my HP laptop is dying /cue funeral music

Alright, so basically my laptop (in my sig) is showing signs of losing life.

The problems that are evident are:
- wireless not functioning
- screen fails to turn on after booting
- screen fails to turn on after the lid is opened from a closed position while on

I always made sure to take proper care of this investment by running spyware/adware programs at least twice a month, keeping my laptop on a cooling pad whenever at all possible, and keeping it dust free by using canned air to gently blow away any dust within the laptop.

I've done some research and I have come to a conclusion that it could be my motherboard. My girlfriend's HP laptop has also died due to the motherboard and it's been out of her hands for well over 3 weeks.

After reading countless problems with HP customer service and problems with their sending back of supposedly fixed laptops, I am almost certain I do not want to deal with them.

I do have an extended warranty with Circuit City, however, I, too, have heard of nightmares dealing with Circuit City.

I cannot be without my laptop as I direly need it for school. So what should I do?

Should I send just deal with HP? Circuit City? Or should I just opt out to get a new laptop, saving me time away from a laptop?

Please post with suggestions. Any help is much appreciated.

 

If it's warrantied through CC, get it repaired through them.

 

You are only listening to the responses of dissatisfied people. By doing that, you convinced yourself that HP and Circuit City are terrible and outright incompetent retailers. I guarantee you that there are WAY MORE satisfied customers than dissatisfied. Why would those retailers still be in operation today if a majority of their customers were dissatisfied?

I originally purchased my HP laptop about 4-5 years ago from Circuit City with the help of the employee named George. He was a computer technician and I can say without a doubt that him referring me to HP has been nothing but wonders. Having owned Dell, I would never turn back.

People write their posts of dissatisfaction without realizing the possible fault on their end. Some people expect the retailer to do things that were not promised. For instance, people fail to purchase the extended warranty and expect their purchase to be serviced for free.

It's like medical insurance. What happens when you have an accident and have a hefty bill leftover? You acknowledge that you didn't have insurance, but you understand that it is your problem to deal with. Same concept, just not as extreme.

No one is perfect. That is probably the only thing I could say for the technicians who returned products in worse conditions than received.

All in all, I would go to Circuit City and obtain a new laptop since you are under warranty. When you get it, call up HP and purchase an HP extended warranty. Don't renew your Circuit City warranty. If a component should fail (such as the hard drive, RAM, optical drive), then they would rush out a replacement component overnight for FREE while under warranty.

Don't listen to everything you hear and see. Very few people write positive comments about their purchase, because they don't feel obligated to take any action. When you're in a position like yourself, you feel something should be done about your faulty possession.

I'm sorry if that came out scattered, but I was in the same boat and wanted to help ya out.

Good luck guy!

 

Why would you buy a extended warranty if you don't want to deal with Circuit City? Doesn't make any sense.

BTW, extended warranties from retailers like CC or Best Buy are a rip off. Buying warranty from the manufacturer is a much better deal.

 

If you absolutely have to have some kind of notebook/PC while the HP is being repaired or replaced, then consider investing in a basic netbook for $350-$500 as these will cover the essentials and are a way to get you by for the time being.

BBGus

 

points well spoken

Made me realize I was being very ignorant to the fact that I was being very persuaded by dissatisfied customers.

I guess the first step I'm going to take is going to Circuit City.

I came home from work to see if anything was magically fixed, but nothing. The screen didn't turn on after a boot up, but it did turn on when I took the battery out and put it back in. The wireless is still a no show.

Well thank you very much for those constructive replies and thank you for making me see the light

Off to Circuit City!

 

Best of Luck

 

Spyware/adware doesn't cause hardware defects. If the software running on the laptop even gets close to damaging the hardware, it will automatically shut down.

Same here. I bought an HP for school, and found it to have a ton of hardware problems. I've ordered a Lenovo Thinkpad T400 to replace it, and I'm giving my HP to a family member who doesn't find computer access to be as important. Thinkpads are well-known for their reliability and endurance. You can have one delivered to you within a week, I believe.

 

Oh yeah I know. I just mentioned that to say that I try to take the best of care of my laptop.

I was thinking of getting a new laptop, as I seriously can't be without my laptop. As sad as it sounds, I've gotten real accustomed to using my laptop for all school related work. If the repair process takes too long, I'm going out to get a new laptop.

But yeah, I gave my laptop to Circuit City and they're running a diagnostic on it. I should have it back by Friday with the results. The Firedog tech said that since the wireless switch doesn't work physically and internally, they will most likely have to send it to their repair depot.

 

the netbook is a good option but i think that if you wait for a nice hp coupon, you can buy a pretty good machine for a little bit more, maybe $700 lets say. I know it's a huge difference from 350-500 for a netbook, but you get a model with great specs that you can use for the next couple of years...

the 30% off coupons spring up every now and then. i recieved 30% off of my dv7t. for example, if you get any hp model that costs about $999, that would bring the price down to 700 for quite a decent machine... just something to think about...

fwiw.

 

What is the update with your laptop?

 

oh, and whatever you decide to do, backup your data the next time it (the laptp) comes on. try carbonite. i use it and its great!!!

 

thanks for the concern =]

I ended up getting my laptop back on Friday, all in good working condition. The report said they just replaced the motherboard and factory reset my laptop, so I pretty much got it back w/ it looking like the first day I went home and turned it on. So I spent all Saturday taking out a bunch of bloatware, uninstalling Norton, installing other anti-viruses and such, installing the programs I had on there, and putting back in all of what I backed up. Before I sent it in, I bought a 4GB flash drive (for $15 at Circuit City...on sale!) and backed up all the pictures I had, my homework, OneNote notes for my classes, etc. Those were really the only things worth backing up.

But yeah, I got it back and it's in good standing. The lid feels more firm when opening and closing (good thing I guess) and the wireless manual switch it's a lot more firm too (another good thing I guess).

I'm just real happy I have it back and can now catch up on homework.

 

...and you doubted the repair service based upon dissatisfied people.

You're one of the happy customers! Congratz!