Home & Small Office Computer Guide

The recall is aimed at batteries made by Sony for mobile workstations and XPS units in the Inspiron, Latitude and Precision ranges delivered between April 2004 and July 18 2006.

Visit this website for further information on whether your Dell laptop is one of those affected by what could be the biggest recall of batteries in the history of the electronic industry.

If your laptop is among those listed on the Dell website Dell suggests that you switch your laptop off, remove the battery and continue on mains power until Dell has replaced the battery.

Have you noticed your PC shutting down suddenly for no apparent reason recently?

It seems that some people - particularly Dell users - have been noticing this problem happening a lot lately. If it’s happening to you then is your mobile phone sitting close to the PC?

Some people who have been experiencing the sudden shut-down syndrome have found that it happens at the same time a text message arrives on their mobile phone.

Dell suggests that the best solution is not to keep your mobile phone close to your PC - now who would have ever thought of that solution

CNet is running a news item that suggests that Dell is preparing to announce “a major price initiative” for consumers and small business customers.

You can read the details here but they would have to be giving PCs away before I would think of switching to a Dell.

A wander through their customer message boards or a search in Google will soon turn up enough information to make you want to think twice.

The computer shop that we’re involved in currently has a beautiful wide screen Dell monitor sitting on the floor. It was brought in by a customer who said it stopped working the day after the warranty period expired and it cannot be repaired.

There is a lot of money tied up in something that is never going to be anything more than a boat anchor … or a prop in the shop’s next television commercial.

Just recently I came across someone who purchased a Dell 26 inch flat screen monitor that stopped working well within the warranty period. Unfortunately for this person that had purchased the unit overseas and so, for her, there simply was no warranty.

And the fact that a Dell product should die within the warranty period was really no surprise to me and after doing a little research I found that there is a well-known fault with the Dell 26 inch flat screens. It’s been known for quite some time but Dell has never bothered to correct the problem.

Of course if the monitor fails within the warranty period Dell will replace it but what happens if it fails one day outside that warranty period? The simple answer to that is - nothing. As far as Dell is concerned it’s out of warranty and your out of luck.

If you’re an Australian and you purchased the item here in Australia and it fails outside the warranty period then talk to your state’s consumer protection people. The ACCC suggests that just because the warranty has expired the manufacturer is not off the hook.

In their 2004 leaflet entitled “Warranties and Refunds” they give the example of a television and suggest that in the view of the ACC a consumer is entitled to a refund if a television that could be expected to last at least 10 years develops a serious fault 12 months.

So what does that say about a computer monitor that costs more than a television but dies just one day out of warranty?

Dell has issued a recall notice for approximately 35,000 batteries that were used in several laptop models. The faulty batteries may overheat and start fires.

The batteries were used Dell’s Latitude and Inspiron laptop models. Owners of Dell laptops are encouraged to check the Dell Website to see if they are affected by the recall.