How I got my m1530 replaced with a 1640.

I hope this conversation I had with dell chat helps someone with their dell issues. Enjoy.

02/04/2010 Session Started with Agent
Agent : "Thank you for contacting XPS premium Support. My name is Agent and my rep ID number is XXXXXXX. How may I help you today?"
02/04/2010 01:56:54PM Me: "My gpu on my laptop just died for the 3rd time."
02/04/2010 01:57:42PM Me: "I was playing a game and the system froze. I had to hard shut off and the screen is now black, but the power LED's all come on"
02/04/2010 01:57:53PM Me: "I tried to connect to an external monitor to check it and got nothing"
02/04/2010 01:57:58PM Agent : "I understand how frustrating the situation is I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused. I would be glad to assist you further on this issue."
02/04/2010 01:58:35PM Me: "My biggest problem is this laptop has had issues repeatedly, and the gpu in it has been a known issue"
02/04/2010 01:58:52PM Agent : "To confirm,the system you are using is XPS M1530 with Windows Vista as the Operating system.Is that correct?"
02/04/2010 01:58:57PM Me: "I've had the motherboard replaced around 3 times =/"
02/04/2010 01:59:02PM Me: "yes"
02/04/2010 01:59:11PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 01:59:26PM Agent : “May I place this session on hold for 2 minutes while I look into this issue?"
02/04/2010 01:59:41PM Me: "Sure."
02/04/2010 02:00:23PM Me: "Let me just say though that dell's service on the issues I've had with the laptop have always been great, and your customer service has always been excellent"
02/04/2010 02:00:46PM Me: "the nvidia GPU has had known issues for a long time though"
02/04/2010 02:00:53PM Agent : "I am glad to know that."
02/04/2010 02:01:34PM Agent : "Thank you for staying connected.I appreciate your patience."
02/04/2010 02:02:39PM Agent : "Awesome Guy,could you please let me know did you make any software or hardware changes?"
02/04/2010 02:03:14PM Me: "not recently as far as software"
02/04/2010 02:03:20PM Me: "no hardware changes to date"
02/04/2010 02:04:03PM Agent : "Okay,As per our records I see that only keyboard was replaced recently."
02/04/2010 02:04:28PM Me: "the machine would freeze up during graphic intensive games, and once in a while the colors on the screen would act up"
02/04/2010 02:04:48PM Me: "so I expected the gpu was having problems, and then today it froze up and now I'm getting nothing on the screen"
02/04/2010 02:05:28PM Agent : "Okay Awesome Guy,could you please let me know did you try reinstalling the Video Drivers and check?"
02/04/2010 02:06:42PM Me: "the video drivers were updated around a month ago. It is definitely not a driver issue, as this is a known issue with nividia 8600m and the 8400m. I can't do anything now because there is nothing on the screen. The screen is black."
02/04/2010 02:07:00PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:07:29PM Agent : "Awesome Guy I would request you to please restart the laptop and check once if you are able to get the desktop screen."
02/04/2010 02:07:45PM Me: "hold on"
02/04/2010 02:07:52PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:08:20PM Me: "nothing"
02/04/2010 02:08:36PM Me: "I get power lights and everything is fine, except nothing on the screen"
02/04/2010 02:09:16PM Agent : "Okay I would request you to please connect the external monitor once again and check."
02/04/2010 02:09:23PM Me: "hold on"
02/04/2010 02:09:36PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:10:31PM Me: "nothing"
02/04/2010 02:10:37PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:11:20PM Agent : "Awesome Guy,could you please let me know if you get the LED lights for the Caps Lock,Num Lock and Scroll Lock?"
02/04/2010 02:12:22PM Me: "it has the num lock led, if I press the button for caps and scroll they come on and off"
02/04/2010 02:12:33PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:14:06PM Agent : "Awesome Guy I would request you to please shut down the laptop."
02/04/2010 02:14:14PM Me: "ok"
02/04/2010 02:14:51PM Agent : "And then press and hold the "D" key and while the same time press the power key which will run the LCD test."
02/04/2010 02:16:57PM Me: "hold on"
02/04/2010 02:17:03PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:18:07PM Me: "I'm getting a light on my lcd screen showing it's on, but it has messed up colors"
02/04/2010 02:18:12PM Me: "like bars"
02/04/2010 02:18:19PM Agent : "Okay."
02/04/2010 02:19:00PM Agent : "Awesome Guy as I see that the issue is related to GPU I will go ahead and replace the Motherboard and heat sink which will fix the issue."
02/04/2010 02:19:50PM Me: "this is like my 4th times fixing the gpu. Really at this point I'm not happy replacing the motherboard again, and I'm not happy with the nvidia gpu"
02/04/2010 02:20:05PM Me: "is there an alternative gpu?"
02/04/2010 02:20:24PM Agent : "No Awesome Guy."
02/04/2010 02:21:47PM Me: "are there any alternatives available? I really do like my laptop, but at this point repeatedly replacing the motherboard isn't terribly acceptable"
02/04/2010 02:22:36PM Me: "is there a like laptop with a different gpu?"
02/04/2010 02:23:27PM Agent : "Awesome Guy could you please let me know is the issue with the XPS1530 system?"
02/04/2010 02:24:31PM Me: "The GPU has failed. I have had the motherboard replaced several times due to the nividia GPU having manufacturing issues. It's a known issue and the reason dell extended the gpu warranty from 1 year to 3 years."
02/04/2010 02:25:13PM Me: "the whole line of 8000m processors have had problems"
