Studio 1535 Problem!

Dear Dell Community Admin,

Please stop reposting this quote as a verified solution.  I have had my panel replaced 4 times and they are all plagued by the same issue- some worse than others.

There is a bad habit of non-solutions being posted in the dell community and support websites and these are not solutions.  Please email the 40+ pages of feedback from customers who are experiencing these problems to the dell engineers so they can find a proper solution and/or redesign the laptop or manufacturing process so that this does not affect the Studios anyore.  Also, please email it to customer service so that they can perform a recall on all our laptops and provide suitible replacements.

This post will get deleted by the mods if I speak of public action, but the way to prevent this is good customer service and technical support; I feel that both of these are missing at present.

A Dell service technician came to my home yesterday and replaced the hinge cover on my 2 new studio laptops (that is the plastic cover that contains the media control buttons, ie, volume up, volume down, eject, etc.).  He said it is a fairly widespread issue, apparently, the wires and/or connection on the underside of the cover were faulty.  Anyway, booted up both laptops several times and it appears the problem has been resolved.  So, for all of you with the ringing at start up problem, up volume button stuck on, eject button stuck on, this is the fix.  You need to have Dell send a service technician to your home/business to replace the hinge cover, or, if you are able, they could send you the replacement cover and you could do it yourself.  I watched the technician do the work, it is a bit complicated.  THIS IS THE FIX.  IF I HAVE ANY FURTHER ISSUES WITH THIS OR OTHER, I WILL POST BACK HERE.  GOOD LUCK!

I finally sent my computer in for inspection and repairs. They replaced the DVD drive, but did not replace the hinge cover or motherboard.

The DVD eject light has come on since I got it back, but it doesn't stay on for as long or happen as often, or cause the drive to repeatedly eject. So it is an improvement, but not a complete fix.

I will say I was impressed by how quickly my laptop was returned to me (even if the problem wasn't actually solved). I sent it out on a Monday and got it back on Thursday.

A note to any Dell technicians reading this: the problem is intermittent and (for me at least) only happens after the computer has been turned off for at least an hour. It doesn't happen every time you start the computer or reboot, so just because it doesn't reoccur after your first attempt to fix it doesn't mean it is actually fixed.

Well I got this Laptop as a replacement for a Inspiron 1520 in November.

Since then I had the beeping, the keyboard getting stuck, the touchpad stopping or moving wherever and whenever it feels like, the CD ejecting, the volume light stuck on, the freezing at bootup..

And even after sending the laptop for repair it has returned with the same issue. I do not know what to do, i've just reinstalled windows entirely, but issues still there! I am at the point of going out and buying a new laptop out of my own pocket as this Laptop is unusable and DELL will not replace the laptop and will not fix it, that's £700 down the drain.

I feel it's completely discusting how DELL have not replied at all in this thread, which in my opinion only exaggerates how they know the problem occurs but have no solution and would rather not get involved. Its kind of like they're burrying their heads into the sand and ignoring the issue ever exists.

This is evidence of the issue and it's appalling.

From what I experienced, this seems like it wold work well... EMI shielding! It seems that some strips are more sensitive than others.

Are you sure this works, I am an owner (unfortunately) of 6 Studio 1535's and they all seemed to have issues similar if not exactly the same as this one. I am extremely fed up but was able to make due on the first 5 I have ordered as the problem was very intermittent but the most recent one I ordered has this problem 50% of the time I start it up. This is the last studio I buy, I am extremely tired of the run around with Dell as this is probably the 20th time I have had to wait on hold on the phone for over 1 hour. I will now strictly stick with Latitude's and XPS Machines, at least I can get support with them. These Studio's have all been nightmares. Please Dell, come up with a solution that works for this issue. I love my Latitude Notebook and my XPS Desktop but these machines are horrible! If this post just happens to disappear like the rest of them I will not be surprised. Help DELL! Chime in on this topic please.

