Totally fed up with HP hardware.

MMD

MMD

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22 May 2003
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382
First time i've been to this site in a long time, but this time i'm in need of some advice or suggestions. Long post, but thanks to anyone who can sit through it all and offer some advice. :D

I've had a HP Pavilion laptop for the past few years. Originally the first one was bought in January 2005, by November of the same year the thing was dead. I was told it was a motherboard issue over the phone and after several hours to HP tech support in india, I was told i'd need to have the mobo replaced. Fine I thought.. something is at least being done about it. Laptop was sent off, was told 3 weeks ETA for my fixed laptop. 6 weeks later I received a laptop, but it wasn't mine. They had decided to scrap my laptop and send me a new one without letting me know. I was told my hard drive had been sent to Germany for disposal and there was no way I was getting it back. Seeing as though I had lots of uni work on there, I was pretty hacked off as you can imagine.

New laptop lasted from January 06 to around summer/autumn 07. Same problem again, this time I was told it was the video adapter. This time I explicitly told them not to touch my HDD and eventually had my laptop back after a couple of months.

April 08, and here we are again. 1 long beep, 2 short beeps and an apparently broken video adapter.


What i'd like to know is, without having to phone the sub-continent again, is this 'replaced' video adapter covered by a seperate warranty now that the original 1-year warranty of the laptop has expired?

Would it be simpler to source a replacement video adapter, or do I assume that fitting a new gfx card to a laptop is not as straight forward as it seems?

If I should have to ring my HP support friends, is there any ammunition I can use to get laptop fixed yet again?

You may be thinking that i've had my moneys worth out of HP, but quite frankly i'm apalled. This laptop is marketed and was sold as a desktop replacement. I even went to the expense of getting an Akasa laptop cooler which has obviously not aided it at all. The laptop sits on a desk in a well ventilated room and is used for around 4-5 hours a day on average. I have only recently started using this particular machine for gaming, so it's hardly like i've thrashed the cooler on the gfx card or anything like that.

Any help/advice/sympathy is greatly appreciated.
 
first off, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS backup your files before sending a computer off for repair. in fact i removed my HD when i sent my dell off for repair (liquid spillage lol).

depends on the hardware installed but the GFX could be part of the motherboard. your best bet is to call them and state it has already been back for repair once and you think its related.
 
Im in the same boat, i want to send mine back, but its out of warranty (so i hope they fix it), but if not i have to pay, ill scrap this laptop.

I get 1 long beep, 2 short, and doesnt boot up all the time, have to leave it for quite some time to boot it up.

To send it off, id take out my HDD definitely anyway, but how were they about sending it back, with the replacement?

Mine was purchased in June 2006, and the error started happening around January this year, maybe before - but was never completely powered down.
 
Ah great timing :mad: my hp laptop went to a blue screen during usage, then rebooted with lines going up and down, and gets to the windows loading bar and crashes and does 1 long beep and 2 short beeps, done it 4-5 times now, and isnt getting any further, will post a pic later but cant resize due to being on different laptop.

Most annoying thing is, i gotta use that laptop in my exam coming up on the 29th, grrrrr.
 
I intend on calling HP-India today, will let you know how that goes. Sorry to hear other HP users having similar problems. If you do manage to get it fixed, just assume as I do, that it will happen again in the future.
 
I intend on calling HP-India today, will let you know how that goes. Sorry to hear other HP users having similar problems. If you do manage to get it fixed, just assume as I do, that it will happen again in the future.

Yeah this was a very expensive laptop back when i got it, wont be buying HP again, they were always very good too.

Let me know how it goes mate, feel free to mention someone you've spoken to has had the same problems.
 
You could use a bit of FUD with them, never get angry on the phone but never be satisfied until you get the answer you want. Ask to be passed up the chain until someone resolves the problem.
 
Rang HP yesterday, they said that they wont repair it for free because its not on their 'list'. And would not pass us onto anyone higher in the cpany ether.

Apparantly gona cost about £270 to repair it.
 
HUGE Bump.

Was talking to MMD on MSN earlier and his Laptop suddenly started working after moving his CMOS Battery, and that made me think about battering my laptop around, seeing if anything fixed it.

I unscrewed everything, prodded around, turned it on, nothing.

But as what used to happen, i'd leave it on (after 1 long, 2 short beeps) and let the laptop get REALLY hot, and reboot, at first three attempts, didn't work. Then next one it ended up with lines all over the screen, which was of good hope, so i tried again, and it booted up!

I'm posting this from a revived HP Laptop, but i am now scared to turn it off!

:(
 
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