I guess when it rains it pours. I’ve previously chronicled the saga of my neighbor Jerry’s Dimension 4100, whose case fan has failed and can’t be replaced. Yesterday, he called me to tell me that his just-over-a-year-old Dimension 4600 won’t start.
We hauled the PC over to my office, where I plugged it in and took a look. Yep, it’s dead, Jim. I made the obligatory call to Dell’s support line, where I spent 15 minutes on hold before a cheerful tech told me that Jerry’s account was from the Large Systems division. Ha! While I was on hold waiting for those techs to pick up, I surfed over to the Dell Community Forum. And wonder of wonders, I read this thread, and this one, and then hit the mother lode on this one.
In short, lots of people have been complaining about a sudden rash of power supply failures in the Dimension 4600 line, typically just after the one-year anniversary. After I read through all the threads, I decided not to waste any more time waiting for a tech to pick up and tell me the computer was out of warranty. Instead, I’m heading for CompUSA to pick up a generic power supply and swap it with the defective one.
I’ll give kudos to Dell for having a Community Forum, but it’s a double-edged sword. This is one of three problems I’ve experienced with Dell products and support in recent months, and thanks to the forums I’ve learned that I’m not alone. Unfortunately, Dell doesn’t seem to have invested any energy in capturing the feedback on these forums to identify and fix common problems. I can only imagine how annoyed and angry their customers are who are getting the run-around from a support tech and don’t realize that there’s a place to share information and horror stories with other customers.
In general, I think Dell makes good, solid computers, but their support is troublesome. If you’re a Dell customer, do yourself a favor and start in the message boards the next time you have a problem. You might save yourself a lot of pointless aggravation.
Update: Yep, the new power supply fixed the problem.
Update: I’ve closed the comments on this post. They’re now read-only. A lot of people are asking for detailed help with their computers that I can’t offer, and the comments section isn’t really set up to work like a bulletin board or forum. A better suggestion is to go to the Dell forums.
Thanks for all the great feedback. – Ed Bott, February 2006
Yes i hate the support from dell and now an artical in buessinesweek online has dell saying ergo John Hamlin senior V. P. says he is hireing a few thousand add. reps plus on 9/28/05 announcment of a higher priced line called XPS will be put in quote shorter queues and dedicated teams for support. Funny in short terms there going to charge more money for a standerd service they cant support now. plus (quote) Thats one of several ways in wich dell will encourage customers who want more support to pay extra for it. what a joke 9/30/05 buessinesweek online this artical needs to be read by everybody looking at a dell shi$er product charge more for support. looks like a plain ol scam to me . thank you for the site to vent this info .
I got home from a month vacation and no power. I usually leave my 4600 on but I turned it off for the month. My son knows about this stuff and I don’t, so I called him. He told me to check your site and I was able to fix the problem. One of the last messages said to put a hair dryer to the power supply. I did that and it fired up in about a minute of hooking it back up. It may be a temporary fix but I’m up and running!
I am planning to replace the 4600 250W PSU with a standard ATX PSU. However, when I compare the two. there are extra wires going to J1F1(fan commector) and J5B1(Microprocessor power connector).
Could someone who has successfully replaced the PSU, please tell me whether the wires to these connectors on the mothorboard are really needed? And if yes, do I buy some more cable and connectors for this purposes? Thanks so much.
Benny
Dell 4600. Purchased Feb 12, 2004. PSU dead, Oct 12, 2005.
Hair dryer worked this time. What an incredible thread here, thank you all very much. Shame on Dell for pushing the MOBO when this PSU problem is so widespread and common.
Well, it’s nice to see I’m in good company with these issues. I think I may have gotten lucky though, as mine crapped out after about 22.5 months. I called support (only the second time since I got the comp) and had a great rep. He told me about the power supply issue (even told me it was somewhat common) and put me through to cust. service. Before doing so, I asked him if I could use a generic so I wouldn’t have to wait for shipping and he said I could, but that service would probably tell me otherwise. I got on with them and was told it would take 5-7 days to send, at which point I said I’d buy it on my own. They (of course) told me I couldn’t and that if I did, I’d fry the mobo and void my warranty…told them that if I was under warranty, I’d be getting the PS for free and hung up. Quite thankful that I found this forum, as I’ll be going to compusa tonight to pick up a new one (can proably get it cheaper online, but time is of the essence)
I have had my Dell 4600 for 22 months and now it won’t turn on. This is obviously defective merchandise and we really need to pull together and start a class action suit!
