Inspiron Screen Problem

Hi,

I have just bought my kids an Inspiron 1501 running Vista but today it appears to have a screen problem and before I contact Dell I thought that maybe someone here has had a similar problem.

Basically what happens is for no reason the screen goes completely black other than for a 1 inch square box containing coloured lines. The only way to clear it is to switch it off and when it reboots it comes up with the screen asking if I want to go into safe mode or continue to open windows.

It has done this twice today so far. Both times it was connected to the power supply. The first time it happened was when it was connected to the internet and the second time was when the media player was opened.

Thanks in advance for any help.

LJK

 

OK.

Nobody had this one.

After over 2 hours on the phone to a very helpful rep it transpires that the graphics card is faulty.

There was also another problem with the graphics as well as the one listed above. When Vista appeared the screen would flicker on and off 3 times. Updating the drivers from both Dell's and ATI's websites made no difference, so Dell agreed to supply a new graphics card. I was offered the chance of a visit from an engineer to replace the card here rather than using the RTB option as per my warranty. Why they would do this I am unsure but I suspect it's because I could really ask them to change the whole computer as this one is not fit for purpose.

Anyway the card is getting replaced, the kids should be happy and that should be the end of the matter.

Thanks anyway.

LJK

 

The 1501 has integrated graphics so I think they'd have to replace the whole motherboard.

You mean the model isn't right for you, or the unit? What do you want to be different?

You can send it back if you want. You might be charged a restocking fee, but they might waive it if you're getting something else.

 

Thanks for your response.

According to the invoice there is the following:

ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 256MB HyperMemory

I take it that this is not a "proper" graphics card but an on-board chip that also uses system RAM? I was under the impression though that there was 128MB of memory on the graphics chip and this seems to be the case as there is only 896MB of RAM available from 1Gig.

It was the Dell Rep who said that the "graphics card" would be replaced at my home and I was only wondering if it was usual practice to send an engineer out to customers who had a RTB warranty?

At this stage I have no intention of sending the machine back and if I did it would only be because it is faulty, The computer is for my kids to use to stop them pertering me about MSN, BEBO etc. It is not used for games or anything so great graphics is not required.

I will find out just what he replaces on Tuesday.

LJK

 

I just had the exact same happen on my new Inspiron 1720, with a 128 MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400. I got home from work and was showing my wife how to open up the notebook, and when she tried to open Internet Explorer, I got the screen you described. I powered off the computer, and when it rebooted, I got the Windows was not shut down properly screen, and after finishing bootup, the screen appears normal. I guess I'm about to call Dell and will mention what you were told about the video card. So now you're not the only one with the problem.

 

Right.

Sounds right... but how is that relevant?
I'm kind of surprised it would eat the system ram though unless you're doing something that needs it... maybe there's a configuration option somewhere? I don't know.

I'm a little surprised, but they probably decided to do you a favor since it was a problem as shipped. I don't know much about their usual practices, since I've fortunately never had to call cust. service for my Inspiron. I bought an extended warranty and never used it. I guess that's a good thing actually. I've heard they've been doing people favors lately though, to try to win back a decent cust. service reputation.

If you're really uncomfortable with it, tell them you didn't agree to have their repair people in your house and you'd rather use the mail-in service that you purchased.

Good luck.