Diagnose this problem...

[David]

Dell Inspiron 600m Laptop...Windows XP...1 year old.

Problem started last week. I have the lappy set to only a screensaver after 30 minutes of inactivity. I came downstairs last week to what appeared to be a complete display shut off....green power light for the hard drive was still on. Wiggling the mouse does nothing so I do a hard reboot. Surf the net for about 10 minutes and screen disappears again. Was time for work so I shut her down.

Came home that night and booted up and started running a norton system scan. Display shuts off again...hard drive remains active via the green power light. Then...I take a closer look and can barely make out the norton scanning box on my desktop. I turn on the overhead light and stick my nose to the screen...I can barely make out my icons on my desktop also!

So...it is like this: the display isn't really shutting off. Whatever the hell makes the illumination/glowing on the monitor is the culprit. Any advice or do I need to call a repair shop.

And yes...it is out of warranty. It was actually 1 day out of warranty when I called dell but that is a whole nother story!

[cvm4]

Ouch..Out of warranty sucks David! Hopefully someone can help.

[caudio51]

Sounds like a monitor issue. Do you have another that you can try?

[joshua]

Can you hook up a monitor to it? Theres some kind of light that illuminates the display, that probably is goin dead or went dead.

[David]

Can you hook up a monitor to it? Theres some kind of light that illuminates the display, that probably is goin dead or went dead.

Brought home an external monitor Thursday night and it works flawlessly.

Are we talking big bucks for the illumination light if it needs to be replaced?

[caudio51]

Not sure on the cost or replacement of the illumination light. With the prices of monitors these days it's probably cheaper to get a new monitor.

[derek]

We have about 40 of those 600m at work. All have been under warranty, but we have had over 20 of the monitor replaced. They never gave us answer, just that it is under warranty and they will fix it. Same thing happened that you have happening to yours.

One of the repair techs said one of the compasitors must not be fully blown, so when it heats up it shuts off, cause the monitor to stop illuminating.

[David]

I will wait a couple of weeks since I sent a letter to Dell HQ's expressing my disgust that they would not help a person with a laptop that was 24 hours out of warranty (that is not an embellishment).

I also stated that as a teacher it was my prerogative to pass on to all the faculty, students, parents, and community members what kind of service they gave me on the issue.

We'll see if I get a rise out of them or if it is a lost cause.

[derek]

Good luck with that. They have jerked us around so much over the past 2 years. I will never buy another Dell, nor will most of the people in our company.

[Jwrussell]

Dell's nothing but a bargain computer shop anymore. Everything's price with them, service comes in last.

Sounds like the backlight is out Dave. Backlights don't cost much, but then again I only deal in wholesale so...

Good luck with this Dave. Wish I had some real advice.

[cvm4]

Yea like I've said before, Dell's customer service sucks ass. Good luck with that David.

[Cigar_Jack]

Backlight went out, I see this all the time. If warrenty won't fix it, it isn't worth fixing I bet. Ask for an estimated cost if you have to send it in for repairs. I'm usually not a big fan of the extended warrenties at Best Buy but of laptops they are almost worth it. So if it is going to cost over $400 to fix I'd go get a Compaq, HP, or Gateway laptop from Best Buy and get the extended Warrenty. It will cover a backlight going out.

Do not get a Toshiba they have a badly designed Power Jack that likes to break off with very little usage.

[David]

Backlight went out, I see this all the time. If warrenty won't fix it, it isn't worth fixing I bet. Ask for an estimated cost if you have to send it in for repairs. I'm usually not a big fan of the extended warrenties at Best Buy but of laptops they are almost worth it. So if it is going to cost over $400 to fix I'd go get a Compaq, HP, or Gateway laptop from Best Buy and get the extended Warrenty. It will cover a backlight going out.

Do not get a Toshiba they have a badly designed Power Jack that likes to break off with very little usage.

Laptop is 1 year old and cost over $1,000 so I am willing to sink a little money into it. If they tell me $400 bucks for repair, I'd be tempted to buy a flat screen monitor and hook it up to it.

[derek]

I see a new 30 inch flat screen in your future

[DocLogic77]

It does sound like a monitor issue. I had a similar issue with odd colors on my monitor. Bring up your monitor menu and perform a degauss. I have no idea what it is I hit it by accident. But it cleared up my issue. Try it...it cant hurt.

