Can they do nothing right?
SC recently wrote about the death of his Dell Inspiron 8600's motherboard, and the unforgivably bad service experience he had with getting it dealt with. Today, he wishes to write about the reason that he barely has a computer once again, before the power dies completely.
A month ago, your host's AC adapter overheated, and began making a beeping noise which sounded like a movie bomb timer (while ceasing to charge his computer). Unplugging it to let it cool off solved some of the problem, in that it would charge again after a few hours.
Yesterday, however, this problem became a lot worse, where the adapter would not power the computer again even after cooling down. It did eventually, but with a much longer delay. Today, it has failed completely, and as SC types, a technician is ordering him a new AC adapter. It will actually be this computer's third adapter -- the first adapter died after 15 months of service, and Dell only warrants batteries and AC adapters for 12 months (a wise move on their part).
There is absolutely no good reason to buy any Dell-branded notebook or accessory, and SC will continue to hammer away at them in this forum for the remaining 11 months of his association with the company (that's how long he's got until his extended warranty runs out on the notebook). Apologies to readers expecting better, but SC has a number of mission-critical needs, like his programming and tax returns, which are not getting met because of Dell's ultra-poor quality hardware.
I had the exact same problems with Dell notebooks. My AC adapters always seemed to die just after the warranty was expired. I gave up Dells for a Toshiba, and have gone through 4 (count 'em, 4) motherboards in 15 months. At this point, I would give one of my kidneys for a reliable notebook.
Posted by: Chris | March 29, 2006 at 09:01 PM
Your tribulations remind me of the old days when we used to put ice packs on top of our Commodore 64s to keep them running.
Posted by: Bob Ray | April 11, 2006 at 03:04 PM
dell freaking sucks ive had to get a replacment laptop and it still doesnt work properly there are a bunch of random errors also u think uve gone through alot of ac adapters ive gone through about 10 if not more and now my ac adapter is beeping so im working on the 11th one. I most definately regret getting a dell! Its made my life hell..being on the fone for hours on end without my problem being solved. WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT BUY A DELL
Posted by: amber | December 12, 2006 at 12:13 AM
So true. I've had my Dell notebook for 6 months now, and it's beeping. I'm going tomorrow to get a replacement. Thankfully this one is covered, and I'll be sure to yell at them...in a nice way. I've worked in retail in the past. I can't be to mean...=_=' I would feel bad. XD
I'm glad that I'm not the only one~.
- Rachel
Posted by: Rachel | February 24, 2007 at 09:24 PM
I'm having the same problem, after already having gone through one motherboard and four adapters in two years. Thankfully, I'm covered through school, but what infuriates me is that as a practical matter I had little choice in the brand of laptop I bought, precisely because I bought it through school.
On top of this, my battery mysteriously seems to have become invisible to the computer, and so when, as a little while ago, the adapter fries, the computer just shuts off. Which is just great for the hard drive, of course.
Never again will I give another penny to Dell.
By the way, this post is the #1 Google result for "Dell AC adapter beeping." FYI :) The fact that I'm interested in linguistics makes that fact nicely fortuitous. I'll be back to see what you have to say about Lakoff. :)
Posted by: Andy | April 07, 2007 at 03:52 AM
I got the same case with my inspiron 8600. I sent to repair center, they told me my motherboard is dead need repair or replacement. Man, I only get this laptop less than 2 years(order online from dell). and use very little.
Posted by: yunfeng yang | April 18, 2007 at 01:45 PM
FWIW- I have been overall pleased with my Dell. I bought an 8600 almost 3 years ago, and have lugged it between home, work, and school nearly every day since that time. It has been quite reliable, with no issues... until yesterday. It appears that the motherboard may have gone south while setting in class last night... :(
Posted by: Glenn Piper | May 22, 2007 at 07:07 AM
Well I typed "Dell AC adapter beeping" as well, and this is still the number 1 post on google. In any case, my adapter has also stopped working (green light not on, battery not charging), and it beeps continuously (quiet beeping, that is steady and fast). At first it beeped for about a minute and then stopped, now it only beeps for about 3 seconds and stops. I'm assuming that this means my adapter has fried....which blows.... Funny thing is, my computer didn't want to start at first. I took out the battery and put it back in and it started up fine. Real funny thing is, my wife's dell laptop won't start at all. First hers, now mine. In the same day. We don't exchange files, so its not like it could be a bios virus or anything. Oh well, we'll see what we can do.
Posted by: Jay | June 23, 2007 at 10:45 PM
I am having the same issue. The adapters LED does not light up anymore and makes a faint beeping sound. Sad thing is this is my second adapter the first one had the same issues. I am not looking forward to calling dell again and going through the troubleshooting routine to have them ship another.
Posted by: kevisazombie | September 07, 2007 at 07:17 PM
Weirdly enough, if I hit the adapter against the side of my hand, the light turns back on and the beeping stops.
Posted by: Edward | October 16, 2007 at 09:32 AM
Ugg...Not happy to see all these posts reflecting the same issue. I got a Dell Vostro 1700 maybe three weeks ago at the most. Since then the first power supply died. Not sure why, it just randomnly began cutting out. They replaced it (after a bit of a fierce fight) and sent me the current one. Which, when I returned home tonight (after only perhaps five days at most) I noticed wasn't charging. Soon thereafter it began beeping and was extremely hot. Took a while again, but the tech. is sending me another and I also purchased a spare, as I can't have my laptop dying on me all the time.
Posted by: David Mackey | November 21, 2007 at 08:46 PM
I had a similar problem. The ac adapter may be repairable, mine was. Here is a link to the repair http://galenpowers.googlepages.com/galenpowers
I also bought a brightOn replacement supply and it works but it is hot and makes some high frequency noise sometimes. My problem was caused buy damaged output wiring. smacking it or bending the output wire helped for a while then it failed totally.
Posted by: Galen Powers | April 25, 2008 at 06:13 PM
I had a similar problem. The ac adapter may be repairable, mine was. Here is a link to the repair http://galenpowers.googlepages.com/galenpowers
I also bought a brightOn replacement supply and it works but it is hot and makes some high frequency noise sometimes. My problem was caused buy damaged output wiring. smacking it or bending the output wire helped for a while then it failed totally.
Posted by: Galen Powers | April 25, 2008 at 06:14 PM