NETWizz
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 1,885
The only thing left to do is try to run the dell diagnostics on it, change it from NVME to something else like AHCI. If it does not work it is a bad Motherboard.
Another option is to find a non-destructive hard drive or SSD write test utility and connect the drive into another computer.
You can also plug the RAM modules into another laptop and run a memory tester if you want to double-verify.
Once you are sure it is the motherboard, 95% that is what's wrong, get a quote direct from Dell. Put it on an invoice with very little if any markup because it will be expensive, put in your estimated labor keeping in mind the total diagnostic and repair should be 1.5 to 2 hours for this machine if you want Costco to pay it. It should NOT have taken longer than a half hour to 45 minutes to diagnose this anyway. Offer a 1 year warranty on labor only putting in there that the manufacturer provides any warranty on parts. Where it gets bad is that you said Bitlocker is in use, and I doubt the customer has the key backed up. Being the TPM is on the old motherboard it is going to be neat when it prompts you for Bitlocker recovery and you get to explain to the customer all data is lost if they don't have that key. You probably want to put that in the invoice to be up-front.
Now the problem is the motherboard is probably more than $200 likely $250... If you want to get $150 to $200 in labor that pushes the repair to over $400. Good luck when they pro-rate the warranty out through Costco and depreciate the laptop and offer the customer a buy-out of $250 to $300 on the entire laptop.
At any rate, you would want to quote slightly low to Costco then quote a Windows Install separately. Thankfully, Windows 10 is very easy to install drivers, updates, and all, so 1 hour labor customer pay probably takes care of it.
At this point the question is what happens if the customer gets a buy-out. The answer is the customer owes you for an hour of diagnostics, or they do not pay and forfeit the machine. I guess you could part it out on eBay after a while.
Another option is to find a non-destructive hard drive or SSD write test utility and connect the drive into another computer.
You can also plug the RAM modules into another laptop and run a memory tester if you want to double-verify.
Once you are sure it is the motherboard, 95% that is what's wrong, get a quote direct from Dell. Put it on an invoice with very little if any markup because it will be expensive, put in your estimated labor keeping in mind the total diagnostic and repair should be 1.5 to 2 hours for this machine if you want Costco to pay it. It should NOT have taken longer than a half hour to 45 minutes to diagnose this anyway. Offer a 1 year warranty on labor only putting in there that the manufacturer provides any warranty on parts. Where it gets bad is that you said Bitlocker is in use, and I doubt the customer has the key backed up. Being the TPM is on the old motherboard it is going to be neat when it prompts you for Bitlocker recovery and you get to explain to the customer all data is lost if they don't have that key. You probably want to put that in the invoice to be up-front.
Now the problem is the motherboard is probably more than $200 likely $250... If you want to get $150 to $200 in labor that pushes the repair to over $400. Good luck when they pro-rate the warranty out through Costco and depreciate the laptop and offer the customer a buy-out of $250 to $300 on the entire laptop.
At any rate, you would want to quote slightly low to Costco then quote a Windows Install separately. Thankfully, Windows 10 is very easy to install drivers, updates, and all, so 1 hour labor customer pay probably takes care of it.
At this point the question is what happens if the customer gets a buy-out. The answer is the customer owes you for an hour of diagnostics, or they do not pay and forfeit the machine. I guess you could part it out on eBay after a while.
