Major problems with hardware support

Question

:smileymad: I have had my Inspiron 5150 for 3 years now, and it has become clear that not only has it developed major powersystem problems but that Dell's Technical Support System is totally incapable of determining what the problem is! The problem I see on the forum concerning the power adapter plug breaking off the motherboard was the first event, approximately 1 year after purchase.  Then, about five weeks ago the system failed, this time acting as if the adapter was not connected, therefore discharging the battery.  So far they have replaced the motherboard three times in five weeks, without any cure.  The system will come up with a new motherboard but after about 40 minutes of operation the same problem reoccurs.  They tried the palm rest unit (which contains the power switches), although there were no indications that the switches were giving any trouble.  The first couple of times they sent out a local contract tech, but most recently they had me ship it overnight (at their expense) to their Memphis repair center. It shipped from me to them on Tuesday, arrived back on Friday, with, lo and behold, the fifth motherboard and the heat sink replaced. 40 minutes later the same problem.  Now they are sending out a tech with a memory chip (and probably another motherboard).  Thank GOD for the extended warranty, but doesn't Dell have any REAL honest to goodness ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS to TROUBLESHOOT and REPAIR this system?  I really like the machine but if the company can not FIX it, why are they in BUSINESS?  Who do I see to get the Harware Support people REPLACED?

jocase · Answer

I feel your pain. Your question:  'Who do I see to get the Hardware Support people REPLACED?' Replaced with who? Industry wide, laptops aren't 'fixed' things are replaced. You can find small shops who actually fix things, but people usually  don't want to pay the high price that is entailed in labor. They will eventually end up replacing everything, and the laptop will live again.

WFBerry · Answer

To Jocase:

Perhaps the industry needs to rethink the black-box replacement mentality? Dell has now replaced my motherboard four, going on five times, at $500+ each time, not to count technician and shipping costs - that looks to me like they have now spent MORE on those replacements than I did when I PURCHASED the unit! That also does not count the hard-drive failure replacement. The $160 investment in an extended warranty appears to be paying off for me in a major way. Not everything in the laptop is black-box replaceable, and the problem is probably in the power handling system, which is built in to the base piece, with components. If they bothered to perform REAL troubleshooting, they would probably discover that a $5.00 part has cost them over $2,500!

WFBerry · Answer

:smileymad: Update : As I expected the memory replacement did exactly nothing~ of course the 5th motherboard is most likely fried -! They suggested sending it back to depot again. But I'm not sure I can trust the Repair Depot to fix the problem the SECOND time when they didn't really fix it the first time!  I'm back to Tech Support for options!

stevenr2186 · Answer

Have you tried getting a new AC adapter?

WFBerry · Answer

Did that, no change!

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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