<p>DS's Dell Battery has died, the computer still works as long as it is plugged in.</p>
<p>Is this covered under the 3 year warranty? If so, can we start this process NOW, that he is at home, and the battery will be waiting at KP when he returns next week? Who do I call? I can't seem to find the IT Dept. phone number?!?!?!?!</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, Have I told ya how much I Like this forum?</p>
<p>In general Dell's warranty only coveres the battery for 1 year. You are going to have to continue to contact the ID department to see if they have extended coverage for the Academy computers. You could try to go to Dell's site get the ph number and contact them directly with your PC serial number and they should be able to track it and might be able to at least let you know where you stand, if you can not get to the IT department.</p>
<p>If it's a Dell laptop, you might want to check the make/serial number versus recall #s on the Dell website. There were several Dell laptops that had recalls for defective batteries a while back.</p>
<p>The IT Department at KP shall I say --- leaves much to be desired. </p>
<p>My DD lost 5 hard drives on her computer and she never carried her computer around -- it just sat on her desk. </p>
<p>The first time she took it in they said it would take 3 weeks -- it took 5 months (She ended up going to sea without it and handwriting her entire project.) When she returned she got it back and within 3 weeks it failed again.We got her a stand-alone hard drive to back her computer up to. This time the repair was only 4 weeks. Then just before finals it failed again. They took it in and they gave her a loaner (which she took to sea). </p>
<p>Upon return to campus 9 months later, it was waiting for her. Then 2.5 weeks later it failed again. They fixed it 2 weeks before finals. She got it back and the day before finals it failed again. </p>
<p>Needless to say at this point she was fed up and she called her dad and said -- take all my savings out and go down to the apple store -- buy me a mac, configure it and bring it down to me ASAP. She has had her Mac now for 9 months and has never even had to reboot it. BTW it was less expensive including the 3 year warranty than the machine that the Academy got for her and it works ALWAYS.</p>
<p>Royce DM, below is a note from the USMMA Parents Page about a laptop loaner program for sea year. However, this is not the solution to every computer problem. When our son had a problem with his computer screen on cruise, the loaner was not a good solution because he had so much info on his hard drive. So he kept his computer and used both it and his sea partner's laptop. Perhaps your son can coordinate with his ATR to have IT send a replacement battery. But at least the computer works when plugged in.</p>
<p>"Attention Parents - For your information:
"Expansion of Loaner Laptop Program </p>
<p>"The USMMA recently expanded the loaner laptop program to midshipmen at sea visiting foreign ports of call. Previously loaner laptops were only shipped to domestic ports. Adding foreign ports allows the Academy to provide a loaner laptop to midshipmen in a more timely manner. While the expanded program is more costly to operate, it does provide midshipmen at sea with an improved opportunity for success in the completion of their Sea Project assignments.</p>
<p>"Under this program the midshipmen ship their laptop to the Academy for repair. Once repaired and tested, the laptop is shipped to the midshipman at the next available port who returns the loaner laptop to the Academy. All shipping costs are paid by the Academy. </p>
<p>"This program is operated by the Department of Information Technology in collaboration with the Academy Training Representatives in the Office of Professional Development and Career Services.</p>
<p>"Special Note: Midshipmen should note that in some countries, customs officials inspect incoming personal computers. Laptops with files or documents whose content is inconsistent with a country's cultural values are known to have been confiscated. The Academy is not responsible for the return of a confiscated laptop, or providing a replacement laptop, when midshipmen demonstrate a lack of cultural sensitivity befitting officers-in-training for future service to the U.S. Government."</p>
<p>In preparation for going out to sea we just bought our D an external hard drive. She's busy this week loading a lot of her pubs on to this hard drive so that she doesn't have to lug so many books and she is planning to save her sea project on it and on a flash drive as well. I guess she's heard enough horror stories of the project getting "lost."</p>
<p>This just happened to my DD last week! USMMA's IT department said too bad, past warranty time. She was heading out to sea (sailed yesterday!), so she found one online for only $75 (I guess they are $120 from Dell), ordered it and it was there just in time. All I can say is thank goodness it did fail LAST week and not this week! I guess the 2010 mids are all starting to have the same problem -- maybe IT should at least COMPLAIN to Dell....</p>
<p>I know when I was there most everybody by their senior year had purchased a new computer. Several bought desktops while a few others bought a second laptop. I know I loved having my desktop with huge screen to watch dvd's and play Nintendo 64 on :) </p>
<p>Does the IT department still solve any and all problems by simply reformatting the hard drive?</p>
<p>I finally found an IT #, called it, about 3 hrs ago, no response yet.</p>
<p>SO, I have ordered this one, based on the above responses, and MANY things I read on line that stated these batteries are lasting about 13 months!</p>
<p>I will let you know my satisfaction with this company.</p>
<p>I also paid for the two day shipping to ensure he had it before heading back to KP, so for $85 I should be getting him a new battery. Oh, Dell's price was $140 plus the extra for 2 day shipping.</p>
<p>Oh, and we had purchased DS a huge external Hard Drive for Christmas last year. He claims it was the best move ever!</p>
<p>Zonker writes down on a sticky-note:</p>
<p>"See when DS's laptop was put in service (Call Dell for 2011 Lattitude D620s).
ONE month before battery goes out of warranty, have DS check it and request a replacement from Dell if things not up to spec. Who knows, they may have a completely different battery solutions for the D620s. "</p>
<p>Investigation note:
Battery replacement for D620 is currently $120, following a similar link to the one posted earlier.. Other sites are about the same price.
