System configuration info missing from Dell warranty check web pages

I have recently gone to the Dell warranty page to find out what was
inside a computer with a given service tag. Several times now, the
configuration info has been missing (e.g. service tag D59PB11, an old
Dimension 8200) or just plain sketchy and incomplete with some of the
newer systems.

This is plain too bad, because some bean counter somewhere inside Dell
made a decision to save a few hard drives by deleting old stuff, or
someone else somewhere made the brainless decision to cut down on the
info kept on the web site for some of the newer systems. I have not
done enough warranty checks on newer systems to figure out whether
this reduced amount of technical data is pervasive or limited to
certain models... Ben Myers

On Mon, 30 May 2011 18:05:13 -0700 (PDT), Ben Myers
<> wrote:

>I have recently gone to the Dell warranty page to find out what was
>inside a computer with a given service tag. Several times now, the
>configuration info has been missing (e.g. service tag D59PB11, an old
>Dimension 8200) or just plain sketchy and incomplete with some of the
>newer systems.
>
>This is plain too bad, because some bean counter somewhere inside Dell
>made a decision to save a few hard drives by deleting old stuff, or
>someone else somewhere made the brainless decision to cut down on the
>info kept on the web site for some of the newer systems. I have not
>done enough warranty checks on newer systems to figure out whether
>this reduced amount of technical data is pervasive or limited to
>certain models... Ben Myers


Thanks Ben for the heads up. I have at least one old system so it's
possible this might happen to me too. I just haven't had the need to
check on it. And I'm with you on this!!!!

ps-- my wife is a bean counter CPA and once when I made similar
remarks, she let me know she wasn't pleased with what I said

"Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
news:34995e85-ec0a-4bbd-a040-...
>I have recently gone to the Dell warranty page to find out what was
> inside a computer with a given service tag. Several times now, the
> configuration info has been missing (e.g. service tag D59PB11, an old
> Dimension 8200) or just plain sketchy and incomplete with some of the
> newer systems.
>
> This is plain too bad, because some bean counter somewhere inside Dell
> made a decision to save a few hard drives by deleting old stuff, or
> someone else somewhere made the brainless decision to cut down on the
> info kept on the web site for some of the newer systems. I have not
> done enough warranty checks on newer systems to figure out whether
> this reduced amount of technical data is pervasive or limited to
> certain models... Ben Myers

When I enter your service tag on the Dell Small Business site I get:

4R312 INSTRUCTION..., NO-RISER, DIM8200
1 8G894 Assembly, Card, Planar, Dimension8200, No-Riser
1 9K795 Processor, 80532, 2.0G, 512K, 400FSB, Socket N
1 6H257 Keyboard, 104, 6Pin, UNITED STATES..., Audio, NMBMidnight Gray
1 735HE Mouse, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2..., 6P, 2 Button, Wheel 1.3A,
MICROSOFT..., MIDNIGHT GRAY...
1 4J133 Kit, Speaker, 120V, ADA995, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION...
1 3H788 KIT..., COMPACT DISKETTE..., COMPACT DISK READ WRITE...,
ROXIO..., V5.1
1 6J118 Compact Diskette Read Write, 680MB, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE
ELECTRONICS) ..., 5.25 inch Form Factor, 24X, NEC CORPORATION..., CHASSIS
2001...
1 1G952 Modem, V.92, Internal, Data/Fax/ Voice, Steel 2, Dimension
1 5740C CABLE..., AUXILIARY..., INTERNAL..., MODEM..., 4C
1 38FRH Card, Multi-Media, Audio, Santa Cruz
1 3K538 Card, Graphcs, 64MB, NV11, TV-Out
1 8F371 Floppy Drive, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR..., 3MD, NBZ 419,
CHASSIS 2001...
1 9J418 Removable Media Storage, Zip, 250M, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE
ELECTRONICS) ..., 3.5" FORM FACTOR..., Iomega, CHASSIS 2001...,
HardwareHardware Compatibility Testing
1 8J598 Kit, Software, Norton Antivirus 2002, 5.25" FORM FACTOR...,
English, Retail
1 6K223 Kit, Software, WKS-STE2K2, F5 OEM, English
1 5P257 Customer Kit, Software, Quicken 2002 Suite, Bundle, English
1 8K233 KIT..., SOFTWARE..., OVERPACK..., WINDOWS XP HOME..., COMPACT
DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION..., ENGLAND/ENGLISH..., A01
1 1P247 Customer Kit, Documentation Diskette, Software, Digital Video
Disk Drive, Cyberlink, 4.0C.10
1 7C712 Card Network, Ethernet, 10/100 CNET, REVISION...
1 9J259 Digital Video Disk, 680MB, 16X, IDE, 5.25 inch Form Factor,
Samsung, CHASSIS 2001..., Hardware Compatibility Testing
2 7D093 Rambus In Line Memory Module, 256, 400M, 128X16, 8C
2 9578D Card, Printed Wiring Board, Memory, Rambus In Line Memory
Module, Continuity, Rambus
1 7J379 Hard Drive, 80G, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS) ..., 1N,
7.2K, 40G/P, Maxtor Viper
1 8D466 Display, Cathode-Ray Tube, 19 inches, P922, Midnight Grey,
Dell Americas Organization


Whatch' complaining about? Looks like the complete system.

