Adventures in Laptop Repair
Oh, it's been an interesting two weeks since my last post.
On the 13th (oooh, spooky), my laptop stopped recognizing the power supply/AC adapter. This was odd, as I'd just replaced the AC adapter two months prior due to frayed insulation, so it was relatively new. Fortunately, it was under a 90-day warranty, so I called Dell, explained the situation, and had a new adapter shipped to me the next day as a replacement. Great, I thought, no harm, no foul, and all is right.
When I plugged in the new power supply, nothing changed. It still wasn't recognized by the computer. I did a little research, and I must say that I was dismayed by what I found. There's a chip inside the power supply, and a companion chip on the laptop's motherboard. These two chips communicate directly to one another once you plug the supply into the laptop, which authenticates the power supply as an official Dell power supply. Without that authentication, the laptop runs at half speed and refuses to charge the batter. That wasn't the cause of my dismay, though; the fact that these unhardened chips communicate over the unshielded center pin of the power connector was, though. Basically, they've created a static antenna, and a good charge can hose one or both chips, leaving you with a gimped power supply, or worse, a gimped computer. This is not an isolated occurrence in the least.
Since the laptop behaved the same way with two separate power supplies, that meant the chip on the mobo was fried. Oh, goody. Even better yet, my laptop's warranty had lapsed. However, I was able to make a service request with Dell's out-of-warranty service department, and for $500 they would have the laptop shipped to a Dell service department, repaired, and shipped back. If they didn't have to replace the motherboard, they'd refund $300 of the cost. A box was overnighted to me, and by Saturday I had the computer handed off to FedEx on its trip down to Houston, TX, where Dell would be looking after it.
This past Friday, I received a call at work informing me that my computer was ready to be shipped back, and yesterday it arrived at the house. I took it out of the box, plugged it in with the power supply they'd shipped back (most likely the one I'd shipped with it)... and didn't see any change. The battery didn't charge, the computer was slow to even POST, and it threw up the "AC adapter not recognized" error. Looking in the BIOS, nothing had been touched. The battery was at the same level it had been when I shipped it, and the settings were exactly where they'd been right before I packed it away. They hadn't done a single thing to the computer. This was particularly frustrating because A) they hadn't refunded the cost of the service, and B) they hadn't contacted me informing me of this - they had collected my phone number and email address expressly so they could ask questions, and they hadn't bothered.
Needless to say, I was rather... upset. My first call that evening went to Dell tech support, where I learned a critical error had been made on their end. We have two laptops associated with our Dell account - my XPS M1730, and
the_z 's Inspiron E1505. Each of these two computers, just like every other Dell computer, has a unique service tag that identifies the computer in Dell's information network. When I placed the service request, the operator - despite having been given my XPS's service tag over the phone - associated the service with Z's Inspiron. When the laptop arrived in Houston, it wasn't the one they were expecting, so they shipped it back immediately.
The first call last night didn't end well - I was disconnected when the operator attempted to transfer me to another department. This happened a second time as well, so I changed tactics. I called the order support system to file a complaint. This got me redirected to another department (which did not fail), and after I told them my story for the fourth time that evening, they successfully redirected me to a higher tier of technical support. After once again explaining the situation, they made the situation as right as they could. An on-site technician would be dispatched and the computer would be receiving a new motherboard and power supply. In addition, they extended my already-lapsed warranty by two years with on-site support. Unfortunately, they couldn't reverse the $500 charge, but the repairs would still be done, and in a timely fashion that didn't require me to ship it off for another 8 to 10 business days.
So, tomorrow I should hear from the technician (as it takes about 2 days to get the parts to him), and he will come to my office and fix my computer on site. Then, hopefully this whole debacle will be over.
On the 13th (oooh, spooky), my laptop stopped recognizing the power supply/AC adapter. This was odd, as I'd just replaced the AC adapter two months prior due to frayed insulation, so it was relatively new. Fortunately, it was under a 90-day warranty, so I called Dell, explained the situation, and had a new adapter shipped to me the next day as a replacement. Great, I thought, no harm, no foul, and all is right.
When I plugged in the new power supply, nothing changed. It still wasn't recognized by the computer. I did a little research, and I must say that I was dismayed by what I found. There's a chip inside the power supply, and a companion chip on the laptop's motherboard. These two chips communicate directly to one another once you plug the supply into the laptop, which authenticates the power supply as an official Dell power supply. Without that authentication, the laptop runs at half speed and refuses to charge the batter. That wasn't the cause of my dismay, though; the fact that these unhardened chips communicate over the unshielded center pin of the power connector was, though. Basically, they've created a static antenna, and a good charge can hose one or both chips, leaving you with a gimped power supply, or worse, a gimped computer. This is not an isolated occurrence in the least.
Since the laptop behaved the same way with two separate power supplies, that meant the chip on the mobo was fried. Oh, goody. Even better yet, my laptop's warranty had lapsed. However, I was able to make a service request with Dell's out-of-warranty service department, and for $500 they would have the laptop shipped to a Dell service department, repaired, and shipped back. If they didn't have to replace the motherboard, they'd refund $300 of the cost. A box was overnighted to me, and by Saturday I had the computer handed off to FedEx on its trip down to Houston, TX, where Dell would be looking after it.
This past Friday, I received a call at work informing me that my computer was ready to be shipped back, and yesterday it arrived at the house. I took it out of the box, plugged it in with the power supply they'd shipped back (most likely the one I'd shipped with it)... and didn't see any change. The battery didn't charge, the computer was slow to even POST, and it threw up the "AC adapter not recognized" error. Looking in the BIOS, nothing had been touched. The battery was at the same level it had been when I shipped it, and the settings were exactly where they'd been right before I packed it away. They hadn't done a single thing to the computer. This was particularly frustrating because A) they hadn't refunded the cost of the service, and B) they hadn't contacted me informing me of this - they had collected my phone number and email address expressly so they could ask questions, and they hadn't bothered.
Needless to say, I was rather... upset. My first call that evening went to Dell tech support, where I learned a critical error had been made on their end. We have two laptops associated with our Dell account - my XPS M1730, and
the_z 's Inspiron E1505. Each of these two computers, just like every other Dell computer, has a unique service tag that identifies the computer in Dell's information network. When I placed the service request, the operator - despite having been given my XPS's service tag over the phone - associated the service with Z's Inspiron. When the laptop arrived in Houston, it wasn't the one they were expecting, so they shipped it back immediately.
The first call last night didn't end well - I was disconnected when the operator attempted to transfer me to another department. This happened a second time as well, so I changed tactics. I called the order support system to file a complaint. This got me redirected to another department (which did not fail), and after I told them my story for the fourth time that evening, they successfully redirected me to a higher tier of technical support. After once again explaining the situation, they made the situation as right as they could. An on-site technician would be dispatched and the computer would be receiving a new motherboard and power supply. In addition, they extended my already-lapsed warranty by two years with on-site support. Unfortunately, they couldn't reverse the $500 charge, but the repairs would still be done, and in a timely fashion that didn't require me to ship it off for another 8 to 10 business days.
So, tomorrow I should hear from the technician (as it takes about 2 days to get the parts to him), and he will come to my office and fix my computer on site. Then, hopefully this whole debacle will be over.