Dell PowerEdge 400SC P4 2.8HT for $388 / P4 3.2 $748 after $150 MIR/coupon (basic configuration) [3.2 deal Warm]

[RVN]

Me too! I inquired as to the order status on 9/11 and asked for upgrade on the Dell Community Forum. Two hours later, I got the blanket 9/23 email ...and as of right now it states that it is in transit. Maybe they were being overly conservative again on their delivery estimate ...like once or twice before.

 

[dpham00]

anyone have an idea which hd this one is:

36GB,U320,SCSI,1IN 10K,68P,PE400SC

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: magis123
Well, after much toil and headache, my order has finally gone through ... here are the stats for 2 400SC's I ordered:

Total Time Spent On The Phone With Dell: 06:53:16
Total Customer Service Representatives: 4
Total Sales Support Representatives: 5
Total Supervisors: 4
Total Managers: 2
Total Idiots At Dell Financial Services: 24 (includes supervisors, they are not any more intelligent than the regular reps)


Want to know the best part, I didn't even finance this on my DFS account ... what a nightmare ... and to think as a consultant last week one of my major clients bought close to $15k worth of Optiplex Workstations ... yet I couldn't get two friggin' servers ...

Wow, that was an amazing journey through time ... I was ready to honestly give up but then it became the principal of the matter and that was why I kept pushing and pushing ...

Congrats. Too bad you had to go through all of that trouble. You should take a few minutes to send a letter or email to someone high up in Dell to complain about your experience and point out that you are a consultant and are now very concerned about directing your clients to Dell after your personal experience. Maybe they will at least give you some type of credit to to compensate for all of your wasted time dealing with them. You might try call the regular customer ordering number and request Dell's corporate address and someone to complain to because you have just had a horrible experience ordering from Dell.

 

[Lytech]

Got MINE TODAY!!!! It is SWEEEEET. I had ordered on Wednesday 9/3 when the deal was a 2.4 for $400 after rebates. Added a Modem to get it over the $500 mark that was required to use the DFS account. Then on thursday, when the deal got sweeter, I got in on the 3.2 deal. I did not cancel my first order because I did not think it would be right, and besides, I could use two more computers (I just opened another office up, and the computers that I had been using were not cutting it. I had the Gateway 6400 PIII 933 deal from years gone past). I am EXTREMELY happy with both of them. PC3200 DDR 400 (128) in both, which I moved to the 2.4 and got myself a couple of 256 from crucial. Also got me a $30 KVM switch so I can still run my server as a server while using XP pro on this machine.

Anyway, good luck to all of you who got that stupid e-mail. The same thing happened to me when I got in on the 6400 deal from gateway for $500 several years ago. I stuck tight, and a month and a half later, I had my server. I am sure Dell is not trying to screw people out of the deal, but underestimated the power of Anandtech! An interesting thing, though. My 3.2 was "boxing" for about 3 days and I got an e-mail from Dell's marketing department asking me to fill out a survey about my business (I really am the proprietor of a business). The day after I replied to the e-mail my package shipped. Coincidence?...

Also, A great thank you for the FAQ link in the first post. IT really made my decision easier and did a better job of answering my concerns than any sales site ever has! Kudos to K-Squared and olliebg!

 

[K-squared]

Why thanks!

Even though I do not know Ollie, nor has he asked me - I would like to ask that if you found his forum/FAQ to be helpful in making your decision and/or setting-up your system, that you bounce him a few bucks to help sustain the forum. I see that forum being a place where we're most likely to get help and/or answers as the 400SC continues to "mature" with BIOS updates and the upcoming P5 !

You guys do know the initial platform design for the P5 is the 478-pin platform,....

don't you???

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: K-squared
Why thanks!

Even though I do not know Ollie, nor has he asked me - I would like to ask that if you found his forum/FAQ to be helpful in making your decision and/or setting-up your system, that you bounce him a few bucks to help sustain the forum. I see that forum being a place where we're most likely to get help and/or answers as the 400SC continues to "mature" with BIOS updates and the upcoming P5 !

