[lthornton]

Ok, background: Dell Inspiron 537 Slim; Vista Home Premium Edition 64 bit; 3GB RAM.

I purchased this computer Saturday. Saturday it crashed, Sunday it crashed, and today (Monday) it crashed. Saturday, I was just routinely surfing the internet and, without any error messages, the computer completely shut down. I tried hitting the power button to turn it back on and it did not respond (almost as if it were unplugged).

I unplugged the computer from the wall socket and waited a few seconds before I plugged it back in ... nothing. I repeated this about five times and finally the power button worked and the computer came back on.

The same thing happened both Sunday and today, except that, in each of these instances, I was listening to iTunes when the shut down happened.

I did the online chat with a Dell representative. His first idea was that the computer was overheating. I told him it is not in a congested area and my previous computer (a Gateway that NEVER crashed, not even once, in SEVEN years)had been set up in the exact same spot and had never overheated. His second idea was that I was an idiot and had neglected to remove "packaging" from the tower. I double-checked, just to make sure, and there was no left over material on the tower.

Finally, he did the whole "remote takeover" of my computer. He downloaded some type of driver and told me to shut down the computer, restart, and let it run in System BIOS mode for 2 hours. He said if the computer did not shut down during BIOS mode, then the problem existed within the OS (something wrong with Vista? Major surprise!). Of course, the computer did not shut down in BIOS mode and worked just fine the rest of Sunday night. Then today, boom! It shuts down again.

Any ideas?

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Why don't you bring TWO DAYS OLD computer back to the store?
That's your only smart choice.

[Broni]

Why don't you bring TWO DAYS OLD computer back to the store?
That's your only smart choice.

[lthornton]

Well, I got back on the tech support chat last night and asked them what the return policy is ... you know, refund or replacement ... that kind of thing. The rep refused to tell me what the refund policy was and said I needed to uninstall then reinstall Vista. Which means I have to back up all my data again (since I had to from my old computer originally). It took me nearly two days to back up my data the first time and I ended up using three flash drives and 8 CDs to do it.

Then it took me almost an entire day to put all that stuff on the new computer, along with installation of the modem, printer, wireless router, and vhs converter.

I told the rep it shouldn't be my responsibility to deal with this because the computer had obviously come from the factory with a defect. I told him I would understand and be compliant had the computer been a few months old or something like that, but not three days old.

He still wouldn't give me the information and said "I've told you what you can do to fix the computer" and "it's up to me to do that, not to Dell".

[Broni]

Where did you buy the computer?
You're not supposed to deal with Dell, but with the place where you buy it and ask them about return policy.
Normally, you should be able able to return any item, which is not older than 30 days.

[lthornton]

I bought it directly from Dell and had it shipped to me.

[Broni]

What's their return policy?
Look on line.

[lthornton]

The policy they have online says you have to return it unopened. So, basically, you're supposed to be psychic and know before you get it out of the box that it's not going to work properly.

[Broni]

I can tell you only this.
If it was me, I'd call Dell, and be very persistent.
Talk to a manager, whoever.
There is no way, I'd accept few days old computer, which doesn't work properly.

[headwayne]

this is not tech info but if you used a credit card, you always have that avenue