XPS 1645 dead, then alive... then dead, now alive?!? Should I return it?

Hey guys,

Something extremely strange is happening with my XPS 1645. It died - I mean died. Ie. pressing the power button did nothing. Then about half an hour later it came back to life (?)... then a week later it died again. Then several hours later it came back to life.

I bought it refurbished (1 month left on 3 month refurb warranty). It's working now but I wanted to see what you guys think I should do - I have a month left on the warranty. Should I return it? It's an intermittent problem, so will this work? If a reseller gets it back and it's working, they'll just send it back again. But I'm worried that it might die die (stay dead) once the warranty's expired... any advice?

Also, any ideas what the problem might be? Anything I can check myself? When it dies, it truly dies - ie. no power light, no fan, nothing...

Is there anything I've done to this laptop that might be causing this dying? I have upgraded the memory from 4gb to 6gb, moved from 90w to 130w dell adapter, installed a vertex turbo ssd, and replaced the blu ray drive with a second hard disk - it all ran fine for about 2 - 3 weeks.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated...

 

i would return it

 

Even though it's probably pining for the fjords, I'd say you should get your Ex-Dell looked at.

 

Return it.

No Question.

Time is a wasting.

 

^^^Agreed.
Don't mess with it anymore....You have less than a month left on the warranty ~ Get the return process started now.


Cin...

 

Cool, I see what you guys are saying, but if I return it while it's still working fine, won't they just run a couple of diagnositcs and send it back saying it's fine? Then if it goes kaputt once the warranty ends I'll be in the same situation... I'm not sure how warranties deal with intermittent issues... does anyone know?

Does anyone know what the problem is likely to be given the symptom? If it's likely to be the PSU, I could make sure they replace it under warranty. But if it can be anything, I guess I'll just have to trust the shop and hope for the best. I'll give the place I bought it from a call when the Easter weekend is over and see what they say...

 

It never hurts to ask. Especially when it's a 1000 dollar + laptop.

 

Just return it and tell them what is happening, I'm sure they will run the correct diagnostics to test each part, and if so, replace the parts, or the system.

 

I think that it's obvious the 16XX series have so many problems...

If I were you this is the best time to get an exchange and possibly be lucky enough like some to get EXTREME upgrades...

I Myself am waiting for an exchange for replacement for my 1645...

 

I know that it's nice, and shiny and pretty; and you may be having second thoughts, but; imagine how you'll feel three months from now and you are still having issues with no recourse.

Cin, Joel, myself and others are giving you good solid advice.

 

Its probably the chip that is attached to the power socket. Could also be the motherboard. I would not chance it I would try to return it if you can.

 

Thanks guys - advice taken. I'll return it. I'm lucky you guys are here to stop me doing stupid things... it really is very nice and shiny. I hope they can fix it and send it back. Thanks again for all the advice. This forum rules! (I'm kinda glad dell have stopped me using their forum with their new community/login id mess which means I can't register ) Peace to you all. Happy Easter.