XPS 17 L702X USB 3.0 problems

[F.Q. KrapBag]

it drove me nuts too, whatever you do, after they are done... Feel around the keyboard and make SURE, absolutely sure that they've installed the keyboard and everything correctly. I had to go through the hassle of sending dell back out for a keyboard replacement. just run your fingers around the whole keyboard's edges and around the trim (not the keys) to make sure everything's functioning properly.

Horror story time!!!

The service rep came out replaced the main board etc... Bent the palm rest, and the USB 2.0 ports don't work, and the video is now intermittent...

When he called in to tell Dell and ask for a new palm rest, they said NO!!

I then got on the phone, spoke kindly to the rep and was told that I'd have to ship the laptop back to Dell for 5 to 10 days. To which I replied NO!!! I need this unit for a presentation on Friday!!! you may send me a new unit.

After the support rep hemmed and hawed for 5 minutes and told me no, I asked for a manager... I then was told that the manager would say the same thing... I told him that was fine, that I wanted to hear it from the manager...

He came back 5 minutes later and said that the manager had approved a new unit of equal or better quality to be sent to me by Friday...

[madmattd]

He came back 5 minutes later and said that the manager had approved a new unit of equal or better quality to be sent to me by Friday...

Make sure you confirm the specs end up being equal or better (at least once you have it)...Dell's idea of "better" doesn't always mean it is...(i.e. the high-end dual-core i7 is NOT better than even a low-end quad i7, despite the latter being cheaper...)

[F.Q. KrapBag]

Thanks Matt... I verified that I would receive specs of an XPS exact or upgraded spec as what I have or an Alienware...

I won't accept less... Fortunately I'm in a business where we have a dedicated Dell sales rep to go to if there are further issues.

I find it amazing that
1) They didn't bother to test the boards that they sent out, and
2) that the tech bent my palm rest and instead of owning up to it, let me find out by looking at it...
It looks like he hit the thing with a hammer

Amazing !!!

[80sGuy]

The thing that made mine work was the hardware itself. I've tried all the drivers including the latest Renasas. Dell uses two versions of daughterboard; a generic board which looked the same and one that manufactured by Foxconn. The latter worked fine when I swapped it out. Needless to say, I called Dell and had them sent me the other USB2.0/HDMI 'daughterboard' port made by Foxconn. This shouldn't be the case but the system is working fine so far. It baffles me that Dell uses so many different manufacturers for a single part. In addition to some of the boards, this is also evidenced by the LCD panel (LG, AU Optronics, Hannstar. ChiMei, etc.) which I've sent through three just to get the right one.

[80sGuy]

Horror story time!!!

The service rep came out replaced the main board etc... Bent the palm rest, and the USB 2.0 ports don't work, and the video is now intermittent...

When he called in to tell Dell and ask for a new palm rest, they said NO!!

I then got on the phone, spoke kindly to the rep and was told that I'd have to ship the laptop back to Dell for 5 to 10 days. To which I replied NO!!! I need this unit for a presentation on Friday!!! you may send me a new unit.

After the support rep hemmed and hawed for 5 minutes and told me no, I asked for a manager... I then was told that the manager would say the same thing... I told him that was fine, that I wanted to hear it from the manager...

He came back 5 minutes later and said that the manager had approved a new unit of equal or better quality to be sent to me by Friday...

This is the main reason why I DO NOT let any rep come close to my unit, and I am fortunate enough to be able to do all the work myself. Dell realizes this from day one when I had problems with the optical drive. When I called, I'd specifically told them I wanted to do the work myself because I wanted to avoid the slightest damages caused by a third-party or a tech, and they authorized it. After this merry-o-round, Dell continues to send me parts directly (lcd panels, daughterboards, palmrests. motherboards, etc.etc...) and the list goes on.

It is b.s. that they were trying to give you a hard time about it when in fact the damage was caused by one of their dispatched servicemen, but I'm glad they are replacing the unit for you. Make sure the replacement is not a refurbished and arrives in a 'plain brown box' compared to 'NEW' in a branded black 'Dell XPS' box.