You folks are fantastic. Thank you very much. My Dell Dimension 4600 wouldn’t power on tonight. After fussing around (and figuring it was the power switch, since the “flea” LED came on, indicating some power to the motherboard), I nevertheless searched around on the web for problems with Dimension 4600’s turning on and found this forum.
I replaced my power supply from another Dell I had, and now my 4600 works. Excellent! I needed it up and running tonight, as my computer has on it information I need for a trip I’m taking tomorrow — so this site was very useful for me.
I bought my Dimension 4600 in October, 2003, so it’s two years old, and I use it every day. It sounds like Dell got a crappy power-supply vendor for this series.
Over the years, I’ve worked with a lot of computers of various sorts, including a lot of Dells of numerous models: about 5 Dell computers personally, including one in the 1980’s, I think it was, and about 100-200 of them in business. I’ve had very good luck with Dells overall — better reliability, fewer hassles, and better items on their site (like drivers and BIOS updates) on average than other brands I’ve worked with (generic “build it yourself”, Compaq, HP, etc.), even including this experience with my Dimension 4600.
Anyway, thanks very much for this information — you folks saved me a lot of stress.
there is an investigation from a law firm http://www.lieffcabraser.com/dell-dimension.htm there looking into it as a class action
Purchased two Dimension 4600s 12/31/03, they BOTH died the same day. We turned them off, usually leave on, neither computer will turn back on. IT person tried power supply, no luck, tried Dell was told “we cannot help you, if you were under warranty we could give you new motherboard, but since you are not, we cannot sell to you”. This is truly unbelievable.
Yes…yet another addition to the pissed of Dell customer list. Just got off the Dell forums. Very ticked now. 2 years and 5 days from purchase date and nothing. Out of warranty. My monitor, which is plugged into the back of the tower, has power but that’s all I have. In retrospect, I remember a power problem in February but figured it was a glitch since it turned on after a few tries. I do leave it on most of the time because the “hibernate” and “standby” modes both would basically would power everything down anyway. It would take forever to post so it was less aggravating to just leave the thing on. Not going to bother calling the irritating “support team” in India. Off to buy my new PSU today. AAAaaaaaarrrrggghhhh! Not buying another Dell again. They should have recalled these p.o.s. PSU’s!
Had the power suppy checked out at work tests good but does nt power up put in a new power supply started right up this computer takes a standard atx power suppy with p4 power connector the rumors about it having to have a specialadapter because it s a dell are false maybe on some other dell s yes but not this one
Hi everyone, is replacing the power supply as a pre-emptive move recommended? I have a Dimension 4600, shipped in late March ‘04, and haven’t wittingly had any power supply issues YET, but since I just added a new video card that requires supplied power and would like to add a second internal hard drive in the future, it seems like it would be a good way to avoid what seems to be an inevitable problem…
Suggestions very much appreciated, and thanks for bringing this to everyone’s attention and to everyone for sharing their experiences!
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{dhruv_kalia 7:35:55 AM} Thank you for contacting Dell Consumer Hardware Warranty Support Chat. My name is Dhruv. How may I help you today?
{ 7:36:14 AM} have you read my comment?
{dhruv_kalia 7:36:37 AM} No, its not there on the screen.
{ 7:36:55 AM} I am having a problem with my power supply.
{ 7:37:23 AM} The computer will not turn back on after having it off for about an hour.
{ 7:37:42 AM} If I let it sit about 6 hours it will work again.
{ 7:37:58 AM} Looking at the forums this is a very common problem
{ 7:38:23 AM} Just wondering if this is something you replace as a defective part.
{dhruv_kalia 7:38:29 AM} I have noted your question and am reviewing it. Meanwhile, may I have the name and telephone number registered with us?”
{ 7:38:53 AM} Richard Jungles
{dhruv_kalia 7:39:10 AM} Thank you for the information.
