This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz by scot mcphee. Original Post: Dell never screwed my notebook's video card down! Feed Title: SystemExxception() Feed URL: http://www.autonomous.org/pebble/systemexxception/rss.xml?category=Java Feed Description: java design and culture by scot mcphee Latest Java Buzz Posts Latest Java Buzz Posts by scot mcphee Latest Posts From SystemExxception()

Pictures: General view of video card, Screw hole 1 that never had a screw., Screw hole 2 that never had a screw., Video card easily moved.

Regarding incident ET20041104_XXXXXXXXXX with my notebook, Dell Inspiron 8500.

Please note up until this time I have been perfectly satisfied with this machines performance and reliability. I have defended Dell reliability and reputation to friends and collegues until this point in time.

Following instructions earlier this week regarding my display which does not work.

I discovered the problem is intermittent. Sometimes the display works perfectly, othertimes there is no signal whatsoever. No signal == no signal at any times, (bios, external monitor etc) and no type of signal, e.g. backlight also off.

When it did work it sometimes crashed severely, video suddenly reverted to 640x480 and 16 colours, Windows reported an issue and rebooted. Upon restart It sent crash report to microsoft and directed me to a website where it first said to upgrade my video driver (which I did) and subsequently said there was no specific fix or words to that effect.

This behaviour (not working/working/working and crashing) continued on for two more days despite minimal use until this morning (Sunday morning Sydney time).

At this time I determined that possibly the video card or other component was suffering from a failure possibly determined by mechanicaly intermittent failure. This is borne out by original instructions from Dell to tighten screws in base of computer, etc.

As I have an electrical engineering qualification and have serviced many items of complex electronic equipment such as naval fire control radars and suchlike as well as repairing upgrading and assembling many, many computers of various types, I determined my best course of action was to utilise the public information on the Dell website to open the computer and clean and re-seat the video card and its related connectors. Also as the machine was "out of warranty" (although only by 3 months) I did not see any issue with opening the computer myself - I am perfectly qualified to perform this sort of board-level service given your public information which describes the procedure thoroughly. This was the first such time I had ever opened the machine.

Following aforementioned instructions I removed control centre cover. Then I removed the keyboard according to instructions.

At this stage we now reach the critical junction which is the reason for this support email. The information above is only to appraise you of the full circumstances by which we find the below.

Upon removing the keyboard I discovered to my shock the video card unit underneath it, was not fastened to any part of the computer by any permanent fastener, screw, clip or other attachement. The video card by the absence of marks on the screw-holes where the screws should be has apparently NEVER been screwed down. I am very surprised that the machine took 15 months to fail in this state! Clearly there has been a massive failure of assembly and quality checking at your assembly and/or manufacturing facility. I am surprised the machine was not permanently damaged.

I have photos of this video card and its absence of screws. Here is what I want Dell to do about your serious failure to ensure your machines are correctly assembled:

1. Immediately express courier to me at no cost to myself, the necessary replacement screws (x4) for the video card so that I can screw it down myself.

2. If, after this action, there is any permanent damage to the machine due to this factory assembly failure, undertake to repair the machine to my satisfaction under full warranty conditions. As the failure is clearly one of faulty workmanship made by Dell in its factory, the machine was never received in a good state and as such I am covered by warranty according to NSW law. I believe that NSW consumer law is not limited by time periods in such cases.

Thankyou
Scot Mcphee
Potts Point, NSW.

Formerly satisfied Dell customer. 07 NOV 2004.