Help!!!!!

Hi,
I'm completely computer incompetent, but here's whats going on. A few
nights ago, I was working on my computer, a Dell Inspiron 600m that I
bought in May 2005, and it started shaking, and then went black. I
turned it on again, and it was fine for a few minutes, then started
shaking and went black. Now when I turn it on, the DELL sign comes up,
and then it goes black. Its not the backlight, because you can see the
DELL before it goes dark. If you hold a light up to the screen after its
black you can see some stuff going on, but its almost impossible. My
friend is a computer genius and thought it was the inverter board, so I
bought a new one and we replaced it, but nothing changed. Tonight I
tried to turn it on and it made a loud, long beep sound.
Has anyone had this problem??? I'm a college student getting ready for
midterms and major papers, and this is just not going to be ok...
Thanks in advance!

Hi!

Has anyone had this problem???

You may have better luck if you just purchase an inexpensive or
secondhand desktop computer if you need a computer now/very soon.

It really sounds a lot like your computer had a fan failure and has
shut down due to the fact that it is getting too hot. It may be
damaged now. How hard was it shaking?

William

sounds like the backlight needs to be changed also.
and it could be the inverter board was a bad one, or not installed right.


kgorie wrote:
Hi,
I'm completely computer incompetent, but here's whats going on. A few
nights ago, I was working on my computer, a Dell Inspiron 600m that I
bought in May 2005, and it started shaking, and then went black. I
turned it on again, and it was fine for a few minutes, then started
shaking and went black. Now when I turn it on, the DELL sign comes up,
and then it goes black. Its not the backlight, because you can see the
DELL before it goes dark. If you hold a light up to the screen after its
black you can see some stuff going on, but its almost impossible. My
friend is a computer genius and thought it was the inverter board, so I
bought a new one and we replaced it, but nothing changed. Tonight I
tried to turn it on and it made a loud, long beep sound.
Has anyone had this problem??? I'm a college student getting ready for
midterms and major papers, and this is just not going to be ok...
Thanks in advance!

FWIW, the last time I returned a computer to Dell for service under warranty,
the directions explicitly said to remove the hard drive before shipping the
computer out. Seems like a small positive step forward, better than the
competition... Ben Myers

On Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:56:51 -0400, Barry Watzman
wrote:

The only things that could cause shaking are mechanical rather than
electronic, and the only mechanical things a

-Disk drive
-Optical Drive (CD or DVD ... IF there is media in them)
-Fan

It's possible (unlikely, but possible) that the shaking and screen going
dark are unrelated. Fan failure could cause overheating & shutdown.

Whatever, I frankly think it's all moot ... you say "I'm completely
computer incompetent", you are not going to be able to fix this
yourself, so the real question is who fixes it (Dell if it's under an
extended warranty) and what you do in the meantime.

CAUTION: If you return the computer to Dell for service, you might not
get your hard drive back (and this could be true for other service
options also). So before you surrender your hard drive, you need to get
any critical data on the drive backed up onto other media (I'd suggest
DVD media).

You MAY have no choice but to buy another computer before or while this
one gets fixed. For many people, not only is a computer an essential
item, but a spare computer is an essential item.


kgorie wrote:
Hi,
I'm completely computer incompetent, but here's whats going on. A few
nights ago, I was working on my computer, a Dell Inspiron 600m that I
bought in May 2005, and it started shaking, and then went black. I
turned it on again, and it was fine for a few minutes, then started
shaking and went black. Now when I turn it on, the DELL sign comes up,
and then it goes black. Its not the backlight, because you can see the
DELL before it goes dark. If you hold a light up to the screen after its
black you can see some stuff going on, but its almost impossible. My
friend is a computer genius and thought it was the inverter board, so I
bought a new one and we replaced it, but nothing changed. Tonight I
tried to turn it on and it made a loud, long beep sound.
Has anyone had this problem??? I'm a college student getting ready for
midterms and major papers, and this is just not going to be ok...
Thanks in advance!

On Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:31:38 -0400, Ben Myers
wrote:

FWIW, the last time I returned a computer to Dell for service under warranty,
the directions explicitly said to remove the hard drive before shipping the
computer out. Seems like a small positive step forward, better than the
competition... Ben Myers

Yes, they have advised taking the hard drive out for a long time now
-- at least two years.