Rick

On May 31, 9:43*am, "Rick" <pe...@firmthrust.net> wrote:
> "Ben Myers" <ben.myer...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:34995e85-ec0a-4bbd-a040-...
>
> >I have recently gone to the Dell warranty page to find out what was
> > inside a computer with a given service tag. *Several times now, the
> > configuration info has been missing (e.g. service tag D59PB11, an old
> > Dimension 8200) or just plain sketchy and incomplete with some of the
> > newer systems.
>
> > This is plain too bad, because some bean counter somewhere inside Dell
> > made a decision to save a few hard drives by deleting old stuff, or
> > someone else somewhere made the brainless decision to cut down on the
> > info kept on the web site for some of the newer systems. *I have not
> > done enough warranty checks on newer systems to figure out whether
> > this reduced amount of technical data is pervasive or limited to
> > certain models... Ben Myers
>
> When I enter your service tag on the Dell Small Business site I get:
>
> * * *4R312 INSTRUCTION..., NO-RISER, DIM8200
> * * * 1 8G894 Assembly, Card, Planar, Dimension8200, No-Riser
> * * * 1 9K795 Processor, 80532, 2.0G, 512K, 400FSB, Socket N
> * * * 1 6H257 Keyboard, 104, 6Pin, UNITED STATES..., Audio, NMBMidnight Gray
> * * * 1 735HE Mouse, PERSONAL SYSTEM 2..., 6P, 2 Button, Wheel 1.3A,
> MICROSOFT..., MIDNIGHT GRAY...
> * * * 1 4J133 Kit, Speaker, 120V, ADA995, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION...
> * * * 1 3H788 KIT..., COMPACT DISKETTE..., COMPACT DISK READ WRITE....,
> ROXIO..., V5.1
> * * * 1 6J118 Compact Diskette Read Write, 680MB, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE
> ELECTRONICS) ..., 5.25 inch Form Factor, 24X, NEC CORPORATION..., CHASSIS
> 2001...
> * * * 1 1G952 Modem, V.92, Internal, Data/Fax/ Voice, Steel 2, Dimension
> * * * 1 5740C CABLE..., AUXILIARY..., INTERNAL..., MODEM..., 4C
> * * * 1 38FRH Card, Multi-Media, Audio, Santa Cruz
> * * * 1 3K538 Card, Graphcs, 64MB, NV11, TV-Out
> * * * 1 8F371 Floppy Drive, 1.44M, 3.5" FORM FACTOR..., 3MD, NBZ 419,
> CHASSIS 2001...
> * * * 1 9J418 Removable Media Storage, Zip, 250M, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE
> ELECTRONICS) ..., 3.5" FORM FACTOR..., Iomega, CHASSIS 2001...,
> HardwareHardware Compatibility Testing
> * * * 1 8J598 Kit, Software, Norton Antivirus 2002, 5.25" FORM FACTOR...,
> English, Retail
> * * * 1 6K223 Kit, Software, WKS-STE2K2, F5 OEM, English
> * * * 1 5P257 Customer Kit, Software, Quicken 2002 Suite, Bundle, English
> * * * 1 8K233 KIT..., SOFTWARE..., OVERPACK..., WINDOWS XP HOME...,COMPACT
> DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION..., ENGLAND/ENGLISH..., A01
> * * * 1 1P247 Customer Kit, Documentation Diskette, Software, Digital Video
> Disk Drive, Cyberlink, 4.0C.10
> * * * 1 7C712 Card Network, Ethernet, 10/100 CNET, REVISION...
> * * * 1 9J259 Digital Video Disk, 680MB, 16X, IDE, 5.25 inch Form Factor,
> Samsung, CHASSIS 2001..., Hardware Compatibility Testing
> * * * 2 7D093 Rambus In Line Memory Module, 256, 400M, 128X16, 8C
> * * * 2 9578D Card, Printed Wiring Board, Memory, Rambus In Line Memory
> Module, Continuity, Rambus
> * * * 1 7J379 Hard Drive, 80G, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS) ...., 1N,
> 7.2K, 40G/P, Maxtor Viper
> * * * 1 8D466 Display, Cathode-Ray Tube, 19 inches, P922, Midnight Grey,
> Dell Americas Organization
>
> Whatch' complaining about? Looks like the complete system.
>
> Rick

The same info popped up for me just now, too. Maybe the Dell servers
were undergoing maintenance and upgrade, so the full info was not on
line at the time I first checked? I was not hallucinating then.

This is not the first time that I have been disappointed by the
absence of system configuration information on the Dell web site,
though. I note any other Dell web site oddities as they arise... Ben