I have had some horrendous luck recently with my Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop which I bought in 2003. I had heard stories of them failing but mine was doing fine until a couple of months ago.
At that time, the computer started switching off whenever I was running Matlab or doing any video encoding. I was able to turn it back on after 10—15 minutes. It was a fan problem and since I had bought 3 years at-home service, the processor fan was replaced within a few days.
Then a couple of weeks ago, the AC adaptor cord started acting up. I had to wiggle it to get it to work. That was replaced last week.
A week ago, the computer started turning off immediately after switching it on. Dell Technical Support found out that one of the memory slots on the motherboard was bad. So the whole motherboard was replaced on Thursday.
Then the mother of all problems happened. Booting up, I got a registry error. Then Chkdsk was run automatically on the next reboot. It found some file system errors but Windows XP refused to start giving an error about missing registry hive. I found how to fix that on the Microsoft website, but then Windows complained about another missing file. I made an Ultimate Boot CD for Windows and was able to check the contents of the hard disk. Some files and folders were corrupt or missing while others seemed ok. A call to Dell Technical Support was useless since he wanted me to install stuff on the hard disk which would have made data recovery impossible. After trying the Ontrack EasyRecovery software and a few other tricks, I decided that professional data recovery was needed. So my hard disk is with data recovery right now and I am having trouble coping without my laptop.
Unlike the complaints I have heard about Dell Support, I had a good experience. I did not have to wait too long on hold and the guys had reasonable accents. However, I am extremely disappointed in Dell quality. In addition to the stuff I mentioned above, the laptop battery lasts only 50 minutes now instead of 2.5 hours, but its warranty was only for a year. It seems that Dell’s Quality people have their work cut out for them.
Sorry to hear that. Fowzi, also, has been facing problems with his laptop. He had been doing setting, re-setting, re-installing Windows XP, etc during the last month. Then the battery, perhaps, started giving problem. He has thrown out the battery and is using computer by direct connection through adopter. I will ask him to discuss this matter with you. My be exchanging notes discovers the problem.
Sorry to hear that Zack. I hated having to go stuff like that. My desktop PC just died as well, a few months back. I have switched to Mac. Consider a Powerbook G4 🙂
Dad: Yeah, I’ll check with him.
Hijabman: You a Mac advocate?
my task bar with start button is missing, i’ve done numerous scans finally found pcproblems software that identified missing files etc. i’ve bought bug doctor and registryfix and did not correct the problem i’m reluctant to spend more money. when i go to dell support something prevents me from accessing downloads and updates to attempt to fix problems. what should i do. would system restore disc work and will my data be saved. quickly going crazy, thanks anyone especially dell or microsoft. 502-210=1534cp
john: Sorry, can’t help you.
hiz,
dear i hv a dell p-III pc n facing a problem that when i start it , the time runs so fastly means time clock is running so quickly i updated the BIOS but not solved i also removed the bettery but its not fine , plz tell me how i could solve it… ok bye
Saleem: It is usually a BIOS battery problem. If changing the battery didn’t fix it, I don’t know what would.
More Dell Trouble
My Dell Inspiron 5150 is causing me trouble again. It is off to Dell for a motherboard replacement. This would be the third time in 4 years the motherboard would be replaced, not counting the replacement of the computer once.
Avoid Dell Hell
My Dell laptop is again giving me trouble. It looks like Dell gave me a defective motherboard last month.
I have Dell GX260 and it’s been year i have been using it used to work fine till last two days now it malfunctions when ever i start the system after five minutes the screen turns black i can’t see anything on my desktop. please tell me what is wrong with it.