It’s a sad, sad day in the house of Evanescing. A very sad day. ::sigh::
The only upside is – I was right. Very poor comfort. Poor comfort indeed.
Here’s the situation. Last June, I bought a laptop from Dell. It has worked beautifully for me for the past year. Now, as you know, standard warranties are for a year from purchase date. June 9, 2004 – June 9, 2005, the laptop worked perfectly fine. Of course it did. Come the end of June – it stopped recognizing the power adapter. Would only run on battery power. My mother had recently purchased a Dell laptop. So I go to mom’s and try her power adapter. My laptop complained it wasn’t the correct power adapter – but it worked. Charged the battery and ran on AC power. And my laptop’s power adapter ran my mother’s computer. Weird – but it worked.
I visited my mother at the end of July – and it stopped working. My laptop would not see her power adapter. Hers will recognize mine still, though we get the message ‘the power adapter isn’t correct and the battery will not charge.’ But the laptop will draw on the AC power.
Conclusion? My power adapter works fine – there’s something else wrong.
What happened when I contacted Dell about the problem?
Dell: The power adapter is faulty and needs to be replaced.
Me: My mother’s Dell laptop runs on the old adapter.
Dell: The problem is with the power adapter. I’ll transfer you to Sales so you can order a new one.
Me: Fine. I’ll do it your way.
So I do. And does it work? Hell no. ::sigh::
*I* was right, stupid Dell tech support on email were wrong. Very cold comfort indeed.
I called tech support this evening – as I received the new adapter today – and talked to a very nice young man named Brett. He was very helpful – though I basically managed to stump the poor boy.
His bottom line was that there was a problem not with the port where the adapter plugs in, but with the motherboard itself. Most likely a short in the wiring. Lovely. What does that mean for me? New motherboard is 800 dollars. Why? It’s no longer under warranty. Stopped working abotu three weeks after warranty expired. Now, he also said I could buy a new warranty, which could cost up to 300 dollars depending on the warranty I purchase, but the system would have to be recertified first. That runs 300 dollars.
In short – I can spend 600 dollars or 800 dollars for them to replace the motherboard, and that’s most likely still not a guarantee.
How much is a new laptop these days? Yes, you know it, barely more than that.
Congratulations to me! I am the proud owner of an 1100 dollar, 11lb paperweight.
HORRAY! I’m so EXCITED!
(If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go sulk . . . . )
Check out either Pricegrabber.com or Ebay for a refurbished laptop. Then, if you get someone who knows something about laptops, they can take the hard drive out of yours and put it in the other one.
Saves a lot of money. And since it’s refurbished, you know they double checked everything, especially if it’s from a reliable seller.
Agreed. Get another one. F*@k Dell. It’ll be cheaper to get another one, and you’ll likely have better luck. I always recommend Toshiba first, because those seem to me to be the best ones out there (I still use my old one – it’s 9 years old!). I’ll even help you look for one, if you want.
The Dell tech support people are a bunch of morons…My chair has more technical knowledge than that whole company!!! The best option is always to have someone (who knows what they’re doing) build a computer to meet your needs, then at least you have someone who can identify the problem.