KWSN Orbiting Fortress

[JerWA]

I bought three, thinking I was tired of messing with systems... hrm. It didn't really work out.

08/26/2006: System 1 purchased.
10/01/2006: System 2 and 3 purchased.
01/14/2007: System 1 graphics card fails.
03/01/2007: System 2 video card fails.
05/29/2007: System 1 hard drive fails.
06/05/2007: System 1 sound card fails.
07/01/2007: System 3 video card fails.
07/04/2007: System 1 graphics card fails (yep, that's two).
07/06/2007: Replacement video card for System 1 arrives and has obviously not even been inspected, let alone refurbished. It fails Dells own diagnostic test and is in WORSE state than the card it's supposed to be replacing. Put the old card back in before bothering to boot back to Windows.

Needless to say, I am extremely unimpressed. Dell is also going to be in for a rough day today, because I am not going to accept another 7900 GS graphics card. The design is flawed (not Dells fault), but Dell no longer offers them as anything but refurbished. Today has proven that "refurbished" means returned by another user and mailed out again without even looking at it. This is unacceptable. They don't know it yet, but Dell is going to be shipping me an 8800 GTS tomorrow, or I'm going to drive back to Texas and burn their headquarters down.

Actually what I'm going to tell them is that if they will not replace it with a like-value card (which the 8800 GTS is now) that is not the 7900 GS I'm going to buy another years warranty and continue to send them back cards until they run out of crappy 7900s to send back to me. Another year is only $149 and that's far cheaper than replacing even ONE graphics card without the warranty. I'll make them a straight up offer that if they send me a NEW 8800 GTS I will let my warranty expire and never bother them again (or buy from them again, but that's another issue entirely).
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[Tenebra]

That's exactly why I never buy ready - made systems by Dell or other corporation but choose each piece myself according to my specifications. Most ready-made machines are usually totally unacceptable in terms of performance, especially in the graphics cards area.

Have suffered enough with ready-made systems that don't perform!
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[JerWA]

Actually performance is really good. The problem is that the 7900 cooling design is flawed. That's not Dells fault at all. The problem I have is that they won't give me anything but another messed up 7900 that's going to die again in a few months (probably much less now, as we're in the hottest part of the year). That's why today, in 20 minutes in fact, I'm going to throw a tantrum. 8800 GTS or bust!

Update:
Well, they're not budging. They're sending a tech with a new motherboard, and two more 7900 GS. Why two? Because the third system has now been confirmed for a dead card.
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[ohiomike]

The record for Dell screw-ups is about 2 years ago. I ordered 8 dual Xeon servers for a project (at about $6000 a copy). 6 came in DOA, all needed RAID firmware updates, all required a Dell service call to replace the RAID controller ram. I'm just glad I didn't have them drop-shipped to Poland (where the end customer is). Needless to say, I started spec'ing out HP servers after that.
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[jbyram2]

Update?
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[JerWA]

From whom?

They replaced my motherboard and graphics card, and so far so good. Not that that's unexpected, each new card has lasted around 6 months before giving up the ghost again.
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[belenus]

Well, all my experience with Dell is at work. We are using them since 2001 (I think...... but no more, because we are changing to Lenovo) and except two GX270 which got their motherboards broken, everything was fine. Ah, also a PowerEdge 4400 got a Hard Disk with failures. But it was replaced and OK ever since.

I can't complain about Dell.
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[mohrorless]

I happen to have the Dell Desktop (on it right now at home) for 4 years or so, the Dell laptop (got it in April) and have had several Dell desktops at work for the last 5 years or so. No problems with any of them (knock on wood (I hit myself in the head there))....unless you count the keyboard I had to have replaced at work because of the (near) quart of water I spilled on it .....
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Plus

[Sir Furry Mark]

Been buying them at work for around 2 years - 10+ systems now (including 2 cheap Poweredge servers) and no significant issues (one system had a failed CPU chip, but that is hardly Dell's fault)
No DOAs to date.

