Dell computers and German power supplies

I just received my new Dell XPS 420 in the mail yesterday. Today I came home and tried to hook it up. Right when I plugged the power source in to the outlet, the fuse in the room blew and a faint ozone smell was coming from the back of the computer. Yes, I did switch the power supply from 110 to 230 on the back of the computer first. At first I thought I may just have had the outlet in the room overloaded so I took it upstairs and tried it with a different plug on a different circuit. Same result.

I just got off of the phone with Dell Technical Support and they are sending me a new power supply and mother board. Yippee! That will be fun to deal with! Nothing like dropping 1800 bucks on a new computer and have it not work.

Anyway, has anyone had any similar experiences? Is my new Dell just drawing too much power in this old German house? (well, circa 1950) Any advice? Thanks!

my Dell laptop (from the US w/ US power supply, just different part that went from wall to power supply box thing that goes to the compuer) worked just fine in Germany. No problems, nada.

I assume it's a desktop you're playing with? No, a computer shouldn't overload even the weakest mains circuit you could find in any old building. I'd guess the power supply was dead and Dell are right to send you a new one. That's pretty good service for Dell, you were lucky...

It is a desktop. Glad to hear it as I've been waiting to get a new computer for some time. This old HP I'm on right now just isn't powerful enough to handle the programs I'm using for photo editing and some other image and video processing chores I busy myself with.

I should be getting the new power supply in a few days. I've never swapped one out before, but I can't imagine it's too tough.

Now, dealing with Windows Vista when I get everything up and running...

Swapping a power supply isn't difficult but make a careful note of what is connected to where when you unplug the old one. Make especially careful note of how many wires go to the mainboard as depending on the processor type this can vary and you must make sure that all necessary supplies are connected. You should hope the mainboard isn't dead too, changing that can take a while and is a bit more tricky, although Dell's are especially built to be easy to work with.

Really Dell have a damn cheek saving money by getting you to repair the crap they sent you, but hey, that's business with a company that doesn't care about its customers as much as it cares about its profit.

Thanks for the replies HellesAngel. Luckily, I have a friend who is pretty good working with this kind of thing and he has offered to help out once the new power supply and the new motherboard comes in. He's had issues with Dell customer service in the past and told me, if you keep pressing, they will fold and take care of what you need. I hope it doesn't come to that. I'm not a huge fan of Dell myself, but I've heard nothing but good things about the XPS systems - well, until what I went through last night with mine. I went back and forth between switching to a Mac or keeping with a PC and decided, in the end, the PC was the best way to go. I have way too much invested in mapping software, photo editing software, video editing software, gps software, etc...

I have 2 dell laptops and 1 (new) desktop and had no probs with the power supply. Didn't the computer at least come with a 1 year at home service warranty??

Update on the computer situation (as if anyone cares)

Dell did agree to send me a new motherboard and a new power supply which I actually received pretty quickly. After watching a guy at work replace the motherboard on my Dell there, I knew I was in over my head. I called Dell back up and asked them if I could just exchange the burned out computer for a new one. After talking to 5 people in Pakistan and 7 people in India, I finally was connected to an American lady who was extremely helpful. She said 'sure, I'll send you a new machine out tomorrow'. I was pretty blown away by that actually.

So, I just got the new machine yesterday and just got around to hooking it up tonight. I was very tentative when plugging it in and turning it on, half expecting to be blown across the room when it fired up. But, alas, it worked fine and I'm using it right this very minute.

I was also a bit worried about warming up to Vista as I had never used it until tonight. Gotta say - I love it so far. Very easy to use and very easy to navigate through. I'm sure I'll hit some snags as I start using some programs (or maybe not with SP1 installed). The biggest surprise came when I plugged in to my T-com modem. It took two friggin' days to get my internet working on my old computer with XP. I figured with Vista I would have to go down to T-com tomorrow, get new Vista Discs for the modem and their stupid-ass software, wade through all of the jargon (auf Deutsch), blah blah blah. Nope - I plugged in and had instant internet. Fan-fucking-tastic

Loving this new machine so far and programs are running and installing with no problems that I can see yet. It's a beautiful thing. I may even cry

Now, to figure out why the '1' key above the 'Q' key isn't functioning on my new(er) keyboard. The lack of an exclamation point is killing me...

Congrats beav, I think it might have been a fluke with the first one. I use a Dell from the states with no problem concerning the power supply. I did have a small problem accessing my C drive but that was fixed in minutes. So congrats and enjoy.

_{Go ducks?}

As someone that has worked for Dell before, all I can say is: I hate Dell