Dell Precision M3800 Owner's Review

Gents,

My dell m3800 will be delivered end of the month. May i have question that - does m3800 has a recovery partition?

Thanks

 

A quick video demonstrating the 'coil whine' issue. This is the same issue many have been referencing on the forum. I am awaiting a motherboard replacement as that is the only thing that hasn't been tried thus far to fix it.

 

Yes, that is also what I heard. At first I thought it was HDD noise.

Then, I unplugged the AC adapter and the machine went almost silent. There is HDD noise but is almost nothing compared with the coil whine.

 

It's not the power adapter; I have three different generations of 130W adapters (the one included with this system, the one with the blue LED ring around the power connector, and the one that originally came with my Precision M6300) and none of them changes the noise. Also FYI reps don't arrange repair service. You do.

 

Yes it does.

 

He's not a sales rep, he's a customer service rep. The m3800 was an exchange for a different computer so when he calls to check to see if I got the exchange I'll tell him I need a mobo swap.

Edit: He says they're aware of the issue but he wants me to send it to the depot anyway I've barely had this thing 24hrs, it's not going to the depot.

 

As I said up-thread, I don't think a 9.5mm drive will work with the bracket that came with my system, which had a 7mm drive. I believe one might well fit inside the case, if there were a bracket sized to hold it or someone was comfortable making their own (or in the case of an 9.5mm SSD someone didn't mind using sticky tape or just letting it sit without a firm mounting; that would be a very bad idea with a rotating drive.)

Yeah; I tried taking a picture with both a 9.5mm drive in (without any bracket) and a 7mm hard drive in (without any bracket) but it is not clearly visible from the pictures which one is which, nor is the extra height over the battery visible in the pictures.

Not a big job at all; a lot of screws on the bottom, but easy enough. On my initial dissassembly, I ended up removing the SATA+power cable at the motherboard end as well, but on this more recent one I was able to get the drive out being gentle/careful without removing it on the other end.

It should be fine for your warranty. Just remember to take your own drive out first and swap the old one in (or leave no drive in) if the whole machine has to go back to Dell.

 

Hello!

It's definitly a problem of a component.

This guy has two M3800. One without and one with the coil whine:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/del...sion-m3800-owners-review-194.html#post9562425

So, this eliminates the following (until now possible) reasons:

- AC-Adapter
- House power (wiring/grounding)

Anybody with this problem should contact Dell to get a replacement!

Regards
Sven

 

As has been established multiple times in both this thread and the XPS 15 thread, yes, some motherboards are free of the coil whine issue. The problem is that it's luck of the draw at the moment. Some people have gotten replacement motherboards that still have the issue, and others have gotten brand new systems that have the issue, even though some people who got their systems a while ago have had no issue. This suggests that either Dell has developed a fix but hasn't implemented it across the board yet, or the coil whine is caused by different motherboards ending up on different ends of some manufacturing variance spectrum.

Personally based on my recent experiences with Dell repair techs, I'm not about to let someone tear my entire system apart to replace a motherboard when I'm not even sure that the new motherboard will fix anything. I've got a 3-year warranty, so I can wait a while. And frankly this noise is no different from any other system I've had that uses a high-wattage power supply and thus has heavier-duty power components in it, so while it is a bit annoying and ideally it wouldn't be there especially if others have systems without it, I personally don't consider it a defect per se. And frankly even if I COULD be certain that a replacement motherboard would resolve the issue, I'd still have to weigh the value of that benefit against the risk of a Dell rep breaking something else in the course of the repair.

 

I would agree with that approach; except, if it's a brand-new system within the return period, I'd just return it and re-order. Rinse and repeat as necessary until you get a system that works.