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May 24th, 2017 15:00

XPS 13 high-pitch beeping & 3 repair attempts

I got a XPS 13 2 in 1 that I received on Feb 13th of this year.
I noticed immediately a high pitch beep going out of the right side. I did some research and found nothing about it online. It happened rarely and wasn't all that loud so I didn't think much of it. Over time it became more and more loud and frequent to the point that I stopped using the laptop completely because the random high pitch half second beeps would scare the *** out of me (I would literally jump out of my seat and swear. I wouldn't be surprised if it was near 100 decibels at this point since my girlfriend heard it on the opposite side of the house 4 rooms away).

I exhausted everything I knew to try and by this point I noticed some forum posts about this issue so I contacted support on April 3rd thinking it was now a known defect and not something that a new driver or firmware update would fix (my reason for waiting, I did buy the laptop the 1st day it came out). They gave me a list of things to try (stuff I already tried, I've worked in IT for nearly 20 years). I ship the laptop out to Dell for the 1st time. I tell them it's likely a hardware issue under the enter/backspace key. I hear it even with the speakers at 0%.

I get it back and all they did was reinstalled the OS for some reason.

The issue was still there (because it's a hardware defect) so I sent it in again.

I got the laptop back the 2nd time with the motherboard replaced. The issue was still there along with a dead pixel on the screen that wasn't there previously. I talked with support many times and sent pictures of the deal pixel and eventually they said they would replace the screen as well. I shipped out the laptop for the 3rd time and put all this in the work order.

I got the laptop back a couple days ago for the 3rd time and they stated that they replaced the plastics and the hard drive. The beeping was now much quieter although still audible. It's about as loud as a spinner drive. The beeping was quieter when I first got the laptop as well, this was my reason for not reporting this issue within the first 30 days. They didn't replace the screen because the dead pixel was still there along with many more dead pixels. I counted 9+ deal pixels and sent pictures of each. The L in the DELL logo on the top of the laptop was missing. The bottom of the laptop is all scraped up in the center and around the screws from being worked on.

I emailed Dell with many images of all my issues. After a couple days of no response I called Dell but was transferred between tech support and refunds department that couldn't do anything to help me besides more repairs that will inevitably fail or put more wear and tear on the laptop that I have barely used. They could keep doing this until my warranty runs out and I'm screwed so I did some research.

I believe this should be covered under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act a.k.a. Lemon Law but no one at Dell seems to understand California state law nor do they have the authority to issue refunds past the first 30 days.

Besides the loud beeping, dead pixels, and overheating causing throttling the laptop has been awesome but at this point I'm sick of looking at. I'm sick of shipping it out and reinstalling my apps. I haven't used the laptop in nearly 2 months due to these issues meaning the laptop has been unused more than I've used it. Dell doesn't seem to think my time is worth anything. I got the laptop for travel but I went on vacation and didn't have my laptop.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. Hopefully posting this to a public forum will make this issue more visible. Here is that forum post with others having the same problem, this is clearly a hardware defect and some people there are having similar problems with it not being resolved.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/20005518

3 Apprentice

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4.3K Posts

May 25th, 2017 08:00

Your post seems to contain some information to help in the solution of this situation.  The fact replacing the motherboard did not effect the situation but replacing the SSD did.

I agree the sound seems to be coming from the area of the backspace key.  The SSD is in that area along with the SD card reader.

Do you know what SSD you had/have installed?  Do you run an SD card in the Reader?

Which version of the processor do you have, i5 or i7?

Did you happen to see differences with the noise between it first arrived back and after you had installed your software?

I understand your frustration, but I don't work for Dell.  It would be a good idea for Dell, in this situation, to replace your unit and take it to their labs to see if they could find exactly what was happening.  An user in another thread mentioned he could not take his system into his classroom.  Maybe the folks at Dell will understand how this needs to be corrected.

4 Posts

May 25th, 2017 12:00

I have the core i5 with the 256GB PCIe Solid State Drive. I haven't used the card reader and it does it regardless if it's plugged into anything. Dell has escalated this so I'll see what they can do. My issue is that a replacement may develop the same problem since the issue started out quiet at first. I'd like to assume it's just a bad batch but without hearing from the manufactures it's not worth the risk to me.

The tech I talked to on the phone during the 3rd repair attempt seemed to know it was a bad drive once I explained the issue. I think someone on the other forum also suspected it was the drive since it's under the right side of the keyboard where the sound comes from.

I think Dell may have issues receiving emails with attachments because they never got my last email so that's why I never got a reply. I didn't get a bounce back and it's still sitting in my sent mail. I sent the images again to their "Advanced Resolution Group" so I'll see what happens. I got the laptop because it had no fans and was silent so any noise defeats the purpose.

3 Apprentice

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4.3K Posts

May 25th, 2017 12:00

I don't know why an SSD, by itself, would cause such a noise.  But since I cannot disclaim that possibility I would suggest you get one of the 500 GB Samsung drives and set it up as a PCIe drive.

As I mentioned in the other thread, I heard the noise a few times when I first got my system (i7+ Toshiba 500 GB PCIe), but I haven't heard it for the last month.  I even spent the last 4 days, after re-installing the OEM drive trying to prompt the noise, but failed.

4 Posts

June 8th, 2017 12:00

They sent someone out to my work to fix the screen and now the back of the laptop is broken and doesn't snap shut, you can literally see into the laptop and there are parts of the plastic missing.

Five repairs attempts is too many and I'm still having overheating issues and the beeping was this quiet at first so I don't trust that it won't come back or be an issue with a replacement. They have twice now ignored my emails after 48+ hours only to tell me in my 2nd reply that they didn't receive them yet they are in the reply history and I sent it to the same address both times! I look at the email header and their server accepted the email so I'm not crazy.

I ended up filing a complaint with BBB since I'm out of patience. I hope others have better luck. I wish I knew Dell support was so useless and that they don't stand behind their customers or products before I gave them my money.

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