Jump to content


  • Tweets

  • Posts

    • Indians, traditionally known as avid savers, are now stashing away less money and borrowing more.View the full article
    • the claimant in their WS can refer to whatever previous CC judgements they like, as we do in our WS's, but CC judgements do not set a legal precedence. however, they do often refer to judgements like Bevis, those cases do created a precedence as they were court of appeal rulings. as for if the defendant, prior to the raising of a claim, dobbed themselves in as the driver in writing during any appeal to the PPC, i don't think we've seen one case whereby the claimant referred to such in their WS.. ?? but they certainly typically include said appeal letters in their exhibits. i certainly dont think it's a good idea to 'remind' them of such at the defence stage, even if the defendant did admit such in a written appeal. i would further go as far to say, that could be even more damaging to the whole case than a judge admonishing a defendant for not appealing to the PPC in the 1st place. it sort of blows the defendant out the water before the judge reads anything else. dx  
    • Hi LFI, Your knowledge in this area is greater than I could possibly hope to have and as such I appreciate your feedback. I'm not sure that I agree the reason why a barrister would say that, only to get new customers, I'm sure he must have had professional experience in this area that qualifies him to make that point. 🙂 In your point 1 you mention: 1] there is a real danger that some part of the appeal will point out that the person appealing [the keeper ] is also the driver. I understand the point you are making but I was referring to when the keeper is also the driver and admits it later and only in this circumstance, but I understand what you are saying. I take on board the issues you raise in point 2. Is it possible that a PPC (claimant) could refer back to the case above as proof that the motorist should have appealed, like they refer back to other cases? Thanks once again for the feedback.
    • Well barristers would say that in the hope that motorists would go to them for advice -obviously paid advice.  The problem with appealing is at least twofold. 1] there is a real danger that some part of the appeal will point out that the person appealing [the keeper ] is also the driver.  And in a lot of cases the last thing the keeper wants when they are also the driver is that the parking company knows that. It makes it so much easier for them as the majority  of Judges do not accept that the keeper and the driver are the same person for obvious reasons. Often they are not the same person especially when it is a family car where the husband, wife and children are all insured to drive the same car. On top of that  just about every person who has a valid insurance policy is able to drive another person's vehicle. So there are many possibilities and it should be up to the parking company to prove it to some extent.  Most parking company's do not accept appeals under virtually any circumstances. But insist that you carry on and appeal to their so called impartial jury who are often anything but impartial. By turning down that second appeal, many motorists pay up because they don't know enough about PoFA to argue with those decisions which brings us to the second problem. 2] the major parking companies are mostly unscrupulous, lying cheating scrotes. So when you appeal and your reasons look as if they would have merit in Court, they then go about  concocting a Witness Statement to debunk that challenge. We feel that by leaving what we think are the strongest arguments to our Member's Witness Statements, it leaves insufficient time to be thwarted with their lies etc. And when the motorists defence is good enough to win, it should win regardless of when it is first produced.   
    • S13 (2)The creditor may not exercise the right under paragraph 4 to recover from the keeper any unpaid parking charges specified in the notice to keeper if, within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which that notice was given, the creditor is given— (a)a statement signed by or on behalf of the vehicle-hire firm to the effect that at the material time the vehicle was hired to a named person under a hire agreement; (b)a copy of the hire agreement; and (c)a copy of a statement of liability signed by the hirer under that hire agreement. As  Arval has complied with the above they cannot be pursued by EC----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S14 [1]   the creditor may recover those charges (so far as they remain unpaid) from the hirer. (2)The conditions are that— (a)the creditor has within the relevant period given the hirer a notice in accordance with sub-paragraph (5) (a “notice to hirer”), together with a copy of the documents mentioned in paragraph 13(2) and the notice to keeper; (b)a period of 21 days beginning with the day on which the notice to hirer was given has elapsed;  As ECP did not send copies of the documents to your company and they have given 28 days instead of 21 days they have failed to comply with  the Act so you and your Company are absolved from paying. That is not to say that they won't continue asking to be paid as they do not have the faintest idea how PoFA works. 
  • Recommended Topics

  • Our picks

    • If you are buying a used car – you need to read this survival guide.
      • 1 reply
    • Hello,

      On 15/1/24 booked appointment with Big Motoring World (BMW) to view a mini on 17/1/24 at 8pm at their Enfield dealership.  

