However, I just got off the phone with support. The gentleman stated that my service repair is complete. So if that is correct, I should have my notebook back in 2 days max I am guessing. I am going to try to get a tracking number so I can make sure. Hopefully this saga will be over soon. As I stated I will put the notebook through some tests to see how it re-acts and to make sure it actually is fixed. will report back what I find
Dell is having a problem getting the motherboards. I did not send mine out but it took almost 2 weeks for Dell to ship the part to the service tech. On a side note I have now been running since last week Wed and all seems well after the repair. So in my case it appears to have been a bad motherboard.
Well my notebook is at a DHL facility about 30 min away, so it should make it to me sometime today. The Dell tech I talked to last night confirmed that they replaced the motherboard and cleaned the heatsink.
And I got an email stating that I can re-up my warranty for one more year for only 80 dollars. You can bet I am going to do that just for peace of mind.
Well I am typing this on my repaired 5150. It is working perfect.. except there is a small hum somewhere underneath the notebook. Nothing major.. thats the only problem though. I will call tonight to see if I can get that fixed. It comes and goes. But I can touch this thing and it does not restart.. yes!!!
so it seems to have worked for me. How about everyone else?
Do you think the small hum is the fan on low? I was so used to mine running on high that I was pleasantly surprised that the fan had a low mode. I heard it after cleaning it all out. I'm glad it is working for you.
Like i said before, i haven't actually gotten round to calling Dell.... I probably should.
It went majorly downhill at one point, would hardly do anything, i've been using it all week though, and aslong as it's on the desk, it's fine. I've been editing little videos and stuff, and so far its held up. Last week, i wouldn't have been able to use it, while it was sitting on the desk.
I was going to tell you all something I found out when I called tech support this summer. Our DVD player would not play DVDs during our vacation with our 4 children in May. I called finally in July when we were wanting to watch one again. Our warranty had expired the day before! Wierd. They said that since they had no record of calls or anythingf rom us that they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Had we had something on record they might have actually replaced it!
Therefore, I encourage you all to call them with problems and questions. It goes on record and counts.
BTW, it corrected itself when we used the restore function for another problem. We must have messed up the settings.
my notebook has been running flawlessly since I received it. Still working perfect. I did notice, underneath the notebook itfeels more "sturdy". So when I hold it underneath, or even push underneath a little, it has less give than it did before I sent it in.
I am very happy with my Dell repair service. It didnt take that long and it was sent back with out any problems.. (knock on wood)
Thanks for the progress reports. Wonder if Dell did something beyond simple board replacement to fix the problem, or is is a newer, sturdier board design? If it is something we can do ourselves, those of us out of warranty could use some info/service bulletin with details.
In an interesting turn of events, my 5150 began to shut off again at the slightest touch. I haven't been able to take it all apart yet but I had a hunch that the computer shuts off whenever the "C" cover is touched (seemed to do it whenever I touched it). The plastic cover seemed rather flimsy and not as sturdy as it used to be so I figured it must be coming in contact with something. So I open up the "C" cover and I tape those two wires to the motherboard (I moved it closer to the ends of the wires so it would be less likely to rub against the cover. I'm not sure if it has any effect on it but why not?). Also, I wondered if the modem had anything to do with it. Of course the modem port is on the other side of the laptop but there's something wrapped in paper that says "do not remove" and "modem." Since I don't use a modem, I figured that I could take it out. As far as the do not remove, I'm hoping its for the paper covering it (there's a "Press here" on it also so maybe that grounds any static electricity).
Long story short, I start it back up and no problems... so far. I took out the CD drive just before I took out the part labeled "modem." I'll report back in a few days and hopefully it will still be running fine. I really do wish that Dell would chime in and make some comment on this topic and give us a clue as to how to go about fixing this.
I think aznman is onto something! I took the "C" cover off to have a look, tightened it again and my computer wouldn't start at all, it went straight into the problem. Then I loosened the C screw a little and it works again.
