[smiddy]

Mrs. Smiddy's XPS One TV Tuner went out and I had a chat with Dell and went through the barrage of things they wanted me to do to figure it out. Alas it came down to putting the original image of the OS onto the system, which meant backing everythign up. I backed it all up, did the re-image, and still nothing, TV Tuner not detected. So I chat with Dell again and this time they said we'll send someone out.

They sent the technician out with a new carcass of the PC, not TV Tuner card. I know, I was :scratchin: my head to, thinking, uhm, they think it is the motherboard, that just doesn't compute. Anyhow, the tech calls Dell. Now I am happy to see that not only do we customers get shuffled around when we call a CSR, but the tech did too, I had to laugh and say, now I am relieved to know it isn't only custmers who have to endure the telephone shuffle. In the mean time, he gets disconnected. He decides, instead of waiting for a TV Tuner card (this thing is tiny BTW), he would swap everything out like Dell requested he do, instead of endure the telephone shuffle. He swaps everything out, and guess what? The TV Tuner still doesn't work :scratchin: imagine that. So, he spent an hour removing and replacing everything and now has to come back with a TV Tuner card, which should be fairly quick remove and replace. Oh, he had to call Dell again and endure the telephone shuffle again. Luckily this time he wasn't disconnected and they are sending out a new card. But due to his schedule, I won't see him again until next Wednesday.

I figured I'd share this since I can only imagine that others deal with similar things or may in the future and understand from this, perhaps, that you're not alone.

Man, sometimes I wonder! :lol: !rolling

 

[papa_azteca]

That is funny but why did he call DIRECTV?

 

[smiddy]

That is funny but why did he call DIRECTV?

Whoops, that should say Dell. I'll fix it...:lol: I have DirecTV on the mind.

 

[Draconis]

The post has additional irony for me.

Around 6 years ago I was a L2 in a Dell technical support call center, one that was shut down so they could send the calls to India (where it’s cheaper). :shrug:

I guess you get what you pay for… :lol:

 

[LarryFlowers]

The post has additional irony for me.

Around 6 years ago I was a L2 in a Dell technical support call center, one that was shut down so they could send the calls to India (where it's cheaper). :shrug:

I guess you get what you pay for… :lol:

Ever notice how everyone in Dell Support in India is named Bob or Steve? Thank God Dell finally brought business tech suipport back to the USA.

Smiddy, why didn't you just tell them to send you the card... you could've installed it yourself. I have dealt with Dell support for years by just having them send me the parts and I would replace them myselve and then return the bad parts.

 

[tcusta00]

Smiddy, why didn't you just tell them to send you the card... you could've installed it yourself. I have dealt with Dell support for years by just having them send me the parts and I would replace them myselve and then return the bad parts.

His giant ogre hands can't maneuver inside a little XPS tower.

 

[smiddy]

Ever notice how everyone in Dell Support in India is named Bob or Steve? Thank God Dell finally brought business tech suipport back to the USA.

Smiddy, why didn't you just tell them to send you the card... you could've installed it yourself. I have dealt with Dell support for years by just having them send me the parts and I would replace them myselve and then return the bad parts.

That's a fabulous question! I don't know a lot about all-in-ones. After watching the tech remove and replace the guts of the system, it didn't look out of the ordinary, nothing is standard, but RAM is RAM, HD is HD, and so forth. I could have done it, after I saw what he did.

His giant ogre hands can't maneuver inside a little XPS tower.

Oh, yeah, that's true, when your fingers are like big green sausages, it makes it difficult to have any dexterity to deal with tiny parts.

BTW, that TV Tune card is very tiny, it could fit into a USB thumb drive with a little tweaking.

I'm still giggling like a little girl over this, he removed and replaced all my peripherals to include the TV Tuner to find out that they should have sent him the TV Tuner card, not a motherboard/monitor. !rolling

BTW, I got an email from Dell, the part may be coming to me directly via DHL, so if it is, I will r-square it myself. I'm an ex-flightline toad. With a hammer and decent aim, I fix anything.

 

[LarryFlowers]

That's a fabulous question! I don't know a lot about all-in-ones. After watching the tech remove and replace the guts of the system, it didn't look out of the ordinary, nothing is standard, but RAM is RAM, HD is HD, and so forth. I could have done it, after I saw what he did.

Oh, yeah, that's true, when your fingers are like big green sausages, it makes it difficult to have any dexterity to deal with tiny parts.

BTW, that TV Tune card is very tiny, it could fit into a USB thumb drive with a little tweaking.

I'm still giggling like a little girl over this, he removed and replaced all my peripherals to include the TV Tuner to find out that they should have sent him the TV Tuner card, not a motherboard/monitor. !rolling

BTW, I got an email from Dell, the part may be coming to me directly via DHL, so if it is, I will r-square it myself. I'm an ex-flightline toad. With a hammer and decent aim, I fix anything.

If you have the skills it is always safer to install warranty parts (or any parts) your self instead of the ham handed techs running loose out there.

 

[smiddy]

If you have the skills it is always safer to install warranty parts (or any parts) your self instead of the ham handed techs running loose out there.

Yeah, I was being a little cautious...I should know better.

 

[Draconis]

I'm an ex-flightline toad. With a hammer and decent aim, I fix anything.

Oh no, you just hit the flashback button again. I'm thinking about that call we had where the person re-seated his CPU by "gently tapping on it with a hammer".

For some strange reason the computer no longer worked after that.

 

[dettxw]

Funny story.
(So what did you do on the flightline?)

I made the mistake once of telling the Dell support guy (in India reading from his script) that the laptop power brick ON light wasn't on. It was burned out and a meter showed that the brick was still actually working, but since the script said that the light had to be on he refused to do anything else until the brick was replaced. Had to wait another week for the new brick to show up before the real problem could be addressed. Then I had to go to the trouble of returning the old brick.

Of course when they finally sent someone out they proceeded to replace everything but the bad memory module. :lol:

 

[smiddy]

EW on F-4s, EC-130s, A-10s, F-16s, and U2s.

Your story looks similar to mine. I wonder how Dell's stock is doing?

 

[dettxw]

#1 son used to work for Dell.
Stock is down, lots of competition and support gets worse all the time.

Me, I work for a large aerospace company.

Used to work with an old F4 pilot named Schmitt who retired while at George.

 

[Cholly]

Smiddy -- I have a similar situation with an HP m8330f Pavillion Media Center computer, except the TV tuner card passes diagnostics. I've spent many hours in online chat and email with HP tech support. Their latest suggestion is to try a full system restore, which of course means I have to back up all my data and once the system has been restored, reinstall all my applications. Yuk!

 

[Cholly]

Update: I did a full system restore yesterday and have slowly been installing hardware and drivers. It's a slow and somewhat painful process, partly because I've had a few issues with my USB wireless G adapter. Finally got internet running ok and started installing some applications. Firefox is now up and running (I hate IE and use it only when I have to)

Started Media Center and went thru setup. Tuner now works! Still have a lot of work to do.