Dell Inspiron M5010 and M5030 7 Beep Failure

[Lanyap]

Dell Inspiron 15 models M5010 and M5030 have a defect that causes them to fail with a 7 beep error after about a year of normal use. These models were sold in Best Buy and on Dell outlet several years ago.

I purchased several of the M5010s from the outlet. I kept one and sold the others to friends. They have all died with the 7 beep error. The newer model M5030s are doing the same thing.

After analyzing the problem I determined it was a combination of design, heat generated by the AMD BGA MB chips and the plastic they used for the case. I used the heat gun method to re-attach the AMD chips to the motherboard. It worked but as soon as I put everything back together and tightened up the screws it would fail again. What appears to be happening is that over time the heat caused the plastic case to warp which is causing the motherboard to warp which is loosening the AMD BGA chips.

There is a huge thread at Dell community forums. People are getting Dell to fix the problem even if it is out of warranty. One caveat, the problem will reoccur at some point in the future because of the warped case.

If we get enough people complaining they may replace the defective units.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19436289.aspx

 

[taisingera]

This almost sounds like the Thinkpad Nvidia Quadro disaster from a couple of years ago. I don't game anyways, and I have learned just to buy Intel cpus in laptops and forget discreet graphics chips, especially if they overheat and the OEM has a poor design. I have a Dell N5010 currently in the house that was a refurb bought 2 years ago, and it still works, only Intel cpu+gpu.