700m - USB controller dead?

Well, I got this 3-year old 700m which started to fall apart last year. First, the cable on the adapter goes out. Then, one of the speakers and palmrest cracked. I've sent the lappy to dell for repairs, they replaced palmrest but the speaker is still dead. Now I'm having issues with the backlight going out if I put the screen at around 60-70degrees. The grand finale - the usb ports no longer recognize anything I plug in: I've tried flash memory, card reader, couple of mice, no dice BTW, the problem started with computer freezing when I had a couple of devices connected - keypad and a wireless mouse... For no particular reason, computer hard-locked and I had to cold-boot it to get it working. However, after that hardlock no usb device is recognized, Windows reports that the USB device is not "functioning properly", which is complete bull, because they work fine in my other computer.

Well, what should I do? Before I call dell, I wanna do some troubleshooting with USB and doing that with Dell tech is an excruciating painful process. I'd appreciate any suggestions.

Quick rundown of my system: Inspiron 700m, Pentium M 1.6, 1.25gb memory, 60gb hd, original WinXP home, patched up with all the latest MS updates. I have extended warranty, still covered.

Thanks!

Edit: I did notice a problem with USB when I got the laptop back from repairs. The top usb port didn't work in 2.0 mode, only 1.0 for whatever reason (windows complained when I plugged in 2.0 device). However, after a while that problem went away so I didn't concern myself with that.

 

Since you are still under warranty I would just talk to dell and save yourself some time

 

Definitely talk to Dell about it. I have a 3 year old Inspiron 5150 that had that exact same thing happen to it with the usb ports. My computer was still under warranty so I sent it in for repair and they ended up replacing the whole motherboard. The great thing about that repair was that my speakers were dead and when I got the laptop back they were fixed. I didn't even ask for them to be fixed!

 

Thanks for the suggestions I just got off the phone with Dell tech, going over this thing for an hour. Strangely enough, the usb started to recognize stuff after I installed Dell Notebook System Software. However, there's still something fishy about those funky USB ports, besides, the speaker and LCD backlight problem are not fixable by software, so in the notebook goes... Dell better get it right this time Boy, am I glad I've purchased extended warranty back when I got the notebook

 

Well, I would next time use Dell Chat because I found better success. Secondly I would tell Dell of all your problems so that it can all be fixed at once. Yep, extended warranties sometime work out for the best as a $100 extra investment could save you a lot of money.

 

Dell Chat is a LOT better...plus you can get a written record of what was said in case you ever need the info.

Warranties on such high-valued items are always a good idea (if the cost is reasonable). Take this thread for example...this dude's warranty (which probably cost $200-300) might help him keep his laptop alive for quite a while longer. Anyone reading this should take some advice and get a good warranty if you want to keep a machine for many years.

 

Dont know why Dell didnt fix the speaker issue. If you have extensive system failure ask for a full replacement.

 

well, i got it back. The laptop spent literally 24 hours at the repair center, and they replaced motherboard, lcd assembly and something I can't make out due to awful handwriting. However, they were in such a rush to send it back to me that they forgot to put back in the HD bracket and the PCMCIA blank card... What a bunch of morons... First they can't fix the computer correctly, now they are losing parts of my computer Well, at least they it this time really fast

 

Just figured out, what was the last part that was replaced. It was keyboard, I had it worn out over the years and this time Dell replaced it Computer now looks (and smells) totally brand-new

 

Alright, I just got the missing pieces. I guess my nagging at Dell tech support last night did pay off They were saying it's not gonna get here for 2 business days (which would have put it off to monday) but I got it today. Finally! a fully working 700m with brand-new keyboard, motherboard and LCD display It's almost like getting a new laptop... well, almost