{dhruv_kalia 7:39:27 AM} Just to keep you updated, the contract of the computer has expired. So while troubleshooting if we have to replace any parts, I would be unable to do that and you will have to get in touch with the Dell sales department for the same.
{ 7:40:23 AM} It seems after seeing the forums, that these ps units are defective.
{ 7:41:57 AM} I guess I will have to find a better power supply on my own.
Thanks anyway.
{dhruv_kalia 7:42:18 AM} Thank you for contacting Dell Hardware Warranty Support online Chat, have a great day! ‘CLICK’
At our company we dit buy eight Dimension 4600 in januari 2004. The first power supply died in june 2005, two others in october and the forth now in november 2005. Because out of warrenty we have to buy new power supplies. At Dell custom support they said the bad 4600 power supply is NOT a known issue….. They say it;s maybe a problem with the power voltage, but we have another 10 computers here without problems. So now we have two spare power supplies (not Dell brand) on stock!
I wish I’d come across this board before I began the two day journey into being shuttled to every department known to man for refusing to pay on on a system they couldn’t seem to get a replacement motherboard for after a nine month wait.
I’ve had 4 power supplies die on my 4600 and the rave reviews I used to give Dell went straight into the toilet.
Like so many people here it died right after the warranty expired. And I had the 2 year one! It was even around Thanksgiving (2004). Coincendence, yes, but aggravating as you know what. Now I’ll save myself the hunt for the motherboard they no longer produce and can’t find a comparable product for and just get a generic power supply.
I SUGGEST EVERYONE GO ON THIS WEBSITE AND FILE A COMPLAINT SO SOMETHING CAN BE DONE. THANK YOU http://www.lieffcabraser.com/dell-dimension.htm
Just an update, I replaced my Dell motherboard with a third party model, one whose BIOS actually shows you the temperature monitor and the fans it’s monitoring, and that’s also built to accept a processor heatsink fan. I also did go ahead and buy a third-party power supply, too, and my computer’s never run better. Total cost just over $100:
Motherboard: $45
PSU: $43 after rebate
Heatsink w/ fan: $20
I’m even considering a new case – Dell’s really isn’t a bad one, but I’m even considering replacing that just to get the Dell name out of my house, lol. Anyway I just wanted to let everyone know that such a thing is possible. Thanks again to everyone for their feedback, it made a big impact!
I just spent 2 days of being cut off, put on hold for 30 minutes, etc…same as everyone else and amazingly each person told me what to order and then again told it’s not available. I think it’s worth trying a generic power supply for sure. I have nothing to lose. My dimension 4600 also died right after the warranty expired a few months ago. I even asked for a number to complain to and they connected me and when I was talking, I got disconnected. Makes you want to scream!
Thanks for this info…..
I also have problem with power on. I’ve had this unit just over one year. Never had any problem. Tried to power up and nothing. Dell Support says I need new motherboard, but my problem sounds exactly the same as most here. On my way to get PS. Hope this works. Thanks for Info.
I wanted to thank everyone for their help. My Dell 4600 would not power up after being 2 years old. I read this link online and suspected it was the power supply. I bought a Antec 500W power supply at Comp USA since it was on sale for 50$ after rebate. I then tried to test the voltages as suggested on this forum at http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt2.html. I was disappointed to see that the voltages were all fine. I thought maybe I had too many hard drives connected since I have 3 hard drives (although it worked fine before). I unplugged two of the non OS drives and the computer still did not power up. So then I thought it was the power switch. So I disconnected it and connected it to an ohmeter and the switch worked. So now I thought I was in trouble. I felt it may be the motherboard but the motherboard still had the little green light on which I have some people call the “flea” light. Since I did not want to spend the money on a new motherboard, I decided just to try replacing the power supply anyway since I read somewhere that someone still had the “flea” light on and replacing the power supply worked. It took me about 45 minutes to replace the power supply mainly because the Antec 500W power supply was larger than the original power supply and I had to crowd the wires together to make it fit between the power supply and the back of the CD-ROM. I was so glad when I powered it up and the computer started running. I was just surpised that the old power supply still had the right voltages but still did not work. Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone for their help.