02/04/2010 02:25:41PM Agent : "Is the issue related With service tag XXXXXXX.Is that correct?"
02/04/2010 02:26:08PM Me: "correct"
02/04/2010 02:27:01PM Agent : "May I place this session on hold for 2 - 3 minutes while I look into this issue?"
02/04/2010 02:27:30PM Me: "sure"
02/04/2010 02:31:24PM Agent : "Thank you for staying connected.I appreciate your patience."
02/04/2010 02:32:16PM Agent : "Awesome Guy,I would be glad to inform you that we will go ahead and provide you a system exchange."
02/04/2010 02:33:28PM Agent : "As you are having GPU issues and the motherboard was been replaced 3 times."
02/04/2010 02:34:31PM Me: "are you replacing it with a different gpu?"
02/04/2010 02:34:39PM Me: "or is this going to be another 8600?"
02/04/2010 02:35:26PM Agent : "No Awesome Guy,as you stated that you are not happy with replacement of motherboard and heat sink."
02/04/2010 02:36:02PM Me: "so are you changing the system to a different line? what are you replacing it with?"
02/04/2010 02:37:34PM Agent : "Awesome Guy I cannot assure you that which system will be replaced but you will receive an upgraded system."
02/04/2010 02:37:37PM Agent : "Is that fine?"
02/04/2010 02:38:47PM Me: "yes, my only request is that the video card that is in the new system be as good or better, as I find the gpu to be very important"
02/04/2010 02:39:11PM Agent : "That's correct."
02/04/2010 02:39:40PM Agent : "And I can assure you that you will get a good upgraded system in exchange for the current system."
02/04/2010 02:39:55PM Me: "Awesome "
02/04/2010 02:40:34PM Agent : "But it will take 4 weeks for the system exchange to get processed.Is that fine?"
02/04/2010 02:40:50PM Me: "ouch, that is rough"
02/04/2010 02:40:59PM Me: "I suppose I don't have a lot of choice"
02/04/2010 02:41:24PM Me: "I can work around it, is there anyway I'll be aware of the system before it ships in case I have any objections?"
02/04/2010 02:41:56PM Me: "I doubt I will from what you said"
02/04/2010 02:42:41PM Agent : "You will receive an E-mail after 3 weeks with details for which system you will be replaced with."
02/04/2010 02:43:21PM Me: "That will have to work "
02/04/2010 02:43:51PM Me: "I appreciate you help and understanding my situation. I've bought quite a few other laptops and computers from dell for that very reason"
02/04/2010 02:45:06PM Agent : "I apologize for the inconvenience and I am glad to assist you with the issue."
02/04/2010 02:45:28PM Agent : "And Awesome Guy could you please provide the shipping address to process system exchange."
02/04/2010 02:46:14PM Me: "let's see, the best address would be XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
02/04/2010 02:47:09PM Agent : "And also could you please provide the primary and alternate contact number."
02/04/2010 02:47:33PM Me: "XXXXXXX and XXXXXXXX"
02/04/2010 02:48:16PM Agent : "And could you please confirm is this the correct E-mail ID [email protected]"
02/04/2010 02:48:38PM Me: "correct"
02/04/2010 02:48:51PM Agent : "Perfect."
02/04/2010 02:49:37PM Agent : "Awesome Guy,I will go ahead and create an system exchange and it will take 4 weeks for the system exchange to get processed."
02/04/2010 02:50:08PM Me: "May I ask why the wait is so long?"
02/04/2010 02:51:20PM Agent : "Awesome Guy as the system exchange is processed by different department that is why it takes 4 weeks to get processed."
02/04/2010 02:51:29PM Me: "ahhh, ok"
02/04/2010 02:51:53PM Agent : "Is there anything else I may assist you with today?"
02/04/2010 02:52:35PM Me: "nope, that is everything"
02/04/2010 02:53:21PM Agent : "It was glad to assist you Awesome Guy."
02/04/2010 02:53:22PM Agent : "Awesome Guy,please spare 2 minutes of your time as my manager would like to know from you about the level of service provided to you by me on this session.Your feedback is valuable to us."
02/04/2010 02:53:47PM Me: "sure"
02/04/2010 02:55:12PM Agent : "Hi, this is Agent Supervisor, the supervisor with XPS chat queue. How are you doing today?"
02/04/2010 02:56:02PM Me: "Doing well beyond gpu issues"
02/04/2010 02:56:12PM Me: "but everything has been resolved, so doing better "
02/04/2010 02:59:09PM Agent : "If that happened to me, I'd be quite concerned. I appreciate your understanding. The issue was fixed with the replacement of the new set of motherboard last year.Seems like we have some other parts causing issues with the system."
02/04/2010 03:00:10PM Agent : "We have many cases were they are tested out good and we are sure that it would have fixed the issue if that would have the been the case. We have not diagnosed the case now so cannot comment what is the issue."
02/04/2010 03:00:47PM Agent : "I also wanted to check how things went on the chat and if all your queries were answered to your satisfaction?"
02/04/2010 03:01:09PM Me: "yes, they were definitely answered to my satisfaction"
02/04/2010 03:01:27PM Agent : "Great ! We do appreciate your time in contacting us for support."
02/04/2010 03:01:36PM Agent : "Do you have any other issue that requires my attention?"
02/04/2010 03:02:28PM Me: "that would be all. All of my other systems have performed very well, and I've been happy with everything else I've purchased from dell. The customer service has also been great so far."
02/04/2010 03:03:56PM Agent : "Thank you for support, without which it would have not been possible
02/04/2010 03:03:59PM Agent : "Thank you for using Dell XPS Hardware Warranty Chat Support. Have a great evening!"
02/04/2010 03:04:32PM Me: "You too "
02/04/2010 03:04:42PM Agent : "Thank you."
02/04/2010 03:06:03PM Me: "Thank you "
02/04/2010 03:06:45PM Agent : " Goodbye!"
02/04/2010 03:07:59PM Me: "good bye"

