XPS M1330 Battery Dead after less than 13 Months.

Hey thanks for the reply.

I got the system through the Dell Outlet and paid a fraction of the original cost. Original cost near £1200, cost through outlet around £500+VAT.

Anyway, not really important.

The problem wasnt immediately apparent, I say it happened after the board was replaced, but the system is normally plugged in as its used for rendering/ 3D work, so it only became apparent that it had happened when the laptop was working on battery power.  I ran a few tests on it over a week and during this time the warranty expired. 

I seriously hope its just the battery.  If its the motherboard its really not financially viable to replace it.  The cost of the component plus the cost to have it replaced/fixed and the uncertainty that this will fix the problem would lead me to abandon the whole thing.  Its incredibly frustrating to say the least. 

The 3 year warranty effectivly added £200+ to the cost of the laptop which again made it too expensive at the time.  I was under the false impression that Dell laptops are madewith sufficient quality NOT to break twice in 13months.

Thanks again for the reply.

If you're lucky - it's just the battery. It may not be - it may be the mainboard.  You can call back and see if they'll replace the mainboard again, but the answer will likely be no - and it wasn't a wise idea to let the warranty expire when you knew the problem with the charging still existed. 

If they won't cover the board again - they will not cover the battery -- then the cheapest option is to try a new battery first (they run about $150 US , nowhere near a quarter of the cost of the system).  Next cheapest would be to see if they'll allow you to buy a warranty extension.  If not, and the battery option doesn't work, you're in for $400-500 for a mainboard.  The other option of course is to replace the system with a new one - if you choose that I'd VERY STRONGLY suggest you buy a minimum of a 3-year warranty next time.

About 1/4 of all notebook computers have a major component failure in the first three years - they're all made by a half-dozen of so contractors, so they're all the same, regardless of brand on the outside.  Given the cost of major repairs, the 3-year warranty is good protection.

My point was that when you pay £500+ for an item it should not be unrealistic to expect it to last more than 12 months before it is rendered useless.  Had i paid the original price £1200 (or approx $1600-1800) this feeling would have been greater amplified.  I agree that 3 year warrantys are a good idea but the cost of them is too not reflective of the cost of the system.  It is a set cost no matter what, fine if your spending 1500+, not if like me you are on a tighter budget.  You simply have to place your trust in a Brand.  In this case my trust has been lost.

I will try a repalcement battery and hope this is the last of my problems for now.  I have already asked them to check the connections and the motherboard but they deny all knowledge of the related probelm and deny flatly its their fault.  I have read numerous posts about similar probelms from m1330 owners all having the same history of replacement parts then probelms shortly after, all linked to the connection to the motherboard.  However they say this would mean the battery would not accept any charge whatsoever.   They refuse to accpt any responcibility or offer a solution other than spending more money on their products, which appear to be massivly overinflatted against genuine Dell parts available on the Web.  

I am not prepared to chase the problem, blindly spending money, whilst Dell wash their hands of the problem.

Before you spend any money, see if there is another Dell that uses this battery and check your battery in it. If it isn't the battery, Dell may have installed a faulty system board, and you may be able to get a re-repair.

Tried doing as you suggested and the following occurred.

Tried an alternative battery in my machine - would not charge. I.E problem is not with my battery.

Tried my charger on an alternative m1330. Charged the battery normally.  Charger works fine.

So the common fault here is my machine....I suspect i have a dud motherboard.

Or the solder connection is weakened.

Either way its not something I should be paying for.

Call Dell - the replacement board should have a 90-day warranty on it.  If you're within that, ask for a replacement. 

If you're outside that window, the warranty extension covers only video failures - you'll be buying a board yourself.

Before opening up the laptop, trying flashing the BIOS back to the state it was maybe 6months ago. i just did that for my M1530 this morning & its now charging again. I flashed back fro A12 to A09 & battery now charging

Success!!

After 10+ phone calls, over 4 hours on the phone, countless idiots telling me untruths finally I have found the solution.

As I suspected from the start, the probelm has been with the motherboard replacement that happened a month ago.

Despite telling Dell this at the start they woudl have had me buy a replacement battery and then charger (over £200 in total) before they would have eventually worked out the true problem.  I was resolute with them that the problem lay with them and their motherboard, but they would not accept this as it was the one piece of equipment that was still under warranty and would therefore be at their cost.

Only by borrowing a battery and charger from a friend of the same model, and giving Dell product numbers, full reports, (multiple times) would they eventuallu accept fault.  I say eventually because despite telling them I had tried my battery and charger on another machine, (product nos supplied), which worked fine, they still came back 24hours later with the opinion I should buy a new one....seriously....no joke...

After that they said they would call back with a time to replace it.......yup you guessed it, nothing......the engineer turned up at my office unannounced this morning, somewhat unsuprised at Dells lack of communication.

Anyway to cut this story short.  If you have had your motherboard replaced recently for the graphics fault and the battery whcih was previously working fine dies overnight, it is probably not your charger or battery at fault, but the soldered connection to the motherboard.  It is a widely known problem directly related to the motherboard replacement programme, but one denied by Dell.  Look up in google or even this forum and the same probelm will have been wrtten about cuntless times.  Unfortuately all to often people resort to flashing the BIOS (potetially very dangerous) or buying additional and unnessesary kit.

Thanks to you all fo your comments thus far.

Anyway, im now off to use my laptop the way they should be, NOT PLUGGED IN!

You should feel lucky that it is not your mainboard and just the M1330 battery.