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Vostro 260s will not boot - 4th one with problem.
Hi
I'm IT coordinator at a charity which helps citizens with problems. We have 9 Vostro 260s & 4 Vostro 260mt. Of our first batch of 5 260s, 4 have now had problems where they will not boot. 3 were returned under warranty and had new motherboards & power supply fitted, but now the 4th one has the same problem, but the warranty expired last month. If unplugged & left for a few days, it will boot once, but will fail if rebooted. The fan starts and the HD vibrates as if it is spinning. The power button is steady amber & I cannot hear any bleeps or see any flashing diagnostic lights. The monitor gets no signal - its light remains orange. I have tried swapping the power supply with a known good one from an identical PC but no change.
My Dell sales rep has not replied despite several emails. We've bought around 50 Dell PCs over the last 10 years, 13 in the last 13 months, but these V260Ss seem to have a problem. I'd be happy to try to fit a new motherboard if that's possible (I cannot find any on the Dell website), but feel that as there must be a batch problem and thus the PCs weren't of satisfactory quality when we bought them, Dell should extend their warranty at no charge.
I work as a volunteer and am only in the office 2 days per week. I'm embarassed that I recommended Dell & we have had so many problems.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Steve R
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Posted February 27th, 2013 09:00
Hi Bill
Thanks. Dell have not had the courtesy yet to reply to my written complaints, copied to the CEO 2 weeks ago. We've just got some more funding to upgrade our server & several PCs, so guess where I won't be buying from? It's their loss!
Steve R
IT Coordinator
Epsom & Ewell Citizens Advice Bureau
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Posted February 27th, 2013 09:00
I pinged one of my Dell Customer Care contacts to see if they can reach out...
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Posted March 8th, 2013 08:00
Steve,
Any response from Dell? I am a small business owner with 4 Vostro's and 2 of the 4 now have this start up problem. They're just over a year old and just out of the warranty.
Do you really have to replace the mother board to correct the problem?
Mike
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Posted March 8th, 2013 09:00
Try removing the CMOS battery for a minute or so. If the BIOS hasn't been upgraded to the latest version, I suggest doing so once you can get it to boot.
I get a similar issue with my Dimension 2350 and the battery trick fixes it.
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Posted March 8th, 2013 11:00
No responses from my ping to Customer Care?
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Posted March 20th, 2013 10:00
Nope, no reply from Dell yet apart from [AMIN NOTE: Post Edited per TOU Violation] saying she would pass it on to appropriate dept on 18th Feb.
It was Dell who decided the motherboard should be replaced on each of them. The last one cost us £112 as out of warranty.
Thanks for trying, Ron, I guess they've given up on us.
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Posted March 20th, 2013 13:00
Sorry about that...
Please delete the Dell employee name from your post because it's a violation of the Terms of Service to post names like that. Otherwise, the moderators could delete this whole thread.
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Posted March 21st, 2013 06:00
Sorry about that. Admin have removed the name.
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Posted May 15th, 2013 06:00
Just to update things. Another Vostro 260 has died & needed a new motherboard Luckily, this was from a batch of 4 we bought at the Dell outlet (surprise, surprise, they'd had a load returned!) and came with a 3 year on site warranty so has not cost us anything except the time & trouble of taking it out of service. That's 5 out of 9 of that model have needed a motherboard change. They still deny there is a batch problem and have not replied in writing to our complaints.
We've just got a large lottery grant to expand our services over the next few months. It will give me great pleasure to buy elsewhere.
billvv
1 Message
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Posted February 25th, 2013 08:00
Hi Steve,
Our company purchased 16 Vostro 260 ST desktops in September 2011. Near the end of their one year warranty period many of them would not boot up after they had cooled down overnight. The desktops are in a (clean) warehouse environment where the temp can drop down to 60 degrees F. We discovered if you warmed up the computer with a blow dryer (yes, blow warm air into the chassis for 5 to 10 minutes) then it fired up no problem.
We got 2 mother boards replaced under warranty but since the systems are no longer under warranty Dell refuses to acknowledge there is a manufacturing defect with these computers. We have since purchased 2 more mother boards. Now the rest of the computers are failing. We are a larger account with over 150 Dell systems plus high end servers yet Dell will not help us out on this problem.
I have also noticed that the service from Dell has degraded over the last 2 to 3 years. I would suggest you try the Lenovo brand (use to be IBM). We are having good success with these systems.
If Dell reads this and responds back positively I will update this comment. Otherwise assume they will continue not to respond.
Bill Van Vliet
Book Depot