<a href="http://www.notebookbattery.com/Dell-Latitude-D620/c23_193/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.notebookbattery.com/Dell-Latitude-D620/c23_193/index.html</a></p>
<p>Now, where to put the sticky note so I'll remember it.... (OK, kids,. be nice :) ).</p>
<p>If you see Z wandering around, you'll recognize him by the yellow sticky-note plastered onto his forehead.</p>
<p>I am still waiting on that return phone call from the IT dept. ;)</p>
<p>But to update everyone, I used the above website, and the battery was delivered the NEXT afternoon. I did pay for 2 day shipping, but the battery arrived in about 24 hours. Awesome service.</p>
<p>Also, I had DS mention the battery to the IT folks, and IT has my DS compiling a list of students that have had problems.... and then the IT dept is gonna try to get Dell to "fix" this problem.</p>
<p>OK, my first question is why isn't IT doing this themselves? One simple email out to all 2010... ask for any problems, IT complies the list, IT calls Dell. Simple, Straight forward. Why is my DS with dealing with compiling the list of students and computer numbers with problems... He has MORE IMPORTANT Things to be doing right now.</p>
<p>OK, I am gonna get off my soap box now.</p>
<p>As an interesting note....I had problems with my dell notebook battery last year and it ended up not being the battery at all......it was the power cord that had to be replaced :)</p>
<p>suzannegra, you raise a good point about Dell power supply (cord). They definitely do not last forever. In fact, my experience with several Dell models is that the power supply is one of the first things to go. Unless there is a manufacturing defect, the user, not Dell, pays for the replacement. It's just considered normal wear and tear. I haven't had problems with Dell batteries, but I would be surprised if effort gathering data for a "fix" was worth the time.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One simple email out to all 2010... ask for any problems, IT complies the list, IT calls Dell. Simple, Straight forward.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thats because their are no Moms in the IT department? LOL We are always good at finding the quickest route to solving a problem. :D</p>
<p>I beg you guys to ride your kids about saving their work in more than one place on their computers. Thumb drives can give a false sense of security as well. Case in point? A corrupted file containing the humanities project. I read it. It was awesome. Beautifully written. He went to print it out the next day before leaving home to go back to the Academy & BLAMMY - Gone. Son is very computer savvy & couldn't get it back. Shoulda seen the two year old tantrum that followed. It wasn't pretty. :D I hear that they've extended the turn in date for the humanites project but those who turn it in at the later date must get a B- & above. All he can do is re-write it & pray for that B-. Computers are taking over our lives! Arrrrgggg!</p>
<p>Any recommendations on what type of external hard drive ... how much memory? I so appreciate the advice and issues raised here. Maybe this will alleviate a problem before it happens for my son :o)</p>
<p>CompUsa and Costco (my favorite two stores) have LOTS of options.</p>
<p>There are external drives that attach in a variety of ways, as well Network Attached Storage (both protected and just regular) that attach via an ethernet cable. </p>
<p>After going through all the options, my mid said:
"Dad. All these are great options. How about the simple one that doesn't require another power cable."</p>
<p>So, just look for a simple USB-powered external hard disk drive. No extra muss. No extra fuss. Plug it in and it works. </p>
<p>(I actually got a $28 USB external hard drive enclosure that would hold a little hard disk drive.. And I had a spare laptop harddrive from a laptop that had a cpu/system board die). Voila! <$30 and I now have a 80 GB USB hard drive.</p>
<h2>Anyway, you're going to find these things just everywhere. I'm sure BestBuy and CircuitCity have something as well. Good luck.</h2>
<p>And at this point, they just DON'T have that much stuff on their disks... Well, at least mine doesn't. But what IS important is that they have snapshot copies of documents... in case they overwrite their project, or it gets corrupted. They can always go back to the previous day's version. MAKE THEM CONFIGURE DAILY BACKUP OF DOCUMENTS! Other have really good ideas on this as well.</p>
<p>here is part of an email my DS forwarded to me:</p>
<p>
[quote]
M/N in the Class of 2010:</p>
<p>We have been informed by Dell that Dell is assuming all responsibility
for replacing the batteries in your laptops. The arrangements are not
yet complete, but we do expect replacement batteries to arrive shortly.
In the interim, our plans are as follows:</p>
<p>[1] M/N at sea - Please contact your ATR to arrange for
shipment/delivery of the replacement battery.
[2] M/N on campus with a failed battery - The DoIT Service Center will
contact you, when the batteries have arrived.
[3] M/N elsewhere - Please contact Mr. Tedesco (516.726.5802 or
<a href="mailto:tedescoj@usmma.edu">tedescoj@usmma.edu</a>) to make arrangements for a battery replacement.</p>
<p>I would like to take this opportunity to point out the extraordinary
contribution of Mr. Edward DeVries, of DoIT. Mr. Devries did the
research to determine that the batteries were malfunctioning, and he
made a convincing case to Dell that the batteries should be replaced at
no cost to the M/N.</p>
<p>We also need to recognize that Dell took the extraordinary action of
assuming prompt responsibility for replacement of the batteries. It's
refreshing to work with a corporate partner who does the right thing.
Regrettably, this does not always happen.</p>
<p>V/r,</p>
<p>HDW</p>
<p>Howard D. Weiner
CIO, US Merchant Marine Academy
[/quote]
</p>
<p>so, DS is now gonna be the proud owners of two batteries!</p>
<p>Oh well, at least Dell is doing the right thing here! You gotta give them the credit that is due!</p>
<p>And I bought DS's on Black Friday, it was one of those Black Friday deals at Staples.</p>