Inspiron 9100 LCD Becomes dull and difficult to read intermittently.

Hi All,

Inspiron 9100 Laptop
1GB RAM
60 GB HDD
3.2 GHz Pentium 4.
Windows XP SP2 Home

I have owned this Laptop brand new for under 2 years now, some time in November last year my LCD screen went dull and difficult to read, (an effect similar to when you are about to turn off the computer)
where the screen becomes dull, though we can move the mouse and work on the computer with great difficulty.

On occasions I have run the diagnostics by pressing the F12 function key and running throught the extended diagnostics, running this takes close to an hour and on running this a couple of times the LCD comes back to normal and worked (For a while).

Over the past month this has started again and now happens quite regularly and has become a big bother. I have tried running the diagnostics this timearound several times (over 3 to 4 times) the last time which happened on last saturday (20/05/2006) and this has been the worst by far I have gone through it over 6 times and no help.

I can connect the Laptop to an external monitor (TV or an external computer monitor) and can view the external screen. While the LCD on the notebook is dull as and difficult to read.

Reviewing the Owner manual indicates the Video driver is bad.

Has any one else on the forum faced this problem ?
What did you guys do ?
How much did it cost ?

As my waranty has expired, I'am not sure if the guys at DELL will help me?

Anybody with any ideas?

PLEASE HELP.

***** This is how help full DELL Tech support and Customer service is *****

PS: I got in touch with Dell and I had one of their TECH call me and was trying his best to sell me a warranty for $800 saying something like based on his diagnostics I shuould replace my LCD and flex cable, fair enough I'll take that, but some one will come and take my laptop away for 15/20 days.

When I wanted them to give me their service center location so I could take it my self to get it checked and if it could be fixed, I was prepared to pay for a same day kinda service.

Now the call is transferred to DELL customer support tells me that they do not have a service center here in Sydney, Australia and have one in Asia.
They will send some one to my place to pick the Laptop take it away for close to 20 days and get it fixed for me.

How can one not have access to his /her laptop for 15/20 days..

NOW I FAIL TO UNDERSTAND
1) WHY DELL DOES NOT HAVE A SERVICE CENTER IN A MAJOR CITY IN THE WORLD.
2)Why are the selling me an warranty when I do not need one.

I have started to rue my decission to having got this piece of equipment without having known that Dell does not have a basic Service center in my city like all other major brands.

Lesson learnt is
When you are looking to buy a laptop, check its servicibility and if they maker has a service center or an authorised service center located some where any where in you location, or you will end up frustrated and angry.

 

if it really is a driver problem; why don't you just uninstall/reinstall or get an updated version.

you can't spit on the internet without hitting a million sites offering drivers (in addition to the notebook and gpu manufacturer websites)

in order to answer your service center question; dell offers in-home service which was available to you when you purchased your notebook. you would have had a tech come to you with parts and fixed your notebook. isn't that better than taking it somewhere and leaving it?

i think the real lesson learned is to make sure you understand the warranty you are purchasing when you get your machine.

 

Hi drumfu,

I have tried uninstalling and re-installing the driver in fact I have re-built the whole machine.

The whole issue is that my warranty has expired, hence their suggestion for me to get a new one and then the servicing which in this case was to take the laptop away.

Need help urgently any other suggestions would be highly appreciated.
I have had to connect the laptop to an external monitor to continue working