      Car was dirty and test drive was two circuits of roundabout on entry to the showroom.  Was p/x my car and rushed by sales exec and a manager into buying the mini and a 3yr warranty that night, sale all wrapped up by 10pm.  They strongly advised me taking warranty out on car that age (2017) and confirmed it was honoured at over 500 UK registered garages.

      The next day, 18/1/24 noticed amber engine warning light on dashboard , immediately phoned BMW aftercare team to ask for it to be investigated asap at nearest garage to me. After 15 mins on hold was told only their 5 service centres across the UK can deal with car issues with earliest date for inspection in March ! Said I’m not happy with that given what sales team advised or driving car. Told an amber warning light only advisory so to drive with caution and call back when light goes red.

      I’m not happy to do this, drive the car or with the after care experience (a sign of further stresses to come) so want a refund and to return the car asap.

      Please can you advise what I need to do today to get this done. 
       

      Many thanks 
        • Like
      • 81 replies
    • Housing Association property flooding. https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/438641-housing-association-property-flooding/&do=findComment&comment=5124299
      • 161 replies
    • We have finally managed to obtain the transcript of this case.

      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

      Frankly I don't think that is any accident.

      One of the points that the judge made was that the customers contract with the broker specifically refers to the courier – and it is clear that the courier knows that they are acting for a third party. There is no need to name the third party. They just have to be recognisably part of a class of person – such as a sender or a recipient of the parcel.

      Please note that a recent case against UPS failed on exactly the same issue with the judge held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply.

      We will be getting that transcript very soon. We will look at it and we will understand how the judge made such catastrophic mistakes. It was a very poor judgement.
      We will be recommending that people do include this adverse judgement in their bundle so that when they go to county court the judge will see both sides and see the arguments against this adverse judgement.
      Also, we will be to demonstrate to the judge that we are fair-minded and that we don't mind bringing everything to the attention of the judge even if it is against our own interests.
      This is good ethical practice.

      It would be very nice if the parcel delivery companies – including EVRi – practised this kind of thing as well.

       

      OT APPROVED, 365MC637, FAROOQ, EVRi, 12.07.23 (BRENT) - J v4.pdf
        • Like
  • Recommended Topics

Dell software update fried my machine- now they want £241 to fix it!


kp278
style="text-align: center;">  

Thread Locked

because no one has posted on it for the last 4985 days.

If you need to add something to this thread then

 

Please click the "Report " link

 

at the bottom of one of the posts.

 

If you want to post a new story then

Please

Start your own new thread

That way you will attract more attention to your story and get more visitors and more help 

 

Thanks

Recommended Posts

Hi all, I tried to update the BIOS on my Dell Dimension E521 last night, using software downloaded from the Dell website for my machine. I followed the instructions on the website (to install via Windows and not via floppy), but the update window came up as not responding. The keyboard and mouse were not responding either. After a while I did the only thing left and turned if off by holding the button down. As expected :( the motherboard or processor is fried. I get a solid amber light on the front of the machine and no signal to the monitor.

 

I've spoken to Dell technical and they quoted me £241 to replace the motherboard. I tried to argue that I was using Dells software and following Dells instructions, and that mine isn't an isolated incident, but they kept saying that as a technical engineer wasn't present when I was doing the update, I would have to pay. I asked why it was available for download from their website and why they gave instructions for the install but no go. I'm getting a call back from a their customer relations department this morning.

 

Am I being reasonable by not expecting to pay for a replacement motherboard?

 

If I am, any advice on arguing my point with the customer relations department?

 

Thanks, Kris

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi kp

 

I've done a quick scan of the net and their are clearly issues with updating BIOS on that PC.

I'm seeing if there are any solutions. One thing to try is switching everything off. Unplug the

the system, then give it five minutes, then power up again.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Try removing the motherboard battery for a few minutes, and then replace it. That will clear the CMOS and reset the defaults. Sometimes you can get lucky after a bad reflash and that's all it needs. Post back if that doesn't dpo the trick, there are other things to do beside replacing the mobo.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Flashing the BIOS is done when the motherboard needs an important update and should NOT be done unless absolutely necessary. Firstly I would say who told you to Flash the BIOS? Secondly there are always warnings about flashing BIOS on websites and the damage it can do to your motherboard if done wrong. Dell cannot be held responsible for this as it's likely the Flash was not needed.

