posted
I might not be on much for a little while, until I can figure out how to fix my laptop.
I have an extended warranty through Dell, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to get any sort of service. They seem determined on their "customer support" website you push you off into a FAQ or email service that doesn't help a damned bit.
I'm even sure how to describe what the hell is going on. About an hour ago my computer made a sound that resembles a needle scratching across a record and then turned itself off and back on. Now every so often, if I touch it the wrong way or move it the wrong way, (and this seems to mostly apply to any sort of pressure on the BOTTOM of the laptop), it makes the same sound and then the whole system freezes, requiring me to do a hard reset by turning it off using the power button. It doesn't sound at all like a software issue, and it's certainly beyond my ability to fix.
So until I can get it fixed, you might only see me around intermittenly, as I don't want to push this thing and have it explode on me before I can get all my information off it, after which it CAN blow up if it wants, as Dell will have to replace it, but even then I'd rather it not.
posted
I had exactly the same problem with their website years ago, when I swore never to deal with Dell ever again.
My solution is this: don't look on the internet. Pick up a phone, and dial information, ask for a service number for dell, and when you get them on the phone, tell them you want to talk to their support people. In the end, that's what I did 3 years ago, and it's the only way.
Oh, and don't hang up the phone until you have gotten very clear promises from the person on the other end, including every reference number they can possibly give you to document your call... a few years ago I got so tired of calling companies back and starting the whole thing over, that now if I have to call customer support for anything, I make them give me all the information they are allowed to give me. And as I recall with Dell, I made them transfer me to a supervisor who repeated all the information again, (this was 3 or so calls into addressing the problem) and it was finally taken care of.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to why don't you go where fashion sits, Computer on the fritz.
Different types who wear a day coat, pants with stripes and cutaway coat, perfect fits, Computer on the fritz.
Dressed up like a million dollar trouper Trying hard to look like Gary Cooper
Come let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks or "umberellas" in their mitts, Computer on the fritz.
Have you seen the well-to-do up and down Park Avenue On that famous thoroughfare with their noses in the air High hats and Arrow collars white spats and lots of dollars Spending every dime for a wonderful time
If you're blue and you don't know where to go to why don't you go where fashion sits, Computer on the fritz. Computer on the fritz. Computer on the fritz.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
I believe that your hard drive has crashed. The way you describe the sound is probably what's actually happening to your hard drive. The head, which is like the arm of a record player, has made contact with your disk, resulting in a scraping sound. You should start backing up all your important data as a precaution. Some of the data may be irretrievable due to the physical damage to the drive. Then replace the hard drive with a new one.
posted
I'm borrowing a computer from a friend for a few days. I still won't be on here very much for the next week or two, between the end of semester rush and lack of ready access to a computer and the holidays and all.
rollain -
Thanks for the number.
Patrick -
Thanks for the scary info. I've already backed up all my Word files, which I care the most about. I've been planning for awhile to get a portable external hard drive and I guess this is just the impetus I needed to push me in that direction the last couple inches. I'm going to look online this weekend during the Black Friday sales and see if I can get one on sale and then I'll try and get as much information off it that I can before I have anyone try to fix it. I was actually going to do that anyway, as when my best friend sent her laptop in, it came back wiped, and I didn't want to be taken by surprise. I should be able to keep from turning it on for the next couple weeks until I have a chance to get someone out to look at it. Thanks for the heads up.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I seriously doubt that the hard drive seek head is scratching the platter. I think if it were that broken, it wouldn't read anything at all from the disk. That's my experience, anyway.
My first guess would be that your cooling fan is toast, and your CPU is overheating and then powering off the laptop to try to protect itself. Can you tell where exactly the noise is coming from?
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Lyr...check out newegg.com before you go. You can get a 500GB portable hard drive for less than $100 now, with free shipping. Hard to beat even with Black Friday prices I would think.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
It might be the fan, but it usually wouldn't cause a scratching sound. Maybe a fast, metallic clicking sound. A friend's computer had the occasional scratching sound, and it turned out to be the hard drive. After replacing the hard drive, the sound went away. We were only able to retrieve some of the data. Either way, backing up the data as soon as possible, as Lyrhawn is doing, is good advice.
It's hard to say where the noise is coming from, though it seems to react the worst when I touch it in the middle on its underside.
Kwea -
Good tip, I didn't think to just check a site like newegg or even Amazon. Sometimes I get awed by the wow factor of the supposed good sales. And after looking just now, I think I'm actually going to just get a 160GB WD little guy from Amazon. I don't need even that much, and I'm more focused on portability than size, as in something I can throw in my backpack, or even a back pocket, so that's a good deal for me.
Patrick -
You know I was wondering if it was the fan or not, and I was listening to see if the whirring of the fan was coinciding with it working or not, but there doesn't seem to be a correlation. Sometimes it'll turn on and freeze instantly, but still stay on for a long time until I reset it. Sometimes it'll just shut right off and reboot (it never just shuts down and stays off), and any of those things could happen after five minutes or five seconds. There's no real pattern in that sense.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I've never had trouble finding Dell's support phone number. I just went to their site to double check, and found it in about four clicks.
www.dell.com, click support in the upper right corner. One of the options on the left menu bar is Contact Us, and one of the large icons in the middle of that screen says Contact Technical Support. One of the very large options on that screen is Telephone. This screen gives you a list of every support number you might need, the first of which is Technical Support for Home and Home Office.
Is there something in there that's unintuitive to people? I didn't log in or enter any information about my computer to get to that screen.
