1 year old Dell XPS M1330 broken motherboard

Mister D

Hi All,

I recently rang Dell with a regard to a problem i was experiencing with my XPS(the battery was'nt charging) at first they thought there was a problem with the battery now my 1 year warranty had just expired by 5 days so i had to but it. That was €139. That however didn't fix the problem so i rang back and was told after two and a half hours that my motherboard needed replacing and would cost €470 euro. All this for a 1 year old laptop. Is it worthwhile getting this done or am i aswell just leave it. The laptop still works if i leave it plugged in to the wall but that kinda defeats the purpose of a laptop. what do ye think?

Voodu Child

Do you have the Nvidia 8400M model?

If so, you'll be covered for a free motherboard replacement for one year beyond the original warranty, if the graphics card fails. (And there is a good chance it will happen, they have an above average failure rate).

So instead of spending €500 for a new motherboard, I would just continue using it plugged in for the time being. If the GPU fails, you'll get the new motherboard without paying for it, and it'll fix both problems (GPU + charging circuit) in the one go.

Mister D

Thanks for the reply,

Yep its the Nvidia 8400M GS model and your right that went about 4 months ago but they came out and fixed it as it was under warranty. Does this mean that this part is still under warranty? don't fancy ringing them for another two and a half hours to be told no. Don't think i'll be buying Dell again.

Voodu Child

The system is under warranty (for one year extra), but only for faults related to the GPU. It was a deal struck by Dell after it was revealed that the graphics cards were built using defective materials.

So like I say, I wouldn't pay €500 for a new motherboard, you'll only be paying for something that will likely die in a year or two again anyway.

What I would do is continue using the system (off the main), and if the GPU fails again (which it may, especially if you are using it heavily) then you will get both problems fixed for free. That's about the best you can manage.

The only other thing is that if they replaced the motherboard already under warranty, and the replacement has developed a fault within 4 months, there may be some consumer law that protects you in this case. The consumer issues forum would be the best place to find out, I honestly don't know, but the replacement parts should be 'of merchantable quality' etc. You could quite effectively argue that the replacement motherboard couldn't possibly be of merchantable quality given the widely known Nvidia problem, but this would come down to how far you wanted to push the issue. Again, the consumer issues forum is the place for that discussion.

Mister D

Thanks Voodu Child for your help will take up your suggestion and try the consumer issues forum and see what feedback i get back before giving them another call.

Thanks again.

WellyJ

In the exact same situation as you.

I ordered a new 8400m board from ebay for 190 delivered.

Dell are a shower of ***** asking me for 550 euro for the same thing....

When I told them I was buying it a lot cheaper myself, they dropped the price to 500, then 420 "As I was a valued customer". I told them where to stick it.

I will never buy anything from Dell again, absolute scum.

Umiq88

Stress test your GPU till it blows...

Cry to dell...

Hey presto new motherboard



Note lying may void your warrenty

Eccentric

Had a problem with Nvidia on this same system before Christmas they replaced the motherboard, my warranty ran out 3 days earlier - contacted them and they rang me and allowed me to extended the warranty (went for 3 years for circa €150 I think). As has been pointed out the warranty should have been extended for a year anyway (Dell didn't tell me this directly and only offered me an option to extend my warranty, found out by Googling the Dell forums that it should have been extended for the year anyway. :mad:).

Buying the motherboard yourself and replacing it would be much cheaper than Dell's €500 (presume most of that would be call out fee or whatever), anyway it's easy to replace and takes about 10 minutes to take apart and put back together, you just have to keep note of where each part/screws slot in to and that's it.

Anyway the system went again a few weeks ago, wouldn't go past the Windows login, failed to read the hard-drive unless it was in safe mode, so they replaced the hard-drive and motherboard, again! For the price this system costs the least you'd expect from it would be reliability, unfortunately it fails a lot (quick google will show all the problems) if I wasn't still under warranty I wouldn't spend another cent on this system and would advise anyone to stay away from it, doesn't represent value for money IMO.