INSPIRION 8200: you are not just getting a great deal, you are getting a dell :-(

[clau]

My brandnew Inspiron 8200 seemed to work fine at first.

after a couple of days the problem started: the machine frooze on me with the only option to cold boot, and thereafter I could not turn it back on. suddenly after about half an hour trying it comes back on.

Everything works fine for another couple of days, leaving me with a little headache hoping it does not happen anymore.

but of course that's not the end of the story.

and here is what happened:
Assumingly the problem is caused by the hard drive not responding to the boot process. I was able to produce a situation, where I could turn on the laptop only when I would hold it in a 90 degree angle to the table.

In normal position all keyboard lights and the power lights are on for exactly three seconds while the hard drive light only does a barely noticeable flash and goes black. On a successful try the hard drive light would be on with the power and the NUM LED and the laptop would start normally about 80% of the time. In the other 20% it would freeze up somewhere during the boot process, sometimes right on the windows boot menu, sometimes after the logon.

Long story, many emails: so far I have not received any help or replacement from DELL's "great customer support" whatsoever.

if anybody out there has the same kind of problem with the same model or knows something more specific about the problem, please get in touch with me. I appreciate it.

cheers - clau

ps: curiously it seems to work fine right now... :-o

[VHockey86]

Normally with dell you have to get on the phone to get anything done... just my experiance. I had an inspiron 5000 where 3 hard drives went bad (clicky/scratchign noises) within 3 1/2 months. Dont forget you can return it no questions asked within 30 days of purchase...

[clau]

I ordered this machine february 12.
got it one month later march 12. (two weeks later than promised)
first complain with request of replacement was march 31.

last friday (APRIL 11.) they promised they would send a technician to change the motherboard :-(

APRIL 14. I receive this email from DELL Technical Support Latin America:
--------------------------------------------------------------
Good afternoon,

The system is over the 30 days warranty exchange date. but if the motherboard replacement does not fix problem, the

technician will call us to determine the next step.

thank you,
Olivia,
--------------------------------------------------------------

so I guess, that's it...

as I am down here in Mexico, sending it back is not as easy, and last time I called, I was put on hold for about 10 minutes before I hung up (international phone calls are not excactly cheap here)....

[VHockey86]

ya... i wouldnt expect the service to be all that excellent out of the US. It took a month to get there? wow. All my dells have arrived after a week or less from the order date (with 2nd day shipping)

Hope everything turns out alright for you, and welcome to tech IMO

[rpertusio]

From my personal experience, I had the same happen with a faulty motherboard in my Inspiron 8000 (the older brother of the 8200.) It got so bad, that I could merely 'tap' the computer at the right spot to cause the problem.
Replacing the motherboard was all that was needed. I haven't seen the problem since.

- rp

[clau]

thx all for the comments and check this out:

I wrote an email saying:

...today I received a call from "your technician". the guy does not speek a word english and last time I had a mexican technician looking over my old laptop, it was worse when I got it back.

as I am living here in mexico for almost three years now, I know, that most of the so called technicians here are self made technicians. does your guy has any certification, training, references whatsoever by DELL?...

and guess, what Dell Latin America answered:

...
The information you are requesting is confidential and not be given out. Once the technician is on site he will call us if there is any problems...

so now the question is: should I have the motherboard replaced by someone whos company is saying their status of education is confidential....

right now it's working fine. I tried to shake it and provoke it to malfuntion again, but it did not. but I am sure as soon as I say I don't want the motherboard, the damn machine is gonna stop working forever.

cheers all

[slinky]

sucks to hear dell sucks so much now.. during the pentium3 days (when i bought mine) it was all good, and no problems ever since (also done numerous upgrades to it).

[foodbiz]

Call Dell and get their Office Fax Number (executive offices). Send them a fax and tell them about the hard time you are having.

I had simmilar problems 2 years ago and they did a Tower Exchange for me

Alan

[311Sam]

I have had my inspiron 8200 on and running servers 24/7 for almost a year now. It has only had one bsod and that was cause of some faulty drivers that i had installed. Good Luck

[clau]

yesterday I have been trying for 52 minutes to talk to someone in charge at DELL's customer service in latin america.

I got kicked out or back in waiting line four times. Nobody was able to give me the fax number of the executive office.

btw: they told me there was a free number to call from Mexico, and I tried that one. but of course, it wasn't free. I spent 25 us for those phone calls for zero information.