NEWBIE QUESTIONS--Big problems with dv2000t

I just found this forum on a Google search, looking for a way to contact the HP repair center in Houston. I'm intrigued that some of you seem to be getting either new or repaired HP laptops from Shanghai. Last September, my laptop was "repaired" by HP after the screen died. I tracked the shipment of the repaired laptop from Shanghai. (!!!) That's when the trouble really began. It was a gradual process of stuff happening over time.

The first thing I noticed was that the startup splash screen was no longer HP but Compaq, and that my hard drive hadn't been formatted or replaced. All my files and programs were there, in their original locations, and things seemed to work as before. But... I noticed that my Office documents didn't display their dedicated icons in my file folders, but just had the generic Windows "file" icon. I got error messages and aborted installs when I tried to re-install Office from an installation CD or upgrade any of my applications. I got error messages every time I tried to access a web page from an internet shortcut. The shortcuts worked anyway, but I always had to click out of the error messages. Later, I noticed that the system info displaying in Windows showed different data--processor, memory, hard drive--from my original configuration. Then I started getting system shutdowns--no blue screen, just the laptop turning off spontaneously--at totally random times. Then it got so I could only start the laptop from the power button after multiple failed attempts--after which it would start up and function normally. About the 3rd time this happened, I knew I was in trouble, so I backed up all my critical files. Finally it refused to start up at all so I gave up and called HP. Luckily I still had the thing under extended warranty so was able to send it for repair.

But I had a local repair shop look at it first for a diagnosis. They could see that the hard drive was OK but they couldn't diagnose the deep problem without taking it apart, which would've voided my warranty. They also told me the original HP motherboard had obviously been replaced with a Compaq one and that HP should have formatted the drive after replacing the board. They recommended I try to get it fixed/replaced by HP on the warranty before they tried to do anything with it.

So... now I'm waiting for it to come back, and the word from tech support is that the system board has been replaced--again! It was sent to a Houston address, but so far no tracking info available for me to see where it's coming from. I am worried. Should I be?

By the way, the HP tech people I've talked to this time have had no idea why I'd have had a repaired laptop coming all the way from Shanghai! Neither have I.

 

wooot! what a crazy story u have there. i guess shanghai repairs for less of the money.

 

I think you should be very worried since, in my opinion, HP repair frequently makes things worse. Good luck.

 

^Yes!!!! That's how I ended up with a new laptop! They offered it to me after ruining my old one for free

 

Yeah, I guess you're right. And from what I've been reading online, seems like HP has a habit of replacing motherboards for no apparent reason. We'll see. Maybe I'll get a new laptop out of this, anyway...

 

dv9000 with 17" lcd, nvdia blah blah....they did the system board, lcd bezel, lcd cover, heatsink fan, left hinge. That was march, now the lcd is in a dim state and the tech quotes me $300 to fix. Going to to attempt a replacement and I'm 4 months past warranty. I'm pissed