Suit Over Faulty Computers Highlights Dell’s Decline

After the math department at the University of Texas noticed some of its Dell computers failing, Dell examined the machines. The company came up with an unusual reason for the computers’ demise: the school had overtaxed the machines by making them perform difficult math calculations.

Tsugufumi Matsumoto/Associated Press

Michael S. Dell, Dell’s founder and chairman, presented the model of computer involved in the lawsuit in 2002.

Dell

Internal documents show Dell shipped at least 11.8 million computers from May 2003 to July 2005 that could fail.

Dell, however, had actually sent the university, in Austin, desktop PCs riddled with faulty electrical components that were leaking chemicals and causing the malfunctions. Dell sold millions of these computers from 2003 to 2005 to major companies like Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo, institutions like the Mayo Clinic and small businesses.