Laptop Nightmare

Hi Gang, Been out of action for a few weeks reason, my Dell XPS Laptops motherboard crashed and burned. Laptop just 2 yrs old, lost a lot of important images, however I did back up many more. Dells answer thats just technology and would not help out of warranty. An expensive laptop bought in belief you get what you pay for. Not in this case better off buying a cheap model and take a chance. If ever there is a lesson to be learned to back up all data I have learned the hard way.
Cheers.

What was the issue, if it's a failed motherboard then all your data will still be available off the hard disk?

I thought Dell's came with 3 year warranty as standard? Is that just desktops? We stopped buying them a few years back at work ...

Motherboard just cooked, Dell only supply standard 1 yr warranty on laptops'

Unlucky

As I said, if it's just the motherboard then all your pictures are still on your hard disk. This can be installed in a second machine so you can copy the data off.

Hope you get it sorted.

Has anybody with some serious know-how looked at the computer?
by burned do you mean smoke and fire or just crashed and won't reboot?
Yank out the hd and stick into an external hd case?

I'm only asking because my experiance with macs, makes me the local go-to guy whenever people have mac troubles, and a few who were certian thier macs were DOA were surprised to find out a $7.00 pram battery, a reseated/replaced ram chip, and re-install of osx saves many, and there is a secret recovery button on the motherboard, that has on more than one occasion, brought back to life a completely dead mac, that wouldn't even try to start-up.

ps if your laptop truly is dead...

may i suggest you photoshop a hole in the middle of the keyboard, then paste the image into a photo of your bathroom toilet, and post that on the net somewhere to share your feelings about Dells products and service?

Thanks for the advice guys,Dell has informed me that motherboard has had it. Would still need to get another computer or external hard drive to run previous hard disk.

Go to your local OFT. An expensive laptop that packs up after only two years is not of merchantable quality. Take 'em to the small claims court. Wales is not America.

G

Whatever you do, don't let them keep the machine. The data on it is almost certainly recoverable.

Let them keep it and they'll stick a £20 mobo in it and flog it as reconditioned.

You can easily remove the HDD from Dells.
You could even buy a £25 2.5" HDD-to-USB2 case from PCWorld and connect your laptop drive to a desktop and pull off the images you need.

If you need to send it back, remove the drive first
Matt

maybe the people that stand to gain, (if you buy another) aren't the best people to ask about repairing this laptop. any good repair shops you could get a second opinion from nearby?

While it may be true that standard warranty from Dell is one year, you can extend this to three years by paying a relatively small amount extra on purchase.

I highly recommend MattMatic's advise above. The HDD will almost ceratinly be in fully working order, so it should be a simple job to resque the data.

Thanks Guys, Advice appreciated will get the HD to rescue images.
Cheers

The advice I would recommend is 'fit for purpose'.

Sale of goods act 1974 etc etc blah blah states this, and as mentioned I do not personally believe that 2 years use out of a top end laptop is of 'merchantable quality', Do some homework, check with trading standards before you do anything.

My Mum's 12 month warranty on her fridge freezer meant absolutely sod all when it blew up after 16 months. Pointed out the law, stood my ground, kicked some butt, got a new one.

Find out your facts, call Dell, kick butt. That's what I would do.

Or shop around...

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143545/show_product_overview

Dan

Thanks for the link Daniel
However, note that the one you link is for SATA drives. The one I was referring to was parallel IDE.
...which is a good point for the OP to check before buying a caddy
Matt