My Laptop

March 26th 2008 in Computer

I bought an HP Pavillion dv2220us laptop about a year ago, tryng to stay away from Dell and Gateway because of many problems related to those manufacturers’ computers. It has been great up until a few days ago, of course this coincides with the lapse of the one-year warranty.

I’ll be using it for a while, then suddenly the screen goes haywire and I can no longer control anything. I think it’s the video card. I just contacted HP, hopefully they will have an idea or at least allow me to send it in under the warranty.

UPDATE 4-8-08: HP is sending a box so I can send my laptop in for repair. At the moment, it doesn’t even boot. The hard drive works, so I have everything backed up. We’ll see how this process goes.

I’ve never really been a “Mac” or “PC” guy, but I have always owned Windows-based machines. Partly because I have always worked at companies that used computers from Dell or Gateway. I have liked Macs, used them in school, and my wife uses one, but I never took the leap. Recently, I have grown tired of dealing with hardware issues from the major manufacturers and the issues (although minor) that I have been having with Vista. I may soon own a MacBook Pro.

UPDATE 5-2-08: HP replaced the motherboard and sent my computer back. Everything seems to be good as new. I ended up reinstalling Vista just for the heck of it. Now I need to figure out what to do with the spare computer, because I did buy a 15-inch MacBook Pro and I love it.

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“My Laptop”

Chris Bougher
wrote on June 19th, 2008

Congrats on the MBP. I was a diehard windows fanboy for a long time until I HAD to work with a Mac because my father-in-law got one and needed help. I fell in love and bought a MBP when they started using intel processors. That was two years ago and I haven’t looked back. I really enjoy just being able to use my computer and not having to fight it. Welcome aboard!

Btw, I am a computer programmer and a computer science student so I’m not newcomer to systems. I also like linux but find the window server a bit hacky.

Glenn C
wrote on July 19th, 2008

Hey the exact same thing happened to my 2220us and I called HP even though my 1 year was up and they wanted $45 just to talk to someone. Was your one year up when they sent you the box? or if so what did they say to you when they talked to you?

Bryan
wrote on July 20th, 2008

Glenn,

I think it was like a year and a week after I purchased the laptop. I kind of expected them to charge me for something, but they sent the prepaid box and replaced the motherboard under warranty. I had provided them with a list of basic troubleshooting steps that I had taken, as well as a photo of the screen behavior. This was the initial response:

Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

From your description I understand that you are experiencing an issue with the display of the notebook. Let me first appreciate your enormous amount of efforts and patience you have put in to resolve this issue by following the basic troubleshooting steps and letting me know the steps that have been performed.

From your description it is clear that it indicates that the nature of this issue is related to hardware which can be diagnosed in detail at our HP Service Center. So please provide us the below information so that we can arrange free mail-in repair service for your notebook to resolve the issue.

Bryan, as per the mail in process, HP will arrange free pick up and drop of the notebook. First, you would need to provide us the shipping information so that we can forward your information to the Logistics Department. They will create a service and a CSO number is generated which is sent to you. After you receive the CSO number or the confirmation e-mail from us, you should keep the notebook ready for pick up when FedEx arrives at your place. FedEx will pick up the notebook and will send the notebook to HP. After the repair process is done, HP will send the notebook back to you at the address provided by you.

It took a while because of “High volume”. I don’t use it all that much because I the Macbook Pro has become my primary computer, but the HP has worked just fine when I have used it.

Glenn C
wrote on July 21st, 2008

Bryan,
Thanks for your help. I ended up taking my computer to microcenter because it turns out I had an extended warranty through them. I talked to HP for 3 Hours and they still wanted me to pay to talk to tech support. I said forget it. Anyhow, thanks for the help I appreciate it.

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