Posts: 1547 | Registered: Jan 2004
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posted
It's not the hard drive. The drive is self contained and pressure won't affect it. If it was going, it would make a clicking sound.
Three likeliest answers:
1. Battery. Open it up and wiggle the battery. Press the cover and try to get it to replicate. Even if you're plugged in, the battery is in circuit and can go all oogly.
2. Ram. There's a good chance that you have ram near the battery. If it's wobbly, it could be causing your problem.
3. Drivers. Your computer is probably automatically updating, and new drivers could cause a hardware resource or IRQ conflict. Try rolling back your OS to an earlier state if possible. That'll at least have a good chance of eliminating software anyway.
Posts: 688 | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
I tried taking the battery out and running it without the battery, and it seemed to last longer at first, but then the same problem happened several times.
After it crashed the first time it prompted me to use an earlier version of settings and it recommended the option so I told it to do so, but it didn't alleviate the problem.
I'm not sure about the RAM, as I haven't opened it up, nor do I intend to.
Some of my urgency has slackened a bit. I just got my old desktop up and running with a new flat screen monitor, and it's slower than I'd like, but works surprisingly well. I half expected it to just explode when I turned it on. Thus far the slow speed and getting used to typing on an actual keyboard as opposed to a laptop keyboard are the biggest annoyances, that and lack of access to anything I've saved in the last two or three years.
I ordered a new external hard drive and plan to get all the information off both computers (after which I plan to reformat this one, which will hopefully speed it up some), and I was thinking of even buying some new RAM for the desk top to speed it up, but I have no idea of what sort to get (another battle for another day). So I can rest a little easy on the computer front for awhile. Hopefully I can get the laptop fixed in the next month before my next semester starts and all will be well.
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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So I got my external hard drive and backed up all the info on my desktop.
I figured backing up the laptop would be annoying, since it only stays on from 30 seconds to 10 minutes at a time, but I figured after one annoying night, I'd be all set. Except now it won't even turn on. I don't know how the hell a damned computer can break itself even more when I didn't even touch the damned thing in the last few days, but it's even worse, and it won't turn on, and now I can't back up my data, and I'm going to be more furious than I've ever been in my entire life if I can't get my info off my hard drive.
But I don't know what to do now. I'm afraid if I either give it to someone to fix or have them come fix it, it'll come back wiped clean and I'll be totally screwed. But obviously if I can't even turn the friggin thing on, I can't do anything myself.
Never in my life have I wanted to curse and break something as much as I do right now.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I've been on the Dell Online Tech Support for the last hour seeing what they can do to help me. I got it to turn on, long enough to save my absolute most important data onto the external hard drive. The first guy I talked to I think virtually hung up on me.
I can't say if they guy who replaced him or not has been helpful, but he's certainly a lot nicer than the last guy, who told me I was going to have to open up the laptop to ascertain the problem before they'd send anyone out to fix it. Why the hell did I pay a crap ton of money for in home service if I have to open the damned thing up and poke around when I have no clue as to what I'm doing?!
Anyway, the new guy has me running a diagnostic check on the hard drive, which of course froze when I tried to plug the power cord in. So I'm going to restart it, and hopefully it'll last the required 30 minutes or so to actually finish.
This just isn't my day/week/two-month span.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
This has been pretty enlightening. I'd been thinking of buying a laptop from Dell when I get my next installment of student aid money. Perhaps I'll rethink that. I admit I was distracted by the pretty colors (well, the configurations and price are pretty good).
Posts: 2034 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
Well if it makes a difference, I haven't had a single problem with it in three years. My mother bought their tiny super portable laptop and she hates it, but I think that's A. Because she has so damned many programs running that it's slow as molasses, and B. She really hates the tiny size, even though at first it looked handy.
HP just had some fantastic laptop deals over the Black Friday weekend, when combined with a student discount if your school participates it really adds up to a great deal for a sweet laptop. I'm not married to Dell, they just had the best deal when I bought it. I don't have a bad opinion of their product or service as of yet. My best friend's HP (she actually just bought another one during that BFW deal time) imploded or something about a year ago when she was in Ireland and hasn't been able to use it since.
I think both of them are just fine, it's just whichever one has the best deal at the time, but if there were a tie breaker, it'd be to try and find out who has the better customer service.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Yeah, I'm on my second Dell laptop. I got the first the summer I graduated from high school, and it lasted me a good three years. I sold it to my dad for $50 (well, I gave it to him but he felt bad taking something I had paid $700 for for free).
This one I have now I got during the summer before my senior year of college. Haven't had any problems with it, and so haven't had to deal with any customer service. I hope to get another year or so out of it.
So Lyrhawn, I'd say three years is a Dell laptop life expectancy. And overall, they're usually cheaper than the competition and had exactly what I wanted on them.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
Well, I'm still trying to get the problem solved. Dell technical support seems to think that the memory and/or RAM aren't connected right.
So now I apparently have to open up part of the computer and move things around.
The tech assures me this is easy, but I just know I'm going to break something. I'm supposed to follow this and this to reseat the different things. Any general advice or warnings before I open up the beast?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
Don't rub a balloon on your head and don't hold a bowling ball in your other hand. Otherwise, there's not much you can screw up if you're a functional adult.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Yeah it didn't work so much, at least not for me. I got the hard drive out and back in, but I couldn't find a screwdriver that would get the panel open for the other little door.
So I just said that I did it but it didn't work, and then the guy asked me about a thousand questions, at which point he decided that the motherboard, heat sink, and fan all need to be replaced, and a guy is coming out to fix it next week. So hopefully I'm a week or so away from having this mess behind me.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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