Don't forget there are screws! Here's some information.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/1535/en/SM/cntrcont.htm#wp1180201

The Studio 1535 that my mom purchased as a gift for her daughter-in-law had the same problem -- but I didn't know what it was until I read this forum.   The first time I tried to get support,  I was dumb enough to try and work through the problem using dell's info on their support/tech forum.  Since the issue went away, I thought it was fixed.  My brother and his wife live three hours away and are computer newbies -- that's why we got dell.  Well, they have the computer home for two weeks and it starts doing it again.  This time, I have even less sense and get into the support chat. 

They had me re-seat the hard drive -- just taking the back off was difficult, but when I reseated the drive, the problem went away.  Well, you guessed it,  she takes her new computer home and it does the same thing the second time she turns it on.  So, this time, I get rather mean and say I will not be happy unless Dell fixes the machine -- and no I do not want it fixed by someone in town -- I want it fixed by a qualified dell person.

Ten days later, laptop is back.  The work order just had other checked so I have no idea what they fixed.  I've given her my laptop while I continue to find other issues with this laptop - but the beeping and hard drive failure messages have stopped.

I don't mean to vent, but I have a dell desktop that is 12 years old, it's had it's hard drive upgraded and it still works.  I use it to let members of my expanded family get familiar with computers.  I can do more with it than I can with this studio.   I'd rant about VISTA 64 and all the incompatibilties -- but that's a different topic.

Hi!

I tried everything posted in this forum. Replaced Hinge cover, rerouted cables, used tape to isolate the cable, i talked several times to a technician... no help, 1 week ago i sent it back to dell, they just replaced the hinge cover !!, no help. Of course i updated every single driver and the BIOS. With every different hinge cover i use, the problem is a little bit different. This one is just lighting up the Eject button, the problem with the volume up button disappeared. Any Ideas?

I´m very disappointed. Dell is aware of the problem (Technician told me) , but it seems that they are not willing to solve this problem.

DFabian:

To my knowledge, there is no way to disable just one of the keys on the hinge cover. Think about this though... if your have a different result, you've touched on the nerve of the problem. So you need another hinge cover; there seems to be a quality control issue with them. If you want to side-step the issue for a while, and prove that it is the hinge cover, just remove the cable... you should see NO problems then. You would have to find alternate ways to activate the functions though.

One guy left the screws loose to the hinge cover and found that the problem went away (which I do not recommend). Noting that, I put a bit of spray glue on some paper washers (the kind used to mount motherboards) and placed them between the hinge cover and case top. It seemed to reduce the frequency of the problem. It may help to not over-tighten the screws. I would recommend a small amount of loc-tite.

Be sure to tell them that the you do not consider the problem resolved until you have time to test it. Use the online chat so you have documentation of the conversation (they will send a text file of the session). Prepare a text file that explains the issue and add each new action. This way, when you begin your next session, you can paste it in, and begin where you left off. Otherwise, they will begin the troubleshooting from the beginning. If the problem persists, it will be passed to more experienced/ knowledgeable representatives until the issue is resolved. I logged more than 100 hours toward the resolution of the one I worked on, and it went to Dell Depot  three times.

Good Luck,

Tech7

oops I forgot the link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuck3hood/

disconnecting the cable from the media button circuit board will make it stop, but you'll lose functionality of all of the buttons.  That was only a minor inconvenience for me.  You also lose the indicator lights if you remove it completely but if you tape it off like I define in the link below, you will retain function of the indicator LEDs at least.

Hi guys!

Dell send me the new hinge cover today (M950N ). I just replaced the old one (0F962C) but this doesnt solve the cd-eject problem at all. I'm so angry.

All what I tried till now: windows reinstall, new drivers, BIOS upgrade, BIOS downgrade, the trick with the battery and the power button, and now the new hinge cover. Nothing helps!!! 

The Dell-technicians cant help me. Does anyone have other ideas?

actually the link below will take you to the full set.  Its been a while but I had many problems with the unit I bought for my mother.  After some reverse engineering I identified the contacts that need to be taped off in order to disable the capacitive sensing media buttons.  I did eventually get a new hinge cover from the service tech but did not bother to install it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuck3hood/

Hey, thanks man!

Its a great idea! Is it possible to disable only the DVD-button? I can live without the volume-buttons too, but i use them often and it will be cool if they can stay. :)

And I cant understand why DELL cant find the solution...