Don't Buy A DELL!!!

reply to post by mirageofdeceit


if you have any problems and tryin to fix it yourself read these fourms:

Click here to read the fourms about these problems on how to fix it

OK if your in the UK from what I hear you can call dell and have them fix it for you for free no charge.

Even if the warrenty expired. This is due to being sued for the design fault.

So I suggest you to call Dell to see if they are willing to do it, The are supposed to by law since the lawsuit orders them to do such a service.

So you can get a free fix from Dell if your in CANADA,UK,NETHERLANDS,SWEEDEN.

The U.S Dell won't do it for free and heard they charge an arm and a leg for such a repair.

You should not be able to see any fractures since this can be in a micro scale fracture. They recommend to put the soder iron on the legs for atleast 1 sec so it will just melt it for a second and moslty correct all micro fractors.

People that already done this got it working.

I am currently working on mine. I finally got the motherboard out and see my chip just by looking at mine it looks like the connectors are ok but will start shortly to soder the connectors.On a number of Inspiron 5150, and 100L machines, a design flaw in the positioning of a tab on the C panel on the underside of the laptop has led to problems.


here is a better image of the chip :

Do forgive me for laughing but here are the specs for my dell from way back.

The Inspiron 2100's svelte 1-inch profile and 3.5-pound weight belie the power packed inside the rugged magnesium alloy case. The $1899 base unit sports a 700-MHz Pentium III processor; a 5GB hard drive; 64MB of RAM; a 12.1-inch, 1024 by 768 active-matrix screen; an ATI Rage Mobility graphics card with 4MB of SGRAM; a 56-kbps V.90 modem; a 10/100 ethernet port; and your choice of either Windows Millennium or 2000. In addition, you get a Type II PC Card; USB, monitor, parallel, and PS/2 ports to accompany an external drive bay; and a built-in microphone. On the other hand, a CD-ROM drive will cost you an extra $99.

Linky

It used to look like this


It looked like this as of December 2007


Yep it looks like hell but hey it's still running good ol' Windows98SE even after all the crap it's been through. And all the defects on my dell are mostly self-inflicted and/or have been courageously acquired in the course of performing its honorable duties. Which is more than I can say for someone else's laptop. Which brings up another thought, do people just whine a lot these days?


[edit on 8.9.08 by toreishi]

reply to post by mirageofdeceit



nice find... Is this a U.S case?? or a UK???

I haven't seen anything about the U.S.

if it's the U.S and if I can't get it to work I might give a call to Dell.

Now don't give me all credit to finding this chip, I found all this by a google search just to make this clear.

just do a google search of dell laptop then model number so like

dell laptop 5150 ect and you will lots of websites coming up.

Ya it's supposed to just show that it had been rubbed or somthing.

They said to fix this you just have to do a sec soder no need to put soder on the soder gun because if you do you will brige the connections causing more problems like cleaning the brige.

All am I saying in this post form is that I don't fully trust Dell anymore really they knew about this defect and didn't care to tell anyone at all.

Here is another persons story having the same problems and even contacted tech support.

Click Here for the persons story!!!

I also sodered the chip, and then put everything back together and I still get the same problems.

I am woundering if I didn't heated the legs enough. the laptop still like at the same state so I know I didn't burn or destory anything.

In the morning I am going to take a look at it again.

I just can't bealive seeing all these people with the same exact problems and hearing other peoples experence.

Right now I just plan to relax since it's 11:00pm

I have a Dell Inspiron 1521 and it gets insanely hot after around 2 hours use. I make beats and record music too so I am on this whilst also on my PC. It got so hot around 2 weeks ago that the computer stand I had my monitor on had been melting, the plastic coasting of the frame I mean. It wasn't even ON the damn stand, just next to it. It had access to ventilation for the underneath... It's too hot for my lap so i just call it a top

wow looks like their is alot of unhappy customers from DELL.

I hope they clean up their act and really start to make bettter designs and focus on complaints else I bet they will lose alot of sales in the years to come if this keeps going at this rate.

Owning a 5150 myself, I can say that it is one TERRIBLE laptop. However, in my experience, it is not indicative of most Dell Laptops. There is a reason they moved away from the design used as the basis for the 5150. It's terrible, but only extensive use revealed that fact.

Now, in regards to mine, Dell fixed it for free, even though the settlement for the class action lawsuit had expired. In fact, they replaced about a third of the system for free.

So, I have to ask the OP...did you ever try contacting Dell support? The 5150 is so bad that, odds are, they will fix it rather than have to deal with it, even though the settlement has expired. That, to me, recommends them as an excellent company. After all, my mother has an HP, which almost the exact same circumstances have just recently occurred with it, and HP pretty much said "screw you, we don't care. Have you seen our new models?"

reply to post by RenegadePsycho


Pretty sure you should at least send off an email to Dell inquiring about that. Most laptop companies are pretty wary of having a customer have another PC fire after the case HP went through. Email is free, why not give them a chance? lol

reply to post by computerwiz32


One of my IT managers told me once that devices are made to fail after a certain amount of time. Hard drives especially.

Laptops over 5 years of age are obsolete.

One of my IT managers told me once that devices are made to fail after a certain amount of time. Hard drives especially.

I've heard this before - it's nonsense. HD failures put Fujitsu out of the HD business. I had 3 of their drives - they all failed at less than a year.

The lawsuit, linked to above, was in the US by the looks of it.

