Dell Precision M4800 Bluescreen (BSOD) nightmare

Let me get this straight - you put an image of a known faulty drive onto a new one and expected it to work ???

Same issue - don't trust anything from the dud hard drive.

The first issue is: is it hardware or software ?

To answer this, get a Linux distro (eg: Ubuntu), and "Try" it without installing it. Then test you hard drive from that.

If Linux is happy, then try a completely fresh install of Win7, using a known good source (download or DVD). If all still good, then download and install the M4800 drivers one by one, so any problems can be traced to a specific driver.

 

At first, the HDD was assumed to have a problem. The HDD passed all Dell tests but it failed in the SeaTools Test. I was told to image the HDD and clone it onto the new replacement HDD.
The new HDD shows the same problem in the SeaTools Test. So Dell assumes that the HDD is not faulty.
I was then told by Dell support to reinstall Windows from the recovery partition, which I did. Since this didn't help I was told to reinstall Windows from the DVD, which I did. The BSOD problem remains.

Since the M4800 has never worked properly right from the beginning I can't see why I'm having to spent countless hours (which I already did) to get this machine to work. Since I only have the basic warranty (I bought with an upgrade to extended 5 years basic warranty, now I believe I should rather have chosen the upgrade to 3 years ProSupport for same price) contacting Dell is a nightmare. Instead of talking to people within my own country (I'm from Germany), the basic support is directing us in Germany to a call center in Rumania (I believe).

Since I've already been struggling with this basic support for two weeks now, I decided to change my 5 year basic support service to 3 year ProSupport service, which would have cost the same. ProSupport promises to give you direct call through numbers to German Dell technicians, less waiting time in telephone queues and some more benefits.

When I called Dell, I was transfered from one person to the next. From technical support to customer service to purchase department, back to technical support. I had to tell my story again and again. I was told that it is not possible to change my support contract (!!! I don't understand this, since the costs would have been the same.!!)
I was also told that this wouldn't matter, since in my case, the "first 90 days" warranty applies and that I would get a replacement. So I was again passed on to someone else and the person promised to stay on the line to instruct the next person about the case. When this new person came on the line, I was again welcomed and asked how I could be helped. No instruction had happened. So again I had to explain the story.

This new technical supporter is now taking care of my problem and he asked me to send the dump files (which I had already send to two other Dell technicians in the previous days). By now, I have a collection of 23 dump files. And unfortunately I'm not getting a replacement (yet), the dump files (again) have to be evaluated and it's more probable that I'll get a new motherboard or other hardware first, the technican told me.
So let's see, I'm hoping for the best now.

I'm VERY frustrated by all this. I'm wondering how this business practice can survive.

I'll keep this post updated about the progress.

By the way, the bios update to A03 got rid of the repeating optical drive sound!

 

Think it's time to escalate the issue, and politely demand a new laptop.

Your entitled to return the laptop in the first 21 days no questions asked. but considering you have it 2 weeks and still can't really use it, should be replaced or returned for a full refund.

 

This exactly.. If you have been having this much trouble and haven't demanded to speak with a manager by now, you need help! Do not take no for an answer at this point. They've been giving you the runaround for 2 weeks now, enough is enough..

 

Then (idiot Dell techs!) it is clearly faulty MB. Second dave-p's good advice.

 

As a business customer in Germany there seems to apply different laws compared to being a private customer. I don't have a return right. Dell has the right to do 3 repairs. Only when the 3. repair didn't do the job, then I can return the product.

 

Maybe it's a little bit irrelevant here but I've experienced similar problems when I got my HP Probook. All hdd diagnostics tools showed that hdd was faulty but my local HP service constantly was saying that everything was OK with it after their "extensive" tests on the faulty drive. When I saw that they won't fix that problem at all, I tried to fix it by myself. And the problem was with the faulty driver under win xp.

First start with completely clean hdd - forget about dell recovery, win7/8 dvd that comes with m4800 etc etc. Find fresh copy of either win7 or win8/8.1 (Google is your friend), install it and then install the drivers one by one.

 

I hate to continue on this but this nightmare is ongoing.
Nothing has happened so far. After this new Dell technical support guy had taken the issue over (see post above) and requested me to send in some dump files, I didn't hear from him again until today, 10 days later. During those 10 days I had written emails without getting answers and I had called numerous times, without being able to speak to him. Finally when I requested to speak to a manager someone gave permission to order a new mainboard, RAM and graphic card and send a technican to replace the parts, in hope to solve the problem with these actions. The technician was supposed to come the next day. However, no one came the next day. I called the day after and was told that the parts only arrived this day and that this day the technician will come. No one came this day again. No one called to make an appointment or at least to say that no one will come. Today, six days later, I called again and was told hat the technican will come tomorrow.

To remind again: I'm talking about support on a brand new workstation business notebook, which arrived malfunctioning out of the box, with support being advertised as Next-Business-Day, On-Site Service!
Today is day 21 after first reporting the problem to Dell support!

 

I am pretty sure there are no 21 days here in Germany...I was trough the same hell with Dell support, for Germany there are only 14 days to return. And that is private, I have no idea for business but I have always assumed it is the same .

I would advise you to call and demand a replacement. Just start over if they are too persistent and get to another representative.

It really doesn't matter for you anymore, it counts from the day you first reported the issue so you still have the return right. (Again, verified private.)

btw...the support for Germany is in Czech Republic, not Romania

Hope I've helped...

 

I'd like to close this post now.
Yesterday, a dell technician came and replaced mainboard, graphic card and RAM. The system has been running stable since then. Therefore the problem seems to be solved.
It took 3 weeks to get this notebook repaired, which had come faulty out of the box already. This situation with Dell BaseWarranty (next business day on site service) has been unacceptable.