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December 12th, 2008 16:00

Trouble with brand new Studio 15

I ordered a Studio 15 laptop on Nov. 12. I got it Nov. 23. Things were fine ... for a while.

But in the past two weeks, I've had 3 system crashes and the slot drive cracked an enhanced CD in half during yet ANOTHER system crash last week. I talked to Bangalore or Mumbai or wherever last week and was told to "take note of the system error" the next time my laptop crashes. (Note to Amraj: this computer is barely a month old: IT SHOULDN'T BE CRASHING!)

Also, I was told that while the slot drive takes CDs, DVDs, DVD-ROMs and CD-ROMs, both of which I HIGHLY doubt, it won't read enhanced CDs. That makes no sense! An enhanced CD is basically a CD-ROM, so why wouldn't it take an enhanced CD?!

And today, I think my laptop might have ruined my brand new iPod Nano.

So of course, all of this has been happening past the 21-day return period. My question to the forum is if I can't get my money back (I knew I should've splurged on that MacBook) and I can't exchange my bad apple for a less-bad apple, what should I do? Just make Dell keep fixing on it until it works?

75 Posts

December 21st, 2008 09:00

I have never seen a CD cracked in half by a drive . . .  even one with a drawer . . .  ever.  

 . . .    Seriously, get a blank CD and try to crack it in half by hand (away from anything/anyone and wearing full hand/eye/body protection 'cos when they finally crack it's a big deal )

I can confirm that the drive takes CD's and DVD's of all varieties I have tried . .   I would observe that enhanced CD's often include enhanced copy protection or their own player software that tries to install itself to prevent copying etc.  This can lead to a bit of a stand off between the disk and the PC /Anti virus solution.

Wow and an I pod killer too . ..   Are you sure it's really a laptop not a shredder ?    :-)))

7 Posts

December 21st, 2008 12:00

Yep. It did indeed crack the CD. I've talked to other techies who even were able to imitate the sound that the computer made when it cracked the disc.

I talked to India sometime after that incident and they told me that the disc drive plays CDs, DVDs, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs but not enhanced CDs. 

I don't know why that is, but, apparently, thems the breaks (specifically the break of the library disc that I now have to pay to replace).

The drive has been acting properly so far. And since that last post, only 2 messages have popped up saying something else isn't working: the wireless card and the IDT PC audio something or other.

India worked remotely on my laptop to fix the wireless thing. (I don't know if it worked because I don't use wireless.)

And it hasn't crashed on me in a while. However, I was told that if it does happen again, to just restore it to factory settings.

As for the iPod, the computer froze up on me when I was importing CDs, hence the trouble with syncing my iPod with iTunes.

I've been complaining so much about this computer that a buddy of mine who was considering buying the Mini 12 is now going for a Macbook. She says Macs are more reliable. 

And to tell you the truth, I actually regret that I didn't just plunk down the $2500 for a Mac of my own.

But, I'll stick with this Studio and just hope for the best.

 

1 Message

January 31st, 2009 13:00

Hi this isn't really to do with your problem but I need to ask you, does the dell travel expresscard remote    (http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/TV_Accessories/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=412-0958&~lt=popup&~ck=TopSellers#Overview)   work on a studio 15 laptop???

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