HP Notebook Problems with Best Buy - (RANT) (1 Viewer)

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, I've been using Dell's since 1998 and have never had a problem. My company uses Dell's as well. People complain that Dell's support is horrible (but who isn't)?? LOL

The other thing was, Dell is a bit 'boring' - besides their 'gaming' line of systems, there's nothing fancy about their other systems, but considering I found a $750 coupon from CouponMountain (which I see they have the coupon code still up), I ain't complaining on the boring silver Inspiron case.

I realize a lot of 'informed' computer guys don't like Dell, but the bottom line is, they put out great systems. If you're confused as to what to get, Dell is always a great place to start.

 

[Scott Wong]

*nod*

I know what you mean.... if the "informed" computer gurus aren't using Dell... who in the heck are they using and what makes that system that much better? I guess I don't really care about the fancy spray painted case, neon lighting, super-duper spaceship thermoreactor... if it works with no problems, God knows anything at this point would be better than this HP.

Another FYI that I'm concerned with the heating issue... since I brought this laptop home from Best Buy two days ago, it has managed to do this several times: while surfing the Internet or working on whatever... at any given point in time, the LCD monitor will simply go blank with a white screen. At that point, I'm unable to do anything except shut it down (by turning off the system) and then turning it back on. I don't know what causes this... but overheating is the only thing I can think of. The overheating issue is my main gripe with the laptop.

 

[Glenn]

Hi Scott,

I have a HP laptop. Once under warranty I had it shipped back to HP to repair a problem with the power input plug. It stopped charging the laptop. They fixed it but as a normal procedure they wiped the drive and re-installed the base software for that model. I did know they were going to do this and I was told they do it just to avoid any possible software problems.

I don't know but does Best Buy actually do the repairs or do they just ship then back to someone else, possibly HP?

BTW, That was the last HP computer that I will buy. I had a similar problem a few months later but it was not under warranty anymore. Sounds like a design flaw or something to me.

Good luck,
Glenn

 

[nolesrule]

I'm one of those "informed" computer gurus, as I do consulting,repair, upgrades, etc. for residential and small business and I tend to recommend Dells for almost all situations.

I know the Dell Inspiron 8500 model had overheating issues, but that was corrected in subsequent generations.

 

[MikeH1]

My first computer was a desktop Dell Dimension 8200 that I bought in Aug. 2002. P4 2.0 Ghz, 256 RD Ram, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard and a nVidia MX400 video card. A great machine by any standards. Once I got into gaming, I realized I needed more ram and a better video card. No problems as I upgraded these features. But within a year I wanted to do a bigger upgrade, wanted a better processor. Better yet, I wanted more ram but the Rambus RD Ram was expensive as hell....perhaps my best bet would be to change the motherboard. This is when I learnt the truth about my Dell computer...

It wasn't going to be. I could indeed upgrade the processor but didn't really see much of a point. Through message boards and talking with other gamers I became aware of how Dell locks down the bios and custom fit their motherboards. Upgrading this thing just wasn't going to happen....

There's nothing wrong with dells, just don't use them if your a gamer and plan to do any major upgrades. Perhaps they have changed this fact and you can upgrade now, I really don't know.

Last year I knew it was time for a new desktop. I had a ton of options but decided the best thing for me to do was build one myself. This way, I'll learn a lot more and know exactly what my pc can and cannot do. As a gamer, I knew this was important. So, I ordered parts online and went to a b&m store and got more parts. Put it all together and watched in amazement when XP actually installed.

Laptops are a whole other story...I picked up a Toshiba M40 YP3 last year and it runs some games fine and others not so fine, even with a mobile 6600 vid card. I would recommend a laptop with at least a mobile 6800 or equivilent, perhaps even one of them newer ones with a 7800/7900 in it if gaming is your thing.

 

[Carl Johnson]

Don't waste your time or your money. I'm no attorney but I could get Best Buy off with a not guilty verdict.

Your Honor, Best Buy was negligent in erasing my hard drive.

"The Defendant didn't erase the hard drive, they reformatted it. Reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling Windows fixes 80% of the problems that the repair department sees so it is perfectly reasonable for them to take that step. Besides, the repair department warned the Plaintiff that there was a chance that his data would be erased. He took no steps to back up his own data. When we offered to back up his data for a nominal fee he declined. "

Even if you can prove your point that they had no business reformatting the hard drive to fix the power cord their defense of reformatting the hard drive as a standard practice would get them off. It's a tough lesson learned but fact of the matter is that you should back up the essential data on your hard drive every so often because it is liable to crash or to be accidentally erased.

Even though the service was a rip off by offering to back you up Best Buy effectively shielded themselves from your lawsuit.

 

[nolesrule]

And any computer repair person with an A+ certification could testify as an expert witness that reformatting a drive for no reason is not a standard practice of computer repair.

And as someone who does computer repair for a living, I would never ever ever reformat a drive without first determining it was necessary and then getting owner permission before beginning the process regardless of any prior discussions about possible fixes. That is standard practice.

Best Buy hasn't effectively shielded themselves from anything.

 

[Mike LS]

Not sure if I'd go the lawsuit route yet, but I would sure as hell go as far up the management chain at Best Buy corporate as I could go and be as big a PITA as I could for a good while.
I'm of the mind that purchasing the extended warranty should shield you from having to pay a penny for any type of repair for as long as the warranty is for. Unless there's something in the warranty paperwork about not being responsible for data on drives, I'd make myself known to as many Best Buy management as possible. That's just stuck on stupid right there.

As for your replacement....I've used nothing but Dell for laptops and work PC's for about 6 or 7 years (I buy for my company). I build my own for home, but that's just to keep from forgetting how to do it Of the 40 or 50 Dell machines I've been responsible for I've had 2 hard drives fail and one motherboard go out on me. Never had another issue actually related to the computers themselves....more billing issue than anything.

 

[Scott Wong]

Thanks again for the comments everyone...

Question to those that might be able to help: After this whole Best Buy ordeal (and upon getting settled in our new move to Houston) I have now realized my notebook is no longer playing video in Windows Media Player.

I found the crappy SoundMax audio driver last week and downloaded that but I'm having issues with my video still. This is another thing that Best Buy left me in the lurch with... so to speak. How could they give me back my notebook with no working sound and/or video...?? I guess they were able to rightfully dispose of all of that since I didn't pony up the $80. Whatever.

Any of you guys able to help me with the video drivers? I went to my device manager and simply found "LEGACY VIDEO CAPTURE DEVICES" but no video.