[madmattd]

[QUOTE=80sGuy;8490500]Make sure the replacement is not a refurbished and arrives in a 'plain brown box'/QUOTE]

This is a good point. Dell almost always will try to send you a refurbished system as a replacement for a new system.

[xxgokouxx]

Thanks Matt... I verified that I would receive specs of an XPS exact or upgraded spec as what I have or an Alienware...

I won't accept less... Fortunately I'm in a business where we have a dedicated Dell sales rep to go to if there are further issues.

I find it amazing that
1) They didn't bother to test the boards that they sent out, and
2) that the tech bent my palm rest and instead of owning up to it, let me find out by looking at it...
It looks like he hit the thing with a hammer

Amazing !!!

1) It happens all the time, a tech i talked to has the same issue with Dell and his heart cringes because sometimes he gets some A-hole customers when its not his fault. LOL, I mean.... it's not his fault really, but it's something to expect. In all honesty, from my perspective. Dell can only do so much on their end before it ships out... Could maybe be damage on the shipping route?

2) Was I right on the money about this issue? LOL, it's happened many many times over with a few members of the board. I've had this issue too, and when my tech came back, he didn't look too happy but i just had a grin on my face and moved on about my ways. If you do something you gotta do it right! Also, these techs that come out half the time are very inexperienced. Dell does not have quality control on this (as it's not THEIR techs). These techs go by a little map sent out by Dell on how to take apart our laptops, especially with the fact of how new our L702's are and how little experience they have, the bending of the keyboard, damage to the laptop is normal. (not that we should EXPECT it, but it's a normal thing to hear =\ ).

The thing that made mine work was the hardware itself. I've tried all the drivers including the latest Renasas. Dell uses two versions of daughterboard; a generic board which looked the same and one that manufactured by Foxconn. The latter worked fine when I swapped it out. Needless to say, I called Dell and had them sent me the other USB2.0/HDMI 'daughterboard' port made by Foxconn. This shouldn't be the case but the system is working fine so far. It baffles me that Dell uses so many different manufacturers for a single part. In addition to some of the boards, this is also evidenced by the LCD panel (LG, AU Optronics, Hannstar. ChiMei, etc.) which I've sent through three just to get the right one.

Wow! I had no idea lol, I figured the USB 2.0 is stuck onto the laptop... I shoulda looked closer when they were breaking it down!. BTW, Foxconn is a horrible manufacturer, I'm surprised Dell even uses them as they're cheap for a reason:

Foxconn suicides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Foxconn factories are labour camps (South China Morning Post 11 Oct 2010) | Facebook

This is the reason for the most part I absolutely refuse to buy their cheap MB's for my customer desktops. I dont condone or support this as it was a big issue a bit late back. If I knew these boards were on the L702 I wouldn't have purchased it

This is the main reason why I DO NOT let any rep come close to my unit, and I am fortunate enough to be able to do all the work myself. Dell realizes this from day one when I had problems with the optical drive. When I called, I'd specifically told them I wanted to do the work myself because I wanted to avoid the slightest damages caused by a third-party or a tech, and they authorized it. After this merry-o-round, Dell continues to send me parts directly (lcd panels, daughterboards, palmrests. motherboards, etc.etc...) and the list goes on.

It is b.s. that they were trying to give you a hard time about it when in fact the damage was caused by one of their dispatched servicemen, but I'm glad they are replacing the unit for you. Make sure the replacement is not a refurbished and arrives in a 'plain brown box' compared to 'NEW' in a branded black 'Dell XPS' box.

To the DIY issue, you can do that yourself? I argued with them for a while with a loss on my end because I couldn't convince them to let me do it.... I'm a computer tech and would always rather do everything myself...

I also didn't know you could request your replacement NEW and NOT refurbished!! That's insane!

