expirediconian | Staff posted Mar 26, 2024 03:41 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expirediconian | Staff posted Mar 26, 2024 03:41 PM
Dell Coupon:50% Off Refurbished Latitude 7310 Laptops - from $274.50 + free s/h
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$549
49% offDell Refurbished
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I have hacked my 6th and 7th gen to Win 11 without any issues.
I have hacked my 6th and 7th gen to Win 11 without any issues.
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I've been buying refurbished dells for literally 20 years, since way back when their primary outlet was Dell_Financial_Services on eBay. I never had a problem until this recent one, and they're giving me a hard time about returning it and "15% restocking fee".
I would never buy another refurbished dell as long as FedEx is doing the "refurbishing "
For trouble free, spend $600 to a real dell outlet latitude or thinkpad as 24/7 work horse
There is no free lunch
Dell offers me a replacement for the same grade model but I refused. Too much troubles. It will be returned with refund.
My two laptop purchases were likely returns and reships. With the issues that I've had with connecting ports, hinges, etc., they've seen a lot of action.
For trouble free, spend $600 to a real dell outlet latitude or thinkpad as 24/7 work horse
There is no free lunch
However, the laptop ran into several blue screen incidents on Windows 11 with error codes related to 'Memory management' or 'Security Module'. It even once restarted into BIOS with 'memory error' warning and loud beep. After some googling, I downloaded the memtest86 to test. The test went on for about 3 hours . It found 35 DRAM errors with a big FAIL printed on the screen! It also pointed out that all bad address was between 7GB and 9GB, so I guess one DRAM chip went bad. The DRAM is soldered on the motherboard, I cannot ask for another parts replacement and DIY at home, like I did for the battery. This was the 1st time that I ever experienced DRAM hardware failure. I also ran Dell Diagnostic Tool with F12 but it didn't find any error after 40 min of memory testing.
Dell offers me a replacement for the same grade model but I refused. Too much troubles. It will be returned with refund.
I may give the Memtest86 a shot. My biggest issue is I need to verify that the company is reliable and I don't need to worry about any security risk from using their program. For those interested, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest86 . Looks like there's a commercial version (with a free download edition) https://www.memtest86.c
If you're thinking about buying a Dell Refurbished, here is my (very negative) experience with a recent purchase:
I'm having similar problems with a refurbished Dell Latitude 5410 (i5-10310U, 8 GB RAM, OS is Windows 11 pro edition) I bought (from Dell refurbished) in January, with the green sticker saying it was refurbished by the FedEx supply chain. I paid extra for the 1 year warranty.
I immediately ran a battery report on the battery, and it was less than 80%.
Contacted them, and they said they'd send a replacement - but they sent the wrong on (so about a week wasted from initial receipt of computer; didn't use it because I didn't want anything on the SSD if I had to send it back).
Contacted them again, and it took longer this time - both on the phone and in shipping. Agent had to do some searching to confirm they shipped the wrong battery, despite the fact I had screenshots that specified the battery included (always take screenshots of the pages before you purchase, because invoice does not necessarily specify the same details). Then, factory didn't have the correct battery in stock - took almost 2 weeks for them to ship it and another week to be received. (To make sure it hadn't gotten lost in the system, I called twice before it shipped to find out the status .... more time wasted.)
Got the replacement battery and installed it. It was over 80% of the design capacity, but just barely, so they sent out a used (or perhaps faulty) battery.
Near middle of February, computer started frequently shutting down randomly - no BSOD - just shut down (at least several times a day; sometimes just minutes after a previous shut down. There might have been a few random shutdowns before this, but not anywhere near as frequent). Before this, it seemed computer also at times ran hot (fan would blow very hot air out of computer & case would be relatively warm), without any good reason - but from what I read online, this seemed fairly normal with newer chips.
I tried running sfc /scannow, DISM commands to correct any corruption in Windows 11 Pro, went to Dell & updated BIOS and other drivers using their Support Assist tool; ran all the diagnostic tests on my computer, including the advanced versions; dug through Event Viewer to find out what was going on beforehand. I think the random shutdowns may have corrupted some files, so running sfc /scannow seemed to make the shutdowns less frequent (once a day, rather than several times a day). Opened up the computer, reseated the battery several times. (Inside of computer was clean.)
I stopped using the computer for close to a month, except for very short periods, because I didn't have time to deal with the headaches the shutdowns cause. Then started using again about a week ago.
In the last week, I've rerun the sfc & DISM commands multiple times, done more digging on the internet, more digging through Event Viewer, etc.
I started noticing that the LED light on the front right corner would flash 4 short amber; 1 long white right before it would shut down. From an internet search, it seems it's something to with battery failure. Previously I hadn't really paid attention to this but there were times when there were amber flashes; I just didn't know until recently these were diagnostic codes, so I didn't pay attention. I found this info about this pattern from a google search, but there's nothing on Dell's website or in their manual that talks about this specific pattern - but I assume it's correct.
Redid the battery report - battery capacity has dropped precipitously from when they sent it mid-January with barely a month of use (I stopped using computer almost completely from mid-Feb until very end of March because of the sudden shutdowns).
Reopened the computer and reseated the battery yet again.
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I've wasted dozens of hours trying to troubleshoot why the random shut downs. From what I've learned: These can be caused on the 'digital' side from anything from corrupt files on your computer, to a bug in a Windows update, to having an outdated BIOS or driver. Or problem with RAM, to some cable in computer being loose, or battery/other component not being seated well. Figuring out what the problem is is very time-consuming. (Calling them and letting them test your computer remotely is NOT a secure thing to do if you have personal files on the computer.)
Dell seems (a) to be producing a less reliable Latitude these days, and (b) seems to be failing in their process of refurbishing computers - outsourcing it to FedEx has not been good for the Dell customer.
I may try running the free memtest86 (once I verify that I can trust that company to produce a safe product).
If the random shutdowns keep on continuing much longer, I'm going to insist that Dell Refurbished do a thorough inspection of the computer. I'll mail it back (minus the SSD) or if they have a local option, take it in, for thorough testing.
Some people say they've stopped the random crashing by turning off the Virtualization feature (core isolation). But this adds security to the computer, so I haven't done that - if that's the problem, Dell should find a fix, and in the meantime, give me a replacement that works as intended, without constant crashing.
I used to strongly recommend Dell Latitudes. At this point, I will strongly recommend that people do NOT purchase from Dell Refurbished. And I'm now leaning toward not recommending Latitudes at all (which means not recommending Dell at all - Latitudes were the only line I would recommend I wouldn't buying anything that wasn't a business line, and Latitude 5xxx or higher seemed to be the best, given their price point.)
Another negative experience with Dell:
A year ago, I helped a relative buy a newer Dell Latitude (not refurbished), a newer 5420 (12th gen chip, 32 GB RAM). That, too, has had lots of random shutdowns. So it's not just Refurbished products that are the problem. I've tried to figure out what the problem with the 5420 is. But unfortunately, the relative told me all seemed well a few months ago, and now the 1 year warranty has expired - and the relative told me on Sunday it's still having random shutdowns. I tried running sfc & DISM commands on Sunday, and while I was looking around the computer, there was a random shutdown. From things I saw online, there are known problems with the 5420. Some seem to correct it with a BIOS update, but that didn't solve the problem here.
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