When you Flash the BIOS you wipe the ROM Chip that's installed on all motherboards and reprogramme it. If something goes wrong during that process the BIOS is lost and the motherboard effectively broken. Modern boards now come with Dual BIOS so if this happens there's always a backup but I'm guessing Dell won't have this on this motherboard.

 

What concerns me is the quote from Dell to replace a motherboard. Do not pay them.. it's an absolute rip off. You can get a new motherboard with new processor and memory for cheaper than that. Motherboards are relatively difficult to replace but should only take about 2 hours for a professional. The mothrboard itself will cost usually between £40-70 so you're paying nearly £200 labour which is £100 per hour!!!!! You got to love Dell.

 

To give you some idea I charge Hardware + £40 labour to change a motherboard or £65 if it requires a new Windows installation. What I suggest is to find out what motherboard and processor type you have and post them here and I'll advice the best way to replace them. If the motherboard is BTX (rather than the standard ATX) then you may be stuck as they don't make them anymore and you may have to get through Dell. Yet another reason why not to buy Dell.

Link to post
Share on other sites

rebel11, i've yet to try that link with the floppy disk and asus software, i should be able to get hold of a floppy drive at work on tuesday so will report back.

 

huff&puff, tried that but no joy.

 

qa19, agreed i wont be paying for dell to replace the board- the pc and monitor was only £350 new!

Link to post
Share on other sites

You now need to look on the motherboard and see if you can find a removable BIOS chip. It will look like this:

 

1916-bios.jpg

 

Take the chip out, and see if you can find a local electronics place that has an EEPROM burner. They should be able to reflash the chip for a reasonable fee - I have no idea what they charge these days, but I would have thought somewhere around £20 would be in the right ballpark.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree, flashing your BIOS should only be done if there is some problem or that you really need to update (sometimes newer BIOS have updated features, such as support for more hardware or features such as hibernation, etc).

 

There is always a risk when flashing a BIOS (or any device for that matter, phone, cd, dvd player, etc), and things can go wrong if the process is interupted or power is cut.

 

It wont be the motherboard or CPU that is fried, if anything, the BIOS chip will be not fuctioning, a simple solution would be to get hold of another chip perhaps from a 2nd hand motherboard and replace it, I believe that a special IC extrator tool is needed.

 

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

to answer an earlier question regarding why i attempted to update the bios, the system would freeze every couple of days when booting up, on the POST screen. i looked into this and it was suggested it was due to having 'stuff' plugged into the usb ports. the latest bios version for my pc advised the handling of usb on boot had been updated, hence why i attempted the update.

 

an interesting read here, identical problem to me:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3514/p/18649088/18772074.aspx

 

so if none of the above work, do you think i could argue there's an inherent problem with the bios update software and go as far as i need to, to get the pc repaired?

Link to post
Share on other sites

It sounds like your PC was trying to boot off your USB stick,a better solution would of been to remove the USB stick whilst booting, unless of course you specifically needed a bootable USB.

 

From reading the Dell forum posts, it does appear that there maybe a problem with flashing cerftain Dell MB's, but I somehow doubt you would get Dell to admit this and send you a new motherboard, is yours under any kind of warranty ?

 

You no doubt could get the 'PC repaired' but I doubt this would be cheap.

 

Personally I'd try..

 

1) Try reflashing the firmware, there must be a boot/flash (non-windows option). I'd try getting hold of as many different firmwares as poss., and try them all. (Also remove/repalce the CMOS battery first and also do a jumper CMOS reset if your mother board allows).

 

2) If unsuccessful then you could (if you feel confident enough) replace either the MB or just the BIOS chip. You could actually use a similar MB and it shoulkd work ok if it uses the same chipset.

 

3) Hassle Dell for a free replacement.

 

4) Enquire at a local PC repair service/shop, you can find many cheap (even no fix/no fee services) in your yellow pages.

 

5) MY CHOICE - Take the opportunity to rebuild the PC (maybe using higher spec eqpt), bearing in mind your HD may not boot and you may need a reinstall of the OS.

