GeorgeSpelvin
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I was hoping to get the perspectives of some knowledgeable people on this situation:
I recently experienced a problem with a Dell Dimension 9100 desktop. The system is 3 years old; it was a higher end model when I got it. I had absolutely no problems with this machine until one day a couple of weeks ago when I came home and could not boot up. Normally it was left on 24/7 and would simply be in a power save mode with the drives and monitor off after a few hours. This time, it would simply not boot up. For those familiar with Dell, I had a blinking amber light on the power up button. I had never had the infamous blinking amber light previously, so I was concerned (with good reason, it turned out).
Incidentally, this computer had been connected to a high quality surge protector; there had been no known electrical problems in the house, or lightning strikes recently. In short, there was no warning about this problem.
Dell's documentation only said that a flashing amber light indicates an "internal power problem" and that often the issue is the power supply. I did some minor things like checking connections and changing the system battery, but soon reached the limit of my capabilities. (I'm a somewhat knowledgeable user but I can't fix hardware).
Being unable to boot the computer, I took it in to a small, local repair shop. The shop had all excellent reviews on a rating site (for what that's worth -- they can be faked) but I admit that I had no referral or other information about these folks (except that they had been in business about 15 years). Here's what happened after I brought the tower to the shop:
The technician asked me a couple of questions and said he would check it out. He called me within a day with the "good news": the problem was only a faulty power supply. He stated that they had hooked up a generic power supply and the computer booted up normally. He said that a new power supply unit would solve the problem. Feeling relieved, I gave them the go-ahead to order it from Dell (it's a proprietary unit).
A few days later, the technican called to tell me that he had received and installed the new power supply, but was a bit agitated and said, "We've run into other problems." He reported a somewhat hard to follow sequence of events, but it was more or less: the computer did boot when they installed the new power supply unit, but it "couldn't find" one of the hard drives. He also said that it couldn't find the ethernet hardware when he tried to download new drivers. Then he said that further testing was showing that some aspect of the BIOS was "missing." There were various other alleged malfunctions.
Given these developments, I questioned basis of his first conclusion about the power supply being the problem. He then clarified that when he had hooked up their generic power supply, the computer had "started to boot okay." He also stated, "Your computer wasn't connected to a monitor when we did that, so there was no way to know about these other problems." The technician said that my problem could be the motherboard or something else and that he would need to do more testing.
Growing increasingly concerned, I called the owner. He called me back the next day. His account differed from what the technician told me in a small but significant way. He claimed that my computer did boot up "okay" several times when they hooked up their own power supply. But I asked how they could have known it booted okay if it wasn't connected to a monitor and he said nothing. He went on to say that everything pointed to a power supply problem, but when they installed a new one, my system "continued to degrade." He said that at this point, it had degraded so much that he didn't think that they would even be able to recover data from the malfunctioning hard drive. He said that my computer was acting like a system that had been hit with a power surge or lightning (even though there is no evidence of that occurring).
The owner also said that they even called Dell to discuss the problem and Dell advised them that I would need to replace the motherboard, the processor, and one of the two hard drives. He also said that the problems could have also affected memory, so they would be opening a "can of worms" if they proceeded. He was clearly ready to wash his hands of the entire matter. He advised against trying fix this computer and said that I could get a new system that was equal or better now for less than the cost of trying to fix this system.
His recommendation was that I consider my computer as scrap now, simply pick it up from their shop, and invest in a new system rather than sinking a lot of money into this "can of worms." However, he requested that I pay them for the new power supply that they installed and the labor to install it. He had the gall to say, "I know, it sucks...it seems like this was a nice machine in its day...you only got 3 years out of it and should have gotten 4 or 5. It's just one of those unusual situations where you have a problem that then affects a bunch of other parts of the system."
I have several issues with this situation, but I would really appreciate hearing whether others think I'm being reasonable: First, I feel that the technician jumped to an incorrect conclusion about the power supply without confirming that this was the problem, and he shouldn't have called me and said, "Your problem turned out to be your power supply." I only authorized them to order/install a part because the technician assured me that this would solve the problem. He gave no warning to me that other problems could exist. If I had been informed of this, I might have told them not to proceed. Second, and related to this, they want me to pay them about $275 for a part and labor, even though they are going to hand me back a worthless, non-functioning system. Something feels unfair about the fact that I'm paying for their failure to properly diagnosis the issues or to warn me that a new power supply might not be the answer. Finally, this notion of the system "continuing to degrade" as they worked on it, with all of these problems appearing one after another, seems suspicious to me. But some of you folks are experts...is this likely? Does the tech sound like he was competent? I personally have my doubts but I want to hear your view.
Right now, I have a worthless (I'm told) machine sitting in a shop with a new power supply in it...and these folks just expect me to come by and give them money and take my problem system off their hands. What do you guys think?