I'm on my 2nd repair, my 3rd one is on it's way soon lol.... Hopefully this battery takes a dookie on me soon, seems pretty darn reliable!

[F.Q. KrapBag]

"1) It happens all the time, a tech i talked to has the same issue with Dell and his heart cringes because sometimes he gets some A-hole customers when its not his fault. LOL, I mean.... it's not his fault really, but it's something to expect. In all honesty, from my perspective. Dell can only do so much on their end before it ships out... Could maybe be damage on the shipping route?

2) Was I right on the money about this issue? LOL, it's happened many many times over with a few members of the board. I've had this issue too, and when my tech came back, he didn't look too happy but i just had a grin on my face and moved on about my ways. If you do something you gotta do it right! Also, these techs that come out half the time are very inexperienced. Dell does not have quality control on this (as it's not THEIR techs). These techs go by a little map sent out by Dell on how to take apart our laptops, especially with the fact of how new our L702's are and how little experience they have, the bending of the keyboard, damage to the laptop is normal. (not that we should EXPECT it, but it's a normal thing to hear =\ )."

You were dead on about the palm rest issue, even after seeing it dented I checked it and it was not installed tightly at all...
The tech was decent enough, but he had no idea that after he installed a mobo that Windows would then need drivers installed for it...

Deer in the headlights look kinda said it all.

[xxgokouxx]

yeah, same with my tech on his first visit. He was like well maybe "blah blah blah" I told him it's because Windows identifies each peripheral like a serial # on a laptop. But he doesn't take my word for it.... Said it's the first time he's seen it LMAO

[80sGuy]

......

To the DIY issue, you can do that yourself? I argued with them for a while with a loss on my end because I couldn't convince them to let me do it.... I'm a computer tech and would always rather do everything myself...

I also didn't know you could request your replacement NEW and NOT refurbished!! That's insane!

I'm on my 2nd repair, my 3rd one is on it's way soon lol.... Hopefully this battery takes a dookie on me soon, seems pretty darn reliable!

Yeah dude, I did this from the very first week after I received my unit back in Nov. '11. It all started off with the Blu-Ray rom. I called them about the issue and they wanted to send out a tech to do the swap but I refused unless I can do the work myself, this would further prevent me from calling them back and complain about scratches and/or damages usually caused by a tech. When I received the part, it was a Panasonic BD-Burner instead of the Lite-On DVD-RW/BD-ROM (or a Sony Optiarc), so I was grinning from ear to ear! From thereon problems started to rise, parts were sent out along with return labels. They basically got me on record as a 'tech' myself so that was kind of easy. I became fairly unhappy with the unit and the overall quality of Dell. After weeks of contemplating, they've decided to completely build me a brand new unit to avoid a refund (which I was still under the 21-day window). I told them the only way I'll agree to it if the unit would be NEW, and not a refurb and I wanted all in writing which they'd provided. I received my new XPS in 10 days, a bit better then the previous one but still has its problems. So ever since, the 'tech' in me began. The thing is, you'll just have to explain to them nicely, that's why I've always 'phone-in' instead of chat, except for one time when it was early in the morning where I had to do a chat and they were able to look up my history and sent out the parts.

Regarding Foxconn:
They are not the best but they are better than most parts I've seen and used. I was a die-hard Micron computer user and that was all I had from the past but unfortunately they no longer exist. Foxconn was a heavy supplier to Micron from the heydays so I am somewhat comfortable with the make compared to other lesser known/unknown manufacturers -- speaking of which and depending on one's luck, such as the problematic USB3.0 board supplied to Dell. My replacement L702x was having issues with both sides of the USB boards. First it was the 2.0/3.0 on the left/rear; replaced that with the Foxconn, and then the right 2.0/HDMI (problems w/ headphone jack) which I've also replaced with Foxconn and both are working fine now. Oh, and the incident with Apple/China was all greed, it's a battle of pointing fingers between Apple and Foxconn, either way - bad!