So my laptop's died

[gaasc]

yes finalgear, it seems it's yet another of those OMG! my comp has died threads.

yesterday my dell XPS M1210 was just fine n' dandy, every thing was well, so i try it to start it this morning, no bios screen, no nothing, just the frive clicking. also the battery lasts about 6 mins and yes, it was connected to the outlet when i powered it on.

ideas?

[thevictor390]

drive clicking? Sounds like its dead. Happened to my laptop at work a few months ago.... hard drive made a horrible noise and crashed, just kept making clicking sounds.

[gaasc]

does a dead drive makes the BIOS screen to not show up?

[thevictor390]

Ah, no, it wouldn't shouldn't.

[ahpadt]

Originally Posted by gaasc

does a dead drive makes the BIOS screen to not show up?

Leave the laptop over night without the battery or something. Dunno how else its possible to reset the BIOS of a laptop. If not then the motherboard is dead or something.

[brydiem]

Could be a graphics card and/or mainboard failure, that causes the screen to just die, full stop. Does your computer run very hot?

[katwalk]

I have determined today dell XPS should Die in Fire. I thought my mac was overpriced but you know what? Changed my mind. Worth it for the fact the hardware is compatible with itself. Fuck dell.

[gaasc]

Aaaaaand sure enough the mainboard is shot, why yes brydiem, it was running retardedly hot (80 C hot). Actually i asked my dad for a laptop cooler the day before it turned into a huge paperweight. it is also pretty wierd that the mainboard didn't died while i was using it instead just failing to switch on the next morning.

if it costs less than $280 to repair it it's alright, if not i'll just leave it behind and buy a netbook or something

[brydiem]

^ mainboard failures seem to be about 75% of the failures on Dells now, they just don't know how to a) put them in decently (when the service guy pulled my old one out it only had "half the stuff it needs to stay in installed by the morons who made it", as aptly put by him) and b) do cooling, all their fans tend to do is turn on too late to make any difference to the heat and just suck in dust when they do, which makes the problem worse. The laptop cooler I have runs all the time, and it has made a ton of difference. I've also bought a can of compressed air and I'm going to see how much dust I can get out without opening the case.

Funny thing is, because they fail so often, Dell support over here hardly tries to feed you the "are you sure it's not drivers?" BS any more, they just go "yep, we'll send somebody out"

[chvvkumar]

it might also be a RAM issue. If you have a couple of modules try pulling out one and see if that helps.

[waydee]

With ANY laptop it is important to clean out the fans and heatsinks at least once a year, it's a bit of a hassle because it means disassembling it but for most people a years worth of usage will result in a lot of dust and debris getting sucked in and deposited on the heatsinks, gradually causing the machine to run hotter until this sort of failure happens.

Laptop coolers etc. shouldn't be necessary, having to use one indicates that the machine needs a good clean out.

[ahpadt]

Originally Posted by waydee

With ANY laptop it is important to clean out the fans and heatsinks at least once a year, it's a bit of a hassle because it means disassembling it but for most people a years worth of usage will result in a lot of dust and debris getting sucked in and deposited on the heatsinks, gradually causing the machine to run hotter until this sort of failure happens.

Laptop coolers etc. shouldn't be necessary, having to use one indicates that the machine needs a good clean out.

Doesn't this mean breaking the warranty?

[brydiem]

^ yep, which is why I can't do it. And therefore why my laptop died. I think if you get it done by professionals that are authorised by whoever does your warranty, it doesn't void it. Does cost you money, but hey. Still looking for some around here who are authorised so I can get mine cleaned.

[gaasc]

Oh look, it's me after 10 minutes with Dell's tech support, which won't pay for the repair. Price of the repair is unknown for now, but still, if it costs more than $300 i simply won't bother

[Lupin_IV]

^That picture's wrong; your call is redirected outside the country (to India).

[Sik02Stang]

i HATE that!

[PacketCollision]

Originally Posted by ahpadt

Doesn't this mean breaking the warranty?

At least on Dells, opening the laptop up does not break the warranty. Of course if you do it and then they won't fix your computer, don't come crying to me. I doubt that will happen though, because their techs routinely ask you to take the damn thing apart (I have had them ask me to, among other things, remove the graphics card from my laptop and reseat it (about 15 screws, keyboard, mouse, screen, and half the chassis must be taken apart first)).

[brydiem]

^... not in Australia. The moment I open my Dell laptop up I void my warranty and do not apply for priority phone service, nbd service and the like. Pretty sure it was the same with the tower too. Warranties over here are pretty shite as far as the t's and c's go

Hoping my netbook doesn't have the same condition, I wanna install more RAM in it (will definitely steer away from any with a warranty like that/no extended warranty)

[Dr_Grip]

Originally Posted by brydiem

^... not in Australia. The moment I open my Dell laptop up I void my warranty and do not apply for priority phone service, nbd service and the like. Pretty sure it was the same with the tower too. Warranties over here are pretty shite as far as the t's and c's go

Hoping my netbook doesn't have the same condition, I wanna install more RAM in it (will definitely steer away from any with a warranty like that/no extended warranty)

I don't know about Australia, but at least over here they have to allow simple upgrades (RAM and Hard disk) without voiding the warranty... i don't have any proof for it but i gues that's why you can acess the harddisk so easily on MacBooks, compared to the iBook/PowerBook line.