More HP Horror

I was searching on google one day to find out that I am not the only HP owner experiencing massive, massive problems with my computer (and their support as well).
I purchased the computer back in August of 2004 based on excellent reviews by PCMag and by their high "reliablity" (I am thinking that the thing was actually measuring the lack of reliability). I get the computer and I am all happy. Then some months later my computer randomly won't do anything. I try to turn it on but it won't display anything so I call up HP and ship it out. Well it comes back some time later and the diagnosis: Motherboard died. Lets jump ahead a couple of months (at this point, I am in my freshman year of college, and for those of you who have gone to college recently, you know how dependent you are on your computer). One day my laptop's display starts acting screwy. I call up HP and send it in and the diagnosis that comes back: busted graphics card. Now lets jump ahead a couple more months. I come back to my room after the day and see my computer- a horrid blue screen. I try restarting my computer but it can't get past the loading screen. I try using BART to get my files off- my C drive is not there. I try repairing the Window's installation but keep on getting errors. I then eventually try to reformat it and can't- errors abound! I eventually get a smart drive failure predicted. Send it in: This time the HDD is diagnosed as broken. But at the same time, the DVD-RW drive was also dianosed as broken (I tried burning DVDs and thought it was my drivers, so I never thought any more). So, 4 of the main parts of the computer have broken so far. What is next? Is the battery going to explode? Is the display going to have a million dead pixels?
This is definately a lemon computer as almost every major part has broken so I call up HP while my computer is still in repair and as to speak to a supervisor. They told me a case manager could help me with my situation so they have the case manager set to call me on Wednesday or Friday. Well, she never did so I call HP back and ask what the problem is. They said I would be on the priority list for Tuesday. Well she never called back. Then I call them back and ask what the matter is and they said I would be on priority for Wednesday. They never call me back. Then they said I would be on priority for Thursday- never called me back. So I call them on Thursday and spoke to the rudest person ever. She didn't think there was any problem with my computer. HELLO? Breaking this many times in this short of time??? We then get "disconnected" so I try to call her back and can't get in touch and I leave a voicemail asking her to call me back on Friday. Well she never did. So I then leave a voicemail to call me back on Monday. Never did.

This company is a complete and utter mess. They don't even follow their "Company Objectives" as they so call them. Definately the last HP that I am going to buy.
And did I mention that this past time I lost a ton of data? And last time I "lost" data because I was unable to retrieve it to be turned in? Yeah...

EDIT:
Also, when i got my computer back for this past time (the HDD failing), they put in a 60 gig instead of an 80 gig hdd... Interesting? Isn't it?

 

I don't think you'll necessarily get any better from Acer, Dell, Toshiba, etc. A business class notebook will usually get you better support and quality. You should back up anything you cannot afford to lose.

 

Interesting, indeed.

When they repaired my dv1000 (I dropped it), they gave me a 60gb 5400RPM hard drive.

I had a 40gb 4200RPM before the accident.



Anyways, I think after the third repair and its still having problems, you can request a replacement (or even perhaps refund).

But, I don't know if that applies to the same problem, or varies problems, repaired.

I'll let someone with more knowledge on that subject fill in the info.

Hopefully things move in the right direction for you, soon.





You should back up anything you cannot afford to lose.

I can't agreed with you enough there.

I remember how GLAD I was that I back-up EVERYTHING on my notebook just 2 weeks before I had dropped it.

I have over $2,000 worth of music, which costs more than the notebook it was on.

People, learn from TriscuitBiscuit's disaster, BACK UP YOUR FILES REGULARLY!

 

I do back up stuff, but unfortunately it broke just before I was going to :/

 

I hate when that happens...

 

Definately pursue a replacement. Call again, until you get a nice rep. It's a matter of luck and probably your area location.

 

Ouch.

That sucks...



I'm paranoid about data-loss, being I once had a computer crash on me, and ALL info was lost on it.

I know back up regularly from the hard drive of my desktop to the hard drive of my notebook, to my mobile hard drive, an online storage drive, and I burn a set of DVD-Rs with all my music, docs, pics, and anything else I wouldn't want to lose each month.

Call me paranoid, but go through a data-loss, and you'll understand why I'm so protective of my data.



Anyways, back on to the topic...

 

Hehehe...bad things happen when you play with partitions and are sleepy.

A few months back, I was reinstalling the OS. When XP booted, I cleaned up my old partition for backup files on an external HDD. I accidentally decided to format all my non-C partitions -- including my data partition on my notebook !

I was lucky and was able to retrieve the data, but that was too close of a call.

 

That sucks

 

Ah, I absolutely loathe it when that happens.
It's happened with my HP desktop like over 10 times last year. Then I managed to get bad sectors and had to replace my hard drive. But at least it's running new again.

Also, you should try consider investing in an External Hard drive for ease of backups. Just plug and paste.

 

TriscuitBiscuit,

RE: Purchased the computer back in August of 2004 based on excellent reviews by PCMag

Q: What model number does all this pertain to?

and 2:

Q: 80 gig hard drive sounds pretty big for a unit purchased August of 2004.... Was that the STOCK hard drive, or one you added in? I ask because you said they had replaced the 80 with a 60, and I'm thinking the 60 would maybe be the biggest that model had shipped with?

(If not disregard... I just ask as some people will upgrade a hard drive, buying a third party hard drive, then send it in for warranty repair to the mfg of the laptop, instead of sending the hd into the mfg of the hd.... )

.

 

It's the zd7000...
And yes, it did come with the 80 gig hdd...

I just spoke to another case manager (who refused to either A) Change my case manager or B) Let me speak to my case manager's supervisor) and he was even ruder.
Basically he told me that they will not do anything.
He called my case "normal" in the sense that all computers break. What I thought was interesting is when I asked him how many computers get repaired, he said a very little percentage. Then when I asked him how many computers get repaired 3 times, he said even fewer. And then out of his all computers break comment, I stated that HP should then have 100% repair rate (since he said that all computers have at least one problem with them). He said no and that I was twisting his words.
Who else thinks that 4 major parts of the computer having been broken within a period of a little over 2 years is normal? I sure don't. I call normal my dad's computer (5 years and nothing has happened), my home desktop computer (5 years and nothing has happened)- not my computer.

Question:
Has anyone had experience with Kimmel and Silverman?
They look reputable and I have searched and they have 100% win rate pro bono...
Thanks