HP or Dell, you will have these issues depending on the area you live in. Most of the techs that come out are not employees of Dell or HP. As a matter of fact there is a decent chance the person sent to repair a Dell could also be the HP guy/gal tomorrow. And as you probably can guess, the service level varies from area to area. I have had Dell onsite the next morning in some locations and a couple days at others.

Pulling the HDD out and putting it into another laptop can work. They sell PC cards that slide into the laptop and has a cable attached to it that can the plug into a HDD, so it would be a secondary drive. If it spins up for you then you could pull data off it that way. To be honest I am surprised your school does not have some kind of center to help you do this, or maybea group of geeks lol....

Word of warning, Dell does not ship their HDD pre loaded, the tech will come onsite, put the empty drive in and walk away. You have to reload!! Next issue, there is a good chance you did not get the CDs from Dell, they will send them to you, but not until you ask. Now, if you had a good phone tech support person they would have realized this and the CDs are already on the way, if not, guess what will happen, you will be down a couple more days while waiting for CDs. Make sure you have everything you need now.

 

CMU does have a group of tech guys at the library, but they are complete morons and I refuse to go see them anymore... they already messed up twice when I was living in the dorms.

Yea, all my original disks are somewhere in my parents house and that is about 150 miles away. So I did get the dell tech to send all the discs I need.(I got Dell in America!!! He spoke english!) The only problem is they want me to pull out the HDD myself and replace it myself... I have no idea how to work on a computer, so doing that and loading the OS back on should be interesting.

 

I'm a certified Dell Technician, so if you want help, I'm happy to offer it. I can give you call or you can call me, doesnt matter.It takes about 2 min to swap out the drives....

If the drive is failing, you can STILL get the data off......the problem you say is how....

Here's how -=-=-> http://shop2.outpost.com/product/459...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

You'd need to purchase something like this. What this is, is merely an external enclosure for laptop sized harddrives. If you have a working computer, you can plug this in via USB, and read the data off it and do transfers. This may not always work, but it's worth a shot if you really want your stuff back.

Basically, you put the new HDD in, and load Windows XP. You then plug this device with the old HDD intothe computer via USB. It should detect the HDD like a printer or an iPod or so forth. It will take a few seconds, maybe a minute, and you should then be able to access the drive like any other drive, such as a floppy or USB key.

 

I have been working with computers since 1966. There are several ways of recovering the data on your hard drive. Since this is a Dell problem, I would think they would offer you a recovery service.

I repair these computers all the time, and of all the package systems (Compaq, HP, Dell, etc.), right now Dell puts the best quality hardware in their machines. That is not to say that it is the best quality hardware available. A custom built machine can render you much better equipment. But, most people like the convenience of a computer 'package' that includes the maintenance and tech support agreements. The problem with this is getting good service from either. I could go on and on about customer stories who were trying to get support.

Devil's reject. Since the failure of Dell equipment caused this guy loss of data, I think Dell should give him a method of recovering it. There are a number of ways they can do that and Dellshould know all the ways and be able to do them quickly. That's what you are paying for when you 'buy' the service and tech support.

I have service equipment that allows me to just plug a hard drive in and boot it up as a second drive to recover data for people whosecomputer is 'iffy'.If you are able to get into the computer, even temporarily, then you can get to the data. If the machine is not recognizing the USB connections, then you still have a motherboard or driver (for the motherboard components) problem. The tech guy may have installed it wrong and it may be grounding a solder on the case from the back of the board (not uncommon when improperly installed. He/she may have installed the wrong drivers. In fact, the new motherboard could also be bad (happens). There are ways of checking each of these things out, if the guy was a decent repair person. He could have bench connected the motherboard prior to install to make sure it was functioning with your computer properly and resolving your problem.

If you can get it to stay up long enoughgo to the Control Panel System Devices, look through them to see if the USB devices are operating properly, are there, and have good drivers. I doubt it. If you have a CD or DVD burner that is operating, then use that to backup your data.

I could go on and on with advice........
Take Care, Sharon

 

Dell is not responsible for data recovery, their warranty is for hardware components only. There is not a PC manufacturer that is responsible for data recovery, owners are responsible for backing up.

Even high end IBM server contracts have nothing for being responsible for data recovery. That is what owners and 3rd party/outsourcing support is for.

 

That is kinda funny....

In the 2 years I have had my laptop I had:
replaced the motherboard 4 times
replaced the LCD once
replaced the power cord/adaptor 2 times
replaced the battery once(not for the blowing up recall)
and now replacing the HDD

and I still have 2 more years on my warranty

In total, my immediate family has:
3 Dell Laptops
4 Dell Desktops

Mine is the only one with this many problems, so I would assume they would offer some kind of replacement...

 

You wouldwish...
My Dell laptop runs slower than my 70 year old grandma. (If there was ever $1500 I would like to get back...)
And yes, I know how to use computers, don't have any spyware/etc, and know how to cancel out those stupid start-up programs.
Oh well, the Dell desktop's still the work horse.