More M1330 misery

Hi Guys, new to the forum although I have been reading posts for some time.

This is a LONG story although I will cut it down as much as possible ...

I bought a M1330 last year whilst in the UK on vacation (live in the Caribbean). About 2 months ago I started having the vertical line problem (yes it's the Nvidia one) - then one day it died completely so I jumped on the Dell online tech support, had a brief chat and they said no probs we will get it repaired. A few weeks later a local company contacted me, came and picked it up from me and brought it back the next day fixed. About a month after that I was in the UK again on vacation and the laptop totally died on me - wouldn't even power on! as soon I put the A/C adapter in the light went out on it, no lights or signs of like on the notebook at all. I contacted Dell whilst in Europe and they said my warranty had expired immediately after I reported the problem. I asked the guy (Indian call center man) if I extended the warranty could I get it repaired .. even though I already have the problem, he said yes no problem as the laptop is still in the 'grace' period (warranty had only expired a few days before) - so I said great and purchased another years warranty on the phone there and then (120 GBP). I told the guy at the time I lived in the Caribbean and was on vacation, he said someone would be in touch soon to fix it. A day later I get a call back from Dell saying it could not be repaired as it was out of warranty when placed the call !!! I explained what the guy said and that he said I could get it fixed. Anyway I spent the next few days on the phone for hours and didn't get anywhere, although they offered to refund my warranty - I left the UK and came back home. Since then I have contact Dell Latin America about the issue, but they are saying I need to transfer the ownership of the laptop !! (even though they fixed it last time round no problems) and gave me the link to do so. Every time I tried to do this it failed saying the original owner is incorrect, eventually it worked though. Now Dell latin america are telling me I have the wrong warranty and need to purchase a new one which is valid in the Caribbean ! another $250 !! The guy in the UK said it wouldn't be an issue !

Well needless to say I'm absolutely furious at this and I'm going round in circles. I've given up on Dell and have decided rather than waste more time and money on this I'm just going to get a new motherboard and do the repair myself.

On taking the motherboard out I noticed it's revision A00, isn't that old considering it's a few months old??

What I need to know is, can I just replace this mobo with the Intel one?? as from what I can see on this forum the issue hasn't been resolved with the nvidia chip. I don't really play games, and I just want a laptop that isn't a ticking time bomb.

I can't even explain how annoyed I am over this, I swear to god Dell will never see another cent of my money.

 

Sorry to hear about all that.
The motherboard is revision A00 because it's a refurbished part, Dell does all warranty replacements with refurbished parts.

You can switch the motherboard for an Intel motherboard, all you need is the Intel board and the heatsink for the intel chips.
I know computer parts are generally a lot pricier in the Caribbean, but here in the US the board + HSF cost about 150 together (ebay).

 

Cheers for the response

So I'm guessing http://www.discountelectronics.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=4285 ?

Where do I get the heatsink?

Thanks in advance

 

I have found the heatsink units on ebay, not sure which one I need for the intel board though ... anyone know?

 

because the light goes out on the powerpack as soon as I plug it in does anyone think it could just be the DC jack?

 

That sounds a lot more like a bad power brick.

When you said this

it kind of made me think it might be a bad power brick.

 

thanks for the reply, I have tried another dell power brick and a hp one (which I know powers the laptop but doesn't charge) and I get nothing with both.

 

bump, anyone know (or where I can find out) the part number I need for the heatsink on the Intel GPU board?

 

Am I the only one, or do other people hate it when threads get bumped? To me it's exactly the same as cutting into the line at the supermarket or pull into the turning lane the last second.

 

Heatsinks, Fans and Accessories

UP755 Thermal Pad
YT243 Integrated Heatsink (includes fan), M1330
MM911 Discrete Heatsink (includes fan), M1330

(grabbed from Dell's part list excel workbook - http://warrantypartsdirect.dell.com/AMER/program/XPS Portable Update 20081104.xls)

 

I looked everywhere for that too, thanks you're a great help

 

I have the exact same symptom. The laptop was out of warranty by less than 2 weeks. Called Dell, and they offered me the extended warranty: $180 for 1 more year, and $286 for two years. I don't think I have the time to convince them it should be covered by the original warranty, so I just bought the 2 extra years of warranty.

They said it is the motherboard. I have a new ac adaptor from them about a week ago already, and that one should be good. The other telltale sign is that the battery is fully charged, but the laptop would not turn on with that.

They said it takes 2 to 3 days to ship the part to a technician, and after that someonw will call me for an appointment to have this repaired at my home.

This laptop has been the least reliable laptop I have ever owned. The LCD has been replaced two times already. Yes, it has the infamous Nvidia chip.