P-6831FX/Gateway Nightmare

If you don't want to read about the whole nightmare, I'll sum it up for you simply: For your own sake, don't buy a system from Gateway. For details as to why, read on below.

I just wanted to inform/warn anybody before they purchased a system from Gateway(the problem I had was specifically with the P-6831FX).

I first bought the system several months ago, and it worked like a charm for about a week. After that, it began to periodically crash. I ran all the system check software, tried to restore, nothing stopped the crashing. Eventually I tried to reformat. I couldn't even get windows to install without a crash. I took the system back to BestBuy, and after about an hour of haggling they exchanged it for another one.

Yay right? Not so much.

So I'm on system #2 now. Everything works great for about a month, at which point I start getting blue screens. I'm past my 2 weeks to return it to BestBuy, so I get in contact with Gateway.

Their tech support is absolutely useless in determining the problem. They asked me to reinstall windows 3 times, reset the HD, etc. I eventually figure out on my(through memcheck, confirmed by trial) own that I have a bad stick of RAM. I tell Gateway this and they inform me that they'll replace the RAM, which is covered under the warranty, and that it should be here in 5-7 business days.

Two weeks later and still no ram. I email them and they tell me that it's still in the warehouse and hasn't shipped yet. Two days later it arrives...

...at least 1gb of it does. My system has 3gb, and they send 1 as a replacement. Guess how happy I am?

I just wrote them again today telling them about the error, and they're completely clueless. No apology or anything. We'll see where it goes from here, I'll keep everyone updated.

Moral of the story: Stay away from Gateway at all costs.

 

A bad stick of RAM can happen on any system regardless of manufacture, but most companies do have bad tech support though.

 

... sounds like acer... oh wait, it is acer!

 

Garbage in garbage out but you know where your first mistake lie delusion? Your very first mistake was buying a gateway to hell. They do not have a tech support - they have a tech frustrate. The one and only time I bought a gateway was their pentium 60 tower (1994) and the support was simply atrocious that it has put me off from ever considering buying from this "moo moo" company - yeah don't have a cow.

 

so are we talking about dell or gateway?

anyways, most of the companies do have a hazardous tech support, but everyone has their own experience. some people like it, some people hate it.

 

I bet you did memcheck with both sticks in so there was no way for you to know witch stick was bad. Hence you said a stick of ram was bad and they sent you a stick of ram. As for the laptop having problems, thats not quite fare, but considering how many of these laptops gateways selling doesn't suprise me.

The p-6831fx that I originally bought had 0 problems. The p-6860fx I picked up the other day was dead out of the box. Power button would not turn it on only the media buttons would. When I did a fresh install of vista it crapped out before it could finish and from that point on the system would no longer boot. I exchanged it the same day and now the new one works just fine running xp. Considering I'm 2/3 on the laptop have to say I'm satisfied.

While I never had experience with gateways phone support, their online web chat support has been no problem. Back when I was locating xp drivers a few months back they provided quite a few of them and today those drivers are still not on the download section.

As for your experience with receiving replacement parts, while thats not up to say xoticpc standards, it's certainly better than the lenovo or alienware experiences I went through. When I sent my laptop into alienware, it went the wrong facility for over a week and it took 3 supervisor calls just to get it sent to the correct one.

I'm sure your experience wasn't pleasant, but its certainly not a nightmare, maybe a headache at best.

 

i bought a 6860 and haven't had a single problem yet, hardware wise.the only software problems were because i wasn't paying attention to what i was doing.

 

I have three of these laptops, no problems, it is unrealistic to expect every single laptop the gateway builds will be perfect. That being said, it sounds like they did try to help you with your problem, I would have been calling them after a few days of waiting for your stick of memory not two weeks, a good rule of thumb with any computer company including Dull, be proactive with your situation. I am sure you will be happy in the end.

 

bwhxeon glad to see you got another FX! Do you still have your other gaming notebook? Clevo I think?

 

I have done all kinds of crap to mine. Zero problems (although the extra HDD I added might be suspect).

 

i think delusion's more pissed at tech support rather than the laptop

 

Nah I sold the clevo to someone on this forum . I had bought the vostro 1500 after that for traveling, but the other day I was at my local bestbuy and it the p-6831 fx was on sale for only 1000$, but of course they where sold out. They did have the p-6860 fx in stock and I kind of tricked the salesmen into thinking it was the same model >.>. So I got the 6860fx for 1000$. Was just to good of a deal to pass up. So I might just use the old dell computer my work gave me and sell my vostro and use the fx for gaming at home .

 

lol amazing!!! i feel sorry for that salesman though, probably got in trouble for it

 

yep, had a voltage issue, but that was......user error! so going to have to say...no problems.

 

You're 100% correct. Shotty workmanship happens(though happening twice is unacceptable).

As for it being my fault for not running memcheck on each individual stick of ram, that's a b.s. argument. I didn't open the system, and never would unless instructed to(during this nightmare at least) so I don't do anything to void my warranty.

A good customer service department would take both sticks back, figure out which one is bad in house, and redistribute it. In the field of customer service the bare minimum is always the wrong choice of action(unless that's the mission of your customer service department).




I'm shocked that an alienware would be such a hassle to take back. I figured with the premium price you'd get premium service. Guess not?

 

yeah, but your memory came from samsung, correct? lol
(me nit picking like quite a few people around here seem to do)
:laugh:

 

Theres nothing premium about alienware, I learned that the hard way. Companies that sell sager/clevo models seem to be the highest rated on customer service on this site.

As for not running memcheck on the ram chips seperately, I was going off the info you provided. >.> you only said you requested 1 stick and they probably just assumed since you new how to use memcheck, you new witch one to replace. Fact is if you didn't test both >.> your already looking at a 50% chance the new stick wont solve the problem.

 

it can happen no matter what pc company you bought your pc from. i bought an xps m1210 and got everything replaced on it like cdrom broke then fans then memory reader then battery then so on until it caught on fire inside and i was using it on my kitchen table and i was lucky my it did not catch my table cloth on fire. and i got a new one and the new one works great and has zero problems.
i bet like dell part of the tech support is probably from india like how dell does it. i love my gateway p 6831 fx. mine has zero problems yet.
anyways sometimes you get bad luck and you just got to deal with it. thats life.
anyways like most laptops you should always buy an extended warranty down the road for like 100. its just a smart thing to do
sorry if am i rambling

 

I'm not completely sure what you're saying, but Gateway boasts that all of its customer service reps are based in the United States, not outsourced.

 

o i thought they where outsourced

 

Btw delusion, if you still have the laptop, I've posted the solution around different forums:

The real problem is overheating. The Gateway P-6831 fx overheats after dust buildup gradually stocks your vents.

The drivers help. Having XP helps. All these other mediocre solutions simply reduce the heat load.

THE GATEWAY IS FINALLY FIXXED.

The real problem is the heat. And to fix this take a can of compressed air, make sure to not be too close, as to avoid leeking fluid into the laptop, and blow it into the sides and under the laptop, this should rid of most of the dust, and allow you to play crash free. I still prop my laptop on top of a book, as well, since I usually have the highest settings enabled.

But finally this darn mystery is solved.

Please repost this and spread the word as much as possible. Heesh, thank goodness, cause Gateway sure as hell wasn't quick to fix anything.

But that answers your question as to why it starts working, then craps out, it's a gradual dust build-up. So now you can fully enjoy all your hardcore grahic games and such. Have fun dude.

 

The real problem is that overheating caused a bad stick of RAM? :|

 

shadowpocalypse will you stop bumping old threads with the SAME POST.