data network and your computer accesses that router with wifi.
If dell can please send me a replacement touchpad board please do, I am afraid to try to pry the button loose from the outside because there is such a tiny amount of space there and I'd probably damage the plastic around the touchpad trying to pry it free. I don't think anything got into the touch panel, again because there's such a tiny amount of clearance here. Thank heavens this is a touch screen don't need the touch pad for a lot of things and I can add a mouse but that just makes for more stuff to carry around, would like this fixed.
I guess your chat is never open, I've tried a few times and it's always closed. I imagine you'd want the service tag on the machine, I'd prefer to supply that in a private communication as there is no telling what someone may try with that information.
suemccartin
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May 31st, 2016 13:00
This is an fyi about the final resolution of this issue. After a lot of arguing dell sent me what was supposed to be the touchpad but what I got was only the plastic palmrest no touchpad. Then because it's a "daughter card" I got more argument about the touchpad. I got hot enough that I opened up the back, lifted out the battery, took out the two funky looking screws and the whole pad just fell right out of the machine. The buttons seemed fine so I screwed it back down, put the battery back in and closed it up. It's now great, the button was indeed hung up on the edge of the plastic palmrest. This is a very well designed inside machine, it all screws down and all connections are with plugs or ribbon cables. I wrote back to dell and told them they need to fire their tech manual writers because they're idiots, a monkey could have done this. Apparently it is not easy to find only the mouse pad it's generally sold with the palmrest from what I can tell. This whole machine is so well designed I scratch my head why the cpu isn't socketed unless they decided there was no room for a socket etc, which I can see that argument. So if your mouse pad quits try popping it out first it may just be hung up.
DELL-Terry B
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May 31st, 2016 15:00
I am glad that you where able to repair the system, thank you for the update. I am sorry for the frustration to have something like this happen on a new machine and not being able to get the correct parts from tech support.
TB