HP DV6700t Notebook with defective motherboard - HP won't fix it

Okay I bought an HP laptop for 1300 dollars a year and 3 months ago. The laptop's manufacturer warranty expired in January. So in the beginning of April my laptop died for no reason. I took it to the local Geek Squad in Jensen Beach, FL, and they reluctantly told me it was the motherboard. Now I didn't purchase the extended warranty from HP, but since the laptop is barely a year old and it just died out of nowhere, I've called HP to see if they would help me out. This is the second HP laptop which motherboard has died this year for me. My mother's laptop's motherboard died in February and they swapped hers out for free. Apparently her model qualified for a free motherboard but mine didn’t.

I've been arguing with countless customer service people, being transferred all around, getting promised to be contacted and never contacted. I've escalated my problem twice now with HP to hear from case managers and I've yet to hear from them despite their promises.

I've got the invoice from the Geek Squad to prove that it was a defective motherboard. I saw another person at the Geek Squad TODAY while picking up my laptop with the same exact problem, with an HP laptop! Why should people pay 300 dollars to make sure their laptops last more than one year?! They may not be obligated to fix these problems by law but it'd be the right thing to do seeing as how it was their fault. In today’s economy I can't afford 500 dollars to fix everything when HP initially put a bad motherboard in my laptop in the first place!

And to top it all off, my hard drive ALSO fried -because- my motherboard had fried!

What do I do?! I send the BBB a complaint, I e-mailed Mark Hurd, I've escalated my case ( with no returned phone calls, mind you ). This is rediculous...

 

Well HP hasn't really done anything wrong. You had a 1 YR warranty and your laptop broke after the warranty expired:/

And I'm not surprised about the lousy Tech support you got. HP's idiotic support people transfer you when they don't know how to help you.
IMO HP sucks and I hope they stop getting the #1 laptop seller award

If you want something good and don't want to buy an extra warranty, go with the dell latitudes. They come with free 3 yr warranty

 

Ehhh dells pretty crappy too. Did you forget about their m1330 dropping like flys? Exactly. Your out of warrenty thats why they wont fix it for free. Now if you buy an extended warrenty on your laptop as long as your not more then 255 days out of warrenty you could get it fixed for free. By the did your laptop have an nvidia 8400m gs? If so thats nvidia's problem not HP's. Also they fixed your other freeinds laptop for free because it was coverd by hp's service enhancment because many were failing. So hp does take care of their costomers when there is a big problem but yours is pretty small they dont really care as much.

 

what video card do you have

 

Your mother's HP was likely on the list for HP's Limited Service Warranty Enhancement covering Dv2000/6000/9000 systems - that Warranty covers out of warranty units. The reason they won't fix yours is that your model series isn't one of the affected units - it only goes to 6400.

As far as what anything any dipstick at Best Buy told you, I wouldn't believe a thing. Those idiots aren't techs in any sense of the word, and Best Buy's primary driver is to get as much money out of the consumer as possible.

As far as whether or not they're obligated - you have to look at it from the legal aspect of the Company vs. the consumer. HP and other companies provide standard 1 year warranty for parts and defects, including service. After that, it's the owner's responsibility to purchase an Extended Warranty to cover any problems that may arise after the standard warranty runs out. This is true of most consumer products whether it be a car or computer. The reason they're not obligated to fix anything is that there is no way to know if the problem is due to hardware failure or the user failing to maintain their systems properly. After over 35 years in this business, I can comfortably say that about 80% of system problems are user related or user caused, either as a result of direct action or negligence. People plug in a computer like they do a TV or a refrigerator or a washer, and expect it to work without doing anything to it. Some people treat their cars like that too. I've seen some people run their engines into the ground under 100k miles because they didn't bother with an oil change. "Well, I put gas and oil in it, that's okay, right??"

I'm not saying that's the case with you - but you have to see it from the company and tech point of view. There are some real idiots out there and we deal with them daily.

Now, having said that - the reason I and others professional techs monitor these and the HP forums is because HP support has gone to the dogs, and you cannot rely on 3rd party support vendors like Best Buy - replacing the motherboard is the standard BS answer for "well, I really don't have a clue as to what it could be, so that's the easiest thing to do and it makes us the most money".

So - have you gone through the various online troubleshooting procedures for your system that are listed on your system's Support Page? Virtually everything in an HP notebook is replaceable by the user, and HP has instructions and Video procedures to show the person how to do it also.

What are your symptoms? If it won't start, note if it boots at all, and if it does, to what point, if any LED's are showing, blinking, everything is off, etc. There is one other possibility but I won't say anything yet until I see what your actual symptoms are.

