A Dell spokesperson said that, by the end of the month, the company should have fixed the motherboard problem for all customers in Australia. He declined to say how many motherboards had been replaced locally.
The spokesperson initially said there were no outstanding instances of the problem in Australia.
Dell's United States representatives said almost 20,000 of the laptops were being dealt with worldwide.
The replacement program was introduced by Dell to remedy a bad component that could short out and render the notebook unable to power up, when turned on.
"We are proactively contacting customers to schedule a service call at their convenience, at which time a Dell-authorised service representative will come out and replace the motherboard," said company spokeswoman Anne Camden.
The company has already notified many of the owners of the affected models. It started doing so in February by letter and phone call, Camden said.
Dell has replaced components on a large-scale basis in the past. In 2001, it replaced 284,000 flawed notebook batteries after a report that at least one had caused a notebook to catch fire. And in 2000, it replaced faulty memory modules in between 200,000 and 400,000 laptops.
The company's reputation for good service among consumers has suffered under a rise in customer complaints recently, analysts say. But that could be the result of an increase in customers from its push to increase market share, they said.
This time, the replacement campaign may prove fairly costly for the PC maker, because it involves an on-site service call.
However, Roger Kay, an analyst with research firm IDC, speculated that costs of the program would represent less than 1 percent of Dell's annual earnings--not enough to make a big impact. "Think of it as a fine to a sports player for swearing on the field," he said. "It's enough to be painful, but it won't make any material difference from a financial point of view."
On the positive side, the repair campaign could be viewed as an opportunity for the company to demonstrate its service capabilities, Kay said. The PC maker could win customers' loyalty by resolving the issue quickly, he added.
"I'm sure they'll do a good job cleaning it up," Kay said.
