Zepto Service does not exist

Here is a story of my Zepto Znote 6615WD I bought nearly two years ago. It shows that Zepto may manufacture cheap laptops with great specs, but if your computer breaks, you will have a hard time fixing it. Zepto is certainly doing nothing about it.

Here is the story: when I first bought the computer, I was happy. It was cheap, it was fast (spec. wise), so I waited like a little child for it to arrive. And I waited, and I waited. Finally I gave them a call; they apologized, and said that they will send it to me as fast as possible. So I waited again, and waited. Finally, 2 weeks after I ordered the computer, it had arrived. So I was happy, again.

I started it, put the Windows installation disc into the tray, and began to install the OS. It locked up. I retried. It locked up again.

After some trial and error I found out that it was RAM that was bugged. So the next day or so, I had to send it back for repairs. I had barely used it.

But well, a computer is an advanced piece of electronics, so it can of course fail...

But after a while it started to crash. Not a normal BSOD where an OS component crash for some reason, no. The OS was telling me directly in the BSOD that the hardware was malfunctioning:
*** Hardware Malfunction
Call your hardware vendor for support

*** The system has halted ***

At the time I thought it might have been an OS error. Since then I've tried XP, Vista and Vista x64. Same error every time. And the error does not occur when I play games or surf the internet, but when I resume from standby, or when I shutdown the laptop (or, albeit rarely, randomly).

Since I thought it was an OS error, and it didn't happen that often, I didn't want to send it to Zepto.

But after a while a light line occurred on my LCD, whole way through the screen. It appeared suddenly, when I was using the computer and stayed there. And about 4 days or so later, my charger crashed. (What are the odds?) So I called Zepto and after a series of boring conversations, they took it in for repairs.

And so I waited and waited. And again, after a series of long and boring conversations, I got it back. 4 weeks later. And the best part is that they forgot to send a new charger back. Doh.

And now, it is crashing again. And it is the LCD again. I have attached a screenshot (I think), and it does not look to good.

I have sent them a support request, through their webpage, but I doubt they will respond.

So the morale here is, don't buy Zepto, and if you do, make sure it does not break.

 

Trying again with the attachement...

 

Does it match these symptoms? If so, then it's most likely the GPU has died.

John

 

Perhaps, but I should note that if I connect an external screen to the laptop, the image is OK.

 

If the external display is OK then I would suspect the problem is with the cable for the internal display. I would start by trying to check the connection to the motherboard which is probably under the keyboard. Removal and replacement of the cable in the socket may fix the problem. If the cable itself is damaged then that it would need to be replaced.

John

 

What worries me is that it is not the first time the screen had crashed. Zepto replaced the screen after the first malfunction. So it could be the motherboard.

It also worries me that Windows crashes the way it does. Normally you get a BSOD that it tells you that component.dll crashed with error code 0x?. The error may be caused be hardware error, but Windows recovers "nicely". In this case (according to Microsoft's Help and Support) the error is so severe, that Windows does not display a normal error message and just shuts down.

And finally, this thread is to warn people, that if they decide to buy a Zepto, then Zepto may not help them if their laptop breaks which it might, just as everything else might.

 

What country do you live in? Out of curiosity.

 

I live in Denmark.

 

Well you certainly have had a rough ride with your Zepto