 

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

i discovered my board is BTX, which limits my options. would i be able to fit a different sized board (ie ATX) in my case, or is it likely the ports at the back will not line up? i've been looking at some barebone set-ups, a new case and motherboard, and psu, then i could just swap over my video card, optical drive, memory and hard drive.

Link to post
Share on other sites

No you cannot use ATX with BTX tower and personally I would count my loses and get a new ATX computer from a company who's sole aim isn't to rip you off. Yes the barebones system will work out cheaper but make sure your memory is compatible (will probably be DDR2), video card (will probably be PCI Express) and if your drives are IDE make sure the new mobo has one IDE slot so you can run your HDD as master and optical drive as slave.

Link to post
Share on other sites

it doesn't get any easier...

i got hold of a couple of floppy drives and some disks, installed the .bin file and flash software (from one of the links above), then discovered that the floppy wont work in my machine! my guess is that bios is only looking for a usb floppy instead of an internal floppy (my machine has this option in the bios). so now i need to find a way to activate the floppy without getting into bios (which im pretty sure can't be done).

 

alternatively, i could try and flash the bios via a usb floppy- does anyone know if this is possible? will the system see any usb devices at this early stage?

Link to post
Share on other sites

It depends on your motherboard but all modern ones do. Your BIOS will have an option to boot from USB Device so put that first in the boot list or press F12 (sometimes ESC) for boot menu to select the device. However all motherboards are still standard floppy compatible and most will have the floppy connector. Maybe your BIOS isn't configured properly or the flopp drive isn't connected inside. It should have 2 leads attached to it: one ribbon into the mobo and one for power from the PSU.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does the PC give you any options when you start it ?. Or is it completely dead ?

 

Booting from a floopy is (I would of thought) a default option, (thus resetting the CMOS should bring it back), especially as your PC is oldish (some newer PC's have no floppy support at all).

 

You could try to see if there is a boot option when you start the PC, (F11 or F12 ?) which may let you choose HD or Floppy, etc without actually going into the BIOS.

 

Despite all this, I think a new build using a new MB (ATX size maybe), even if it involves getting a new power supply (you can get them for £20-£30.

 

Andy

Link to post
Share on other sites

i didn't spec a floppy drive and i think the default option is to look for a usb floppy drive.

 

but on to the fun stuff. i need help with choosing a motherboard.

 

i want to use all my existing bits (as far as reasonable) to keep the cost down. i dont know whether to go MATX or ATX at the moment. the only problem i can see with using MATX is the boards i looked at only have 2 memory slots and i have four dimms (2x 1gb and 2x 512mb) so i could only utilise 2gb instead of 3gb. and i guess if i want to use my psu i need an ATX...?

 

my current spec:

processor: AMD 64 X2 4000 dual core

memory: 3gb DDR2 667MHz

drives: SATA HDD and DVDRW

video: Geforce 7300LE 256mb (pci-e x16)

chipset: NVIDIA, don't know specifics, maybe NFORCE 430?

psu: 305W, does 90-135, 180-265 @50/60hz mean anything?

 

i think i need an AMD2 socket for the processor, ddr2 memory slots, sata connectors, pci-e x16 socket.

 

i need help with chipsets and psu's, i don't know what part of the system they are linked to, ie is the choice of psu affected by the motherboard or the processor? the same for the chipset?

 

this is one of the first i looked at. how far am i off the mark...?

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/home/product/47046/asrock-motherboard-n68c-s-ucc-amd-am3-am2--ddr3

Edited by kp278
googling, chipset i think is NFORCE 430
Link to post
Share on other sites

you will need an AM2 (or AM2+) motherboard doesn't matter about chipset. Recommend ATX rather than mATX as latter are inferior quality but cheaper (approx £35 mATX or £50 for ATX). An AM2 board should be compatible with your DDR2 (check its not ddr3) and the only other thing you need to check is what pin format the motherboard is. Newer boards need 24 pin (20+4) PSU. Older PSUs are only 20 pin but you can pick up PSUs now for £15-20. You will also need to reinstall windows as it's setup for your old system and will blue screen if you don't.

Link to post
Share on other sites

thanks. the heatsink on the processor looks like its linked into a plastic fan assembly on the dell. i guess the heatsink screws into the motherboard, thus i would probably need a new heatsink, is this a safe assumption?

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]21429[/ATTACH]

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 Caggers

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Have we helped you ...?


×
×
  • Create New...