Dell is a bad company with bad products.

[tgies]

I will never buy or recommend another Dell product, especially not their stupid laptops. Dell is terrible. I've been buying their crap for like half as long as I've been alive, but I'm afraid those years have not been so good to Dell.

Dell is absolutely full of crap. I have this Inspiron, right, and I have replaced the power supply to it something like five times now. You may recall my previous post about this. The thing has a terrible strain relief and a dumb extra wire and the cable breaks away from the connector in normal operation all the time. My parents have the same laptop, and have had the exact same problem I think twice now.

Dell support is no help. They have basically told me from square one to go fuck myself. "That's not covered", they told me the first time I complained about it about six months after I got the damn laptop. Since then, they've told me that I'm putting pressure on the cord or some crap like that (Wrong; I make a concerted effort not to touch or even move the damn thing because I know a freak gust of wind will utterly destroy it. When it does start to go bad, I hold the damn thing together with my right hand while using the computer with my left, which usually gives me an extra two weeks of use) and that I'm making things up and nobody ever has this problem (It is actually an extremely common problem, as made excruciatingly obvious by a quick Google search and the fact that the damn thing has a customer rating of TWO STARS ON DELL'S OWN STORE).

So, because Dell refuses to replace a poorly-designed part that must cost them something like six dollars to make, I've had to replace it out of my own pocket every time, and boy oh boy does Dell charge out the ass for that thing. It is seventy bucks.

And you can't just buy a cheap knockoff adapter, oh no! Dell put in some stupid nonsense so it can detect whether or not you're using a GENUINE DELL ADAPTER and it refuses to charge the battery if you're not. Hilariously, that's exactly what usually fails and makes the whole thing go to hell.

Once I got an adapter that just wouldn't charge the battery out of the box, and had to send it back and get a new one.

The most recent one I've had started making arc sounds shortly before it failed entirely.

I don't even talk to Dell Support any more since they are just consistently useless. I mean, the first time my hard drive went out, the guy tried to send me a replacement keyboard. I posted about that one.

More on the adapter problem:
getsatisfaction.com (where like half the threads at any given time are about this stupid Inspiron adapter)
someone who reverse-engineered it same as I did

Other problems I have had with this stupid computer:

• Hard drive failed twice — once about three months after I got it and again just under a year (apparently friends have had the same problem)
• Battery went to hell six months after I got it, received replacement battery under warranty, replacement battery almost immediately started causing "battery not recognized" messages and dropped to about 15 minutes on a full charge over the next couple months
• Hinges are breaking (I open and close the damn lid about twice a day. I'm not picking it up and swinging it around by the display. What the hell)
• From day one I have been unable to run any sort of game or anything on here because the CPU usage instantly goes to 100% and the fan runs as fast as it can until it overheats and shuts off. This is probably the most annoying thing. Happens when I run Flash stuff. Happens when I run SimTower, which dates to 1994 or something like that.
• Hard drive consistently runs way too hot (worth mentioning that the first one didn't do that though

I would actually tolerate this to some degree if Dell Support wasn't so useless and would just admit that their power supply is a giant piece of trash and do something about it for me, but no, that is too much to ask. Screw Dell.

I know people say "I'M NEVER BUYING FROM X AGAIN" all the time and don't mean it, but I have meant it every time I've ever said it about anything. If Dell cannot get their act together, they can join the ranks of Companies I Pretend Don't Exist.

Comments

[darnn.livejournal.com]

What are the other companies?

Also Tony I am downloading this:

http://www.heavypetting.com/

So if you're interested in David Byrne talking about masturbation (AND I THINK YOU MIGHT BE) you might like it.

[craphazzard.livejournal.com]

My friend has had similar problems. especially with the power supply I think its gone dead nearly 3 times now. It's a good thing that whoever bought it for her got an extended warranty from bestbuy cause she's had to send it in multiple times for shit.

[enallyniv.livejournal.com]

hey i have a dell laptop

it's a vostro and it's done me pretty well for the last 18 months or so and the only real problem is a weird orange light that keeps flashing to tell me my battery has gone dick

i fixed it with black tape

oh and i spent basically the entire time i worked for our local council trying to hunt down dell (customer/tech/delivery/service (choose one)) support so at least they're consistent in being terrible

[catamorphism.livejournal.com]

Huh? I have a cheap knockoff adapter (my department wouldn't buy any other kind for me, lol) in my office and it works fine.

And if you think Dell is bad, try HP.

[tgies.livejournal.com]

Your laptop predates this nonsense, then. Trust me, I know how this works; I took the damn thing apart and tried to circumvent the "lockout chip".

I think my best bet is to take the lockout chip out of the power supply unit and solder it to the motherboard so it's always there.

[tehslugbug.livejournal.com]

Is it a standard one like this?

The B120 ($500 a few years ago) has a regular barrel plug that you can get at Radio Shack. I used it with a DC-DC converter in cars and it never charged the battery, though that may have been because of insufficient supply current. Totally shitty laptop though.

[kelsie.livejournal.com]

I'm not debating what you're saying at all, but I've had this desktop for several years now and it hasn't died or done anything significantly terrible yet. I'm actually surprised it hasn't crapped out on me. I have a feeling it will soon, which is why I move things to my external HDD very frequently.

Anyway, I take it I shouldn't buy another Dell when this one kicks.

[tgies.livejournal.com]

Dell stuff was pretty OK about five years ago, and their desktops are definitely better than their laptops last I checked, but yeah.

[vxo.livejournal.com]

I already made up my mind as to NO DELL about two years ago when I started having to maintain their shit at WRGP. It's totally rotten.

I still can't figure out any practical or technical reason that it is advantageous to the longevity and performance of the product to have that stupid 1-wire eeprom in the power adapter.

The hinge mounting is hilarious. 2 tiny screws per hinge; one goes into metal, one goes into plastic.

Also, "battery not recognized"? Did they fucking chip the battery in the same goddamn way?

FGSFDS. For Gods Sake Fuck Dell Shit.

I still have the anime club's broken Inspiron sitting in my workroom. They've pretty much officially given up on it, though I may try one final hack session, relocating the 1-wire eeprom to the motherboard and putting on a better power jack. Hurrrrrr...

As for the hard drive, I've noticed some notebook HDs (smaller Fujitsu notably) run pretty warm. "Rattle Noise is Normal"?!

[tgies.livejournal.com]

They have chipped the battery. My parents' battery and both of my batteries have had that chip fail. I think plugging in the adapter when the lockout chip has failed nukes the battery chip?

[anti-esque.livejournal.com]

That's disgusting. I've been militant anti-Dell for a looong time ever since experiencing many episodes with a failed hard drive & zero customer support.. but this.. wow. And not to mention how cheaply-made their shit is. It's like they don't even try to cover it up. It's manufactured obsolescence and that really drives me up the wall.

Not that my HP Compaq Presario is all that better(!)... but it's doin' OK so far. Although I did have a little issue with the power supply, very similar to what you mentioned. Their website sells them for like $80. But I managed to find a new one on eBay for $25. It was an official HP one with a warranty deal and everything.

so yeah... eBay!