New old HP Pavillion zu4005us unuseable

Bought it new 4 years back on sale for around $699, used it three days, then any url I typed had one of its letters repeat rightward infinitely and I could never delete all of them. Similarly, when I opened up Firefox, multiple copies of Firefox would open in the tray at the bottom of the screen-more and more--and I could never eliminate them all before they regenerated, thus, I could never get out on the web.

HP tech support could not fix the problem, and after many hours on the telephone, I gave up and put it away.

Now I need this notebook to work, and I have spent $50 bucks and perhaps 8-10 hours of my time with HP tech support again, trying to get it up and running.

The first time I talked to tech support, luckily in the US, and when I had the tech on the phone and I booted up the computer, none of these problems occurred so I thought that perhaps things had somehow cured themselves in the 4 years it sat. Next day, when I started up the notebook, the problem with multiple copies of the browser recurred. I was offered many suggestions in the next four times I called tech support--first off the option of buying a new computer for $700 bucks, and this several times from my new friends in India--then it was take out the battery, loosen the plates protecting the memory and hard disc and jiggle them, try to reinstall Windows, hold down f2 when you boot and one of these times--when I again got to talk to tech support in the U.S.--we got the computer up and running, I could go out on the web, and I downloaded SP 3, new bios and a new keyboard driver (since, as the symptoms changed each time I booted up, but one of the main problems became the fact that the keyboard didn't work when I initially booted up.) Next day when I tried to boot up, it was back to square one.

Current status: I was unable to load a new copy of Windows from the supplied discs that came with the notebook, got to the choice screen to set up, repair or cancel and the keyboard and up and down keys don't work. I can't get any further than this at this time.--I just wasted a few days of my two weeks of tech support waiting for a new set of discs to arrive, since one tech from India thought that my 4 y/0 discs might have been corrupted by a "fungus"; I think he was just at his wit's end and used this as a way to blow me off. I tried the new discs today and no difference.

So I have a new computer that is 4 years old and has been used for less than a week, and so far the blue Windows setup screen might make a nice night light.

Although I know a little about computers, I am not a technically oriented person, so I am fresh out of ideas. From my one successful experience, I know that there is a functioning computer in there somewhere.

I would appreciate any ideas anybody might have about how to get this piece of s--t up and running on a permanent basis.

 

Wait, let me get this straight:

You bought a laptop.
It goes bad on the 3rd day.
You don't take advantage of the return policy.
You don't take advantage of the warranty.
You let it sit for FOUR YEARS. Which is longer than the lifetime of some computers altogether.
You expect it to now work correctly.

***?

You may just have bad hardware, plain and simple. However, since your $600 box is 4 years old, putting any money into replacing the hardware would be stupid. Time for a new laptop. This time, don't do any of the above.