So it seems like (for me at least) the C cover is putting pressure on something that it shouldn't.
I wonder if the missing screw from the "O" cover has anything to do with the "C" cover. Maybe to balance it out/relieve tension? I don't know what I'm talking about but it might, however far-fetched, be linked together.
I forgot to mention that before I removed the part that says "do not remove" my system would hover between the upper 20s and low 30s in temperature. But since I removed it, it shot up to around high 40s, low 50s. It might be that I also reformatted my hard drive and installed windows on it and haven't updated some things (although it says BIOS version A37 when I boot up). I'll put I8FanGui on tonight as well as SpeedSwitch - hopefully that will get it back to normal. If not, there's always the $30 cool pad at Best Buy.
It's been two weeks since my 5150 was collected, so I e-mailed Dell yesterday to see if they were still waiting on the part (tried phoning, but was in a queue for 15 minutes and gave up).
They've replied to the e-mail to say it should be back with me tomorrow, so I'll post a report when I've got it (though I doubt anyone will be at home tomorrow so the delivery will probably fail...)
Message Edited by cordless_larry on 10-26-2004 06:10 PM
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 16:00
lisowskimf
63 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 17:00
dspman
306 Posts
0
October 19th, 2004 18:00
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
October 20th, 2004 12:00
Well my notebook is at a DHL facility about 30 min away, so it should make it to me sometime today. The Dell tech I talked to last night confirmed that they replaced the motherboard and cleaned the heatsink.
And I got an email stating that I can re-up my warranty for one more year for only 80 dollars. You can bet I am going to do that just for peace of mind.
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2004 18:00
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2004 22:00
so it seems to have worked for me. How about everyone else?
Onila
13 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2004 22:00
Do you think the small hum is the fan on low? I was so used to mine running on high that I was pleasantly surprised that the fan had a low mode. I heard it after cleaning it all out. I'm glad it is working for you.
NewAgeJesus
18 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2004 22:00
Like i said before, i haven't actually gotten round to calling Dell.... I probably should.
It went majorly downhill at one point, would hardly do anything, i've been using it all week though, and aslong as it's on the desk, it's fine. I've been editing little videos and stuff, and so far its held up. Last week, i wouldn't have been able to use it, while it was sitting on the desk.
Onila
13 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2004 23:00
I was going to tell you all something I found out when I called tech support this summer. Our DVD player would not play DVDs during our vacation with our 4 children in May. I called finally in July when we were wanting to watch one again. Our warranty had expired the day before! Wierd. They said that since they had no record of calls or anythingf rom us that they wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Had we had something on record they might have actually replaced it!
Therefore, I encourage you all to call them with problems and questions. It goes on record and counts.
BTW, it corrected itself when we used the restore function for another problem. We must have messed up the settings.
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
October 25th, 2004 11:00
dspman
306 Posts
0
October 25th, 2004 14:00
Thanks for the progress reports. Wonder if Dell did something beyond simple board replacement to fix the problem, or is is a newer, sturdier board design? If it is something we can do ourselves, those of us out of warranty could use some info/service bulletin with details.
Anyway, glad your machine is working well. Enjoy.
aznman43
62 Posts
0
October 26th, 2004 01:00
rich1980
14 Posts
0
October 26th, 2004 10:00
aznman43
62 Posts
0
October 26th, 2004 12:00
Message Edited by aznman43 on 10-26-2004 11:01 AM
cordless_larry
69 Posts
0
October 26th, 2004 16:00
A quick update:
It's been two weeks since my 5150 was collected, so I e-mailed Dell yesterday to see if they were still waiting on the part (tried phoning, but was in a queue for 15 minutes and gave up).
They've replied to the e-mail to say it should be back with me tomorrow, so I'll post a report when I've got it (though I doubt anyone will be at home tomorrow so the delivery will probably fail...)
Message Edited by cordless_larry on 10-26-2004 06:10 PM