Why would you pay the overprice to buy a Dell made of third rate materials in a garage in Taiwan, when you could buy an MSI laptop which are excellent?
And you get more performance for less cost?
Dell is just a sales scam selling junk to noobs.
Stay away from them.

Someone else has already pointed this out, but I feel the need to bring it up again.

Forget Dell, Forget Gateway and HP and Sony.

Buy a Mac.

I was a loyal PC user for years, but after my last couple of computers (Dell Desktop, Gateway Desktop, Gateway Laptop, Personally built Desktop) I have made the switch to Macs, and I am thousands of times happier for it.

My macbook goes with me everywhere; it's reliable, an excellent computer, and lightweight, with an amazing little screen and an excellent feeling keyboard.

My iMac is a dream come true for a desktop model. Sure, I can't really play games anymore... but everything else that I need to do is done, easier and with a lot less hassle.

By the way, my experiences with Dell were completely off-putting, and with the release of the horrid Vista, I decided to never go back to PC again.

Try it out. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

I've got 2. My first computer 5 years old(XP). SMALL hard drive by todays standards. Takes some time for diagnostics but it runs like a top.

My wife's computer? That's a different story. It's got Vista........... nuff said.

I'm not sure it's the hardware, might be the operating system.

Originally posted by computerwiz32
Now are you going to go out now and Buy a Dell!!!???

Yes.

Because your thread inclined me to do so.



[edit on 10-8-2008 by AntisepticSkeptic]

reply to post by computerwiz32


Dude,

I feel for ya, but every company has it's occasional lemons.

If it makes you feel any better, my wife bought an Apple iBook PowerPC G3 several years ago and had (it's now dead) a problem when you picked up the laptop by just one edge, the video would fritz and go out and a forced shutdown and restart would be necessary.

Needless to say, several other thousand people had the same problem and Apple made all the repairs for this issue. From what I recall I believe we had to get the laptop repaired twice for the same problem, so I consider it to be a 2X Lemon.

Simply put, it was a bad design, and Apple repaired even though it was just out of it's warranty period by a short time.

Does that mean that I will never buy another Apple??

Absolutely not!

For one thing, Apple holds the bleeding edge with Intel processors and I'm itchin' to git one--Nehalem series at the end of this year and beginning of next.

en.wikipedia.org...(microarchitecture)

I also like the Operating System virtualization that multicore/multiprocessor is quite capable of doing.

Right now, I am stuck with a dual 1.0 GHz G4 which I can use for everything from e-mail to graphics to video transcoding. All of this using a machine which was introduced in 1999, has been through multiple OS iterations and can currently run the latest OS X Leopard without a hitch.

Best Wishes in Your Quest!

PS--I use a Dell box at my work, so I am familiar with the brand reputation. My machine is a Pentium 4 and the coworker next to me has a Core 2 Duo--I crave his machine--it's a good bit more snappy! I recommend the Core 2 Duo Series with any box.

Just my 2 cents.
I've had cr@p experience with Dell as an normal end user. Bad drivers, problematic configs, add on cards dead on arrival installed in the workstation etc...
And then tech support on the phone or via email was just a long and drawn out frustration, with a queue card reading, no computer knowledge person as your 'support specialist'.

I will say however utilizing a business account with Dell, the support was the complete opposite.
Although I did on a few occasions have to jump thru tech support hoops on the phone with them (I was the IT guy and webmaster for a medium sized defense contractor, a total of 42 workstations and 3 servers, 39 of the systems a Dell).
As a business account I would always get thru to a human in under 10 minutes, and if parts were dead on arrival or cr@pped out, they had replacements overnighted!
But as a normal end user, I swore them off for good. I remember I had a customized, hi-end A/V workstation from Dell. Before the first year had even hit the Lacie external drive internal PSU died and it literally took 2 months for them to even acknowledge the fact and act in sending me a replacement. That was after many long hours onthe phone and literally screaming at the moron on the other end.

Anyways I tend to go on...

Long story short, best damn laptop I've ever owned is a Fujitsu Lifebook.
Worst possible laptop I've ever had the misfortune of owning. A Sony VAIO.

Best Tech support I've ever had and best damn servers: Dell as a business account.
Worst tech support as a standard end user: Microsoft.
Worst, godawful tech support for a laptop: Alienware.

Just my experience.

Thats awful.

I can't speak for Laptops but I know their Desktop PC's are a complete rip off!

They over charge you for the components, which they just stick onto an end of line motherboard that they get supplied with in bulk.

My brother purchased a Dell laptop a couple of years ago. A year goes by, the thing kicks the bucket. Dell sends him a new one, free of charge. I'm pretty sure Dell requested the old one to be returned, but it never was. I fixed it, now I own the old one. Dell has also sent him 3 or 4 laptop chargers, as they have an unfortunate tendency to buckle and crack at the end.

Nothing but good experiences from Dell on my end, but it's probably worth noting that he had a fairly expensive warranty on the computer.

[edit on 10-8-2008 by Monger]

[edit on 10-8-2008 by Monger]

hi i repaire laptops for a liviing and i get alot of toshiba's in for repair, i suggest you avoid toshiba, i have found samsung to be more reliable.

Originally posted by computerwiz32
Which I suggest anyone here to get latops from sony or toshiba the reason is they make chipsets

Am I the only one this surprises ? lol If you find a sony, or toshiba northbridge southbridge (more commonly known as chipset) call me... What a computer wizz ...

[edit on 10-8-2008 by WeSbO]