Want To Buy: Laptop

I too agree that it probably isn't a hard drive problem, but a video problem. Specifically, it sounds like your LED screen is having an issue.

My experience with Dell technical support is that the first tier people (i.e., foreign accents) will tell you anything to get you off the phone. They have misdiagnosed a number of problems with family and friend computers in the past. If you can get "elevated" with their customer service, their 2nd tier people (i.e., if they are American), are decent (some of the time).

Have you checked to see if you bought any extended warranties/etc. with Dell when it was purchased? They push these on people and a lot of time people buy them and forget about them. You should double check that -- a laptop bought Dec. 2007 shouldn't be doing what it is doing -- it sounds like the parts are faulty and may be covered under warranty.

 

check warranty status

check that serial on their website, you should still be under warranty.

If it turns out to be a hard disk problem and it's an IDE drive (sorry no sata drives) you can go through my box of 3.5s and find a working one. i've got about 10-15 40gig drives.

http://support.dell.com/support/top...nty_information?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=0&s=gen

I ride turnbull a few times a week and will be at chino tomorrow in the AM.

if anyone has a need for some IDE 3.5s I can take the box with me and you can grab a couple if you like, they should be used rather than just sitting.

hit me up at (nine 4 Nine) three 51- 8four 62

(anti-bot obscufated number)

 

If there's no lights and no sounds when you try to turn it on, then it's probably the motherboard or the power supply. Neither of these are really user serviceable parts in a laptop