[mitchthephoneman]

I own nothing but Toshiba Satellites....A little flimsy but works like a charm.....

[Hal]

We have some old Dell laptops and a batch of desktops but I'll never buy them again. We only bought them because Gateway didn't return a bid one summer. Other than that, Gateway is all we buy. Dell's tech support SUCKS! I've had so much trouble with them over the years we've had their machines. I swear to God if every other computer company went out of business I'd give up computing rather than buy another Dell. My Gateway computers AND their tech support have been outstanding for the ten years we've purchased from them.

Ok, back to the question. I had a student poke a hole in a Samsung LCD screen. I called Samsung to get a price on a replacement LCD panel - $700!!!!! It was more than the monitor cost! Check eBay for a dead laptop like yours, you can sometimes buy them for a hundred or so with a good screen.

[Hal]

Wait a sec... a one year warranty????? All of our machines have at least a three year.

[David]

Mine had the standard 1 year...bought on May 9, 2005. Screen went out on May 10th, 2006.

[joshua]

You might be able to find a local shop and ask if they can repair it cheaper than dell quotes you if they wont cover the repair under warranty. Sometimes you can buy a similar model off ebay that doesn't work and use parts from it, but thats a bit advanced technically.

[David]

That is prolly what I'll do...take it to a local shop and have them give me an estimate.

[Kingston]

If you bought this laptop using an AMEX or a Platinum Visa/MC then you might be in luck.
These cards add an addtional year of warranty protection to one year warranties. Call them up, usually they say get it fixed and send us the bill.
That's what I did with my Amex claim on a stereo receiver.

[caudio51]

If you bought this laptop using an AMEX or a Platinum Visa/MC then you might be in luck.
These cards add an addtional year of warranty protection to one year warranties. Call them up, usually they say get it fixed and send us the bill.
That's what I did with my Amex claim on a stereo receiver.

Never knew that. Good to know. Let's hope he used a good card.

[cvm4]

If you bought this laptop using an AMEX or a Platinum Visa/MC then you might be in luck.
These cards add an addtional year of warranty protection to one year warranties. Call them up, usually they say get it fixed and send us the bill.
That's what I did with my Amex claim on a stereo receiver.

You are quite possibly the most well versed person I know when it comes to credit cards. Very good information here :thumbsup:

[David]

Used my Dell Premiere Account.

[Kingston]

Used my Dell Premiere Account.
Ah, well what I suggested won't work then.
You could try getting your local media involved. Some news stations and newspapers have consumer advocates that will contact the company on your behalf.
Dell may turn a potential PR problem into an oppurtunity to be generous to a local teacher and fix it out of warranty.

[Hal]

Dave, normally most companies will give you a few day's lee-way when it comes to warranty work. Ask to speak with a customer service manager and don't take no for an answer.

[tripp]

When they tell you no..ask to talk to a supervisor.
And go as high up as they will let you. Sooner or later the odds are with you that you will get a person with authority to say ok.

Good luck Dave.

[Jwrussell]

That's a great thought John and Hal, except that he's more than likely going to be talking to India and will be VERY lucky to get someone with enough authority to make a real decision. Dave, if you go this route, I THINK they still have a CS center in Texas or somewhere in the states. You might want to just keep calling until the person who picks up doesn't speak with a New Dehli accent.

[caudio51]

Good luck David. Be nice but persistent. If you are rude they won't want to help ya.

[David]

That's a great thought John and Hal, except that he's more than likely going to be talking to India and will be VERY lucky to get someone with enough authority to make a real decision. Dave, if you go this route, I THINK they still have a CS center in Texas or somewhere in the states. You might want to just keep calling until the person who picks up doesn't speak with a New Dehli accent.

Correct. Due to that, I sent off a letter to Dell Corporate HQ's in Texas...we'll see what happens.

[David]

Another question...regardless if I take it local or send it to Dell...do I have to be concerned with the stuff on it right now? For instance, I have a financial folder with links to my bank, etc and my login is set to auto fill.

Should I just take the thing back to factory specs since it isn't my primary system anymore?

And on a similar note, there is no chance that taking it back to factory specs would possibly solve the mentioned problem, right?

The only issue I have with taking it back to factory specs is I just renewed my Norton subscription but I assumme there are ways around that problem?

[Kingston]

Another question...regardless if I take it local or send it to Dell...do I have to be concerned with the stuff on it right now? For instance, I have a financial folder with links to my bank, etc and my login is set to auto fill.