Dell laptop at home for over two years has been 100% rock solid.

Just bought a Dimension 9200/Q6600 for home (and four more for work), so putting my money where my mouth is...

[Eaving]

When it comes to laptops I'm all about Sony Viaos. My wife and I have probably owned a collective 8 of them at this point, upgrading every few years. Other than needing to replace the power coupling on a couple of them(about an 8 or 10 dollar part) we've never had any problems.

On desktops I have to utterly agree with Tenebra. The last time I purchased a ready built system was because it was a repossesed machine I picked up for about $120 at best buy. Bought it as a gift for a family member who needed it for school and at that price it was worth it for the parts even if it hadn't booted. Think it was a Toshiba but I'm not totally certain.
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[Sir Cracked of the Mind]

Never had any real problems with dell,

[Sir Papa Smurph]

My thinking is that the biggest problem with Dell or anyone else for that matter is the inability to upgrade. Most systems you buy are obsolete before they even get to the store, ( or your mail box ). Proprietorial boards and such make it impossible and the cramped cases are useless for a rebuild. If you are just going to use it to check Email and chat they will be fine for a couple of years ( unless the kids get near them ). But if you want to game or burn cd & dvd's you can pretty much forget it.


Ps: JerWA, Mabey the reason that you will never get an 8800 is that it simply won't fit and they know it.
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[JerWA]

Actually most of that isn't true of modern systems. It took them 10 years to realize it, but it costs more to use proprietary parts than off the shelf stuff. The only thing proprietary in my XPS410 is the BIOS. The motherboard is standard, and accepts plenty of CPU upgrades without Dells involvement. An 8800 will fit fine, it's been confirmed by other users. The power supply can even handle powering it. You can actually configure a 410 with an 8800 stock now, it's just the upgrades list that still won't show it. <shrug>

This system is actually plenty upgradable. I can move to a DX10 graphics card, I can put any non-1333 fsb Core 2 CPU into it, and maybe those if I go track down the BIOS update. The only limitation is the locked BIOS. Dell really should have an unlocked version you can download after your warranty expires. What do they care what you do it after that anyways?
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[Cohiba]

The history of computer from a repair tech's point of view. My bread and butter has always been Gateway and HP's. I don't know how many HP's i've seen less than 1 year old with dead motherboards. Gateways were just junk hard drives and Video were #1 failures. Though I have to admit that since HP bought compaq there laptops are much better. Recently bought myself a nice spiffy one.. Gateway has been making VAST improvements in reliability and in the ability of there help desk to speak english and not read from a script. Dell on the other hand I'm seeing more and more failures of computers only 1 to 2 years old. In fact I just had a dell 3 years old on the absolute last day of the extended warranty have 2 dead cpu fans, 2 dead hard drives in the raid array. My GF's comp also 3 years old just blewup the hard drive. No oh its starting to fail slave it and get some data... NOOOO blue screen of death and reboot to the hard drive click of death and it no longer being recognized even in the bios. My computers with the exception of the nice spiffy vista laptop i just bought

[JerWA]

I don't see what Dell has to do with hard drive, cpu fans, or video cards since Dell doesn't make any of those things. All of the parts that failed in my Dell are non-Dell parts. My Creative Labs sound card, my Western Digital hard drive, and 3 nVidia graphics cards. The only difference is that Dell is a lot easier to deal with for replacements (as long as you have a warranty) than the manufacturers directly.

As I said, the only thing in my Dell that isn't standard is the BIOS program.

My complaint is that Dell would only do straight across replacements, even knowing that wouldn't fix the issue. That's all a manufacturer will do, so it's not like Dell is doing less than normal. It's just that with their buying power, and the vast array of stocked parts, you'd think they'd be more flexible. If you're willing to throw $25 their way, why wouldn't they be willing to send a better part? It's not like it costs them anything. The fact that they won't do that bugs the hell out of me, and is probably 25% of the reason I won't buy another Dell. The other 75% is the BIOS.
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