Computer Question (I'm probably screwed)

[Eaglesfan27]

The tech took each of the boxes after he replaced the parts so I can't get exact specs. I'm almost positive that it is an "extra" fan that is at the back of the computer that is revving very high, but I can try isolating it further tonight.

I'm 8 hours from Houston, but I'm almost willing to drive there to get this solved

[flere-imsaho]

I wonder if the tech got an el cheapo PSU with a loud fan.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I wonder if the tech got an el cheapo PSU with a loud fan.

You know, I'm thinking this may be the case. Can you find the wattage rating for the power supply? You may have a vastly underpowered power supply, and now that you've sapped even more power away to the vid card, you don't have enough to boot. How much ram do you have, what other drives do you have, and most importantly, what processor is in there? Oh yeah, and what video card is it?

If you don't know the last few answers, you should be able to at least discover the wattage for the psu, it should be on a sticker visible when you open the computer case.

[Eaglesfan27]

By the way, no need to apologize Tasan. Without your post, I'm quite confident this tech would still be trying to replace my "faulty" video card. I don't feel that bad about not realizing that, but I can't believe a professional computer repair guy would forget to plug it in not once but twice and not realize that was why the video card was giving him a POST code.

I just did the feedback survey of this guy's company and detailed all of these issues.

[molson]

If the guy is part of a physical local company I'd be tempted to show up there and tell them about happened. Dell is their lifeblood, so I imagine they'd be pretty horrified about your experience.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm not home so I can't answer all of that, but this is what I know off the top of my head:

Power Supply is huge and is rated at 490 (maybe 480 watts.) The video card was plugged in before and this system never had power outages. I remember that cord clearly being plugged in once you mentioned it. The CPU is a Pentium 4 3.73 GHz. I have 4 GB's of ram on the system. I have a CD R/W drive and a DVD drive that is also R/W. I have a 250 GB SATA (I think) Harddrive.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Power Supply is huge and is rated at 490 (maybe 480 watts.) The video card was plugged in before and this system never had power outages. I remember that cord clearly being plugged in once you mentioned it.

In a previous post, you said he replaced your old PS with a new PS. Were they the same wattage? If he put a smaller one in, even one just a little smaller, you could be getting an under power (I know thats not the right term, can't think of it) situation. I'll peek around and see what requirements that card had as far as power.

Found one thing, below should be your card, or something real close. He had you plug something into the black connector on the far right, correct?

[Tasan]

Okay looks like anything over 400 watts should be find for this card. So, if he cheaped out and got a little 300 watt psu, then it won't go. A 350 might be able to run it.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yes, he did replace the PS. It looked exactly the same but you bring up a good point as I didn't see the actual number of watts on it. It's a long rectangular box that actually slides into the frame of the tower.

Yes, the card looks slightly different, but I plugged the power cord into the black receptacle on the far bottom right of that picture. It snapped into place perfectly.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Yes, he did replace the PS. It looked exactly the same but you bring up a good point as I didn't see the actual number of watts on it. It's a long rectangular box that actually slides into the frame of the tower.

Yes, the card looks slightly different, but I plugged the power cord into the black receptacle on the far bottom right of that picture. It snapped into place perfectly.

Okay, further research indicates that the PSU is proprietary for those XPS 4s and likely 460w, so more than likely he put in the right sized one. Still, worth a check when you get home, if you can find the sticker.

Beyond this, you are down to unplugging every component, and working your way through one by one powering up and down and using the process of elimination to determine what is bad. I'd actually do this first anyway, since you are at a point where you just need it to turn on. Disconnect every drive, and just try to POST with only the memory, video, and processor basically. If that works, one by one power down then back up adding one drive at a time. If it doesn't work, then we're back to wondering about the PSU, mobo, memory, vidcard or even the processor itself. Electrical surges can do weird things sometimes.

Did he replace the memory? Bad memory can also cause the boot process to hang. If you have more than one stick, you could try booting with each one solo in the first mem slot and seeing what you get.

[Eaglesfan27]

He hasn't replaced the memory yet. I thought that was what they were supposed to be sending next along with a processor, but on the shipped list, I only see the processor and the "front panel input/output with wiring."

[gkb]

Wow. I read this thread when you first posted it and things seemed to be going fine and then...*BAM*. Sucky. A friend of mine at work had similar problems with Dell and wrote a letter to them detailing all of the tech support crap that he had to deal with and swore he'd never buy another computer from them.

I can't believe he mentioned to you that he almost lost his job because of a "customer" complaint. Apparently he's unaware of the no-asshattery rule.

It sounds like Tasan has solid advice...I hope you get it working again soon.

[molson]

Are there any computer companies that have "good" customer service (to the extent of having a national network of competent techs)?

I've just always gone into it assuming customer service doesn't exist. I buy cheap and then buy cheap again when it breaks.

[Tasan]

Any word on this?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Tasan

Any word on this?

Yes, unfortunately.

Dell after I had already complained to them once about the failures of their "premium service" and only after I sent off the 2nd long email, sent me a notice that they "apologize but the parts did not ship on 7/25" as they were supposed to. Instead, they shipped overnight on the 28th when I wrote my 2nd long email and they checked out my case and realized that the parts hadn't shipped.

Of course, this means the parts should have been installed by the 29th or 30th at the latest. Since, the technician still hadn't called our house by the 30th, I called Dell again. The technician reported that he was "backed up" and wouldn't be able to make it on the 30th. He is supposed to be coming today to try to complete the repairs. I asked about how this is "next day service" that was specifically on the invoice when I bought the computer, but never got a good answer. I also haven't gotten any follow-up emails from the Dell higher ups yet after I was told my 2nd long email would be forwarded up the chain of command.

[Tasan]

Ugh. Gotta love that premium service there. Good thing it was a throw in on your deal, not that its much consolation.

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm still at work, but my wife just called to tell me a new tech finally was dispatched. I guess the old tech wasn't really the only tech in the area or he has since been replaced. This technician worked on the computer and replaced the processor and videocard in about 10 minutes according to my wife. He turned on the computer and everything is working correctly now. She saw all of her music files are still present, although she did see an error message briefly appear on the screen when she went to turn the computer off. She is leaving it alone until I get home in 2 hours to look at it.

[Eaglesfan27]

Well at the wife's request I've spent the last 45 minutes checking out everything on the computer (and taking care of a few FOF MP files) and everything seems to be working well on the computer. As far as I can tell no data is gone from my hard drive. The only issue now is that the fan is slightly louder than usual which I suspect is because this 2nd tech still didn't replace the plastic pieces that probably provided sound insulation. It's not a loud noise, and I don't mind the extra circulation as I do agree that is probably better for the computer anyway.

I'm still obviously unhappy about the entire length of time and various mistakes that were made and plan on sending a follow-up email on Monday if I haven't heard anything further by that time.