Troubleshooting My New Dell Laptop: CD Burner Issues & System Restore Woes

[jrstephens]

I have been on the phone with Dell for a total of 3 hours over the past two days. My CD Burner will not work!! They had to restore my system as if it just came out of the box (which by the way it came out of the box last Wednesday, that's right LESS than a week)! That of course deleted my P3, my Kodak EasyShare, Yahoo Messenger and my internnet software I had downloaded and installed. That was for SURE going to fix it, well, it didn't.

They are suppose to call me back at 200 to run some diagnostics on it. I had to go home at lunch and get my cd's that came with it. Thankfully my boss is in court all day today and I can do this from work. My home is dialup internet and I have DSL here,so, it is a lot faster from them to do things.

I am just so mad that I have a brand new $800 laptop that I am having problems with!! After this call I am demanding they swap it out if possible! I jsut cannot believe this!!!

 

[vwpamperedchef]

Yikes. You're lucky you didnt get customer service in India. that has happened to me a few times.

 

[Jennie4PC]

My friend had a Dell and she had to have it swapped out. Her comp would just shut down when ever it felt like it Good luck.

 

[finley1991]

My friend had a Dell and she had to have it swapped out. Her comp would just shut down when ever it felt like it Good luck.

Same here... and come to think of it.. I'm not sure I know anyone who has had a smooth experience with Dell. They've been great in the past but I think things recently have gone down the drain. It's too bad too because people relate the name with good computers.

 

[tabnat80]

I hate dealing with Dell. Their customer service department sucks. I have had mine for 3 years and it's been sent back twice to them to fix the motherboard. On top of the hassil of getting it fixed, whenever I called, I couldn't get one english speaking person to talk to me. I have a new printer and it won't scan because my computer doesn't recognize the port. Go figure. Everytime I try to get Dell c.s. to help me they act like I'm an idiot and ask me if it's plugged in. UgH! Anyways, sorry,I had to post my little vent. Good luck to you. I hope it all works out for you.

 

[ahammons]

DH and I have always had Dell computers, but I agree - recently they're not doing too great. We both have the same laptop and we've both had problems w/ them just freezing up at odd times, then it will work as if everything's fine. My MIL recently bought one for her DH as his Christmas gift... it's wrapped and he's not getting it until Christmas, but someone from Dell has called four times over the last week to ask if he wants the warranty!! Luckily, my FIL hasn't been home when they've called but still - it's getting frustrating for her. She told the lady that it was a present and not to call back because she'd give the surprise away. The lady was sort of rude and said "you mean you bought your husband a gift on his account?" Since then, they've called when they've been at work and I answered. I keep telling them that it's a surprise and they need to stop calling until after Christmas, and each time they say they'll note it in the account... obviously they didn't! Don't even get me started on not being able to understand the people when you call!!

 

[pamperedbecky]

I have a Dell and got it two years ago. No problems until recently where it seems that the lower part where the mouse and buttons are sometimes do screwy things. The little side and bottom scroll thingies don't work. Sometimes my cursor jumps to where my mouse is "resting" and it starts typing in the middle of the wrong place in an email or document. I'm sure there's an issue with my mouse pad, but I know it's out of warranty now. It's a pain, but I really would rather deal with it now instead of having to send my laptop away and being without it. Even taking it in to a computer guy would involve me being without it. I wouldn't like that. Although come to think of it, it's not like I"ll be submitting any shows in the next several weeks!

 

[chefbritt]

I have a Dell and have had nothing but problems. Unfortunately my warranty has run out, and now the screen seems to be dieing. Next time, I'll be going with anyone but Dell. Good luck, I hope Dell proves us all wrong this time and fixes things for you!

 

[kaseydee]

I have a Dell Lattitude D360 & love it never had any problems. Now for our desktop unit I use for our POS it crashed 2yrs ago last month BUT I had the extended warranty & they overnighted the part & had a tech here to fix it the same day. So, I wanted to give you some hope since almost everyone else has had bad experiences. We have over ten Dell desktops & always buy the longest warranty they offer just in case something goes wrong. Only had to use it once so far. Sorry your having a rough time I know from your previous post you were really excited to be getting a new computer.

 

[janetupnorth]

We have over 400 Dells here at work, so I am QUITE familiar with them. Home support is different than business, yet similar. Unless you are a tech and/or know enough about PC repair to understand their usual "Flowchart of diagnostics" you really get the run around with them. The best thing to do is if the CD is acting up sporadically with known working CDs and media then just plain tell them it doesn't work. Anything in between working and dead and they go through umpteen million diagnostics only to come to the same conclusion you knew.The restore to 'out of the box' is just to make sure nothing got wiped out with the burning software which I personally would have pushed NOT TO DO. Of course, I've learned enough to get pushy with Dell.What model laptop do you have by the way? Inspirons used to be the bottom of the line with Latitudes being better, but now they've flipped quality of parts in the laptops and latitudes have been causing issues whereas Inspirons have been doing great.