 

Great conversation. It's always good to keep a level head and not berate their product. Straight to the point and logical. My m1530 is still strong. I put in 8gb RAM, Intel Turbo Memory card and a HSPDA card to work with my SIM card. Does the 1640 have a SIM slot?

 

Was it true that your gpu was replaced by dell 3 times?
Was your warranty expired and you used the extra 1 year for the gpu failure?

 

I had had my motherboard replaced, my gpu and heatsink, my speakers 3 times, a HDD, a battery, a keyboard, and my speakers were beginning to fizzle out again. After about 10 conversations with Dell they still refused to replace it, so I found the corporate email structure online and sent a page and a half letter of my displeasure to Michael Dell all the way down the chain. About 10 minutes later I recieved an email from a secretary of one of the presidents and then was quickly put in touch with an elevated representative. He agreed to replace my laptop and all was better, you have to fight the system.

 

Is the system in your sig what they sent you? That's a little on the weaker end... a 3670 and low-res monitor? If you had the 8600GT, you should be able to get the 4670... that 3670 isn't very powerful if you're wanting to game at *all.*

 

Bowlerguy is not the OP, just someone with similar issues.

 

It's worked fine for any game I've thrown at it. I had a 1650x1050 monitor on the M1530 though which sucks since they gave me a monitor with a lower resolution in return. I thought that they had to match or better everything about your computer, the 1080p screen would have been nice.....

 

Technically I'm on my 3rd system replacement. I also have a 3 year complete care/accidental warranty on my system.

I bought the laptop and noticed it would have huge issues playing Halflife2. I finally narrowed the issue down to the gpu. They replaced it, and then I had the same issues again. So they replaced it again. Then when they replaced it my system clock would not hold when the battery and ac adapter were removed. So it seemed like a cmos battery issue. Rather than allow them to replace my motherboard a 3rd time (no clue why they had to replace mobo for cmos battery) I talked with the repair tech and he said I should request a new system. So I did.

They upgraded my cpu on the new system too, so I was pretty happy. Well, about 1.5 years later into my second m1530 and the gpu goes out. So I got on dell chat and had that conversation.

They shipped my new laptop to me in about a week and half. The screen is loads better than my m1530.


Also as to the 8600gt vs 3670 argument, my 8600 achieved a 3dmark06 score of around 5950. My 1640 with 3670 achieves a score of around 6050. Not a big difference, but definitely not inferior to the 8600. I am very tempted to try this argument though and see if they'll send a me a motherboard with the 4670 so I can do the swap myself. However I think I might be reaching a little too far on this.


All in all my experience with dell has been great. Nvidia was the main reason they had so many gpu issues, so I feel they have gone beyond the call of duty in keeping me satisfied.

I would say in hindsight to definitely opt for a great warranty. I'm probably going to extend my completecare warranty another year for 180 bucks. Well worth it in my opinion.