Welcome to Dell

Some people know how to fix cars, others know a great deal about the wonders of installing cable television. Over the past few weeks, I have learned how to dismantle, and unsuccessfully repair my poor Dell laptop. My beloved Inspiron 1720 was carefully placed into a box yesterday as it awaited its departure to the Dell factory where it would be “fixed.” I used this term lightly as over the past two weeks my veteran computer of oh, a year and four months of life has had a new hard drive, memory and motherboard. That’s right, motherboard. For you unfamiliar, I was told by the Dell technician that came to my apartment Tuesday evening that the motherboard is basically the brain of the computer and that an issue with it was usually the last thing that could go wrong. Well, that was certainly a knee-slapper when after replacing all the parts that go onto the motherboard, my computer decided to grace us with yet another blue screen of death. After what seemed like eight or nine lengthy phone calls to report these latest problems, my new and extremely patient friend explained my options. They could send out all new parts and have me block another two to three hours of my evening off to possibly fix my computer or, I could mail it off to the factory for ten to twelve days. From the start, I was avoiding the factory for several reasons. One, I do not love the idea of having my computer shipped all over the place and manhandled by a million technicians. Secondly, at this point I was quite fond of the idea of accidentally dropping my laptop off the balcony and ending this whole process myself. No more parts, no more technicians, just a million little pieces miraculously protected by my accidental coverage warranty. Let us all hope that when another brown box from Dell arrives, it is my computer working like a brand new machine. Or, I could always go for an actual brand new machine. Those are the only options before things go south and as my sister says, things get “real.” Thank goodness for Paul’s Inspiron 5100 and the good sense to have me back up my files. Day one in the shop everyone, get well wishes encouraged.