what to expect

hey guys, i took my laptop to best buy in omaha(where i bought it) since it was acting up. it started with BSODs and went through two other "phases" before it decided not to boot up. the two "phases" were jaggy graphics and screen flashing on and off. the geek squad guy helping me said it would be 2-4 weeks before i get it back. its been two weeks and i am still waiting.

what i want to know is what can i expect to be replaced. i was told that they might have to replace the hard drive if its bad. what do you guys think?

 

I think they will replace the graphic card(if its possible), or the whole motherboard..

 

or the whole laptop

 

at least my hard drive will be fine. and i hope you were being sarcastic Xirurg.

 

They will probably change the motherboard as the video card is connected to it. Xirurg wasn't being sacarstic (I think). He's alluding to Bestbuy's policy of replacing a notebook with a new one of equal or lower value to the one you bought originally.

 

i have only had the laptop for a year. i doubt this is serious enough to warrant a replacement.

 

okay i got my lap back yesterday but i cannot connect to the internet wirelessly. i can connect with the cat5 cable plugged into my alptop. what now?

 

Do you need to re-setup your wireless network? Is there a driver installed for your wireless card? You could try updating that driver, otherwise take it back and have them fix it. As long as it's not a hardware issue, they should be able to fix it in the store.

 

i have been re-setting the network for the past hour and nothing is happening. the device manager says the driver is up to date.

 

Best Buy did the same thing to me.
They had set my computer to connect ONLY to the Best Buy network while they were testing it. I took it back to the local store and geek squad fixed it in a couple minutes. If you call the Geek Squad at your local store the can probably tell you how to change the setting.

 

Yeah, I would give them a call. Chances are, they know what's wrong and can fix it fairly quick.

 

talk about a run around. i called them and they cant give tech support over the phone. they gave an 800 number and i call that and they tell me to take it back to best buy to get it fixed. my mom decides to call the ISP(qwest) and talks with some guy from pakistan for over an hour getting nowhere. she calls best buy again and rips the poor fellow who answered a new one. you would think that they could fix this at the store right?

 

Yes they will fix it at the store. They can't give tech support over the phone, that's not what they do (they have a pay service for that).

Bring it in, they should take care of it. I imagine there's a setting, as cat mom said, that they added and can remove fairly easily.

 

2-4 weeks seems to be like a long time, give them a call. It might just be the video card at fault.

 

that makes me feel a lot better ttupa. hey wirelessman, i posted that they replaced the motherboard and not the video card.

 

Where did you say that?

 

i guess i didnt say that. but that is what they did. everything else works fine except the internet.

 

well this stinks, they had to send my laptop back the Louisvile. they say its either the motherboardc or the OS. the thing is though, it was working perfectly when i brought it in the first time. did they screw something up? i was given the option of an external wireless card. should i have taken that option?

 

I don't know but I would look to change the complete laptop, it is not normal to change the mobo twice.

 

why is that?

 

Because is not normal that they change the mobo twice, it's too much of a coincidence, that's all.

 

so if the internet doesnt work when i get it back, i should replace the laptop?

 

Tried reinstalling the OS?
That would be the first thing I'd have done.

 

I think he already did it.

 

i have never reinstalled the OS before. the geek squad guy helping the second time around said that they would take care of that.

 

Good, hopefully that will take care of your issue.

 

i got a call from be3st buy today and my laptop is back. they are going to do some backups and i should have it within a few days. the problem was a bad connection with the wireless card. oh and they're doing the backups for free. ill lose my games but everything else should be there. this will make it a whole month without a laptop and falling back on the ole desktop.