HP being ridiculous

So, having XP installed on your consumer HP or Compaq notebook voids your warranty, officially....

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...639&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#

Dumb move by manufacturers simply trying to make technical support easier at the expense of their customers.

If this has been discussed somewhere, kindly remove it.

 

Well, if you have to send it in do a factory restore before doing so...just to be sure.

Thing that bothers me:
Software is not considered an essential part of the PC, which means the Magson-Moss Warrant Act should still be in favor of the consumer. But hearing this from HP really upsets me, and makes me think twice about another purchase from them.

 

Thank god it doesn't apply to hp's business products

 

"Changing the operating system voids your warranty until such time as you restore Windows Vista to your machine."

Y'know, I'me one of the few people like that like Vista... but I can understand why a lot of people would want to roll back, but to VOID the warranty?! That's just... well, stupid.

What if Microsoft were to opt the Apple route of releasing a revised, updated version of Vista under a different name (ala, Apple with Leopard, Tiger, Tabby, etc) down the line? That means not only can you not revert, but not upgrade as well.

o___O

Sure, by the time a new major version of Windows comes out, you'll probably warrant purchase of a new laptop by then, but still...

 

I think it is a smart move by HP. They have made a commitment to Vista on their consumer notebooks. Don't like it? Go buy a dell. Or go buy an HP business line. I swear some people are going to XP just to be spiteful and never even try Vista. Most of this is propogated by FUD. I read a lot of the FUD and was really worried when i first tried Vista, but then I found a lot of the FUD to be unfounded and some of it outright lies.

People pulled this crap with W2K when Vista came out, they will pull it again when Vista's successor comes out. HP doesn't have time to play these games, and they shouldn't be expected to support them. You don't expect Ford to support your car under warranty if you swap out the engine do you?

And the blurb about software not being an essential part of the PC? Yeah, show me how useful your laptop is if you don't have an OS. Pulling out the M&M Act doesn't work here.

 

Its just that theyve stoped testing their new systems on XP, so they cannot take responsibility if You want to use it with XP. Its been designed for Vista, tested on Vista so they will warranty if its on Vista.

Business range rulez

 

The problem here is that unlike previous versions of Windows, there is still critical mass for Windows XP, which makes it a sound business decision to still support it at least until end of this year.

Vista is a decent operating system, but there's an expected lag in adoption until efficiency is highly improved and killer applications are created for it.

HP should offer Ubuntu/Suse/RH/Gentoo (for the hardcore?) pre-installed in their notebook lines too, but knowing HP, they probably won't do it until Dell overtakes them again by selling a lot of their Linux computers.

 

well I have bad news for you, there will be no "killer applications" for vista just like there were no "killer applications" for XP or Windows 2000. and I really don't know what you mean by "improved efficiency" You want improvements? Turn off all the Vista desktop enhancements and return to the classic desktop.

Dell takes back the lead selling linux computers? Now you really ARE dreaming.

 

I dont see what the big problem is here? Basically they are saying they wont be supporting Windows XP on their consumer lines and if you do need to install it do it at your own risk. Selectively quoting it makes it look like they are voiding the warranty forever but thats not the case, is it? As long as you put the system back to Vista and then talk with support if you have any issues your system will be still under the standard warranty. Bascially what they are washing their hands off is providing drivers for XP for systems which ship with Vista only. Plus there are other choices if you do really want to run XP from HP itself(V6000tx and the business line) and from other manufacturers.

 

The actual real scary thing is that they say they will not perform any hardware support if you have another OS installed. So if my DVD drive stops spinning up and won't physically operate, they won't replace it. Or if spill coffee down my keyboard and things go zap, the accidental damage protection warranty wouldn't be able to be used until Vista got re-installed.

That is what I see as the big hole in the stance they are taking.

 

I read the article. The thread makes it sound like installing xp permanently voids your warranty.

From what I understand, HP did state that installing xp on a machine that came with vista preinstalled voids the warranty. They could have worded it better, but all they really meant was that they would not give support or maintenance to such machines due to incompatiblities with drivers and components on the machine (since it was designed for Vista).

And to reclaim your warranty, hardware or sofware support, all you have to do to is to reinstall Vista. They even provided detailed instructions on how to do so.

They could have worded the article IMO. But I don't see them refusing to support XP as not reasonable.

 

hp had been pretty benevolent up to this point. They were decent about putting XP driver downloads for laptops that came with vista. I think they realized the support costs for something they shouldn't have to support were just too much.

most hp support suggestions start with reinstalling the OS anyways, so this shouldn't be a big deal.

 

Most tech support suggest reinstalling windows as one of the first steps LOL Its the quickest way of getting rid of people, who cares if they loose all the data

 

Come on, guys! We are not that stupid not to put the original preinstalled Vista soft before complaining of some fault with the machine! They don't even have all the drivers for XP in their posession. How they can help you in this case? You might say that you have faulty card-reader or web-cam..But they can't test it if you have installed XP and not using proper drivers released for the exact machine you have which was supplied and tested with Vista. I suppose, people simply try to install XP and then start to complain to HP that system does not work and finally send whole machine with XP installed to the service center! And then it happens! Frustrated technician sees the problem - machine works perfect but after reinstalling the Vista BACK!!! Why the hell this customer sent this machine to service center???

 

If a technican is good enought I think there is a way of checking how long was Vista installed for. But whether they check it or not?? Who knows. But I belive if You do a clone copy of Your Vista with something like Norton Ghost or something else there is no way of finding out.

 

It doesn't matter when or how long you have had Vista loaded. HP voids tech support warranty if you're using a different OS. They reinstate it when you load Vista back on. Like previously stated, it's just so that HP doesn't have to have/support drivers for anything other than Vista, and it takes a load off their tech support lines from people messing around.

 

Warranty and support are two COMPLETELY different things. A warranty has legal requirements, and it cannot be voided or revoked by using 3rd party equipment (unless that equipment can be *proven* to have caused the problem), period. A warranty covers hardware, and, if you have ever read an clickwrap agreements, there is no warranty on software.

Support is simply an agreement by HP to help you out with stuff. That's just a regular contract, so you have to comply with your end as much as they need to comply with theirs. It of course makes sense that if your network doesn't work in Linux, but it does work in Vista, then it's not their problem.

BTW IANAL

 

if the laptop was made specifically for vista with matching drivers and hardwares and you decide to install XP without proper drivers and stops working, who is to blame?

 

The scary part for me is this:

So, even if I LEAVE Vista on there and dual-boot it with SUSE, they're not only not going to support it, but will not honor the warranty?? Lovely...

 

I wonder if HP is being inundated with returns/repairs without the original OS installed to issue such statement and is distancing itself from XP.

 

It doesn't void your warranty whatsoever.

"Changing the operating system voids your warranty until such time as you restore Windows Vista to your machine."

All you have to do is stick a Vista DVD in before sending it in and reformat it without putting a serial in. (This basically gives you a free trial period of Vista for 30 days)

I recommend reformatting before sending your Laptop into HP regardless because I don't want people to be able to access my confidential data.

I don't blame them for putting this in, because since they don't have official XP Drivers people who use Windows XP can be using improper drivers which are causing problems.

 

I had a small program set up when Ive send my Acer to service centre for repair that was tracking what has been done on the computer [I had a dead DVD drive]. And honestly it took them like 10 min to check it. And that was it. They havent even checked if it works correctly before sending it back LOL

 

Nice try, but Microsoft has a patent on FUD.