You guys do know the initial platform design for the P5 is the 478-pin platform,....

don't you???

I just sent Ollie $20 cash via snail mail this week (I don't have and don't want a paypal account). He will need the $$$ to pay for the extra bandwidth we are using on this deal. From what I understand he just started back to school so he's got new expenses. So be sure to contribute so we can keep his site up.

 

[Moogoo112]

ok this is a dumb question.. i know the 2 front ports are usb 2 but how bout the back ones? r they usb 2?

 

[ivwshane]

Originally posted by: Lytech
Got MINE TODAY!!!! It is SWEEEEET. I had ordered on Wednesday 9/3 when the deal was a 2.4 for $400 after rebates. Added a Modem to get it over the $500 mark that was required to use the DFS account. Then on thursday, when the deal got sweeter, I got in on the 3.2 deal. I did not cancel my first order because I did not think it would be right, and besides, I could use two more computers (I just opened another office up, and the computers that I had been using were not cutting it. I had the Gateway 6400 PIII 933 deal from years gone past). I am EXTREMELY happy with both of them. PC3200 DDR 400 (128) in both, which I moved to the 2.4 and got myself a couple of 256 from crucial. Also got me a $30 KVM switch so I can still run my server as a server while using XP pro on this machine.
q]

I got in on that deal too

Other than a failed scsi drive they are still running and have been 24/7 (when was that? 2000?). I think that was the only deal that gateway ever did that came close to some of the dell deals

 

[gonzo2k]

Package Shipped on 9/15/2003 Stage: In Transit

Status: On Schedule, 9/12/2003 11:13:00 PM
Carrier: AIRBORNE EXPRESS
Delivery Estimate: September 18 - September 22

Your tracking number will be provided when your shipment arrives at the carrier's regional center. This can take 48-72 hours. Please check back to obtain your tracking number through this tool.

Not Bad...my package has been shipped two days from now!

 

[K-squared]

Hey!

Another example of Dell's "Award Winning Customer Service !" :Q :Q :Q :Q

Originally posted by: gonzo2k
Package Shipped on 9/15/2003 Stage: In Transit

Status: On Schedule, 9/12/2003 11:13:00 PM
Carrier: AIRBORNE EXPRESS
Delivery Estimate: September 18 - September 22

Your tracking number will be provided when your shipment arrives at the carrier's regional center. This can take 48-72 hours. Please check back to obtain your tracking number through this tool.

Not Bad...my package has been shipped two days from now!

 

[howardthehobo]

Originally posted by: K-squared
chiangm - I don't mean to alarm you, but if that were my system I would be making my first warranty claim for a new motherboard and processor. In installing the heatsink backwards, [they've] bent those capacitors, which may or may not have damaged the motherboard itself.

Originally posted by: chiangm
This is how my heatpipe is mounted when I received the system.

I checked mime, there is no heatpipe. Is this bad?

 

[K-squared]

! ! ! ***ALERT*** ! ! !


- at least SIX people have now reported receiving their 400SC with the heatsink incorrectly installed. Properly installed, the heaksink on the Dell 400SC P4 3.06/3.2 systems should be installed with the heatpipes facing toward the memory slots. Dell has also substituted the heatsink with heatpipes in some other 400SC configurations. Notice in this image not only is the heatsink installed backward, the large capacitors near the CPU socket have been bent in order to get the heat sink into that position (enlarge the image). This alone may also result in heat dissipation issues, as the heatsink sits further from the fan/shroud when installed backwards and may not be properly mated against the CPU (not to mention the possible MB damage).

One of Dell's assembly lines may have gotten "a little sloppy" with the surge of orders, and if mine arrives this way I'll be "raising hell-with-Dell".

Check your system(s) when they arrive and please post here and/or on Aaltonen forums ! ! ! !

Anandtech thread (look for message by chiangm about third-way down the page)

Aaltonen Forum thread

Another thread (notice comment about incorrect installation can damage the system !) :Q


Voice your complaint to DELL here ! Dell is currently "ignoring" the thread. If they start getting hammered with dozens of complaints they'll have to address it.

