Troubleshooting for Dell

[Bruce]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Hi,

Just wondering...I do all my hw/sw repairs/reinstalls myself, and I can
work with techs over the phone just fine.

But, my daughter has a new Insipron that she'll be taking to college. She
has the 2-year on site warranty. She can help a phone tech trouble shoot
settings, configs, etc, but she's not even close to being able to open up a
machine, especially a laptop. Absolutely no mechanical apptitude. How far
does Dell push you to open up a machine?

Sincerely,
Bruce

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Depends. A broken latch you don't kneed to open. But it is really not
hard to open the laptop. I was frightened the first time I did it. I'm
71 with no outside help to install memory. I'm sure if you would just
walk her through it a couple of times she could do it. 🙂

Joan

Bruce wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Just wondering...I do all my hw/sw repairs/reinstalls myself, and I can
> work with techs over the phone just fine.
>
> But, my daughter has a new Insipron that she'll be taking to college. She
> has the 2-year on site warranty. She can help a phone tech trouble shoot
> settings, configs, etc, but she's not even close to being able to open up a
> machine, especially a laptop. Absolutely no mechanical apptitude. How far
> does Dell push you to open up a machine?
>
> Sincerely,
> Bruce

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

i suspect you college bound daughter will have no trouble with tech support
if she is patient. they work from scripts and so no troubleshooting
knowledge is required, but patience is. the most that dell will ask of her
is to remove/replace the battery/memory/hard disk(in its caddy)/modular
drives. a couple of units have user replaceable displays. but these are
all very easy jobs that require removing one or two screws and then pulling
something out. there are excellent diagrams on support.dell.com on how to
remove/replace each user serviceable part... as well as parts that are not
considered to be user serviceable. check out the support pages, and show
her how to remove/replace the above mentioned parts and she will probably
find herself fixing her friends laptops while at school...


"Bruce" <parcxman@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9509A43D2F2D7parcxmannetscapenet@13.1.103.31...
> Hi,
>
> Just wondering...I do all my hw/sw repairs/reinstalls myself, and I can
> work with techs over the phone just fine.
>
> But, my daughter has a new Insipron that she'll be taking to college.
She
> has the 2-year on site warranty. She can help a phone tech trouble shoot
> settings, configs, etc, but she's not even close to being able to open up
a
> machine, especially a laptop. Absolutely no mechanical apptitude. How
far
> does Dell push you to open up a machine?
>
> Sincerely,
> Bruce

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

"Bruce" <parcxman@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:Xns9509A43D2F2D7parcxmannetscapenet@13.1.103.31...
> Absolutely no mechanical apptitude. How far
> does Dell push you to open up a machine?
>

Well, when my 4100 stopped recognising that my modem was present and
correct, the tech guy I spoke to told me to open the box and move the modem
to a different pci slot.

Also, when my hard drive started failing the SMART boot diagnostics, the
tech guy I spoke to told me to remove it, package it up and they'd send me a
replacement.

No problem in either case because I'm comfortable messing around inside a pc
(and, in fact, Dell replaced the 60gb Maxtor with an 80gb Western Digital)
but I'm not sure whether the advice would have been suitable for someone
less confident.

But as someone else has pointed out, that's the danger in working from
scripts.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 23:08:37 +0000 (UTC), Bruce <parcxman@netscape.net> wrote:
> Hi,

> Just wondering...I do all my hw/sw repairs/reinstalls myself, and I can
> work with techs over the phone just fine.

> But, my daughter has a new Insipron that she'll be taking to college. She
> has the 2-year on site warranty. She can help a phone tech trouble shoot
> settings, configs, etc, but she's not even close to being able to open up a
> machine, especially a laptop. Absolutely no mechanical apptitude. How far
> does Dell push you to open up a machine?

I recently called tech support on behalf of my daughter for her
Inspiron 1100 with a bad keyboard. I had to push the tech guy hard to
get him to focus on the actual problem -- at one point he told me to
run the anti-virus software! I asked for his boss, and he decided
that maye it was a bad keyboard after all an switched me to hardware
tech support (in Texas).

The hardware tech guy told me the the keyboard on an I 1100 was a
"customer replacable unit". They sent me a replacement. The
installation required removing the hinge cover and a few screws -- not
too hard.

My daughter said she'd never have been able to do it.

So Dell tech support requires more than just a contract. You also
need patience, firmness, controlled anger, and some mechanical
aptitude.

--
Dale Dellutri <ddelQQQlutr@panQQQix.com> (lose the Q's)