The .txt file indicates it fixes an incorrect setting in the CMOS, but is not specific. I believe it's one of those patches that checks the value, and does nothing if it is OK.
Chalk up another name with the same problem. Started happening right after my warranty ran out, go figure. Putting a call into Customer Support 1-800-456-3355 option 4 as I am typing. I will update this group if I can get any answers. Best of luck to all.
Dell support told me that the problem seems to stem from a connection from the palm top mouse to a video cable that runs through the left palm area of the notebook. I am going to take a look at it tonight to verify if this is the problem.....
Message Edited by mv_gibson on 11-23-2004 02:17 PM
I can bet my notebook that that’s not the problem. Let me think..mmm...after some hours arming and disarming your notebook, Dell’s Tech will tell you that they are going to replace your motherboard (and if you don’t have a warranty, they will do it for a "reasonable" price of US$600).
If u get upset with them, and post a claim, some members of the forum will answer you: "Why you didn’t buy a 3 years warranty? It’s your fault. Maybe you did it on purpose and now you want to take advantage of Dell". It happened to me before one of the guys sent me a post telling me about this post.
You don’t have to be a psychic to know the future. You just have to buy an Inspiron 5150, and you will be an expert!!!! We guaranteed it!!!!
Gibson, if the problem involves the touchpad and a cable, as Dell support told you, replacing the entire system board seems an expen$ive way to fix it. Let us know what you find.
Joe, the fact that Dell is replacing the CPU thermal cooling assembly along with the system boards lends credence to your research and result that the problem indeed has a thermal contribution.
-since the problems described in this thread have shown up, i have of course spent much less time working on my laptop. for the past two weeks i have only used it like half an hour each two days. yet somehow i have the impression that problems are getting worse? This morning, i was actually able to reproduce the "pressure that causes the shutdown" by just tapping my foot on the floor???! (!!)
-i have read some posts earlier about an audio jack. Actually, the audio-input jack (not the microphone one) has been quite "loose". i can still put headphones in, but it jiggles a lot (in a vertical motion). in other words: inside the laptop, i can move the headphones up and down. sometimes that even causes the sound to fall away and to come through the speakers, as if no headphone is connected. would this have anything to do with the problem in this thread? this problem did arise about three months before the other problems...
Souer, great reply to my last post, you are pretty much exactly right.
Dspman, thanks for the reply, here is what I found:
After dismantling my entire notebook, Dell CS was completely wrong in telling me that there is a cable coming from the left of the touchpad. In fact, the cable comes out of the top of the touchpad, and there were no visible problems. (I see that this was posted very early in this thread). The connecting cable is only about 3 inches long. Just to make sure this wasnt the problem, I completely removed the touchpad and still had the problem.
Anyway, I checked around the CD cage and the modem compartment to see if there were any visible connections that might be shorting out the MB. I could not see anything visible. I put my notebook back to a "barebones state" (no cd, no modem, no touchpad, keyboard not touching anything, etc). Even with nothing in it, the notebook still crashes when applying pressure to the "C" panel or the left side of the wrist rest.
In conclusion, it seems to me to be a MB problem or a grounding problem from one of the screws or other various connections. So now, my options are to: a) purchase and replace my MB. For that kind of money Ill just get another notebook. b) if purchasing another notebook, it sure wont be a Dell.
Hey Dell! With this many people having problems, you would think that you would acknowledge the problem! You cannot ignore us forever.....
This isn't anything new. Other laptop manufacturers have been dealing with this "type" of issue for a couple of years now. The only real way to resolve the issue to repair the problem. Extensive heat generation is absorbed by the motherboard. Well, depending on the "pressure" points and warp-age of the board during running "live" conditions dictates where the weak areas are produced.
Those weak areas need to be re-enforced / repaired. Usually, no other weak areas are formed because they have stood up to the stress of heat and time and they usually are good for the life of the motherboard.
We've been slammed with work this last week or so, so I haven't been able to really generate any replies.
I finally got a returned call from my "Senior Support Rep". After going to her team meeting she came back with three options to me since my unit is out of warranty. 1. She would split the repair cost which means I would owe about $350. 2. They would give me $350 towards any new Dell computer (offer good off of sale prices as well). 3. They would send me a refurbished unit. I haven't called her back yet, but I assume the refurbished unit would be a 5150 that I could slide my HD and RAM in and be up and running at no cost (plus the unit would carry 90 day warranty). Does anyone have any opinion on the three offers? I plan on still complaining as it is obvious they are avoiding what they already know and it appears unless they are doing something drastic in the refurb process the problem is bound to happen again within the next year.
Metal, see Rybo Flavin's 11/17/04 post and count new victims from there.
Drew, don't forget Joe K's (
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/view_profile?user.id=5605074) repair option. If he can really identify and repair the bad traces, that would be the best option IMO. Otherwise, the refurb unit sounds attractive if Dell offers a warranty with same.
That refurb option does sound attractive. Let us know what that option actually entails.
