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- Computer would not turn on. Green lights would come on for 1 or 2 seconds then cut off.On the second trip to my home they replaced the motherboard and it worked for a few months.I subsequently retired and did not use it for several months. Samething recurred. Called Dell, spoke with a guy in Nashville....he would not replace it.Still under contract, so if no one has an idea as to how to convince Dell to take back this lemon computer then I will call the appropriate number for another attempt to repair it . Plan to renew my service contract later this year.Have lost my confidence in DELL.V. Cate
Hmmm.... Dell tech support has always been helpful and responsive to my users computing needs. I service more than 100 sites where various Dell equipment is used and whatever the issue they have given me excellent service when there is an issue such as the one you are reporting. I can't imagine why a Dell technical support rep wouldn't have them collect it for troubleshooting if it's under warranty. I would recommend calm and persistence with Dell technical support.
Best of luck!
Here is the Dell support problem in regards to the i5150 dead motherboards...
By nature (heat related motherboard death) this i5150 design flaw is manifesting itself anywhere between 6 to 15 months. A few happen before the 12 mo warranty is up and Dell replaces them. that is good. But, most often it happens to folks just past the standard 1 year warranty. Now some people would say "that is just the breaks". And normally I would agree. But, that is for the normal odd death of a laptop. That is not what is happening here. We are talking hundreds or thousands of these laptops are being reported in the Dell forums and in areas outside of Dell's site. There are new reports EVERY DAY. This is a specific issue. It is not a bunch of different issues. It is one issue, located in one specific area of the motherboard. It is a design flaw. The symptoms are clear.
Let's make one thing clear. The average life span of a laptop is measured by what extended warranty's are available. If they purposely designed the 5150 to die in, say 14 months, then they would not offer the extended warranty. So, is this a planned design flaw? I don't believe so. Nothing lasts or will be trouble free forever.
As it stands now, Dell knows there is a big problem. And they will have a big problem trying to resolve it. This issue causes these laptops to die very prematurely. Simply replacing the motherboard is ok. But, since the problem is with the motherboard itself, the new board will eventually fail too. So, they only delay the issue for another 6-15 months? The solution is, not only do they have to replace the motherboard, but they have to use replacement boards that are beefed up in the weak area that is causing the problem in the first place.
This is a critical "moment of truth" for Dell. This is the time you really find out if Dell cares about their customers or if they are just trying to sell dodo and and get your money. These laptops were purchased in good faith. This is a problem of Dell's own design. One might want to ask if the new i5160 (very similar to the 5150) will suffer the same problem. No one would purchase a product that is going to fail just past the warranty period.
What say you Dell?
Message Edited by Randyored on 01-14-2005 08:03 AM
Message Edited by Randyored on 01-14-2005 07:05 PM
dell home users seem to get the short end of the stick in terms of dell's service (compared to their business clients). search the forum for AQS - they fixed mine and i only have to deal with regular problems now (system freezing, etc) and for less than $200.
Visit our 5150 forum at ez-board.com
http://p068.ezboard.com/bi5150users <-contains useful information
Dell Inspiron 5150 Users Website
http://www.geocities.com/i5150users/- Randy, last time I checked the number of posts for people experiancing the specific motherboard issue you're talking about was nowhere near 100, much less 1000. Now I'll grant you the forums make up only a small percentage of dell users, but it's important to keep in mind that most 5150s will work fine for years to come. In short, I would consider a new board to be a good fix from dell, should yours break -- not a promise that it will break again in another year
- i spent over an hour on the phone last night with a nice young man from dell tech support. explained the issue (laptop dead, will not boot, even with new power supply). had me remove everything i could ie: cd rom, battery etc. and still no joy, so here i am waiting for the dhl guy to come with a box. lets hope they can fix it quickly and permanently. i am nervous as i read the posts about 5150's motherboard issue and even see some people are on their 2nd or third motherboard.
- Nenie, the most important things you can do are to keep the bios at A35 (you will most likely need to downflash as the new board will probably have A38), and keep the heatsink free of dust -- every couple of weeks, turn the computer off and spray compressed air into the back exhaust vent (not the bottom intake vent).Furthermore, please use fanGUI to keep an eye on your temps: http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html
- NemesisDB
Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Here is one thread... One... That has over 60 pages... I say again.. thats pages of posts. Each page has what? 10 posts? That in itself is 600 (approx) posts before Dell locked the thread. in all honesty, it is 594 posts in that thread. And there are new posts everyday. I am currently tracking 9 thread. That isn't all of the threads, mind you. So, when was the last time you "checked"?Ok, to be fair. Lets hear it!! Who has an i5150 that is older than 15 months an is still working? Actually, I'll start a couple of polls as new threads.Lets find out...RandyO
NemesisDB
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Posted January 13th, 2005 14:00