Heart-Broken over my M1210 :( and MAD!

Hello Everyone

Some of you may have read my first post yesterday when I said I was waiting fro my M1210 to arrive. Well it has, and I am absolutely heart-broken. I will tell you the problem, maybe I am lucky enough to have someone here to tell me exactly what it is.

About four hours after it arrived and about 5 reboots. Everything seemed fine. I left it on my desk and ran to Best Buy to pick up my 22” LG Monitor. When I arrived I moved the laptop along with the power supply to a different location. I plugged it in while it is still on, and the entire screen changed to red/orange hues. I am not sure how to describe it, from the minute it boots, while you are looking at the DELL boot screen. Nothing is the right color, everything has a very strong RED overtone. Sort of like when one of your component cables is unplugged and a color is missing. In this case blue and yellow. Everything in red, including VISTA.

I decided to connect my new external LG monitor to see if the problem is related to the Motherboard or the Graphic card, and what do you know? LG Monitor shows picture perfect in amazing resolution of 1680 x1050. Tiny Screen on laptop in clone mode still red.

NVIDIA driver tells me its a Seiko and it should be “working properly”.

So I decided to call Tech Service and I was on hold for 40 minutes. While I was on hold, I decided to take out and put the battery back. I did, rebooted, still red for about 10 minutes, and lo and behold, everything turned back to normal. I still waited on the phone, for an extra 20 minutes, it was still functioning okay. XPS on-line Chat was closed because all on-line chat personal were busy so the queue was closed!! How awful is that?

I finally gave up, thought it was a freaky one time thing, and I hung up. Worked with it for two hours before it turned back to red again. I tried to feel it, it was not feeling really hot but I did notice that it is VERY quiet so maybe the fan isnt working? is it over heating? not possible after just 4 hours. At this point I am waaaay passed my bed time, I said good night to my pretty broken XPS that I LOVED for about 4 hours.

Today I am at work on the verge of exploding; I talked to a tech on the way to work this morning and "Indian Sam" needs diagnostics done – I have to be home to do that.

What are your thoughts everyone? Any words of comfort will really help. Does this sound like a screen problem or card problem, or heating to you? Will diagnostics even recognizes the problem if my laptop decided to go back to normal when I am back home today.

Please advise.

 

i think it is a screen. not the mainnboard because it worked well on your external monitor

 

My first guess would be a loose connection from the screen to the motherboard. If thats the case it should be an easy fix. It could also very well be a driver issue, NV's vista drivers are far from complete.

You can find step by step disassembly instruction on dells support site if you want to try checking the connections yourself, or call Dell and have them do it.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your problem. Well, if the external display works while the built in screen doesn't; then it has to be a some kind of screen issue. I also got my M1210 about 4 hours ago. Reinstalled Vista and still testing it out.

But don't worry; DELL will help you fix the problem. However, having this kind of experience on the very first day really sucks.

 

it wouldnt hurt to run system restore just in case update drivers and if it doesnt work demand a replacement unit...if they refuse keep asking for the manger and hopefully theyll give in......
all the best anyways
hope your nightmare ends soon,

 

It Does Suck!! The wait for service last night was unbelievable. And there are no optional upgrades to get better/faster service. thanks a lot guys for your thoughts.

 

It could well be a loose connection. I had this old dell laptop for a while. The monitor had problems... though I forget precisely what kind. I took the whole thing apart and reseated the ribbon between the lcd and motherboard, and then there were no more problems.

 

I'd say loose connection as well. You'll have to reseat it, but it isn't hard. Remove battery, remove screws under battery, remove top of keyboard deck, remove keyboard, look for a few wires near the LCD screen and reconnect where they attach to the motherboard.

The exact service manual (and instructions) are on the Dell website, but that's the general idea of taking matters into your own hands.

I wouldn't send it in or get a tech out to fix it unless your reseating fix does not work correctly.

Oh, and run the diagnostics when the screen is RED. That gives you the best chance of the program finding a problem.

 

THANK YOU - I will follow all of your advice guys. thank you for your time and help with a fellow geek!

 

is it by any means harmful to keep using it with a loose connection until i Get it fixed? I was doing that last night, using external monitor only and laptop's screen was off.

 

I hope this is not what is to come. My experience with XPS support was the same. I bought an M1210 to replace my E1705. I thought XPS was better support it used to be on my XPS first model great computer.
After 6 hours on Sunday no answer 2 hours on Monday one answer never able to use chat the whole 48 hours I got a gentleman which helped my opinion of XPS support. Now to the rest of the story if I get Indian Sam on the phone at XPS they are going to take this new computer and place it where the sun does not shine. I have had it with these people (indians) not bad people but communications Sxxks. Where is Michael Dells office? Sorry this is a little off the subject but I saw it was not just me having trouble with support.

 

just make sure you don't do anything that will void the warrenty.

 

Did you purchase via Dell Home or Dell EPP? I too own a XPS - so far have not needed to call service so I cant speak from experience. Isn't the XPS line supposed to offer a line into a XPS only call queue?

Either way, I highly suggest the first thing you do is call Customer Service, tell them the problem and INSIST they replace it ASAP. Do not WAIT for 30 days... Do it now - if not, next thing you know, you're 30 days will be up.

Keep us updated...

 

The call center guy actually asked me to get a screw driver and walked me through taking it apart. Taking down the keyboard dock and reseating the wires.

it worked,

I just wonder how would they have solved the problem if I was a 48 year old mother of 5 and had three kids screaming in the back ground.

luckily I am a 28 year old single male who have taken many computers apart in my 15 years as a PC user.

 

thats what onsite service is for
if you still have problems just return the laptop within 15 days
its easyer for you to return get a new one then service is fixing it