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post #21 of 62
7/8/04 at 5:53am
Let us know what happens PCK!
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post #22 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:44am
I ordered my laptop on the 6th of June. The first 8600 was lost in transit so DELL issued me a replacement which was delayed at every stage. It finally got to me last night. From the very first time I took it out of the box it has this problem that it does not boot up. After trying many times and taking out and putting back the battery it booted up a couple of times and the the problem came again. I called DELL and they are again issuing me a replacement but it will take 3 weeks. Meanwhile I am stuck without any computer since early JUNE!!! Does anyone know a temporary fix to this problem so that I can atleast use this laptop till I get my exchange? Also I am wondering if this is a problem with all dothan systems?
I have a 1.8 8600 with 333 mb ram, 60gb hdd, 9600pro, wsxga
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post #23 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:47am
Discovered that it doesn't seem to happen on mine if I go into standby, only if switching back on from a complete shutdown, and then only intermittently and usually when it has been left for a few hours or more.
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post #24 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:48am
pck831:

they asked me a series of pointless troubleshooting questions:
Quote:
Dear Jerry,

Thank you for contacting Dell Technical Support.

Jerry, to identify the exact problem, and rectify this issue as
expeditiously as possible,
Please reply with the results from the following troubleshooting
steps/questions.

1. Is there a steady green light on the AC adapter?
2. Does the system boot from the battery power?
3. Remove all the CRU's ( i.e. battery, PCMCIA card, printer, floppy
drive, CD-ROM drive, etc.). Does the system boot now?
4. Remove both the memory modules and place one memory module in the
first memory slot and boot the system? Does the system boot now?
5. If the system does not boot, then remove the memory module and seat
it in the second memory slot. Does the system boot now?
6. If the system does not boot again, the memory module A could have
gone bad, now try the same steps with the memory module B. Does the
system boot with the other memory module?
7. Do you hear any beep sound?
8. Press CAPS lock, NUM lock and SCROLL lock key. Do the respective
lights turn on?
9. Press [Fn][F8] several times. Are you able to view anything on the
LCD?
10. Connect an external monitor and press [Fn][F8]. Are you able to view
the display on the external monitor?
Do let me know the details, I will be more than happy to help you in
this.
hope this helps
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post #25 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:53am
Thread Starter 
hmm it seems that even brand new 8600 have the problem, is there a flaw in the whole system itself, as in every new inspirron 8600 produced at the moment have this problem

are there any happy inspiron 8600(dothan) owners out there without this problem?

i'm afraid this problem will never get resolved, and i will forever be stuck with a laptop which can't boot up at times.
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post #26 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:57am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by remmeh
pck831:

they asked me a series of pointless troubleshooting questions:


hope this helps
thanks, but i think i better wait for the techs. anyway, are u still having the problem after having your system replaced?

thanks
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post #27 of 62
7/8/04 at 12:06pm
Does anyone know if Dell has had anything to say officially about this problem? Exchanging the notebook might not be the solution if all of them suffer from this problem and if it does not have this problem, how do we know that it will not get it 1 or 2 months later like some people seem to have experienced. At that point we will not be able to even exchange it or get a refund.
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post #28 of 62
7/8/04 at 12:20pm
Found this reply from a moderator on the Dell support forums:

"To narrow down the problem, we need to remove all of the devices we can off of the system. That way, we can tell if it is a component causing the problem, or the system itself.

Once they are all removed, attach just the AC adapter and turn the system on. It should power on but give you an error at boot - if it still does not turn on, then most likely the system board itself is the cause.

If it does turn on, add back the components one by one and try the same to see if or where it fails. That way it can be narrowed down to one component. If it doesn't fail again, then there was probably a loose connection to one of the devices.

All the components you can remove are:
battery
hard drive
cd/floppy module
additional memory
PC-cards

You can find information on how to remove these items on our website under the System Specific Support Pages. Click on the Site Map, then look under Support. It has Technical information, diagnostic tools and drivers linked here. Just enter your service tag to get detailed information and go to 'Tech Notes' for how to install/remove the components.

If the system still will not power on, you may need to have the system serviced. To have service arranged, you can, 1) contact our Mobile Computing Hotline at 800-822-8965 for Corporate/Government Accounts or at 800-247-9252 for Direct accounts; or 2) you can email mobile_support@dell.com. If you do choose to email, make certain to include a brief description of your issue, with your service tag and the troubleshooting steps you have followed".

