Desktops forum: Problems with DELL

Dell XPS M1730

Core 2 Duo 2.4 Ghz

8700M GT x2

4 GB RAM

2x200 HD RAID 0



When I first received my XPS M1730 back in September 2007. I was quite happy with it. Pretty much everything was fine until about the beginning of July 2008. Around that time I noticed that the top rows of pixels on the built in LCD started to continuously flicker. This did not happen if I connected it to an external monitor. Although not a major issue, I thought it may be a sign that the LCD was failing.



I contacted Dell Support via chat. After numerous chats and running hardware diagnostics Dell decided to replace the built in video card. After this was done the problem with the flicker was not resolved and the FN key no longer functioned. Dell replaced the keyboard on one visit and replaced the built in LCD (Sharp LQ170M1LA2E) with a different LCD (LG.Philips LP171WU1) on another visit.



Upon starting the computer I immediately noticed a difference in display quality. I noticed that this new LG.Philips LCD had terrible backlight bleeding. This particular LCD also had a purple blemish in the bottom left corner. When I watched video on my XPS M1730 now I noticed that it was very choppy and the colors were bad. This had not been the case while watching video before the LCD was replaced. This new LG.Philips LCD had very slow response time compared with the original Sharp.



I contacted Dell Tech Support via chat again and notified them of the issues with this LG.Philips LCD. I requested that the LCD be replaced with a Sharp, like the notebook originally had. The chat technician stated that the only way to be assured that the new LCD would be a Sharp, would be to send it to the Dell Depot in Houston, Texas.



Dell sent me a box and I shipped it to the Dell Depot in Houston Texas. I included very detailed, typed instructions in the box outlining the problems with the LCD and what it needed to be replaced with. I shipped the XPS to the Depot before I left town for a few weeks, on August 9th, 2008. I had notified the chat technician that I would be out of town for a few weeks so the system could stay at the Depot until the problem was resolved. I did not need the computer shipped back to me until I was back home. He understood this and asked when I would like the computer shipped back to me. I told him that I would not need it shipped back to me until September 3rd. He acknowledged this.



While I was out of town I had received an e-mail notifiying me that the computer had been shipped back to me on August 12th. I was not going to be home until September 4th so I was hoping that the issue was resolved. When I returned home and opened the box with the computer there was a sheet inside stating that the keyboard had been serviced. Nothing was mentioned about the LCD.



I started the computer and noticed the same issue with the LCD, the very bad back light bleeding. However now the system would not recognize the hard disks so I could not boot into Windows and use the computer for work.



I notified Dell Technical Support via phone, they had someone come out 5 days later and replace the Motherboard and LCD. The system will boot up now, however the LCD Dell installed is still a LG.Philips LP171WU1. Not only does it experience the same backlight bleeding, poor video and response time issues, this LCD also has many dead and bright pixels. Some of which are in clumps.



I notified Dell Tech Support again. The person I am communicating with now is suggesting that I have it shipped back to the Dell Depot in Houston, Texas again. However I am reluctant to do this because when I sent it to the Dell Depot before the problem was not resolved. Also the warranty is running out soon and I do not want to get stuck with another bad LCD after the warranty expires.



I do not understand why Dell is making it so difficult to get a simple problem resolved. Why is Dell replacing original good quality parts with parts which do not live up to the quality of the original?



This is my first experience owning a Dell computer. I would hope that Dell would want my experience and all Dell customer experiences to be a positive. However since dealing with Dell tech support my experience has been anything but positive.



If there is anyone here who can help me resolve this issue it would be greatly appreciated.



Thank you for reading all this,

Chris