Posted: 11/8/2007 8:17:33 AM EDT
| As the title implies, my HP notebook died last night. Computer won't even turn on. I think the hard-drive is toast because when you try to turn it on it makes a sound like the hard-drive is starting to spin up, but then quits after about 1 second. Any help before I abuse my discount with FireDog at work? |
| Most laptops have what is sometimes called a CUDA button, basically a reset button on the motherboard. In order to get to this you will have to either partially or fully disassemble the laptop. Sometimes it can be accessed from the memory chip compartment or the wifi card compartment on the bottom of the laptop. Other times I have seen them deep in the system and the only way to get at them was partial disassembly. |
All the lights that it has come on (volume, mute button, etc) and the DVD makes a noise, then it sounds like the hard-drive starts to come up but it just stops after 1 second or so. It will repeat that routine a few times then all the lights go back out and it stops. |
Was it 'spensive enough for Lucy to have some s'plainin' to do? |
| This is why you should buy a four-year warranty, or better. This just happened to my brother's HP laptop several months ago. It would have cost somewhere from $400-600 to fix it, IIRC. (That's just under half of what the system costs.) What caused it was it locked up while doing a BIOS upgrade. |
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motherboards aren't cost effective to replace in laptops. this go around if you decide on another laptop, BUY AN extended warranty. im NOT talking about the one from circuit city or best buy. buy the laptop from HP or dell, and get the warranty from them. which one, how long you want to keep the laptop |
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Document its condition with pictures before you send it in. Getting mine repaired under warranty was an incredible hassle. The first time I sent it to HP to have the touch pad repaired they wanted to charge me $300 claiming customer abuse. I declined and when I got it back, it was badly damaged from one of their monkeys dropping it. I spent hours on the phone and sent it in two more times and they never got it quite right. |
Yeah, that is annoying when they do that. If you're getting a new computer, especially a laptop, spend extra to get accidental damage on the warranty. No questions asked. |
i once sent in my parents compaq computer 7-8 years ago and they sent back a whole different computer that was all f'd up and dented/broke. (serial # wasn't the same one as theirs) |
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First yank the battery. Blow out the contacts with air. Then do the same with the power adapter plug. Put everything back and retry. Does the charging light come on when it is plugged in? My luck with HP/Compaq laptops has been hit and miss. I have had several problems that looked like hard drive issues turn out to be either battery terminal issues or power adapter issues. Several people on my teams have had the same issues, so it may be indicative of HP QC. |