Is my brand new E1505 defective?

I received the laptop just over a week ago. Upgraded to the top screen option and also the X1300 graphics chip. When I fired it up tonight, the bottom third of the screen was blocked by these strange colorful bands.



Any ideas?

 

I'm pretty sure that isn't normal...

 

What happens when you switch back to a lower resolution?

 

Bring it back.

 

I can answer that in true tech support fashion...

"Are you sure you have it turned on?"

"Could you double check for me please?"

"Is the Power Cord Plugged in?"

"Reboot it and call us back if rebooting it doesn't fix it." (by the time you get done waiting on hold another 2 hours I'll be off work and you'll be someone elses problem)

"Do you have your installation CD handy?"

(and finally, the best one Dell lloves to do to you)

"Please hold while I transfer you to the right department for that issue."

...Transfer

...New Person

"Please hold while I transfer you to the right department for that issue."

...Transfer

...long hold

...next new person

"Please hold while I transfer you to the right department for that issue."

Repeat this 10 times, finally mention to the 10th person how you keep getting transfered all over the place and they tell you...

"Please hold while I transfer you to the right department for that issue."

Click, the phone goes to a dial tone and your back at square one having to go through all this again.

___________________________

I certainly hope this isn't normal, I just ordered the same laptop with the same graphics chip 2 days ago. I went from being excited about it's anticipated arrival to now being concerned that I'm going to have this same problem with mine.

Does it show up like that if you hold down your "ALT" Key and then Press your "Print Screen" key and paste into a program like Photoshop or Paint? Not that it matters, send that thing back ASAP and make them send you a new one. It blows having to wait all over again, but that looks like the type of hardware issue your not going to easily fix yourself and is only going to keep coming back to haunt you down the road and well out of the warranty period.

 

try this...

1. change the resolution to something else and see if it fixes it.

2. uninstall the video driver and install it again.

it doens't look like something physical unless you dropped it or something. i'd say at most it's a driver/software issue, but i could be wrong.

try those and post back.

 

Its quite possibly a driver issue.... or could be the LCD controller. First think id try is changing the resolution.

Id also try shutting it down and loading Media Direct (Button on the right) instead of powering it up to windows... different boot, different drivers (non-windows) so it might behave differently... if it looks fine in media direct its probably an XP driver issue.

As for dell support... their usually pretty good if you can get past all the transfers and india language barrier. That said heres a funny thing they did to me recently...

I ordered 2 PCs that came with XP-Home but were ordered with XP-Pro... spent alot of time on hold and being transferred... when i ended up back in the department I started in I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was given the number before they transferred me (because 90% of the time dell transfers hang you up anyway... and was transferred to...

A sexy voice comes on and says... 'Welcome to Intimate Encounters, satisfaction guaranteed only $3.99 a minute' im thinking... hell if i can get some service ill pay it... but figuring it was probalby a botched transfer I hungup and called the number they gave me... sure enough... Intimate encounters... no mistake they transferred me to PHONE PORN.

 

-- Classic...

 

Just tried switching to a lower res and it did not change anything. The computer appears to have normal functionality other than the bottom third of the screen being 'dead'. I ran the diagnostics utility at startup and it detected an error w/ the graphics (duh!).

 

Changed the resolution......no luck.
Removed old driver, installed latest one......no luck.
Media Direct.........same problem.



I don't know much, but it seems to be physical problem w/ the screen.

 

the last thing i would do before going for an exchange would be to reset the LCD connector. i think it's usually under the plastic strip above your keyboard.

 

it's real funny to laugh at the questions you get asked by tech support, but what's even funnier is when their script catches the problem and it usually does.

i've worked tech support (phone and on-site) and you have to ask specific questions in a specific order because that is how you isolate faults.

it's directly related to the OSI stack and troubleshooting "up" the stack.

so, the next time you get all ticked off because the tech asked you if your computer is turned on, or plugged in, or some other simple question; remember that they HAVE to ask those questions in order to get to the next level of complexity.

think about it this way; dell spends gajillions of dollars on support; do you really think the scripts tier 1 support goes through with callers is just random and made up on the spot?

instead of mocking tech support, you should be mocking all the thousands of idiot callers wasting time with simple issues like the computer not being plugged in or turned on, etc.

 

That is, assuming resetting the LCD connector doesn't void the warranty... does it?

 

not at all

 

I guess the obvious thing to do is to go into the bios and if the screen is messed up there, ya you got a defective screen. Honestly if it's brand new, don't spend too much time on it, for all you know there might be a bigger problem after you fix this one. You deserve nothing but perfection.

Neb

 

Have you tried booting into safe mode ? .... You should uninstall the driver there.
Would you get the same screen issue when running the diagnostics ?
Seems more like a video card issue if you get the same screen issue outside of windows....

 

Same thing in diagnostics/BIOS...

 

Guys, what should I expect from Dell if I return for a refund, rather than get it replaced. Will they try to charge me a restocking fee? What about the free shipping I received? Seems from the 'fine print' that they will not refund that.

 

I recommend you to go with the exchange rather than a refund, they would give you a lot of but's prior to giving you the entire money.....