Laptop Question

[momof3disneyholics]

Ok, since I was on hold with Dell for over 20 minutes, and when I got a live person the call was outsourced to India and he transfered me anyway, and now I have been on hold for 15 more minutes, I thought I might get some better answers here.
I was working on my laptop a little while ago and it all of a sudden died. The screen went blank and it wouldn't turn back on. It was plugged in and working fine before this happened.
Well, I took the battery out of the back and then put it back in and it turned back on fine, no problems. So, my question is, why did it do that to begin with? What caused it and how can I stop it from happening again.
BTW, my laptop is only 3 months old.
Can anyone help me?

 

[Louise-Montreal]

The exact same thing happened with my Dell. It was 1 1/2 years old and I thought I bought the extended warranty- but apparently I didn't. It was going to cost me $99.00 to ship it to Dell then who knows how much to repair it. I ended up buying e new computer (with a warranty) form Best Buy and if I do have problems- I can return it to them.

I could find no one who wold touch a Dell laptop for repairs. I am sure yours it still covered by the warranty- so please update me on what is/was wrong.

By the way- mine would turn on and then when you touched a key it would shut off. Eventually it would not turn on at all.

Please keep me updated!!

Thanks,
Louise

 

[arminnie]

I ended up buying e new computer (with a warranty) form Best Buy and if I do have problems- I can return it to them.

My laptop literally went up in smoke about two years ago - just after it was out of warranty. So I bought a new one at Best Buy with the extended 3 year warrranty.

I was using it out of town last month when suddenly it just wouldn't boot anymore. I tried everything - reloading software, etc. So I took it back to Best Buy with my warranty receipt.

They tried a lot and said they had to send it off, and it would be at least 2 weeks before I would get it back. Three weeks later I get a phone call saying that it was water damage (???) and not only was it was not covered, but I owed them $107 for looking at it!!!

There was NO WATER anywhere near me when the computer went out. I hadn't even carried it in it's case in the rain. It is so bogus, but there really isn't anything I can do about it.

I just wanted to warn you and others that my Best Buy Warranty was worth NOTHING. I've bought at least 4 computers there (desktops and laptops) over the past decade or so, but I will never buy another thing from them.

Both laptops that failed were Compaqs. Compaq used to have really good products, so I don't know if I just got two lemons or if the quality has declined.

I've ordered a really cheap Dell. From now on I am going to just get the cheapest laptop I can find and consider it disposable.

 

[2BigKIdz]

Can't help you with your ? Mine will go into some sort of sleep mode and I have to do a hard boot to get it to start up again- nothing "wakes" it up! Also wanted to say that Dell service really bites. I paid my bill on-line, they called to tell me my bill was late (of course she barely spoke English, my husband thought it was a crank caller!), told her I had paid on-line, she says they don't have that option! I use it every month. I will never, ever buy another product from Dell.

I've never used Best Buy's product warranties, but I have Circuit City and have had very good luck with them. We've had a sub-woofer replaced (they did send it off for repair but couldn't fix it) and a boom box, gave us new ones without any fuss.

 

[MinnieM21]

My laptop literally went up in smoke about two years ago - just after it was out of warranty. So I bought a new one at Best Buy with the extended 3 year warrranty.

I was using it out of town last month when suddenly it just wouldn't boot anymore. I tried everything - reloading software, etc. So I took it back to Best Buy with my warranty receipt.

They tried a lot and said they had to send it off, and it would be at least 2 weeks before I would get it back. Three weeks later I get a phone call saying that it was water damage (???) and not only was it was not covered, but I owed them $107 for looking at it!!!

There was NO WATER anywhere near me when the computer went out. I hadn't even carried it in it's case in the rain. It is so bogus, but there really isn't anything I can do about it.

I just wanted to warn you and others that my Best Buy Warranty was worth NOTHING. I've bought at least 4 computers there (desktops and laptops) over the past decade or so, but I will never buy another thing from them.

Both laptops that failed were Compaqs. Compaq used to have really good products, so I don't know if I just got two lemons or if the quality has declined.

I've ordered a really cheap Dell. From now on I am going to just get the cheapest laptop I can find and consider it disposable.

My Best Buy Warranty was worth nothing as well and I was still under the warranty. My new laptop's(which was about 6 months old) screen went black and wouldn't turn on. Then it finally turned on but I kept getting error messages and it just wouldn't turn on.
Best Buy put in a new hard drive because they said that's what it needed. Well it turns out it wasn't what the laptop needed.
Their customer service was awful and I would never buy from them again either. I took my laptop in over 7 times and it never got fixed correctly nor were they helpful. They said they woud call to let me know how it was coming along but never called. I got so tired of taking in my laptop and speaking with the manager everytime. He finally said he would replace it if we continued to have problems(only because we were so persistent and let them know how unhappy we were). Well he went back on his word and wouldn't give us a new laptop. They said they would send my laptop to Toshiba right away. Well they didn't send it until way later. It took me over 3 months to get my laptop back (I just got it back) and it still doesn't work correctly.

Ugh! It was such a mess dealing with them.


I ended up having to buy another laptop from another store.

 

[Marseeya]

Where was the laptop sitting when all this happened? If you were holding it on your lap or on a pillow or something, it could have overheated and shut down. That's happened to me in the past, until hubby told me to quit blocking the fans.

 

[momof3disneyholics]

Where was the laptop sitting when all this happened? If you were holding it on your lap or on a pillow or something, it could have overheated and shut down. That's happened to me in the past, until hubby told me to quit blocking the fans.

It was sitting on my bed. I was wondering if it had got overheated. I finally hung up with Dell after holding for so long. The first person I talked to immediately asked me for my email address. When I asked him why, he said to give me the service tag number. Then I told him "Service tag number?! I haven't even told you the problem yet???" He refused to transfer me until I gave it to him. You know, after going through the extremely long phone tree, I would have thought when someone came on the line, they would actually talk to me, not transfer me!

 

[momof3disneyholics]

Also wanted to say that Dell service really bites. I paid my bill on-line, they called to tell me my bill was late (of course she barely spoke English, my husband thought it was a crank caller!), told her I had paid on-line, she says they don't have that option! I use it every month. I will never, ever buy another product from Dell.
QUOTE]
OMG, the exact same thing happened to me last month! I paid my bill online, ONTIME, and I got a call saying it was late. I told them I had already paid it online and they said that wasn't an option!!!!

 

[crz4mm2]

I have a laptop that I bought from best buy with extended warranty that I have had to take back twice. I have had no trouble with the extended warranty. Both times were easy. Just took it in with my receipt told them what was happening and it was sent in. First time took almost 2 weeks to return (bad hard drive which they replaced) second time was back in only one week (bad connection for the AC cord). Maybe my best buy store has better customer service?
We also bought two mini ipods (which they no longer make) and DD's died a few weeks ago. We took it back to the store, they gave her a new ipod nano.
I have been pretty happy with Best Buy.
I agree that Dell service is a pain. I have a desktop that I have had for 4 years (have 4 year extended IN HOUSE warranty) hard drive went bad about a year ago. Took me over an hour on the phone to finally get someone that actually KNEW what they were talking about , but then they set up someone to come to the house and put new hard drive in. THe phone call was the only painful part of the process.

 

[Dan Murphy]

If on the bed, very likely overheating. Most laptops have air intakes on bottom, outlets on side or back. Service tag for Dell is their name, more or less, for serial number. Every piece of Dell hardware (at least PC's and PDA's) has both a Service Tag and an Express Service Code, again, their name for tracking the item.