I recently experienced a problem with a Dell Dimension 9100 desktop. The system is 3 years old; it was a higher end model when I got it. I had absolutely no problems with this machine until one day a couple of weeks ago when I came home and could not boot up. Normally it was left on 24/7 and would simply be in a power save mode with the drives and monitor off after a few hours. This time, it would simply not boot up. For those familiar with Dell, I had a blinking amber light on the power up button. I had never had the infamous blinking amber light previously, so I was concerned (with good reason, it turned out).
Incidentally, this computer had been connected to a high quality surge protector; there had been no known electrical problems in the house, or lightning strikes recently. In short, there was no warning about this problem.
Dell's documentation only said that a flashing amber light indicates an "internal power problem" and that often the issue is the power supply. I did some minor things like checking connections and changing the system battery, but soon reached the limit of my capabilities. (I'm a somewhat knowledgeable user but I can't fix hardware).
Being unable to boot the computer, I took it in to a small, local repair shop. The shop had all excellent reviews on a rating site (for what that's worth -- they can be faked) but I admit that I had no referral or other information about these folks (except that they had been in business about 15 years). Here's what happened after I brought the tower to the shop:
The technician asked me a couple of questions and said he would check it out. He called me within a day with the "good news": the problem was only a faulty power supply. He stated that they had hooked up a generic power supply and the computer booted up normally. He said that a new power supply unit would solve the problem. Feeling relieved, I gave them the go-ahead to order it from Dell (it's a proprietary unit).
A few days later, the technican called to tell me that he had received and installed the new power supply, but was a bit agitated and said, "We've run into other problems." He reported a somewhat hard to follow sequence of events, but it was more or less: the computer did boot when they installed the new power supply unit, but it "couldn't find" one of the hard drives. He also said that it couldn't find the ethernet hardware when he tried to download new drivers. Then he said that further testing was showing that some aspect of the BIOS was "missing." There were various other alleged malfunctions.
Given these developments, I questioned basis of his first conclusion about the power supply being the problem. He then clarified that when he had hooked up their generic power supply, the computer had "started to boot okay." He also stated, "Your computer wasn't connected to a monitor when we did that, so there was no way to know about these other problems." The technician said that my problem could be the motherboard or something else and that he would need to do more testing.
Growing increasingly concerned, I called the owner. He called me back the next day. His account differed from what the technician told me in a small but significant way. He claimed that my computer did boot up "okay" several times when they hooked up their own power supply. But I asked how they could have known it booted okay if it wasn't connected to a monitor and he said nothing. He went on to say that everything pointed to a power supply problem, but when they installed a new one, my system "continued to degrade." He said that at this point, it had degraded so much that he didn't think that they would even be able to recover data from the malfunctioning hard drive. He said that my computer was acting like a system that had been hit with a power surge or lightning (even though there is no evidence of that occurring).
The owner also said that they even called Dell to discuss the problem and Dell advised them that I would need to replace the motherboard, the processor, and one of the two hard drives. He also said that the problems could have also affected memory, so they would be opening a "can of worms" if they proceeded. He was clearly ready to wash his hands of the entire matter. He advised against trying fix this computer and said that I could get a new system that was equal or better now for less than the cost of trying to fix this system.
His recommendation was that I consider my computer as scrap now, simply pick it up from their shop, and invest in a new system rather than sinking a lot of money into this "can of worms." However, he requested that I pay them for the new power supply that they installed and the labor to install it. He had the gall to say, "I know, it sucks...it seems like this was a nice machine in its day...you only got 3 years out of it and should have gotten 4 or 5. It's just one of those unusual situations where you have a problem that then affects a bunch of other parts of the system."
I have several issues with this situation, but I would really appreciate hearing whether others think I'm being reasonable: First, I feel that the technician jumped to an incorrect conclusion about the power supply without confirming that this was the problem, and he shouldn't have called me and said, "Your problem turned out to be your power supply." I only authorized them to order/install a part because the technician assured me that this would solve the problem. He gave no warning to me that other problems could exist. If I had been informed of this, I might have told them not to proceed. Second, and related to this, they want me to pay them about $275 for a part and labor, even though they are going to hand me back a worthless, non-functioning system. Something feels unfair about the fact that I'm paying for their failure to properly diagnosis the issues or to warn me that a new power supply might not be the answer. Finally, this notion of the system "continuing to degrade" as they worked on it, with all of these problems appearing one after another, seems suspicious to me. But some of you folks are experts...is this likely? Does the tech sound like he was competent? I personally have my doubts but I want to hear your view.
Right now, I have a worthless (I'm told) machine sitting in a shop with a new power supply in it...and these folks just expect me to come by and give them money and take my problem system off their hands. What do you guys think?
