This is the most serious to me of the three threads I have posted today. I have one in audio, one in video/display, and this issue i feel appropriate to post here. i will touch on all of the issues I have enountered in the first week of using this machine. Don't get me wrong, i love this computer so far, but i am very particular when it comes to keeping my hardware in great condition and these things came right out of the box, so i am frustrated to have to deal with any of this to be honest, especially at the steep price i paid... so, without further delay...
so, brand new custom build XPS 8500 special edition, first night of excitedly unboxing and setting up. hit the power button annnnddd....
FIRST BOOT UP: notice a VERY harsh scraping/ticking sound from the internals. thought maybe it was just something beyond me to know about and would work itself out once i ran the PC for a while. also encountered display issues right off the bat; click here for more on those...
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3515/t/19493507.aspx
by the second day that noise had me REALLY worried... so i decided to open up the case and check it out. sure enough... i see a cord bundle, LITERALLY, resting up against the inner fan blade... so, i gently, and I cannot stress this enough, GENTLY, moved the cord out of the way of the fan, sealed back the case, and turned on the PC. SUCCESS!!! it sounded GREAT now. i was feeling triumphant and hopeful for my new PC and I...
but then....
on the very same bootup, i can't get past the black and grey "DELL" logo screen. i sit there for ten minutes. eventually i give in and shut down using the power button. i wait a few minutes, and boot up again, same thing... now I'm furious...
the next day i was at work, and my brother knew how frustrated this made me, so he called tech support on my behalf and this is what they told him. "the cords in there usually rest on the fans, and the connections are really fragile... just unplug the PC from the wall and replug it in and that should work."
well, he did that, and it DID work, but I'm still not satisfied with this explanation and would like to understand exactly what happened to my PC. i literally did nothing aside from gently move a cord bundle that was otherwise going to get chewed up by my fan and ruin both it and the fan motor itself, and their explantion is that i should have just let it sit there getting thwomped on by the fan?
regardless of how annoyed that little inference left me, i still want to know WHAT happened, and WHY/HOW a power supply reset is able to fix whatever it is "I did" by trying to take care of my machine.
and lastly, I'm having audio mixer issues, which i think might be related to my other post about monitor stuff, but heres a link anyways so i can get as much input as possible on all of my concerns.
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/desktop/f/3513/t/19493502.aspx
I dont mean to be "that type of customer", but when i spend 1500 dollars for a brand new PC, I'm making a long term investment and i need to understand how to take care of this machine. these sort of things shouldn't be happening out of the box. :/
thanks for reading! you're a champion! any input is appreciated. :)