Dead Dell XPS M1330 (NV Bumpgate), Advice

[Ban Bot]

I need some advice on how to interact with Dell Support.

Sadly my Dell XPS M1330 recently died. The display started showing garbled graphics and after reboots, which didn't resolve the issue, the laptop has refused to boot. This laptop has a Nvidia GPU (GeForce Go 8400M GS) affected by the nefarious "Bumpgate" defect. I wasn't too thrilled 1 month after purchasing this this that NV and Dell (and HP, Apple, etc) knew these chips were defective for over 6 months and continued to sell them to clear inventory... Grrr!

The warranties on these laptops was extended (read via a press release) but I am anticipating the Dell run around as the laptop is out of the 1 year warranty (why would they give me a free repair when they can give the warranty-expired excuse?)

I have been procrastinating contacting Dell due to my extreme annoyance I have about the situation. Ever since I bought this thing I knew this day would come. Luckily I have a netbook for school... unfortunately my thesis and work keep me so busy I have avoided waiting on hold with Derll over this issue.

Any advise on how to cut to the chase and get this thing fixed?

Also, I have heard (unconfirmed) that they essentially replace the defective part with a part with the same flaw. Is this true?

Thanks for any and all advise!

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-b...ment-to-all-affected-customers-worldwide.aspx

 

[UTmtnbiker]

Same thing happened to me about a month ago on my XPS m1330. Took 2 visits from Dell to my home to get it fixed. In addition, there were the countless phone calls to "tech support" going through their scripted troubleshooting guides before getting them to acknowledge that they'll need to send somebody else.

Hate to say it, but you're in probably for about 5 to 10 hours of your time between phone calls and waiting for a service tech to come out to get this fixed. No way around it.

For me, and I believe with others, it's an entire motherboard replacement, which is a complete teardown. Not sure what they're replacing it with.

 

[Ban Bot]

Thank you very, very much for the response. Not what I wanted to hear! But I appreciate you taking the time to tell me what I was up against.

 

[lstratos]

Thank you very, very much for the response. Not what I wanted to hear! But I appreciate you taking the time to tell me what I was up against.

Sell for parts over at ebay or buy a replacement board off ebay.. get the intel onboard chipset one.. yes its not as good but it won't burn out.. or you can do something illegal with dell.. which isn't recommended

 

[Ban Bot]

As I just passed my 2 year mark (12mo + 12mo) Dell is refusing to do anything.

They claim the new warranty is a 12mo extension up to 60 months (i.e. they will keep repairing it if it fails in the repair period).

Any thoughts? I am obviously quite mad Dell sold a defective product--one they and NV knew was defective--and have no real intention of supporting the product.