M1330 warranty experience!

Well i have m1330 which has 4 probs
1.MB replacement-gpu reaching 96c
2.Space key wobbles-kinda creats a disturbing sound in office
3.LCD hinges are loose
4.Power adaptor

BTW what i had like to know is -what do these engineers ask b4 replacing the parts(i mean bill,authentication)
Plz share your experiences!
Thanks!

 

BTW he will be at my house this week

 

If he is showing up at your house, then from my experience they will simply keep replacing things until it works.

Make sure you test it fully before he leaves (including all the ports, etc.)!

The 'authentication' part should be done already - he's just there to do the actual work.

(Based on a colleague's experience with a M1330 with almost the exact same problems).

Good luck.

 

Wow thats alot to fix in house. As for the Mobo, you might want to fix the heat sink to actually work unless dell learned to do it themselves. http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...m1330-nvidia-geforce-8400m-gs-copper-mod.html

 

My e1505 had far more replaced over time, all in-house - mobo heatsink and gpu together, gpu and heatsink together, both hinges, trackpad/palmrest, and lcd plastics replaced at the same time, optical drive and memory together, cpu and mobo together, keyboard replaced by me (they shipped it to me), and the power supply. It wasn't until it was dropped and the LCD shattered, along with the base plastics and everything in the base was bent/cracked that they actually replaced the unit. They will keep swapping out for refurb parts until there's a catastrophic failure, and I suspect that really just means the display, which is probably the most expensive single component.

Do that and you'll void the warranty unless you very carefully remove all traces before the next service call. Don't get me wrong, it's a good solution, but it sounds like you're willing to take advantage of in-house warranty, so why risk it?

 

I'd rather have a heat sink that works than a dell tech stopping by every few months

 

Well thanks for your replies.
So actually u mean he will not ask anything.Like he will come and just start opening laptop and replacing things.Thats great!
BTW one small query. Actually the screw of wifi cover (on backside of touchpad) is not coming out.I have tried a lot to take it out,but it doesnt eve move(the design of the screw is also spoiled).As far as i know with out taking out the wifi cover,mb cannot be replaced.Do u think that engineer will b able to take out that f*** screw!.Like should i leave it upon him and act dumb!

Thanks

 

If he's not able to take out that screw,=no mb replaced=i will be screwed!

 

Hmm, I am starting to wonder, what questions are you so afraid he might ask?

Act dumb? About what? It doesn't matter one wit to him who or what stripped the head of that screw. Otherwise, if he is any good, he should have no problems getting the screw out. This kind of issue is not uncommon, and easy to handle if you have the right tools.

 

Well i got this laptop as a gift,but later paid about 600$ for it.The person was my relative and he gave me the bill(it was plug ins-marina mall,UAE).But i am not even able to match even a single code in it with my laptop.Thats what i am worried about.And i did not do the ownership transfer(got an error somewhere),so i talked on behalf of the actual owner with his name on the phone and gave him service tag.Then after talking to an xps technician on phone,he was kind enough to give me case no.Thats my situation!

 

Act dumb-in the sense
I did not try to remove the cover and hence spoil the screw(i will tell that my relative may have done it)
Get it now!

 

Well ,so should i expect him to come with the ""right tools"(to remove stuck screw) or should i intimate him before itself about the screw.(he's not local person,he will come by air to me and obviously cant go back for additional tools)

 

He should arrive with the right tools to do a typical hardware swap. If the screw is badly stripped, there's a chance they won't have the proper tool on hand. However, a stripped screw can nearly always be mangled and removed with some needle-nose pliers. I'd have the tools necessary on hand in case he doesn't have them or won't remove the bad screw because it's not within the job description.

On another note, always make sure to use the right size screwdriver on electronics. The tools used to work metal/wood screws will often be the wrong size and ultimately strip the head.

 

Sorry its too late now.He has already arrived to my local city and will be showing up at my house in 2 hrs.I did not call him and say.Lets hope for the best!Thanks for your replies.It helped me a lot.I truly appreciate it

 

BTW,engineer came today,he was friendly(he didnt even ask me one thing abt bill) ,and replaced lid,power adaptor,keyboard,mb,heatsink,and guess what they were NOT refurb.I checked on the sealed mb cover and nothing was written like used,refurb on it.I am happy,he gave me extra thermal compound also.He was very kind.I like dell now!BTW i have to note temps now.!I think i will take complete care warranty now!

 

infact he was kinda lazy and was saying that i could tell that the whole screen has gone bad and he would replace it out

 

Glad that it worked out for you.

The complete care warranty is worth gold if/when its needed.

Is he coming back to replace the screen?

 

Most of the techs are skilled and pleasant to work with. The ones that aren't never come back.

And CompleteCare is definitely worth it - all those repairs I listed earlier were over the course of 4 years, after which I got an exchange for the laptop listed in my sig. I added on more warranty years, but based on my past experience with Dell laptops, it's going to be used pretty heavily.

 

No actually i dont have any problem with the screen.He just advised me to log a call like such,so that i could end up getting a new screen.But doesn't matter,my screen is also good like new.BTW about the wifi cover,he asked an approval from customer care tech dept to break open it,and guess what,a new wifi cover will arrive in 2 days.Dell warranty ROX!

 

Moreover i ended up gettin all replaced parts new ,NOT refurb.The heatsink copper rod was shiny and new.MB cover had no notice of being refurb.I also got a new red lid cover covered in a plastic tape.Keyboard is awesome.I have 130days of warranty left.I will surely extend it.

 

BTW the new mb has A14 bios.Do you recommend me to update it to A15.Plz tell some valid points as i cannot downgrade bios version.Thanks

 

My first reaction is to update the BIOS.

Why? Because no manufacturer issues a BIOS update for no reason (they are always fixing/optimizing stuff that they'll never admit to).

But, since it was installed like that for you - thoroughly test the system as-is and if there are any troubles/issues, then see if the new BIOS fixes them. If it does, great! If not, at least you'll know that the problem/issue are not related to the MB BIOS' version.

Enjoy your 'brand new' 1330!

 

Thanks for your suggestions!
But i didnt find any problem with it yet!

 

Well the right CRTL key is not working. and seriously cpu+gpu temps have not varied since last mb despite of a new mb+heatsink.SoI just gave them a call regarding kb and they are sending me a new one.BTW i also told about touhpad not working sometimes(i just wanted a new one ).And also about temps-Thy will send me another mb. Tomorrow(tday being a holiday) i will call them and also tell about drive.(i want a new one) by saying its not reading my old discs.Lets see how they respond.

 

I really love dell warranty now!.BTW i asked tech support about extended warranty and she literally thanked me for opting for an extended warranty.I dont know is that some kind of free money they are getting with ex war.