Multiple images of the heatsink/pipe incorrectly installed:

280zx on Fatwallet

[L=]http://www.maxlogic.com/_dell/heatpipe.jpg[/L]

[L=Dell is replacing motherboards]http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.cfm?start=897&catid=18&threadid=216291[/L] on systems where the heatsink is improperly installed, thus Dell must consider this a serious problem.

 

[howardthehobo]

nevermind, only 2.8g or above comes with heatpipe.

 

[JSFord]

My second system came with the hsf on backwards.
Heat pipes on the capacitors.

I had to change CPU anyways, lol

 

[Moogoo112]

i have a 2.4 n it came with heatpipes, anyone know if the usb ports in the back are usb 2

 

[howardthehobo]

Originally posted by: Moogoo112
i have a 2.4 n it came with heatpipes, anyone know if the usb ports in the back are usb 2

So can someone tell me that should the 2.4g ones come with heatpipe? Should I call dell about it?

Those USB ports ARE USB2.0.

 

[oaaltone]

Dell's official reply was that systems with a 3.06GHz+ processor will come with the heatpipe heatsink. My 1st (2.26GHz) and 2nd (2.8GHz) 400SCs came with a standard heatsink. No heat issues whatsoever though...

 

[howardthehobo]

Originally posted by: olliebg
Dell's official reply was that systems with a 3.06GHz+ processor will come with the heatpipe heatsink. My 1st (2.26GHz) and 2nd (2.8GHz) 400SCs came with a standard heatsink. No heat issues whatsoever though...

Thank you so much!!! You ARE the FAQ guy!!!

 

[whatnow]

Finally, mine is being shipped today. This after being "in production stage" for 11 days with no updates.

 

[reDont]

Mine was scheduled to ship Friday September 12. Dell sent it out on the 12 (right on schedule), eventhough I got an email saying that it would be delayed until the 22nd. Airborne got the package sometime between the 12th and the 14th. I got my 400sc yesterday, monday!

Mine came with the heatpipe installed correctly, but I was given the 128mb 333mhz ddr memory

Andy

 

[mechwarrior]

Got to work yesterday and checked the Dell site to find Airborne was schedule to deliver my computer. So I called the wife at home to make sure she would be around. Around noon she called to say Airborne stopped by but must have only rang the doorbell once and left a note saying they would try again tomorrow! Fortunately, she called Airborne and they paged the truck to have them re-deliver.

Heatpipe is installed correctly. Invoice says the 128mb DDR memory is 333mhz, but the actual memory is 400mhz! Well now I have to find another 128mb. Installed XP Pro, the drivers and am now up and running.

 

[drokk]

Hello All,

I just recieved a new Western Digital drive to put into this bad boy, and I am having a heck of a time getting it to be recognized. I can get either the WD or the 40 gig Deskstar that came with it to come up as a master, but I have not been able to get them both to come up no matter what jumper settings I use on the hard drives. I am going to go out and get another cable today to see if it is the cables secondary connector that is causing the problem. I know Western Digital drive do not always play nice with other drives, but I was wondering if anyone else has had any trouble like this? In the Dell BIOS, it just says "off" for the Primary Slave. Any Ideas?

Also, be careful removing the heatsink. The thermal paste that Dell used is more like Glue! I gently pulled up on the heat sink after disengaging the clips, an the processor came right out of the socket! Luckily it did not damage anything, but just a warning to all who plan on removing the 3.2 to put in another board and selling the Dell!

Thanks

 

[cliftonite]

Sweet, mine is done testing. Hopefully it will ship today or tomorrow

 

[oaaltone]

Originally posted by: drokk
In the Dell BIOS, it just says "off" for the Primary Slave. Any Ideas?

Try changing the setting from "OFF" to "AUTO". It won't work until you do that

 

[dpham00]

got mine yesterday! haven't really done much yet except installing an OS.