Customer Reviews

Dell Dimension 4600 - Micro tower - 1 x P4 2.8 GHz - RAM 512 MB - HDD 1 x 40 GB - CD-RW - Extreme Graphics 2 - Win XP Home - Monitor : none

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

My Dell Dimension has crashed three times in six weeks.

I just went out and bought an HP computer as I now understand that Dell will not help me, despite the fact that the Dell PC is still under warranty. They refuse to proceed unless I agree to "troubleshoot" once again and I have refused.

I posted elsewhere nearby about my adventures under my desk, crawling around as ordered by Dell staff-persons in India, squinting to try to see the tiny parts, tremblingly trying to rearrange them as instructed.

I forgot to include that, last week, when the computer crashed yet again, my support person was a gentleman with a very soft voice and a lovely lilting accent. He had me open up the computer and fiddle with miniscule wires and tiny pieces of plastic for a while, and then the computer expired completely.

It had previously made whirring wheezing noises and displayed external lights. Now it ceased breathing and only a small green light deep inside it blinked faintly, like a fading heartbeat.

"This is an act of God," the man said, in that wonderful accent.

"REALLY?" I cried. "What is?"

"Your computer is finished as the result of an act of God."

"Wait... you think God is personally interested in MY motherboard and processor, in Atlanta, Georgia, on a Tuesday morning?"

"This is what is called, under your warranty, 'an act of God,'" he said.

"All right. Well, what does that mean?" I asked, marveling that Dell's warranty included a spiritual component.

"It means," he said, "that your computer is no longer covered by your warranty."

I bought the 4600 directly from dell a little over a year ago. For most of the time till now, it performed beautifully; quiet and hard working. Then, one day, it refused to turn on. I thought it might be something with the power supply but I called Dell anyway to see what was wrong, after a scripted dialogue, I was told the motherboard was bad! I couldnt believe that, it didnt fit in with the problem I had told tech support about. So i went and purchased my own power supply, installed it, and wham! it worked. Taking a close look at the power supply that came with my Dell, I found it was some third party piece of junk, rated at a maximum output of 250mhz! That may be ok for very light work, but with 2 hard drives, 2 cdrom / dvd drives, a floppy drive, and multiple USB peripherals there was no way it could hold up! So beware, if you buy one of these, either take a look at the power suply or have someone experienced do it. Do not talk to Dell about it, they will try to sell you a $50.00 replacement if it dies. If you have multiple USB devices (printers, mice, etc) and plan to add storage.. Upgrade the Power Supply. I cannot say this enough. Customer Beware!

I have one and the power went out and now I am also being told that the motherboard has to be replaced. I can't understand how this company has stayed in business. I thought that this company had better customer service, but everytime I call I get someone who can't speak English and had a hard time trying to understand what they are saying. I would NEVER BUY ANOTHER COMPUTER FROM DELL, AND IF I CAN FIND A WAY I WILL SUE THEM SINCE I CAN'T GET A REPLACEMENT FOR PRODUCT THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN PUT ON THE MARKET TO START OFF WITH.

The funny part is that they are still selling this but with another name put on it.

Mine is the same as the others. It worked fine up untill the warranty ran out.

Then, it would no longer do stand-by but shut off.

Three times it wouldn't turn on, but when I wiggled the cord or left it for a day it would work again.

Then one day, it wouldn't turn on. nothing worked, nothing at all.

It is currently with the geek squad, they mentioned that the power supply seems low for the computer, and that it might be the dreaded M word - motherboard.

Reading all the boards I've come to realize these are two HUGE defects with this machine. When the warranty runs out, so too does the mother board and/or power supply.

Here's hoping it's just the powersupply, I can't afford to buy a new computer after only 2 years.

I know i will never by Dell again.

oh yeah, and the Geek Squad warned by that the biggest problem with bying dell is their 'specialized' parts so you can only buy from them, considereing their customer service is ATROCIOUS (they kept referring me to someone else and then hung up) you don't want to do that.

I bought my dimension desktop in Nov 2003, and the power supply failed in Feb 2005, 3 months out of warranty. I never even bothered to call Dell tech support given the horror stories. I just went to CompUSA, bought another one for 24.95, and it seems to work again.

It has been 4 months since my 1-year warranty expired the system would not power up since yesterday. I could not find any useful posting on DELL's website but thanks to google saw these postings. when I got my computer originally the microphone would not work. DELL troubleshot it as a motherboard problem when in reality it was a problem with the sound card driver which I found out myself. I realized how pathetic DELL's support is then. So I am not going to waste time by calling them now. I am off to Fry's to get a power supply. Any recommendation on what brand/type I should look for?

Wow, apparently the same problem as all the rest with this pig! One month out of warranty and the machine is deader than a post. The Dell folks say "sorry, Charlie, not our fault we use inferior components" and leave you to wash with the tide.

I will try replacing the power supply. My next computer? I'll build the darned thing myself!

I bought one of these in October 2003 from Dell. In December of 2004 (1 month out of warranty) it would not turn on. Dell tech support insisted it was a bad motherboard and wanted over $264. to install a new one. After searching Dell's Forums I found out that many, many customers had the same problem. Dell refuses to recognize that the power supplies on the 4600 are defective. I bought a new power supply at Circuit City and it solved my problem. I shouldn't have had to spend $50. on a defective part that Dell has been made aware by many customers. One thing strange about the problem is that the power supply doesn't fail until right after the 1 year warranty is up. It's sad to see how the quality of Dell computers has declined.

My computer is ridicolously slow and there is clearly a problem with it. After spending countless hours with service representatives running diagnostics they decided to change the hard drive which caused nothing but having to backup all my data. The computer performance still is terrible, so is dell's service

Only had this for two years...bought it brand new...lights and fan start flicking on and off on front of tower and on keyboard...then powered it up..worked fine..turned it off..lights and fan started running again...finally IT JUST DIED...Dell has the ABSOLUTE WORSE customer service around (from india)..they don't know s*it..I know more then them morons..they will not admit that this model (and who knows what any other model is going wrong with only time will tell)..they tried to sell me a whole new front assembly cover said it was the switch going bad..had a tech look at it and he doesn't even know what's wrong with it..don't know if it's the power supply or the front switch...what a big WASTE OF MONEY this pc was..WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER DELL and beware people when looking for a new PC stay AWAY FROM DELL FROM HELL!!