Bad Newb-Notebook Experience

I will soon be attending college in the fall, and for graduation I recieved a laptop- an HP Pavillion dv5190. This is the first notebook I have ever owned and to my surprise I recieved it earlier than expected- about 10am this very morning. I turned it on, set it up and poked around for about half an hour- then shut it off to get some other things done. When I tried to turn it back on- 3 beeps, a fan turn, and a blank screen ensued. Again. And again. And again. I fiddled and disected while talking to a tech support guy in india for about 2.5 hours- and finally came to the conclusion that they had sent me- not one, but TWO faulty 512 memory cards......

I'm waiting another week for replacements. Maybe I just wanted to complain- or maybe I just need some reassurance. The chances that it still wont work are slim...right? I fell very put-out by HP right now- and I already loath my new computer. Am I over-reacting- or would you be just as miffed?

 

What surprises me is that they sent a lemon. They should have tested it in Shanghai before they sent it out.

 

I wouldn't loath your new computer. I understand the frustration but hey at least you got your laptop BEFORE you needed it for school. I hope you enjoy your laptop in the future.
Tim

 

well, it's not completely hp's fault. i assume by memory cards, you mean ram? hp doesn't make the ram. they buy it from someone else and then install it. it's the ram manufacturer's fault. it seems like hp would have never known it had bad ram, seeing as though you were successful in powering it up once before you had your problems. although, i suppose you can blame hp for buying cheap ram. it might not be completely messed up. you may be able to salvage it by replacing the ram, and hope that the bad ram didn't screw anything else up...

 

Make sure you're using proper ESD equipment/procedures while installing your memory. That's probably what caused your issues in the first place, IF it's memory alone.

And hopefully you were doing so when you took it apart to begin with.

 

It's not an ESD issue if the BIOS was beeping at her/him before she/he even attempted fiddling with the RAM.

I have doubts it was a user fault here. You hit the power button, you expect it to boot up as normal, period. Especially new out of the box.

HP is not immune to shoddy builds, you know

nikkiness, I think I understand what you're going through as my dv8000 had a bad video card fan issue straight out of the box. And I totally felt the same way--very put off by HP, angry that this type of **** would happen to me straight out of the box, peeved that I had to wait a total of three weeks for my replacement part. The actual replacement was delayed over two weeks, but in the end my issue was resolved and I am satisfied with my notebook now.

First thing you should know--from my experience HP support has proven itself to me as being willing to help, albeit VERY slow to communicate, so be ready to be a little irritated at the website and at the people who answer the phones at tech support.

Knowing that my advice would be--straight up patience. Understand that these things sometime happen (more often with electronics), and bad RAM doesn't necessarily mean more problems down the road for your notebook in general, it just means---well, bad RAM. RAM is not an "integrated" part of your notebook so rest assured that if it is a RAM problem then likely your noteboook will be OK long term.

From my experience I would avoid checking my emails or the website every day for updates, because you're not gonna get 'em. Note the expected date of delivery of your parts and just wait it out (one thing I did was keep myself occupied with other things and NOT think too much about my notebook, it really helped just lettiing the issue go). If the parts don't come in that day, then call the next day and ask for an update (and elevate to a case manager if necessary). Don't waste any more energy trying to get status updates beforehand because, quite frankly, those reps at the call center won't be able to help you at all until the day after the expected date of delivery.

But remember that ultimately YOU are in control of the situation. You have a 21 day return policy if you have any doubts as to the quality of your notebook. Don't be afraid to elevate, b*&^%, moan and complain--after all it's your money.

Good luck!

 

I would be just as excited and impatient waiting for the new parts to arrive ... although, this sounds a lot like a girl waiting for her 2ct diamond engagement ring to arrive