Inspiron 8100 IDE controller

Well, the disbuttembly of the 8100 revealed at least one interesting thing... the connector to the ALPS touchpad was loose, and that explains why it didn't work no matter which driver set I loaded (duh). I reseated that connector and reseated the LCD connector after reinstalling the screen. I can't tell if the screen will still get the fuzzies after a period of operation, because the BIOS still doesn't recognize the fixed DVD-CD reader or hard drive. If this were a desktop, I would pop in an IDE controller in one of the slots and give that a shot, but this isn't an option here. It seems obvious that I'm going to have to call DELL support and get this thing fixed after the warranty has run out. I'm used to calling their support and getting good service for our units at work (I'm the SysAdmin for a mainly DELL house) which are on warranty. I would like to know if anyone has any advice or comments about DELL support for personal units being repaired after warranty expiry. Was the cost alright ? Time ? Hbuttle ? Thanks.

Ed