This was with the Cecomsa next to PriceSmart in Santiago.
I've had a Dell laptop for about 3 years now, daily use and no issues. About a month ago I tried to turn it on and it would beep four times and turn off, the screen would stay black. Thinking the battery was completely drained I tried to charge it, it wouldn't hold a charge for over 4 seconds. I tried taking the battery out and keeping the laptop connected to the charger thinking the battery was bad, still wouldn't hold a charge and 4 beeps. I decided this was beyond me and took it to a professional.
I went to the service department in Cecomsa and explained my problem to the worker on duty. He said it is the motherboard. I asked him how does he know and his response was, "if you are having that problem it is the motherboard." He informed me the part would be USD$200 or more, I'd have to order it from Dell, once it got here I could bring him the part and he'd do the swap of motherboards and didn't give me a price on labor.
I wasn't convinced by his diagnosis so I got in touch with a friend in the States. We worked through the issues and found info on the four beeps. Documentation
We determined it was a RAM failure. Luckily I have some spare RAM and popped them in. Lo and behold a $200+ job took some research and spare parts. Even if I did have to pay for the RAM it would've been cheaper than $100.
Who is to say after the motherboard swap I wouldn't get the same issue? Since it is a RAM problem I don't think the motherboard swap would've solved anything.
Apparently this guy has been at Cecomsa for years and has dealt with many issues :cross-eye
I've had a Dell laptop for about 3 years now, daily use and no issues. About a month ago I tried to turn it on and it would beep four times and turn off, the screen would stay black. Thinking the battery was completely drained I tried to charge it, it wouldn't hold a charge for over 4 seconds. I tried taking the battery out and keeping the laptop connected to the charger thinking the battery was bad, still wouldn't hold a charge and 4 beeps. I decided this was beyond me and took it to a professional.
I went to the service department in Cecomsa and explained my problem to the worker on duty. He said it is the motherboard. I asked him how does he know and his response was, "if you are having that problem it is the motherboard." He informed me the part would be USD$200 or more, I'd have to order it from Dell, once it got here I could bring him the part and he'd do the swap of motherboards and didn't give me a price on labor.
I wasn't convinced by his diagnosis so I got in touch with a friend in the States. We worked through the issues and found info on the four beeps. Documentation
We determined it was a RAM failure. Luckily I have some spare RAM and popped them in. Lo and behold a $200+ job took some research and spare parts. Even if I did have to pay for the RAM it would've been cheaper than $100.
Who is to say after the motherboard swap I wouldn't get the same issue? Since it is a RAM problem I don't think the motherboard swap would've solved anything.
Apparently this guy has been at Cecomsa for years and has dealt with many issues :cross-eye