M6500 - Won't Boot!

Good to hear your problems were resolved. I don't recommend you mod your M6500, personally your laptop should have been out of warranty but meh to each their own ethics.

 

There is a difference between voiding the warranty and doing something that isn't supported. Technically, CompleteCare covers all accidental damage.. But otherwise, the simple MOD I did isn't much different than installing hard drives, memory, or PCIe cards not sold by Dell. The fact that Dell lets users do warranty repairs just shows how flexible they are. I've also found them to be much more flexible when it comes to XPS and business products than home.

Thanks for your input though.

 

You should read the Complete Care warranty terms.
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/services/accidental_damage_service_contract.pdf
Aff wrong quote.
So basically if your card caused damage=void. You say you don't think so, but I think modifying the PCI-E lane to use the 5 volt power line could of caused an issue with the power and should have been something to tell Dell, but who knows I do not have the blueprints for that exact Dell's motherboard.

Dell is incredibly flexible, however you should not confuse that with policy and the contract you accepted when you purchased the notebook/warranty. For example I dropped my laptop's battery and left a dent on it, now I have complete care however once I spoke with Dell I told them exactly what happened, even though they warned me before hand that the warranty only covers the damage if it fell WITH the system.
They obviously said it was not covered under warranty since the battery fell by itself and not with the system, I offered to pay for a replacement. They rejected the offer, and the rep told me he'd speak with his supervisor to see if they could pull some strings. They approved the replacement.
While I appreciate the fact I got a free battery, I know and I understand 100% I was NOT entitled to that battery because I under the agreement we had that was NOT covered by the warranty and I was willing to pay for the battery had they accepted the offer.

 

You should read the Complete Care warranty terms.
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/services/accidental_damage_service_contract.pdf

This was explained to me when I was speaking with Dell when I asked for a replacement LCD as parts so I could install it myself. Since they have NO way to know if I really do know how to replace an LCD or not, any damage would not be covered under the CompleteCare warranty, and the only reason they allow such service is because they are willing to risk it for the convenience of the customer. Then he proceeded to tell he that he has not heard of anyone being denied warranty because of a faulty installation, lol.

So basically if your card caused damage=void. You say you don't think so, but I think modifying the PCI-E lane to use the 5 volt power line could of caused an issue with the power and should have been something to tell Dell, but who knows I do not have the blueprints for that exact Dell's motherboard.

Dell is incredibly flexible, however you should not confuse that with policy and the contract you accepted when you purchased the notebook/warranty. For example I dropped my laptop's battery and left a dent on it, now I have complete care however once I spoke with Dell I told them exactly what happened, even though they warned me before hand that the warranty only covers the damage if it fell WITH the system.
They obviously said it was not covered under warranty since the battery fell by itself and not with the system, I offered to pay for a replacement. They rejected the offer, and the rep told me he'd speak with his supervisor to see if they could pull some strings. They approved the replacement.
While I appreciate the fact I got a free battery, I know and I understand 100% I was NOT entitled to that battery because I under the agreement we had that was NOT covered by the warranty and I was willing to pay for the battery had they accepted the offer.

 

Yeah it's a strange game to pick apart a written warranty text, but they do put it in context when they need to.

With my XPS M1710, I went through 3-4 LCDs. They simply would gather dust under the surface and I had a dead pixel or two. They said the dust is covered by CompleteCare since it is "normal wear". After I argued that dust inside of an LCD isn't normal, they proceeded with replacement.

I've gotten replacement keyboards over the years just by saying the keys are starting to stick... but if I say they are wearing out, they'll say it's not covered.

Also, just so there is no confusion, I didn't modify the PCIe lane to use 5V instead of 3.3V. USB requires 5V, so I tapped it from a different place directly to the breakout card, and didn't route it THROUGH the PCIe connector. It goes straight to the USB dongle. The PCIe port is used as standard as it is designed. The only pins connected to PCIe port are ground, data+ and data-.

So, as it stands, I didn't solder or modify anything on the motherboard. 5V comes from a wire on the fan, which had 5V all the time. That's an easy replacement if needed. USB uses so little power I don't think it could pull enough from the fan connector to upset the motherboard.

And as always, sometimes it's just better to follow a "don't ask, don't tell" policy when talking to support.

 

A USB can take upwards to 2.5w, depending on the device. A fan header for a motherboard has a limited supply of electricity as well, much more delicate then a USB. I have actually seen motherboards die because a [email protected] fan was replaced with a [email protected] fan.

 

I would think having motherboards die because of fan swaps says more about the power supply than the motherboard.

In any case, I checked device manager on the Unifying Receiver plugged into a normal USB port. Not sure how accurate it is, but the Power tab claims that the dongle uses 98mA of power, which equates to 0.098A or 0.49W at 5V.

 

Nope motherboard's all have similar systems to conduct electricity through the motherboard, including VRM's, capacitors, etc etc for different components, for example the fan has to have a component to control amperage going in (perhaps a breaker switch?) to reduce or increase the amperage. Pushing one of these components to limits (namely regulators for voltage, or amperage) and you can brick a motherboard.
In fact even in desktop motherboards it can be the case when using very high performance fans (20w-40w fans on a motherboard header=dead within days or months depending on the motherboard).

98mA? How would it know how much power it's using if it's drawing 24/7 power from another 5v source? 98mA does not sound right for a wireless receiver, specially while in use. I'd say a more accurate measurement would be 1-2 watts, probably closer to 1 watts.

 

I've never heard of a motherboard dying from fans, although I do believe it is possible. I do understand the electronics involved. If it happened to me, I would have a HUGE problem with that manufacturer if they didn't cover it under warranty, especially if 1) they don't provide fans and 2) they don't state the max current available to each fan port. I tend not to buy crappy motherboards. =)

I said I plugged the receiver into a normal USB port. In Device Manager, I viewed by Connection Type. You can view properties on items like USB Root Hub or Generic USB Hub and it will tell you how much power a USB device is using. It also said 500mA is available per port. I believe "per port" is in reference to the entire chipset and not just physical ports available. It also said the Dell Bluetooth 365 card is requiring 100mA. I don't really know how else to confirm this other than to either ask Logitech or put an ammeter between the dongle and the +5V supply.

 

My Logitech USB wireless mouse dongle says 5V, 55mA on the bottom, ie around 0.25W. They are likely to overstate the actual power consumption.

Notebook fans can draw 2 or 3W of power at full speed.

John