M1530 Horror Story.

1. The original laptop was supposed to be replaced because of electrical leakage through the metal palm rest. When I rub my fingers along it I can feel a tingling feeling.

2. I waited a for almost 2 weeks for the new one to come. New one arrives 1/14/2008.

3. The new one has the wrong resolution screen. Screen they sent was a 1280*800 instead of my original 1680*1050. I called them while it was in production and told them so but I still got the wrong screen.

4. Tech would be sent out to replace the screen with a LG.

5. The battery stopped being recognized and wouldn't charge past 98%. It only showed up in windows and not in the bios. I swapped the battery with the original system and that worked.

6. 1/14/2008 The system clock kept getting a few hours behind even after constant updating. Finally checked time in bios and it was frozen. It would only move once in a while.

7. Turned it off in frustration. Turn it on later and couldn't get into OS or bios. Error "time-of-day clock stopped." Now I can't do anything with it. Maybe CMOS battery dead or motherboard issue. Was thinking of swapping the batteries between the 2 machines but saw in the service manual it took a lot of work for the battery. Even more for 2 machines. I shouldn't have to do all that trouble for a 1 day old laptop under warranty and exchange period.

8. Got a call from Dell's automated system saying the screen for my laptop is back ordered.

9. Dell is giving me a hard time, saying I'm stuck with the screen for the time being and they would have to replace the motherboard and/or battery. I said no its a new system so exchange it.

10. Now what?

 

How long ago did you get it. I think you have something like 60 days to return it. ALso if you ordered it with a amex credit card call them up and explain maybe they can help you out.

 

Ok I talked to customer service a new one is on the way again. I did order it with an Amex card intentionally for the extended warranty.

 

Ouch. That's indeed a very unfortunate moment you are going through!
I'm sure you'll end up with your dream laptop in a few days.

 

Great, I can feel the same! Only arrived today!

This can go back then... I thought it was a texture thing - but since it goes away with charger removed that's just outright dangerous.

 

McDoul I figured out what that is after experimenting and researching. Its not the laptop but the actually power adapter. They designed it incorrectly. They need either a ground (big round third prong) or they can make the cord polarized "hot". Meaning one prong needs to be bigger than the other. The problem is that some home electrical outlets are wired incorrectly. Since the cord isn't polarized you can plug in the cord any way. This combined with an incorrectly wired outlet will cause you to feel the tingling when you touch metal.

You might want to keep that laptop if you like it, the next one could be worse. You should try the laptop in another place. For example, work or school and see if the problem persists. If so exchange it, if you are not satisfied with the laptop use that as a reason to exchange it. Its surefire since they will mark you laptop as a "health hazard."

I told Dell how to fix the problem numerous times and they blow me off.

 

The XPS tech was telling me to flash the bios by downloading it to my hard drive. I said, how is that possible since I can neither boot into the OS or bios. Plus it would be A05 to A05 bios. Unless there is something like a key to press to go to menu to flash from CD.

 

I've got my Dell Inspiron 9300 adapter, I've tested that and is fine, so may well hang onto this now.

Either way, Tech Support and my Account Manager are getting an earful if I ever actually get through to either of them.

Thanks for the advice, it might be that a replacement adapter from them will be enough to keep me happy.

{Edit} Am on call to Dell and explained issue, agent seems to know about the earth leakage issue, and has escalated the call as a result of his 'concern over potential danger to myself' I'll get back afterwards....

 

When I check my BIOS settings, my nine cell battery doesn't show up when the AC adapter is connected but does show up when the adapter is disconnected. I've only had the M1530 a few days, but I did notice that the system clock lost exactly one hour the first night. I reset it and it seems to be OK know. The first thing I thought of was the CMOS battery, but it may have been Vista not retaining the setting. I just looked at the service manual for the M1530. Dell really buried the CMOS battery. You need to do a major disassembly to replace it. Of course, this would almost certainly occur after the warranty has expired since these batteries usually last at least 5 years or more.

The grounding issue seems common to laptops with metal cases. My M1530 does this too. I had a Macbook Pro for a month and it did the same thing. The Mac forums have lots of posts about this. I don't think it's actually dangerous such that you would get a real electric shock. It's likely a problem with the house ground, which may be floating. As an experiment, try touching your laptop but take your feet off the floor and see if the tingling sensation goes away.

 

A new laptop is on the way. Hopefully the third times the charm. Hopefully I get a good screen this time. The tingling went away. It only happened in the house in Miami and not at school in Tallahassee.

 

I've also got this electricity leakage (or whatever it is called) on my m1530.
I called tech support today and they told me that they will send me a new power cord with 3 pins (vs 2 on the power cord that came with my laptop).
Furthermore I asked them if this leakage could cause any damage to myself or the system and they told me that it is nothing I should worry about but since it can be kind of annoying they will send me the other power cord...

 

Geez, this kind of stuff is making me worried about ordering an M1530. Is this common or are you guys the exception?

 

Right, we should all email this forum to dells people to read this, because there are plenty of other people (like me) that are too scared to buy a 1530 right now with so many problems and poor quality control.

 

I've asked my Account Manager to let me know the outcome of my Tech Escalation, I wonder what will come of it?

 

Aha! So that's how to get a 3 prong power cord.

 

one word. return