 

[janetupnorth]

On Dell computers, if you do go with one, get a 3-4 year warranty. Most problems with their stuff happens during that time!

 

[jrstephens]

They are sending me a new CD drive. After all they tried they could not fix it over the phone.

I had very nice CS reps each of the 4 calls that I had from them. Only one sounded un-American. The rest were in Oklahoma City. They were all nice and friendly.

I have one Dell desktop at home and we have two at work. This is the first time I have ever had a problem with any of them, so, I have been fortunate from the way you all sound.

Thanks Janet for giving me some hope!!HA!

 

[janetupnorth]

He-he- another example of C.S. (Customer Service) turning into Chef Success!

 

[LibrarianChef]

I have a Dell Lattitude D360 & love it never had any problems. Now for our desktop unit I use for our POS it crashed 2yrs ago last month BUT I had the extended warranty & they overnighted the part & had a tech here to fix it the same day. So, I wanted to give you some hope since almost everyone else has had bad experiences. We have over ten Dell desktops & always buy the longest warranty they offer just in case something goes wrong. Only had to use it once so far. Sorry your having a rough time I know from your previous post you were really excited to be getting a new computer.

That must be why we've had the best experiences with Dell compared to all our dealings with HP, Gateway, etc. We always get the full extended warranty (we're going to assume something will eventually break since every brand we've tried has had one problem or another within the first few months) and ALWAYS got a customer service rep from our same state and ALWAYS got someone at our doorstep within 24 hours if they couldn't fix the problem on the phone. With our other brand computers we're sent to India and have to spend countless hours on hold. I seriously wonder if extended warranty users get a different customer service phone number or something. But as Janet mentioned, most computer problems happen within the first few years. Let's face it, after three years you're probably going to upgrade anyway.

He-he- another example of C.S. (Customer Service) turning into Chef Success!

LOL! I was just thinking the same thing. That keeps happening lately.

 

[jrstephens]

He-he- another example of C.S. (Customer Service) turning into Chef Success!

LOL I did not even realize whad I had done, HAHA!! I could have sworn I typed a C and S.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

LOL I did not even realize whad I had done, HAHA!! I could have sworn I typed a C and S.

You did - but anytime you type those letters together, Chef Success is automatically written out.

 

[jrstephens]

You did - but anytime you type those letters together, Chef Success is automatically written out.

GREAT!! At least I have not lost my mind!! I guess I have not noticed since that's the first time I used it for something else. TOO FUNNY!

 

[ChefBeckyD]

GREAT!! At least I have not lost my mind!! I guess I have not noticed since that's the first time I used it for something else. TOO FUNNY!

There have been some other funny posts because it was spelled out - and then the post either changed meaning or didn't make sense at all - but it is such a habit to abbreviate for customer service that way......

 

[DebbieJ]

I've had minimal problems with my Gateway of almost 3 years!

 

[christinaspc]

I hate dell i have had horrible luck with them and haven't had any issues with gateway that is my next laptop i have horrible laptop issues with the laptop itself and with their customer service be prepared to buy a new battery each year with your dell

 

[jrstephens]

The drive cam DHL today. They told me it would take 3-5 days to get here and would not be in the system until today, but DHL jsut bought it. I am at work and do not have a small screw driver to replace it here. KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR ME!

My co-worker said they got it here so quick b/c that last guy could tell I was MAD! HAHA!!!

 

[Jean DeVries]

Probably about 10 years ago, I had my parents' Gateway in several pieces on a downstairs desk. I got it all put back together, then called Gateway support because I couldn't get something to work and I had already spent like 3 hours on it and was completely frustrated.

The nice gentleman from India told me to type "f dees". I was like, "Huh?" and he said "f dees". Since I didn't understand him, I asked him to spell it. He said "F space d i s k"

Oh. "F disk." I told him I thought he said to type "F this" which I already had several times to no avail.

Apparently that doesn't translate well in Indian, because he didn't think that was very funny.

Thanks for the heads up on the Dell. I was going to order a laptop from them once I signed on my house, but now I'll look around.

 

[jrstephens]

I have installed my new cdburner and havehad no more problems so far. Dell was nice and very helpful, so, unless something else happens I am pleased with them.

 

[jenniferp417]

Whew! I'm glad it's working now!

 

[Chef Endora]

I'm glad to hear your up & running again.I am still in the hunt for a laptop...just haven't had time to get out & shop.