If you have a Dell PC and you're out of warranty, can you still get them to make repairs on a "pay as you go" basis?

My XPS GEN 4 is on the fritz, and I'm getting the royal runaround. The non-english speaking reps keep misunderstanding and telling me "you're out of warranty" - which I am very well aware of, all I want is to send them my PC, have them fix it, and then I'll pay what it costs.

Is this possible with Dell?

Thanks
H

 

Hi Habibi Long time no see!!

What's wrong with your computer? Is it something a local repair shop could handle? Instead of paying to ship your computer to Dell and then paying them some outlandish amount to fix it, why not try a local shop. We have a great computer repair shop here in our town, you probably have one close by too...Just a thought.

 

Hi Karen

I've made a few calls, but I swear these local yokos love saying the word "Proprietary"

I swear they stand in front of the mirror just hoping they'll be able to say it every day.

The few shops I've talked to all say the same thing "Dell machine, Dell has to fix it" Needless to say it's frustrating.

Wife and I went to the east coast for 3 weeks camping, when I returned home, I turned it on, and dust came flying out of the case like crazy.
(leftover dust from finishing the basement this winter)

I turned it off, cleaned it all up, and then it worked fine for a few days.

Last night it just turned off by itself, when I turned it back on, the boot sequence seemed normal, it went to the Dell splash screen, and then before it was supposed to go to the password screen, it just went to a black screen, with the cursor flashing on the top left. (Remember the old DOS systems? That's the kind of screen I'm talking about.

I've tried tapping F2 and F12 at the splash screen, and it even says "accessing boot menu", but then it just continues to the black screen of death with the cursor flashing.

As of right now I'm at a loss. My buddy seems to think its the motherboard, but without being able to diagnose, what to do?

Regards
H

 

an f150 forum is a strange place for your question, but, anyway,

start here - http://docs.us.dell.com/support/edoc....htm#wp1054589

and follow the directions in this doc to troubleshoot.

then, with what you've learned, go to http://docs.us.dell.com/support/topi...=19&l=en&s=dhs

these machines ALL have heat issues, so if your machine was full of dust, you probably fried something. we have a client with a number of these machines, so we're familiar with them....

good luck on shipping it to Dell.... that would be a great waste of your time & money.

- jm

 

Not this F150 forum. We'll give advice on anything.

 

Weird, our local shop is willing to take on anything. We took my son's G/f's Dell laptop in when her hard drive crashed. They accessed the drive and got all her information off of it for her. My son put a new hard drive in the computer and they added all her stuff, good as new!

As for all the info you gave, I'm really not all that computer savvy, I just was wondering if it was something a local shop could do. Looks like jm2 gave you some good info. Maybe someone else can chime in and help you out too.

Good luck.

 

On the surface that might look like a reasonable assumption, but when you consider all the smart people who are members of this site, it's not an accurate assessment.

Over the last 5 years I've seen some pretty cool advice given on this board ranging from A-Z, and you my friend for having taken the time to make your post have helped me a great deal, and for this I thank you.

I unplugged all the connections from my tower (except power) so I could turn it around and see the diagnostic lights, and when I powered it up, it booted up normally, went to the password screen with no probems, all the lights were in a perfect row of green.

My delight was short lived because after I plugged everything in, turned it around and fired it up again, it went back to the same old problem.

This time however I managed to take a look at the diagnostic lights (thanks to you)

This is what it reveals:

A possible expansion card failure has occurred.

Determine if a conflict exists by removing a card (not a graphics card) and restarting the computer.
If the problem persists, reinstall the card that you removed, remove a different card, and then restart the computer.
Repeat this process for each card. If the computer starts normally, troubleshoot the last card removed from the computer for resource conflicts (see "System Setup Program").
If the problem persists, contact Dell.

So while it's still not fixed, I have a feeling it's not as bad as I once thought because had I fried something, I don't think it would've went to the pw screen (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Now my new information tells me that a card is loose or not seated properly and this is what's causing all the drama.

Question though... What type of expansion cards would / could my system have if they don't include the graphics card?

Thanks
H

 

More Digging Has Revealed the Following:

Seems it would boot up fine whenever all the cables were unplugged from the back.

So I started one by one, plugging in each cable and attempting to boot until the problem cable reared its ugly head.

Looks like the problem lies somewhere in the USB plugs.

Whenever I would have even a single USB cable plugged anywhere at the back in one of the 6 ports, I would get the diagnostic light sequence I showed in the previous post, and it would not boot up.

So I]ve unplugged everything else and simply plugged my mouse & keyboard in the front, and everything seems to work fine.

Do the 6 USB ports at the rear, are they on some sort of card that can be replaced?

Thanks again for all your valuable help.
H

 

Hi.

No - USB support is integrated on the mobo.

Since the fronts work ( assuming ALL rears are nfg - & no bent pins etc are evident), then you have two options aside from the pain of mobo replacement.

1. Leave as-is.
2. If you need more ports, add a USB hub.

Stange failure, btw - the rears must be on a separate internal USB host controller/root hub.

(You can check in Device Manager to see if the above shows a failure - but it may not be conclusive)

Hope this helps.

Good luck

 

good comments from MGDFan -

check the Device Manager for the status of the ports. if there's a flag, see what it says. if OK, then remove (delete) the USB ports in Device Manager. then turn off and restart the machine, and see if the devices reinstall themselves properly, and work.

also, check the Dell support siite to search for an updated USB port device driver.

third option for long term repair is to disable the on-board ports, and install a multiport USB 2.0 card into one of the expansion slots. about $20-60 depending on whose card you buy.

can't help but laugh at the thought that if you had taken it "down town" for repair, they would have told you it was working....

good luck!

- jm

 

Good call on the add-in card, jm!

bubba

 

Thanks fellas,

Man I love this place.

PS---> Where's that big fatso D? I'm surprised he hasnt chimed in.

 

Almost the same thing happened to my wife's computer and it turned out to be a usb cable that the cat chewed into.
If you can't get the back ones to work by un-installing them I would just add a hub from a front one. That would be the quick and painless way to go and possibly cheaper than a pci/usb card.

 

Is the mouse and key baord the only things that you have "permanent" connected on USB?

 

Keyboard
Mouse
Printer
Digital Camera Docking Station


** I checked the Device Manager and the USB ports all state they are functioning properly.

** Every summer when we go away, there's always a problem when I turn the computer on after 2-3 weeks of it being off.

Weird eh?

H