News4 mins ago
help!!!! dell netbook crash
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my 16 yr old son purchased a dell net book 2 months ago. it has been plagued by problems over the last week where it started to switch itself off and randomly select programmes to delete. yesterday, he attempted a system restore, but did not have the charger plugged in and the power switched off in the middle of this. as a result, it has now completely crashed. he does not have any recovery disks with the netbook (is this right?) and now cannot do anything with it. he went back to currys where it was purchased from and they are not interested and offered him the option of looking at it for £50 and charging him for repairs. where can we go from here? what are his rights - currys say it is a software problem and as such is not their responsibility. he has exams for the next two weeks and is gutted that things have gone so wrong. mtia x
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well for a start currys are quite correct, it's not their problem if somebody destroys the software installation on a computer (in a similar way it wouldn't be covered by a warranty if you throw it out a window, warranties do not cover damage or problems caused by the user)
it might have a restore partition on it, in which case switch it on and holdd done CTRL and keep tapping F11 to see if it brings up the restore options.
it might have a restore partition on it, in which case switch it on and holdd done CTRL and keep tapping F11 to see if it brings up the restore options.
As it is newish laptop I would try Dell UK support.
http://support.euro.d...576&l=en&s=dhs#Issue3
This is their website and gives some instructions on restoring the laptop. However if you have seriously corrupted the software it may be best to phone Dell Support and request the set of discs to perform a full reinstall of operating system and drivers.
http://support.euro.d...576&l=en&s=dhs#Issue3
This is their website and gives some instructions on restoring the laptop. However if you have seriously corrupted the software it may be best to phone Dell Support and request the set of discs to perform a full reinstall of operating system and drivers.
I had the same problem. I ended up reinstalling all of the software from scratch.
Make sure the Netbook is known and registered to Dell as you'll need the right drivers from their site. The way to do this is to contact the telephone support and quote the Service Tag number (seven digit) printed on the base of the Netbook. You then get the Support software from the main site and it should recognise the Service Tag. It'll then sort out the right drivers automatically.
The other thing to watch is the screen size when you reset it. There's a cryptic reference to it in the documentation. It's an odd size and unless it's set correctly you'll lose the information at the bottom of the screen.
As it's only two months old I'd write to the head office a) pointing out it's 2 months and you want it fixed under the 1978 Sale of Goods Act (and subsequent amendments) and b) if it screws up his exams you will be seeking damages as well!
Make sure the Netbook is known and registered to Dell as you'll need the right drivers from their site. The way to do this is to contact the telephone support and quote the Service Tag number (seven digit) printed on the base of the Netbook. You then get the Support software from the main site and it should recognise the Service Tag. It'll then sort out the right drivers automatically.
The other thing to watch is the screen size when you reset it. There's a cryptic reference to it in the documentation. It's an odd size and unless it's set correctly you'll lose the information at the bottom of the screen.
As it's only two months old I'd write to the head office a) pointing out it's 2 months and you want it fixed under the 1978 Sale of Goods Act (and subsequent amendments) and b) if it screws up his exams you will be seeking damages as well!
The sale of good act won't get them anywhere, it was supplied fit for purpose and still is, the fact that the user has destroyed the software on it by attempting to do a restore while on battery power is not dells fault.
If you purchased a diesel car and then destroyed the engine by putting petrol in it you wouldn't expect the manufacturer to fix it under warranty or to be able to quote the sale of goods act at them
Anyhow, stonekicker seems to have lost interest in this question as they've not replied.
If you purchased a diesel car and then destroyed the engine by putting petrol in it you wouldn't expect the manufacturer to fix it under warranty or to be able to quote the sale of goods act at them
Anyhow, stonekicker seems to have lost interest in this question as they've not replied.
hi chuck - haven't lost interest as my own laptop is out of action ( i spilt coffee on it!), but at least that is insured. he did try the f11 thing, but to no avail. at the mo my son does not have an external drive, but i think he may have to purchase one in order to reload the original software. question is - should he have had discs with the computer or does he have to go through dell? the discs were not in the box when he got the netbook home. mtia x
the CTRL + F11 is for XP versions, if you have a windows 7 version of the netbook then start tapping F8 as soon as you turn it on and one of the options in the menu that comes up should be "repair windows" and that should give you the option of restoring windows.
It's not unusual for computers not to come with restore disks these days, they will normally have a utility on them that would enable you to create a set of restore disks from the hard drive (though of course you would need a external CD/DVD writer to do this) and the owner has to make sure they do it before it's too late (and of course they often don't!)
(from a personal point of view I think it's wrong that disks are more often not supplied! you pay x amount of hundreds of pounds for a new computer you'd think they could stretch to a few pence to suppply the media)
It's not unusual for computers not to come with restore disks these days, they will normally have a utility on them that would enable you to create a set of restore disks from the hard drive (though of course you would need a external CD/DVD writer to do this) and the owner has to make sure they do it before it's too late (and of course they often don't!)
(from a personal point of view I think it's wrong that disks are more often not supplied! you pay x amount of hundreds of pounds for a new computer you'd think they could stretch to a few pence to suppply the media)
indeed, chuck! however, i have gone digging in his computer's box and found the drivers/software he needs. i shall have to clip his ear and suggest he purchases an external disc drive and in future back up all his stuff like i have done on my laptop. useful - as i spilt coffee on it friday and it is being picked up by the insurers tomorrow. however, because i am so dilligent on saving what i do on my computer - i haven't lost a darn thing. thanks again for your help, i will try the driver approach first and see if i need any more assistance in the future. chuck - you are a star! x
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