Should I just take the thing back to factory specs since it isn't my primary system anymore?

And on a similar note, there is no chance that taking it back to factory specs would possibly solve the mentioned problem, right?

The only issue I have with taking it back to factory specs is I just renewed my Norton subscription but I assumme there are ways around that problem?
If it's getting repaired and you expect it returned, I would take measures to safeguard all sensitive data.
Password protect and/or encrypt all sensitive info and clear out your web passwords (especially auto-fill and cookies).
If this is going to be replaced, then I would wipe it and restore from the Dell CD (the purple or blue one).
Personally, I would back up and wipe everything regardless if it's coming back, or will be replaced.

[David]

I have backed everything up and am taking it back to factory specs.

[caudio51]

I have backed everything up and am taking it back to factory specs.

Good call.

[David]

Interesting development. Since the problem started last week, the screen has had a weird pinkish hue to it on the intial start up...the window that has the dell logo on it before I even get to the Windows XP splash screen.

After a restore back to factory specs, the weird hue is gone. hmmm.....

I have the screensaver, hibernation, standby, etc, turned off. We're gonna see how long that bad boy stays on. If it makes it a few days, I think it is safe to say that something else may have been the culprit.

The only thing I had recently done was upgrade my Norton about a week prior.

[cvm4]

Hah...Nice call David!

[David]

Now my wife might kick my ass for buying this P4 with a 17" flat screen monitor last Friday. :bickering

[caudio51]

This was all a ploy. He's gonna show her this thread to explain his thought process.

[David]

My money is on the screen shutting off. I don't get that lucky with things.

[David]

I'm the type that will pick the one box out of a hundred on a shelf that contains the defective item.

[David]

It's an omen.

[David]

I've come to terms with it.

[David]

I feel like a post whore.

[cvm4]

Welcome to Tom's world :rofl:

[caudio51]

Welcome to Tom's world :rofl:

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::grinFU::grinFU::gri nFU:

[David]

Next morning...screen still on.

[caudio51]

Keep those fingers crossed!

[Jwrussell]

Huh. Very interesting. You shouldn't have too many problems getting the Norton back up. Let us know how it works out.

[David]

Screen shut off while at work today. Bah...

[caudio51]

Screen shut off while at work today. Bah...

Shoulda crossed some toes too :sadcry:

[David]

Dell HQ's left a message on my machine today saying they received my letter and to please call them.

They must not have liked the line that said, "I teach in the 26th largest county in Virginia and felt it was my prerogative to inform every faculty member, parent, and student what kind of service I received from Dell."

:grin:

[tripp]

They are wanting you to contact thier attorney.

Something about a slander lawsuit....:rofl:

[caudio51]

:rofl:

Glad to hear they called back. Now lets hope for a positive resolution.

[David]

They are wanting you to contact thier attorney.

Something about a slander lawsuit....:rofl:

Whatever are you talking about? All I would be doing is conveying my experience of Dell service to those I had contact with...factual based.

:wink:

[cvm4]

Well have you called yet? If not, get to it!

[David]

Well have you called yet? If not, get to it!

Called and left a message for Nancy, the person who called. She gave me her direct extension and I told her when was a good time to get in touch with me.

[caudio51]

Any news?

[David]

Any news?

Dell HQ's took care of it.

DHL came out Tuesday to pick it up and an attempted delivery back was made Friday. 3 days...not bad. Dell paid for next day air both ways...it got there in a day, they fixed it in a day, and it was delivered in a day. Unofrtunately, I was not here to sign for it so they are coming again on Tuesday.

[cvm4]

Good to hear they took care of a teacher Dave. Now if us common folk could get that good of service :yes:

[David]

Good to hear they took care of a teacher Dave. Now if us common folk could get that good of service :yes:

http://www.botl.org/community/forums/user_pics/4-1148092686.gif

[caudio51]

Great news! Glad it all worked out for you

[David]

Up and running for 24 hours without any issues yet.

[caudio51]

Nice!

[cvm4]

Good to hear Dave

[David]

Lucky for the laptop cuz the next step is emptying my revolver through the display.

[cvm4]

David,
I would feel the same way.

Sincerely,
Cliff

[caudio51]

Lucky for the laptop cuz the next step is emptying my revolver through the display.
:rofl:

Now that is how you troubleSHOOT!