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From: Just me on 14 Mar 2010 13:08
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:29:31 -0500, Ben Myers <ben_myers(a)charter.net>
wrote:

Hey, Ben, just want to say I really appreciate your history of
valuable input to this group.

>Not born right? Not good for one of the sort of top of the line models.
> Unless it was damaged in shipment, I do not see how the system could
>escape the Dell assembly (and test maybe?) line in this condition.

Unfortunately, if you go to the Dell forums, or Google it or read
customer reviews from, say, BestBuy, where they sell 8100s, you'll
find that this is a pretty common experience. I had done my research
and I was aware of these problems, but as the very satisfied owner of
three Dells that I have purchased directly from them, all of which
have run trouble free for 5 - 8 years (I'm due for a new one), I
decided to take a chance. Silly me.

>How about opening up the chassis to see if there is anything loose or
>disconnected?

Were it my machine I would have done so, however it is not mine. The
person who bought is not a computer person. She was freaked out by the
whole experience, especially since she dropped almost a grand on the
system. She just wants it gone. I can't say that I blame her.

> Very aggressive pricing for the Studio XPS 8100 on the Dell web site
>right now. Maybe all the pretty plastic is not worth the money? ...

Unless you are lucky and get a good one. This particular deal was
excellent - i5-650, 8GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive, ATI HD5450 video card,
20" HD monitor, free shipping - all for $899. When it ran it was SO
nice.

Sorry to the OP - didn't intend to hijack his thread . . .


George
gearlnospamno(a)nospamcomcast.net
From: Nick on 15 Mar 2010 01:13

On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:58:19 -0500, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, Just me
<gearl.no(a)spam.comcast.net> wrote:

>On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 23:36:09 -0500, Daddy <daddy(a)invalid.invalid>
>wrote:
>
>>Well, my Studio XPS 8100 desktop showed up today...with a Windows 7 disc
>>(among other discs.)
>
>Ours showed up on Tuesday, withOUT a Windows 7 disc.
>
>Today we assembled it, fired it up, and it promptly rebooted itself
>about 5 minutes into the Windows 7 initial setup. We tried again, and
>again it rebooted after about 5 minutes. After the 4th time it
>rebooted we were fast enough on the initial setup entries that we
>completed just in time before another reboot.

When I received my XPS 9000 I was wondering if I'd wound up with a lemon: it
had intermittent problems powering up, sometimes starting up and then
immediately shutting down again.

Finally figured out the problem: I screwed up when I checked to see if my
UPS would be able to handle the new computer and monitor.

I had looked at the big '725' on the case of the UPS and saw that it was
higher than the total wattage requirement for the computer and monitor.

But the '725' wasn't the UPS wattage: it was the VA rating, which is higher
than the wattage. When I looked at the spec sheet, the UPS wattage was only
450 watts; just under the max the computer could draw, and definitely not
enough for the computer and the new monitor together.

I now have a new higher capacity UPS on order (should be here Tuesday), and
as a temporary measure I moved the monitor to one of the surge protected
outlets so the UPS battery only has to handle the computer. So far, no more
problems.

So, in my case, the lemon wasn't my new computer, but what I had between my
ears...

--
Nick <mailto:tanstaafl(a)pobox.com>

"Natural laws have no pity." R.A.H.
From: Brian K on 15 Mar 2010 02:14
Nick,

I'm surprised. A friend uses a 330 Watts UPS with his XPS 9000. No problems.


From: Nick on 15 Mar 2010 04:24

On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:14:30 GMT, in alt.sys.pc-clone.dell, "Brian K"
<remove_this(a)hotmail.com> wrote:

>I'm surprised. A friend uses a 330 Watts UPS with his XPS 9000. No problems.

Just out of curiosity, what else does your friend have on the UPS (in the
battery backup outlets)?

I had a 27" monitor on mine, in addition to the computer, and that draws
anywhere from 105 to 160 watts.

Also, how heavily loaded is their XPS 9000? I've got a high-end video
board, tons of memory, large hard drives, etc. so it's probably drawing an
above average amount of power.

Now that I have the monitor on one of the surge protection only outlets, the
UPS is doing fine with just the computer on the battery. So I'm guessing
that the monitor is what pushed it over the edge.


Note: what convinced me it was definitely a UPS problem is what happened
when the power went out for a few seconds.

The old computer, on a separate (older) UPS, was fine: switched to battery
backup and back to line with no problems.

The XPS 9000 just shut right down: acted like the UPS wasn't even there.
That UPS has a fairly new battery and handled power outages with the old
computer without any problems, but it doesn't seem able to handle the new
computer and new monitor.

--
Nick <mailto:tanstaafl(a)pobox.com>

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley." Robert Burns
From: Brian K on 15 Mar 2010 05:19
Nick,

He has a 24" monitor. XPS 9000 has 8 GB memory, 2 HDs and I think 1000 MB
video card.

I've always regarded the Wattage value as what the UPS can handle after the
power has failed. I might be wrong but I'd expect his UPS to handle several
computers while there was power but to be pretty limited if there was a
blackout. But your experience is different.

My previous UPS behaved like yours when it became "sick". The battery was
fully charged but it wouldn't power the computer for even a second when
there was a blackout. It lasted one month beyond the warranty.


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