How does Dell handle the returned problematic HD?

Question

Inspiron 700m, HD 40gb 5400rpm. It's a Hitachi Travelstar.   It has started making cranking noise every so often, just liking choking. I had seen a few other laptops with the same noise that finally led to dead HDs. So I contacted Dell support and received a replacement Fujitsu hd. However it's marked as Refurbished. Is it really? I've heard that Dell always does this for tax purpose but they are really new parts.   And what will Dell do with the returned HD? Test it, fix it or throw it away? I don't wanna my replacement hd to be a repaired one.

Rollie_R · Answer

yanzz,   I cannot give you a definitive answer to your first question.  I know that some service parts are new, but that all are marked as refurbished.  Beyond that I cannot tell you anything.  I believe that some of the refurbished parts are those that are returned and it is found that there is nothing wrong with the returned part.   The returned Hard Drives are returned to the manufacturer.  I cannot tell you what the manufacturer does with them.    Any part that is sold with a system, and returned, cannot be sold as new.  A similar situation exists for systems, which is why we have the Dell Outlet to sell systems that are returned.

knownalien · Answer

it is pretty standard for nearly ALL electronics manufactures to give you a refurbished/remanufactured part as a replacement.  It is in the contract you agreed to.  NOTHING you ever agreed to said you will be given a 'brand new' item for replacement.  They at most will say that they are furnishing you with a factory certified replacement.  This is the way warranties and replacements work.  Really no harm no foul.

m3l · Answer

but do they at least understandd why the original HDD failed? and then ensure that the second one they send won't run into the same problems?

yanzzz · Answer

I guess they will test the disks. As long as the problem doesn't show during the test, or the noise doesn't bother them, they will consider the disks still in GOOD condition and send back as refurbished, and hope the end users won't notice or annoy them as others did. :) e.g, your granny will be one of them...

jankerson · Answer

@m3l wrote:
but do they at least understandd why the original HDD failed? and then ensure that the second one they send won't run into the same problems?

That would be the HD manufactors concern, not Dells. Dell is a HD customer that is supplied with drives just like we are when we buy one on the street.

But I will add this:

Most of the HD manufactors will send you a NEW HD on request, not refurbed. All Refub HD's have to be marked as such with a sticker and they are factory rebuilt.

m3l · Answer

'That would be the HD manufactors concern, not Dells. Dell is a HD customer that is supplied with drives just like we are when we buy one on the street.' up to a point.. yes Dell is a customer, but the minute they put it into a package and put a Dell brand/logo and sells it under Dell, it is a Dell product.. the responsibility and accountability starts and stops with Dell as far as Dell's customers are concerned.. if you try to go direct to any HD mfr, they will re-direct you back to Dell..

m3l · Answer

yes jankerson, i understand what you're saying.. the mechanics of the HD is per manufacturers' specs.. but my point is something else.. whatever makes of HDs seem to succumb to the click of death for many people.. the inspiron HD forum is full of it.. and over as many years as the forum would allow..

so where does the buck stop? i bought a Dell product, if each HD they ship fails under a couple of years instead of the expected 3-5years, have i the right to ask some pertinent questions? like did they know what the problem was before they ship me the same old HDD that would eventually fail in the exact same way and within about the same period of time? does Dell have some QC responsibility?

the other angle is to ask if its really a mechanical failure of the HD or could it have been a Dell design problem? i've been encouraged to look at operating temperature and check the innards for burn marks.. but i don't really want to temper with the baby lest Dell accuses me of causing its demise..

bottomline is, the Dell i have isn't performing as advertised.. they haven't told me what the problem was with the first nor second failures.. i have no grounds to purchase a third..

jankerson · Answer

@m3l wrote: up to a point.. yes Dell is a customer Dell is a customer, there is no gray area here, either you are a HD maufactor or not. If not you are a customer.

jankerson · Answer

@m3l wrote:

up to a point.. yes Dell is a customer, but the minute they put it into a package and put a Dell brand/logo and sells it under Dell, it is a Dell product.. the responsibility and accountability starts and stops with Dell as far as Dell's customers are concerned.. if you try to go direct to any HD mfr, they will re-direct you back to Dell..

I ment the HD's failing and the reason behind it, Dell doesn't Produce HD's so they can't fix them either.

Yes I agree that once Dell puts their sticker on it they have to warranty it. But then all they do is ship them to the manufactor and send the customer another drive.

jankerson · Answer

I understand what you are saying.

Heat is the number one killer of ATA HD's period.

Now the question would be is it Dells design problem with the chassis or the HD manufactors design issue.

The answer to that could go either way because the HD manufactor knows that they need to design a LT HD to stand the added heat that LT's produce and Dell knows they need to design a chassis to vent the heat out so it doesn't over heat.

So my take on that would be that HD's will fail, and they do, being a computer tech for over 16 years I have seen drives last 10 years and I have seen some die in a week.

Now with that said the platter speed is what generates heat in the HD, yes they generate heat too. The faster the platter speed the hotter they run, in general the 4200rpm drives will run cooler than the 5400, 7200rpm drives.

So in the end I would say it would be the HD maunfactor that would be responsable for producing a drive that will stand heat better.

So to answer your question I would say the buck stops with the HD manufactor in the end, but Dell branded the HD so for the Dell customer they will send a new drive out.

m3l · Answer

thanks jankerson, further to the design theory, i found the following:

"I think there is a BIG problem with the Dell 8100 and 8200 laptops and I'd bet with their later series. I've owned about 3 of each model number. I have an 8500 now and see the same things happening. Here's what I see,

After about 9 months of use there are black marks where different parts of metal touch each other. For example, if you pop off the memory covers on the bottom and inspect the fingers and where they touch, you will start seeing black marks. I just received an 8200 to repair with the same problem that you have and popped off the keyboard and sure enough where the keyboard touches the chassis and the hard drive cage there was a ton of black where the parts touch each other. I suspected that this was from electricity or static charge arcing across the contacts. I then cleaned the parts with an oxide remover (that's what arcing causes) and found SEVERE pitting that reinforced my convictions that there is electricity passing through the chassis somehow.

This has happened on 4 laptops out of 6 that I've had on the 8x00 series. I borrowed my friends HD and sure enough, it booted right up after replacing the HD.

I find this to be a HUGE design flaw and I've started seeing evidence of this on my 8500 now after about 10 months. I'm not sure if this is a material or surface treatment issue but it's shocking to see material being removed where the parts touch.

I suspect there is a floating grounding problem which is somehow passing voltages to other components and eventually causes the HD to fail but I'm not really sure. All I know is that there IS some problem."

jankerson · Answer

m3l,

Now that is a major issue, but not related per say to the overall heat problems.

It is a major design flaw for sure, if there is a grounding issue then it won't just be the HD that fails, all of the interal parts will fail one by one because they can't stand the power surges they will get. Huge problem.

Storage, Drives & Media

How does Dell handle the returned problematic HD?

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