i've been working on this dell laptop for months.
i am pretty good at fixing computers even laptops.
so i'm stumped with this dell.
so i consult dell...this is over two months ago.
dell tells me .."do this"..."okay try this"

nothing.

i get up with a guy from my hometown and he said he had the same problem.
take one stick of memory out of the computer if it has two...
sure enough...it has two...
take one out....
voila!!!

seems Dell should have known this.

but they're too friggin busy singing "lollipop"

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Well I found myself with a new harddrive, before I could track the error down to one of the memory bars...

Commiserations - it works now?

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Carola
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I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

They're all the same.

[rant] Any modern company that lasts more than a few months is run by accountants. Techies and people actually interested in meeting customers needs are not involved in major decisions anymore. If you can save 2 cents, and only piss off a few people, its good businees these days.[/rant]

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my last experience dealing with DELL...

notebook computer. keytop came off. under warranty,(factory refurb.. direct from dell) I called them to find out who I could take it to.

I spent about 6 hours total on the phone convincing them I owned it. What is the serial number? no that is not yours"....

Finally about 4 more hours.. "oh, that is a user servicable item. We will send you a replacement kit, just return the old one or you will be billed"

I finally talked to someone local that worked on computers, they explained how the keys hinged.. and "click" back on.

I received their "kit".. which consisted of a small screwdriver that did not fit the case screws I had to take out, how to open/replace the keyboard. I followed the directons and from then on, had video problems. The problem was the lid open switch would not operate freely.

I kept the other keyboard as a spare. Never called them again, and will never buy a Dell again.

Dude: Keep your dell.

(oh.. that was followed by exploding battery warnings over and over, each time to call in and be told "no that one is ok".. followed by more warnings, repeat,
followed by exploding capacitor warnings...

It is still around here somewhere.. if someone needs a door stop :P

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Janice

My relatives and I have HP PCs(Mines the only Media PC Desktop, Theirs are newer portables), Except for My Niece, She has a MAC and an iPhone, I had to replace a failing psu in the HP I inherited from My relatives(a hand Me down PC), It works fine now except for the HP Bios which is soldered down:(, Eventually I'll get a Desktop case w/3 5.25" external drive bays and a compatible MSI/ATi MS-7093 motherboard with a socketed Bios chip and move everything else to the new case, Just so I can turn off the danged ATi graphics which the Bios will not do as HP never intended the HP PC to be given a video card in the 16x pci-e slot as they saddled the PC with a cheap 300w psu that had only 19A on one 12v rail.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

UK Dells are assembled in Northern Ireland and I have had no problems. I have bought 4 new over the years and run 8 now. USA Dells are obviously assembled over there and I have no experience of their build quality.

As far as memory goes, yes, all Dells are very fussy indeed on what memory they will work with. Mainly because they use a modified Intel motherboard to Dells own spec.

HP uses on My motherboard(MS-7093) at least what the manufacturer(MSI) makes, HP just has some parts left off and the Bios modified to where they wanted It.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

USA Dells are obviously assembled over there and I have no experience of their build quality.

Your observations are wrong. Any Dell I've ever seen is built by whoever on the earth builds it the cheapest.

I've never had a Dell, but I know that they used to stand for dependability, and performance. As far as I'm concerned, they went the way of Packard Bell of yesteryear.

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Well the more Dell cock up, the more that people like me get more work. Just had 2 old Dell customers in (they were on my books as regulars for repairing/upgrading).

Would I recommend the newer Dells or go to PC World? Stated why PC World or Dell & showed them 8 different self builds.

16:32 GMT this afternoon, £1100.00 in my pocket. Thank You Dell, more please......

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I just bought a Dell 1564 and it is nice only 499 with a Core i3 320GB HD, HDMI output, etc....
I was having problems with the screen, and it not booting up. Sent it in, got it back....same problem 2 days later.
Send it in, get it back...but it a Core i5 upgraded model.

Didn't even ask over the phone for this. Just was something wrong with the model I bought and they upgraded me for free.

Pretty sweet, and I've only owned Dells since my first laptop, and I love them.

Bill

I've never had a problem with a Dell I've owned. My desktop is going on 3 years old, my laptop hits 1 year next month. And both still chugging along.

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biggest problem with Dell is if you do have an issue, it is extremely difficult to get assistance from them.

The upgradabilty is not much better or worse than any other packaged computer.
Adding memory? Could conflict. Adding video? not enough power. Etc ad nauseum.

But seriously... 8 hours trying to ask"where can I take this computer for repair".. and never getting an answer was too much for me.

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Janice

biggest problem with Dell is if you do have an issue, it is extremely difficult to get assistance from them.

The upgradabilty is not much better or worse than any other packaged computer.
Adding memory? Could conflict. Adding video? not enough power. Etc ad nauseum.

But seriously... 8 hours trying to ask"where can I take this computer for repair".. and never getting an answer was too much for me.

Yeah that sounds like the HP PC I inherited from My Sister in law, It had a scrawny 300w psu, Even the smallest item like a usb wireless connection was too much for the poor HP designed psu, So even though It's out of warranty, HP tried to discourage Me from installing a bigger non HP Corsair psu, The HP now has an OCZ 900w psu in It and was that ever difficult to install. But It has power for 1 pci-e card and whatever else I could add to the HP Media Center PC, So I'm mostly happy, I'd be completely happy If I could turn the built in video off, But HP never intended for that to happen, Yet the PC has a 16x 1.0a pci-e slot, Go figure... Now It could handle a GTX295 or a GTX470 maybe, To turn off the HP ATi video I'd need to install an MSI Bios, But the chip is soldered down and the usb ports can not be used to flash the Bios Chip, Plus how do I remove the motherboard to replace the chip with a plcc socket and a new chip? I've looked and all I see are riveted case parts in the way, The screws are there on the motherboard, I just can't line a screwdriver up with the screws. :(

So I could say I hate HP...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

There's basically two choices here (if you want discounts that is) Dell and Apples quite generous 'Education' discount.
I'm sure we've boosted the sales of MacBookPro...

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Carola
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I'm multilingual - I can misunderstand people in several languages!

Turning off the on board video (enough to satisfy SETI) should be fairly simple. Disable the driver. Now HP may try to "fix" it for you.. so you may have some other issues to deal with.. but you should be able to make those manual. Just have to say no a lot.

Power supplies that will fit the HP case... quite an accomplishment.

But disable the driver, re-start seti.. and it should pick up your video card.

My gateway.. still chokes on updates because mikey soft wants to update the drivers for it. But it is working. If I run it all out the add in 9600GT
can and does cause it to power itself down.. So it gets throttled back. Next upgrade is the off switch.

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Janice