I spent $389 on a new (i.e., refurbished) motherboard, which I installed myself. After three weeks, it works perfectly, though I just keep waiting for the whole thing to fail again a year from now. I do hope that Dell is at least considering our problem. If this Senior Sales Rep is helpful for you, Drew, please let us know who she is so that we might all contact her with our concerns. Thanks.
dspman
306 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2004 14:00
Message Edited by dspman on 11-23-2004 08:22 AM
lisowskimf
63 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2004 14:00
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2004 14:00
mv_gibson
7 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2004 18:00
Message Edited by mv_gibson on 11-23-2004 02:17 PM
Souer
27 Posts
0
November 23rd, 2004 19:00
I can bet my notebook that that’s not the problem. Let me think..mmm...after some hours arming and disarming your notebook, Dell’s Tech will tell you that they are going to replace your motherboard (and if you don’t have a warranty, they will do it for a "reasonable" price of US$600).
If u get upset with them, and post a claim, some members of the forum will answer you: "Why you didn’t buy a 3 years warranty? It’s your fault. Maybe you did it on purpose and now you want to take advantage of Dell". It happened to me before one of the guys sent me a post telling me about this post.
You don’t have to be a psychic to know the future. You just have to buy an Inspiron 5150, and you will be an expert!!!! We guaranteed it!!!!
rich1980
14 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 09:00
Just got my laptop less then 48 hours after Dell (UK) collected it for repair.
For the record, they replaced the fan and mobo. The fan seems much quieter, although I didn't think much about the noise before.
Message Edited by rich1980 on 11-24-2004 05:34 AM
dspman
306 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 11:00
Snarf, for the audio jack problem, see this thread: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=18929 and this one: http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=insp_audio&message.id=12844.
Gibson, if the problem involves the touchpad and a cable, as Dell support told you, replacing the entire system board seems an expen$ive way to fix it. Let us know what you find.
Joe, the fact that Dell is replacing the CPU thermal cooling assembly along with the system boards lends credence to your research and result that the problem indeed has a thermal contribution.
Message Edited by dspman on 11-24-2004 05:53 AM
snarf_b
6 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 11:00
-since the problems described in this thread have shown up, i have of course spent much less time working on my laptop. for the past two weeks i have only used it like half an hour each two days. yet somehow i have the impression that problems are getting worse? This morning, i was actually able to reproduce the "pressure that causes the shutdown" by just tapping my foot on the floor???! (!!)
-i have read some posts earlier about an audio jack. Actually, the audio-input jack (not the microphone one) has been quite "loose". i can still put headphones in, but it jiggles a lot (in a vertical motion). in other words: inside the laptop, i can move the headphones up and down. sometimes that even causes the sound to fall away and to come through the speakers, as if no headphone is connected. would this have anything to do with the problem in this thread? this problem did arise about three months before the other problems...
mv_gibson
7 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 12:00
Hi all...nothing great to report.
Souer, great reply to my last post, you are pretty much exactly right.
Dspman, thanks for the reply, here is what I found:
After dismantling my entire notebook, Dell CS was completely wrong in telling me that there is a cable coming from the left of the touchpad. In fact, the cable comes out of the top of the touchpad, and there were no visible problems. (I see that this was posted very early in this thread). The connecting cable is only about 3 inches long. Just to make sure this wasnt the problem, I completely removed the touchpad and still had the problem.
Anyway, I checked around the CD cage and the modem compartment to see if there were any visible connections that might be shorting out the MB. I could not see anything visible. I put my notebook back to a "barebones state" (no cd, no modem, no touchpad, keyboard not touching anything, etc). Even with nothing in it, the notebook still crashes when applying pressure to the "C" panel or the left side of the wrist rest.
In conclusion, it seems to me to be a MB problem or a grounding problem from one of the screws or other various connections. So now, my options are to: a) purchase and replace my MB. For that kind of money Ill just get another notebook. b) if purchasing another notebook, it sure wont be a Dell.
Hey Dell! With this many people having problems, you would think that you would acknowledge the problem! You cannot ignore us forever.....
Souer
27 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 13:00
BTW Joe: How much does the re-enforcement / repairment cost?
thanks
AQSTECH
9 Posts
0
November 24th, 2004 13:00
DSP,
This isn't anything new. Other laptop manufacturers have been dealing with this "type" of issue for a couple of years now. The only real way to resolve the issue to repair the problem. Extensive heat generation is absorbed by the motherboard. Well, depending on the "pressure" points and warp-age of the board during running "live" conditions dictates where the weak areas are produced.
Those weak areas need to be re-enforced / repaired. Usually, no other weak areas are formed because they have stood up to the stress of heat and time and they usually are good for the life of the motherboard.
We've been slammed with work this last week or so, so I haven't been able to really generate any replies.
Joe K
aqs12@adelphia.net
Message Edited by AQSTECH on 11-24-2004 09:07 AM
DrewUNH
6 Posts
0
November 27th, 2004 15:00
dspman
306 Posts
0
November 27th, 2004 17:00
KingSnake1
2 Intern
•
193 Posts
0
November 27th, 2004 17:00
pbloom
11 Posts
0
November 27th, 2004 19:00
That refurb option does sound attractive. Let us know what that option actually entails.
I spent $389 on a new (i.e., refurbished) motherboard, which I installed myself. After three weeks, it works perfectly, though I just keep waiting for the whole thing to fail again a year from now. I do hope that Dell is at least considering our problem. If this Senior Sales Rep is helpful for you, Drew, please let us know who she is so that we might all contact her with our concerns. Thanks.
Phillip