Also saw some reference to it being caused by a faulty SIMM socket on the mobo...? Will have to experiment removing the memory from one socket and then the other...
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post #29 of 62
7/8/04 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by krjx
I ordered my laptop on the 6th of June. The first 8600 was lost in transit so DELL issued me a replacement which was delayed at every stage. It finally got to me last night. From the very first time I took it out of the box it has this problem that it does not boot up. After trying many times and taking out and putting back the battery it booted up a couple of times and the the problem came again. I called DELL and they are again issuing me a replacement but it will take 3 weeks. Meanwhile I am stuck without any computer since early JUNE!!! Does anyone know a temporary fix to this problem so that I can atleast use this laptop till I get my exchange? Also I am wondering if this is a problem with all dothan systems?
I have a 1.8 8600 with 333 mb ram, 60gb hdd, 9600pro, wsxga
u mean it did not boot up at all? that might be a different problem from us as ours only happen intermittently

i still can't believe that dell hasnt appropriately address/try to rectify this issue as many customers are getting this problem. it is obviously some manufacturing problem as many ppl are getting it
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post #30 of 62
7/8/04 at 2:14pm
pck831, I think it is the same problem. The difference is that I have this problem from the moment I got my laptop. Mine also boots sometimes but most often does not boot and shows the same symptons as the other users that have faced this problem(lights come on for a few seconds before going off). Yes, this seems to be a wide spread problem, I wonder what Dell is doing about it.
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post #31 of 62
7/8/04 at 3:09pm
I have a similar problem but it occurs (sometimes) only when I have the power cable plugged in and the comp goes to standby, then to hibernation. Scares the **** out of me when it doesn't power back.


8600c
1.4 bania
60 gig 4200rpm - hitachi
TM 1300
128mb ATI
WXGA
NEC 4X dvd writer
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post #32 of 62
7/8/04 at 3:19pm
pck831: i had a 1.6banias in the old one in case you were wondering
but with the new one i have a 1.8dothan and it didn't encounter any problems whatsoever.

imo just ask dell for a replacement
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post #33 of 62
7/8/04 at 3:39pm
can everyone who has this problem state whether they have the old or new system?

and what components they have... maybe we can find a common component.
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post #34 of 62
7/8/04 at 3:51pm
My system was new, it was 3 days after i got my system when the problem started occurring. It happened when i swap the harddrive and ram. Spoke to a tech for 3 hours couldn't find a solution for the problem so they sent me a whole new system.
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post #35 of 62
7/8/04 at 10:36pm
Thread Starter 
i'm using a dothan 755 and 1 gb crucial ram. so it is a new system.

it also happens to banias(as in remmeh's case) but less often.

so there's still a possibility that we just got unlucky machines which don't function properly. i hope thats true rather than a flaw in the system itself
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post #36 of 62
7/8/04 at 11:49pm
I have an 8600 as well with a 1.7M. It's about 3 months old now. I would have this turn on problem whenever I would flash the BIOS. It seemed to need to cool down, then it would start back up. Subsequent reboots would be fine. I contacted Dell about this, and after the tech in India asked me to try something that wasn't even possible on an 8600, I asked for a service call.

A very competent tech came and swapped the mobo (in less than 20 minutes). The replacement mobo was at A03 BIOS level, and current is A08. Since then, I have only had the green light no boot two or three times. I just press the power again and it comes back up. So not like before. I have the 3 year warranty @ home, so I will be sure to use it if it becomes a problem again.

This short story long explanation just seems to bear out that there is something fundamentally chronic here. This behavior is spanning generations here, and that's not good. Mine seemed to be more heat related, but ... If anything it seems like the new 8600C systems are worse?

- Dieter
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post #37 of 62
7/9/04 at 12:19am
Thread Starter 
hmm...anyone with a 8600c without this problem? i've asked this before but no one said anything
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post #38 of 62
7/9/04 at 12:58am
pck831: i have had no problems so far with my replacement.
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post #39 of 62
7/9/04 at 2:01am
damnit, the problem is starting again.
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post #40 of 62
7/9/04 at 2:24am
I had this same prob, but maybe mine was just less severe. what I did was take the ram and the battery out atleast for 30 secs(both at same time).
Put ram back in, then the battery and bling bling, it worked

try it, and let us know if it did or didnt work
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