My warranty just expires..and so did my graphics card.

I was watching a video today on youtube when the screen paused and green lines appeared around the video. Next thing I know the display turns off and every time I reboot the computer the LCD screen turns on but nothing is displayed. It boots into windows(I can hear the login theme) but nothing on the LCD. Anyhow here is my dilemma. I was told that because I'm just five days past my warranty, expired on the 22nd, that I might still be able to get it repaired or I could buy an extended warranty. However, I'm worried that if I call in and tell them that my laptop is dead that they will not only deny repair, but will bar me from getting an extended warranty? Which according to the dell website and my service tag I can still buy. What should I do?

 

What kind of laptop do you have?

 

Inspirion 1420

 

The XPS M1530 is currently have was AT LEAST half a year out of it's warranty. The person who had it before me (I bought it used for $200.... muahaha) beat the hell out of it until it finally just died. When I got in the computer I couldn't see any physical damage to the components, so I called up Dell tech support to see what they could do.

I told them I had noticed before the computer died that the fan would sometimes stop spinning, and thus the computer overheated and fried itself. (This wasn't far-fetched, the broken motherboard was, apparently, not supplying power to the fan... or the battery, for that matter... but that's another story.)

Dell offered me a new 1 year warranty for $300, which actually went on to cover about two additional years instead of one... not really sure how that happened, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Long story short: Just call them... you'll be able to get it working again somehow. If not, hit up eBay and grab a screwdriver. LCD changes are easy to do. Motherboard with integrated graphics, not so much.

EDIT: Have you tried plugging the computer into an external monitor before you boot it? This would be able to tell you if your integrated graphics died, or if the LCD panel went south. If the external monitor shows a picture, it's just the LCD; meaning that even if Dell rejects service or tries to charge you an arm and a leg, you should be able to do the repair yourself pretty easily for under $100.

 

Thanks for the info BLiT and yes I did try connecting it to a monitor. Still no Image. I went ahead and bought the extended warranty $185. But it's for 3 years and usually when you start making warranty calls you end up making another in the near future. Anyhow it's still cheaper then buying a new mobo which is like 400 bucks.

I have had considerable dealings with all matter of laptops gateway, acer, hp and now dell. And is far as I'm concerned I think manufactures see their products as throw away devices. Of the 5 laptops I've either owned or maintenance only 2 have made it past the one year mark with no problems. So it seems to me either of the two rules should apply 1) if your going to sink a lot of money into a laptop get the extended warranty or 2) pay no more then $400.

As for the two laptops that made it past a year: my dell (2 years), acer(3 years and still going). The acer is one of the cheaper laptops. Going for about $350 when bought. compared to my dell which is $1000+.

I wonder is their really such a thing as the "engineer to fail" department?

 

Dell extended the warranty on those from 2 years from date of manufacture.

 

Uh yeah then its most likely the motherboard. Yeah its still cheaper + if this laptop works fine for you, it would be a waste of money to get a new one. Well... given that this one will actually work, that is.

Heh the problem with (2) is that it's hard to find a decent laptop (not netbook for up to $400). I'd say if it's below $1k then extended warranty might be a good investment. I wish I bought it for mine while I could.

 

Ouch, that sucks about your 1420. The same exact thing happened to mine (fortunately, I was still under warranty). Dell techs were very nice and sent people out pretty much every week with a new replacement part (had the mother board replaced twice, hard drive twice, graphics card once). Eventually they just said "screw it, here is a system replacement". I now have this Studio that is a HUGE upgrade from my old 1420 (and I'm still under warranty ^^).

But if I were you, I wouldn't have bought the extended warranty. If your problem was the same as mine, you'll be replacing that GPU many many times. And if you're not able to get a system replacement under your new warranty, well, then that could suck :/

Good luck though

 

You can always get a system replacement out of Dell... you've just got to be prepared to play ball and go through hell if they don't feel like helping. Also, the individual tech assisting you on how smoothly the process goes. I argued with one person for 3 days that I didn't want the system repaired, I wanted it to be replaced. I missed a call from him, so I got up with another agent who talked with their supervisor and got me a replacement in 15 minutes.

On top of that, since it's taken so long to get me my replacement (semi-loaded S-XPS 1640 for an M1530) they're sending me a brand new system instead of a refurbished one, AND they gave me the 4670 graphics for free!

 

If it has a nVidia chip, it might still have an extended warranty: http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19313775.aspx

If regular tech support won't fix it for you, keep the case number and submit an escalation here: https://support.dell.com/support/to...lcare/outstanding_issues_tech?c=us&l=en&s=gen

 

To be honest. I'm just glad it's going to get fixed. This last motherboard+GPU last two years. So I hope the replacement will as well.

True, unless you want to go refurb which in that case you'll definetly want extended warranty, if available. Though if you peruse dealnews every now then you can find a laptop for <=400$ eventually. Though it will most likely be a Acer single core celeron.