[SOLVED] I bought Dell Desktop, seems to have a small damage.

[we3fan]

Hi guys,

I bought a Dell Desktop, and on the back it seems the thin metal next to the PCI slots is bent a little.

Everything else seems to be good, and it's only this small problem.

Is this something that I can easily fix myself?
Or I should return it?
I have 10 days to return it if I don't like it.


Thanks for your time.

 

[tennis2]

Functionally, it shouldn't hurt anything.

That is certainly NOT a new machine, right? (judging by the card) Probably...Core2 era?

 

[we3fan]

Hi tennis2, thanks for replying.

Yes it is functional for now.
I have used it non stop for the last 2-3 days and it works normally, no problems, so I don't think this directly affects anything, I don't know if I can put a GPU without a problem because I don't know if the mechanism on the back (Retention Bracket) that locks things-in-PCI-slots into place works normally and is not damaged from this "physical problem".

The only weird thing I noticed is this:
When I plug the Power Supply, the PC turns itself ON automatically for 2 seconds and then turns itself OFF again.
When I force Shut Down, by holding the Power Button for 5-6 sec, the PC turns itself ON automatically for 2 seconds and then turns itself OFF again.
I haven't had a Dell Desktop PC before so I don't know if this is normal operation for these types of Desktops.

It is an old refurbished Dell Optiplex from 2012/2013.

I still have the option to return it, and they will send me another Desktop of the same model. I don't know if the new one will have any unexpected malfunctions though.

So what do you think I should do? Keep it and fix it myself?
Or send it back and hope the new one they send me is better than the one I have right now?

 

[Corwin65]

If it is no to little cost to you send it back. Don't know how much you paid for it, or why you would want a 10'ish year old PC but that would be my suggestion.

 

[tennis2]

I agree with Corwin65. If the return cost is small/zero, I'd get an undamaged unit**. If, like you said, the damage on this unit prevents a dual slot GPU from installing correctly, then that's undesirable.
**Be aware that these are refurbs, so there's no guarantee that the next unit you receive wont have physical defects either.

When I plug the Power Supply, the PC turns itself ON automatically for 2 seconds and then turns itself OFF again.

This is pretty normal for most systems, even non-OEM ones.

When I force Shut Down, by holding the Power Button for 5-6 sec, the PC turns itself ON automatically for 2 seconds and then turns itself OFF again.

Not as normal...
Not necessarily "bad", but I haven't had any properly functioning PCs do this. Take that as you want.

 

[we3fan]

I paid 230$ for it.

@tennis2, @Corwin65 - Thanks for all your help guys, I really appreciate it.

I decided to return it for a replacement.

 

[punkncat]

Pay attention to 'grade' in relation to buying refurbished units. Often they will reflect a letter grade for the condition of the unit.

In most cases what happens with machines of this class.

A large company will lease these when they are new. Almost every company my own experience in this covers is that they will keep them for around five years. Many of the companies PC I have dealt with on this routine will do a 2.5 year update, generally something like RAM and SSD and such things to help the user experience. After that lease term is up the company will "send them back to Dell" (not really Dell) but an authorized group that will receive the chassis back in. Most of these machines will have a bar code sticker and service tag on them. The group that gets them back aren't responsible for what is inside, just that the chassis was returned.
IME much of the time these machines that are taken out of service and returned will have the CPU/RAM/GPU (if applicable) and such removed. As mentioned the place is only checking in the chassis. Generally speaking it would only be i5 and i7 machines that the CPU is taken from. Often all the RAM is gone and such. The drives are often removed by the leasing group to protect their privacy, and in some cases the group receiving the machine back will automatically remove and destroy these.

From there these will sometimes go direct to a refurbisher if they don't already have one in house. Often the machines that are more work than they want to put in will just be stacked on a pallet and then sold in bulk to (other) refurbishers or other sale outlets. From there those groups will typically put in a CPU if it's gone, given it a cheap drive, a stick of RAM, clean it a little and sell it on. In some cases these "authorized" refurbishers will select the better machines to be leased out or sold on to another company for a few more years use and repeat the process.

During this it is not uncommon for them to get beat up a little and thus why they are commonly graded for the shape they are in. Often, when buying these machines, if a little cosmetic damage is showing it may or may not be worth returning (if it works right) because the replacement may well be worse.