Faulty Dell after four weeks - compensation

rcssmb

No backup yet. Only option I have is DVD but with all the media I will get through quite a few. It is dual HD so have backup up some stuff internally.

Reggie_Rebel

Didnt go for a full restore (would have lost all documents and settings?)

Not if you'd backed up to CD or Memory Stick first.

I'm surprised that Dell didn't get you do to that rather than offer a new machine straight up.

Other posters have mentioned buying extra warranty to give you 24/7 uptime. This is almost impossible unless the engineer lives next door and happens to have a spare machine in the garage.

Dell seem to have treated you pretty fairly, could you not have had you stuff delivered/collected from work to save you using any holiday, but you may be able to get a bigger hard drive or extra RAM if you push them gently

albertross_2

What is the exact symptom. can you see your wireless network in the scanner, is the ssid being broadcast on the router, is the wireless light on, on the laptop?

If the card has been swapped out, it is likely to be a software issue.

rcssmb

Vomityspice wrote: »

:grouphug: Your a Muppet!

Feeling better now thank you.

rcssmb

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

you may be able to get a bigger hard drive or extra RAM if you push them gently

OK I will push to keep the old drive worth about £36 retail see how I go with that - same principle really. :beer:

weegie.geek

superscaper wrote: »

People do use home PCs as servers.

People use home pcs as home servers.

People might also colocate a server built with consumer grade parts.

No good dedicated server or hosting company, and no business in general with an IT person who knows what they're on about would use consumer grade parts for a server. And I mean a proper server, not a box with some drives in it and some shares setup to allow the other PCs in the house to access your music or films...

Of course the components are different. More reliable and stable VRMs, ECC ram, PCI-X, SCSI, hot-swappable parts and a motherboard that goes for stability over built-in features that'd be pointless in a server.

Do you really think if the components were the same the people building proper servers would pay double the price for the "equivalent" board?

superscaper

weegie.geek wrote: »

People use home pcs as home servers.

People might also colocate a server built with consumer grade parts.

No good dedicated server or hosting company, and no business in general with an IT person who knows what they're on about would use consumer grade parts for a server. And I mean a proper server, not a box with some drives in it and some shares setup to allow the other PCs in the house to access your music or films...

Of course the components are different. More reliable and stable VRMs, ECC ram, PCI-X, SCSI, hot-swappable parts and a motherboard that goes for stability over built-in features that'd be pointless in a server.

Do you really think if the components were the same the people building proper servers would pay double the price for the "equivalent" board?

The actual components come off the same assembly line though, i.e. the chips are all the same. They'll reserve the higher more stable chips for the higher end functions and split up the production that way but that's simply down to natural variance in the manufacturing process rather than them actually setting up different fabs for different markets. The assembly is all that's different and that's where the (legitimate) expense comes in which is why I said if you wanted home pcs built like servers it'd be far more expensive. To shift the home market to the higher end stuff does mean an improvement in the same manufacturing process which would mean greater run in time of that particular line which in turn means we'd be using much older technologies. It's the demand for better processors etc that pushes the manufacturing into the edge of diminishing returns on yields and yield quality. When I say components I'm talking about the chips etc whereas you're talking about the stage after that with assembly of the chips onto the boards and I don't dispute those products are different. And the key thing is that they're different not that they're improved versions of the home market products and the architecture is specifically set for a different purpose. I completely agree with everything in your post, but it wasn't my point.

rcssmb

aardvarkuk wrote: »

Why didnt you do this yourself then or use Active Kill Disk, If you were that on the ball then you should of done this before the PC went away.

As said tho try and get the drive back.

PC has not gone back yet. But legally its not mine. Guess I could get done for criminal damage if I return it to them shredded :rotfl: - at my expense :mad:

rcssmb

aardvarkuk wrote: »

This thread is pointless, your moaning about something that hasnt even happened, you need to get a grip. :rolleyes:

Sorry I think you have missed the point. I will take delivery in sometime within 10 to 15 working days of a working machine. I keep the old machine for a few days to do a transfer then they call to collect the old machine - drives intact with my data on. Dont think this is pointless, a pain in the bum maybe.

isofa

Can't really see any problem...

Why don't you just swap the HD from the old into the new one, then you've got all your files, the same set-up (presumably, unless they are sending you a differently configured PC).

Or, if you don't want to do this, to avoid causing a hassle / difference of serial numebrs etc. Open the two PCs up, connect the old PC's HD as a secondary drive / slave drive to the new machine, copy everything over to the new HD in Windows - removing the need for any backups on DVDs or anything else.

Then wipe the old HD safely, run the reinstall / restore CD which came with the PC to put the old one back into it's original state and return it.