I'm not so sure. I would like the OP to tell us what was "shaking". If the
entire computer was shaking and vibrating, that is one thing. If only the
screen image, that is a horse of another color... Ben Myers

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:50:22 -0400, Barry Watzman
wrote:

The problem in this case is that the hard drive is potentially one of
the culprits.

Journey wrote:
On Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:31:38 -0400, Ben Myers
wrote:

FWIW, the last time I returned a computer to Dell for service under warranty,
the directions explicitly said to remove the hard drive before shipping the
computer out. Seems like a small positive step forward, better than the
competition... Ben Myers

Yes, they have advised taking the hard drive out for a long time now
-- at least two years.

Hi!

FWIW, the last time I returned a computer to Dell for service under
warranty, the directions explicitly said to remove the hard drive
before shipping the computer out.

When I sent my Latitude D800 in, the tech advised me to pull the hard
drive over the phone. Nothing was said about this in the printed
directions.

Evidently the service people hadn't yet been told about this, because
I got my computer AND a 100GB 7200RPM Hitachi 2.5" hard drive back.
The work order stated that my hard drive had failed testing and that I
was to install the new drive and send the old one back. That was a
very interesting experience, as the original 60GB Fujitsu drive never
left my possession and is still running like a champ. As in "no wonder
it doesn't pass testing -- it isn't in the computer!".

I kept the Hitachi drive after many attempts to return it to Dell.
They may have wanted it back, but I couldn't convince them of this and
finally got tired of trying. It ended up in a USB enclosure.

Seems like a small positive step forward, better than the
competition... Ben Myers

For the record, I recently sent a Lenovo system in for repair. The
tech I spoke to (and the instructions included with the return box)
said to pull the hard drive if I knew how to do so. There was a sign-
off form on the back of this sheet that required me to check off a
hard drive replacement/reload preference (yes they can or no they
could not replace/re-image the disk) and sign it.

Both the Latitude and the Lenovo went to the same place for
service...Solectron in Memphis, TN.

Whatever the system, I would strongly suggest pulling the hard drive
AND making a backup of its contents before you send it off.

William

Yep, Solectron serviced a Inspiron 5150 under warranty for me a few months ago.
I think that their facility is co-located with the DHL hub there, for quick
turnaround. No matter where a system is sent from, it's a single airplane hop
in and one more out... Ben Myers

On Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:29:07 -0700, wrote:

Hi!

FWIW, the last time I returned a computer to Dell for service under
warranty, the directions explicitly said to remove the hard drive
before shipping the computer out.

When I sent my Latitude D800 in, the tech advised me to pull the hard
drive over the phone. Nothing was said about this in the printed
directions.

Evidently the service people hadn't yet been told about this, because
I got my computer AND a 100GB 7200RPM Hitachi 2.5" hard drive back.
The work order stated that my hard drive had failed testing and that I
was to install the new drive and send the old one back. That was a
very interesting experience, as the original 60GB Fujitsu drive never
left my possession and is still running like a champ. As in "no wonder
it doesn't pass testing -- it isn't in the computer!".

I kept the Hitachi drive after many attempts to return it to Dell.
They may have wanted it back, but I couldn't convince them of this and
finally got tired of trying. It ended up in a USB enclosure.

Seems like a small positive step forward, better than the
competition... Ben Myers

For the record, I recently sent a Lenovo system in for repair. The
tech I spoke to (and the instructions included with the return box)
said to pull the hard drive if I knew how to do so. There was a sign-
off form on the back of this sheet that required me to check off a
hard drive replacement/reload preference (yes they can or no they
could not replace/re-image the disk) and sign it.

Both the Latitude and the Lenovo went to the same place for
service...Solectron in Memphis, TN.

Whatever the system, I would strongly suggest pulling the hard drive
AND making a backup of its contents before you send it off.

William

"Ben Myers" wrote in message
...
Yep, Solectron serviced a Inspiron 5150 under warranty for me a few months
ago.
I think that their facility is co-located with the DHL hub there, for
quick
turnaround. No matter where a system is sent from, it's a single airplane
hop
in and one more out... Ben Myers



Had an HP notebook with essentially the same scenario. New drive was sent
from Louisville and the return label was to the same facility, I think.