Understand that hardware rarely fails without cause - overheating, being dropped or abused, etc. I've had systems that were literally dropped in the ocean, recovered by divers after several days, taken apart and hosed out with fresh water, and sent to me for repair that have started right up when I plugged it in and turned on the switch. A hardware failure today is either bad design or assembly, or user negligence. Most problems are either Software or user related, so when I hear anyone mention the old "motherboard needs replacing", I automatically assume it's BS because the person is either too lazy or too incompetent to troubleshoot the unit. Usually it's a combination of both. I always pi$$ off Best Buy people when I'm there because I'll interrupt when I overhear one of their sales idiots tell a customer BS about a product, like buying expensive cables or something similar. I asked one kid one day if he actually believed the BS he was saying, and he answered yes. So they've got them brainwashed into believing it. But Sony will tell you flat out to buy the cheapest cables available, particularly HDMI cables, because only about 50% of them are any good.

If you don't want to post your symptoms here there are many other options you can do as well.

 

You can say that again. Sometimes the computer is not really the problem, but the person that uses that computer. We always blame others by our mistakes, if we want change, we better start it ourselves. Those tech support people of HP has a pretty good reason why your notebook has not been repaired. If a computer worked for almost 2 years, including the shelf life at the store, then we can conclude that it is maybe a customer induced damage. Let us not blame computer manufacturers for some issues, that we are also responsible

 

I Have A HP Notebook Which Is Perfectly Good I really like this Notebook, Yes I Agree With Raito Some OF The Owners Of HP Notebooks Are Lazy Enough Just To Check A Simple Issue If Youre Not Satisfied With The Performance Of The Notebook I Guess Youre The One To Blame Because Why Did You Bought The Notebook In The First Place . Maybe We Can Change The Way We Feel Regarding HP Notebooks Or Basically All Notebooks
No Matter If Its HP, Sony,Dell Or Toshiba Its The User Of The Notebook Whose Responsible To All The Issue Their Notebook Is Having.Dont Be Stupid Enough Just To Blame A Machine That People Made Its The User Whos The One To Blame For Making The Machine Not Functioning..

 

Yea because a motherboard dying after 1 year and 3 months is the customers fault. We must real lazy because we bough an hp an expected to get more than a year out of it. What hp notebook do you have? I'm sure you'll be posting here later on when it doesn't boot. Hp released a crap load of notebooks with defective graphic cards that could possible be his problem. They offered a service enhancement fore the dvx000 series, but not for the dvx500 with defective gpus they expect us to all pay 400 bucks for our defective 8x00 defective nvidia cards which nvidia has made public. I don't know if they ever released the dvx700 with a defective gpu, but the fact that the mobo's dead after a year is bs. Unless you taped off all the vents and let it over heat, poured water over it, dropped it, or overclocked it post your specs because somethings defective.

 

I don't know about the US but here in India one can buy the HP care pack for 2 additional years till 6 months after the expiration of the original warranty. My optical drive was dead. I bought the care pack. I just needed to give them the serial number and product number and paid them the required cash to extend it till December 2010. Later i took it to the local HP service center and they replaced the optical drive.

 

The fact of the matter is that the warranty is up. Simple as that. HP by law, has no requirements to fix the laptop for free.

 

Its just an all to common problem, if they keep sending out notebooks that last a little over year and die and say too bad, there not going to have any customers left. We shouldn't have to buy an added warranty so our computers can run like they should. If it's dropped or damaged by the customer fine, but to have a pc just die because hardware failure after a year is ridiculous. I have a thinkpad from 1998 that still runs fine, guess what no warranty. Your right they don't have to fix it, but when you pay 1300 bucks you tend to expect a bit more then to be told screw you by some guy in india.

 

Woooohooooooooo YEAAAA

There are some good HP's and some bad ones I had an NP NC6220 that was a very nice laptop IMO, Then I bought an HP TX2500 and I hated it so much b.c of all the problems So I quit HP and went Dell, and I am happy with dell.

 

I just want to take time to say thank you to CyberVisions for his/her advice at post #5.

These days, it's hard to find such a person like you who doesn't mind to take time typing some advices for others (I mean in those long sentences). It's nice to see that you care. Keep up the good work!!

 

Thanks - actually, it's my tendency to write long responses that got me tapped to be a Wiki Answers (Answers.com) Supervisor.

 

I have 2 9700s with the 8600 gpu and they both failed (video wise) about 30 days out of warranty. Within 2 weeks of each other. And I did do regular maintenance, blowing out dust and whatnot. One I foolishly paid the piper to get it fixed, the other I fixed myself. But who knows how long they will last this time. I have 2 older dv5000z from 2005/2006 (I dont remember) that are still running just fine.