Computer failure

[Varmint260]

Hey, guys! Having some computer troubles, and I think you guys are the right ones to ask to help remedy the situation.

I have a two-year-old HP DV-6000 series notebook that finally up and died on me. According to Futureshop, the problem is HP's fault and therefore my remaining six months of warranty from them is total crap. I called HP on the problem and they refuse to fix my computer because I'm out of their one-year warranty, and my computer's serial number doesn't have an "R" on the end which means they won't fix this problem.

Anyhow, it's been sitting off all night, I plug it in today and press the ON button. The media bar and on light all light up, and the screen stays blank. I thought "Oh great, my screen is toast" but after about five seconds, the computer just shuts back down again. Then restarts. Then goes through the same five seconds, then shuts down and stays off. Now, According to HP, all DV-6000 series notebooks have been found to have a specific motherboard that can fail and cause this exact problem. But since my serial number is missing that "R" at the end, HP says I couldn't possibly be having this problem.

My question, is this a motherboard problem? Is there anything I can do to get it to start up? If not, since FutureShop and HP refuse to help me, should I just extract my hard drive and chuck the computer in the dust bin? Finally, how hard is it to extract a laptop 2.5" SATA and put it in a USB 2.5" enclosure?

Thanks very much, guys. Really annoyed to be using the old Dell for now; any help would be great.

[Syuusuke]

Serial number issue sounds retarded. You can lie and say there is an R at the end.

Might be an overheating issue, clean the innards maybe?

And it's not hard, just make sure you double check the enclosure and be sure it is 2.5" an not 3.5....

...

[kenney001]

I have this same exact problem on my gateway mx6920 notebook. It is the result of a faulty mobo for me. It powers on, lights turn on, fans turn, but the screen stays blank.

Since both of your warranties are shit, take it into your own hands and take apart the laptop. I would strip it down to just the mobo and screen, and see if it still does it.

[=sw=warlord]

Tell them the warranty is with Futureshop Not HP and if they refuse to acknowledge it then they are in violation of their own contract.

[jcap]

I'm not understanding the Futureshop warranty. A lot of times, I hear of retail outlets saying that if it is still under the manufacturer warranty, then you have to send it back to the manufacturer before the store warranty touches it. I've never heard anything like this, though. What the fuck do they expect the problem to be? Would they rather have you drop it? Do they want you to run over it with a car so it ISN'T a manufacturer problem?

Whoever told you they can't do anything about it is an idiot. And if they can't fix it, then they need to give you a new laptop of equal value.

Take your HDD out, back it up, then go back to the store. Call their HQ if they give you any trouble. Also, get their actual warranty they sold you and post it here. I want to read it.

Oh, and HP sucks balls. Get Dell Small Business.

[Varmint260]

I can't get any results on the phone or online with HP or Futureshop, and unfortunately, I don't have the time right now to drive all the way down island to the nearest Futureshop, which is the one I bought it from. Sucks living in a small community in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow, hopefully I'll be down island some time next month; my FS warranty is supposed to be valid for another 5 months... bastards...

Well, thanks for the information. Will look up my warranty.

[Mr Buckshot]

It is very easy to take out the HDD and the enclosures are cheap. No worries on that. And HP/Compaq suck, seriously. I speak from my sister's experience with tablet PCs. I think you gotta keep fighting with Futureshop, seriously, unless those Vancouver Island outlets are really that bad.

Yes this is a mobo issue for sure, I remember a similar thing happened with my sister's tablet and it basically refused to boot up like your laptop. It could also be a FUBAR BIOS but that's unlikely.

[Sel]

My grandmothers HP laptop stopped working, I was with her when she went and gave it back to future shop, they didn't have a problem with sending it off to HP themselves. Go get them to do it?

[Mr Buckshot]

On and Varmint, Newegg now has a Canadian site with TONS of superior laptops at competitive prices, next time go to www.newegg.ca (http://www.newegg.ca) for computer parts. Their catalog is still small compared to their American catalog, but better than nothing, definitely beats Futureshop.

[Varmint260]

I'll be heading down island next month for an eye appointment, and I'm going to go right into the FutureShop in Courtenay where I bought it and shove my warranty papers under their noses. I have the necessary stuff to back up the laptop's hard drive, so I might as well deal with that now. As for Newegg, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

As for getting Dell Small Business... I heard a few years ago the name Dell was bought out by a different company, and so the company that actually built my Mom's computer that I'm using now is gone. I don't know anything about how Dell is now; I know that this Dell, bought in 2001, is still running just as well as it did when it was brand new.

[jcap]

Dell never sold :-/

[Mr Buckshot]

No, Dell didn't get bought, rather it bought someone else (Alienware iirc).

Keep arguing with Futureshop, if they're adamant about not fixing it, then...uh oh.

[Warsaw]

There's also XOTIC PC...they ship to Canada, and have very good prices. MSI GT725 with its P9500 and HD4850 all for $1580 comes to mind.

[Mr Buckshot]

Another note, if you really can't get warranty and you want to use a pay-for service to fix it, then buyer beware for these services can be absurdly expensive. If matters get that bad, might as well buy another laptop or try to fix it yourself, but fixing laptops is a different matter from fixing desktops due to the fact that laptop parts are only-this-model-goes-in-or-nothing-at-all. I myself don't know how to fix a problem like that.

[ThePlague]

This thing happened to my dad with his HP laptop, his problem was because he added too much RAM, and the Motherboard couldn't handle it.

[Varmint260]

Too much RAM? Ouch! Well, anyhow... I've argued enough on the phone with FutureShop. Luckily, a friend got me into a desktop PC for really cheap; it isn't a powerhouse, but it just so happens to have a PCIe x16 slot... what I'm going to do is back up the important information from my laptop's drive onto this thing, then next month when I'm down island I'll go to Futureshop with my laptop. I suspect I can get results with a face-to-face chat with them. If all works out, I could have a couple working computers. If all doesn't go well, I'll still have a computer. Thanks for the support and suggestions, everyone.

And the Dell brand name never got bought out? Well, to be honest... I'm not surprised to be getting false information from the guys at The Source ;)

EDIT: By the way, I do plan on upgrading the desktop at some point; it's woefully low on RAM and GPU performance. Now, it says it uses PC2-6400 RAM... if I order online, would any RAM labelled PC2-6400 work, or do I need to be more specific? I want to get a single 2GB stick.

[Mr Buckshot]

Varmint, if you're going to take the desktop upgrade path, look at http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13689

;)

Good luck with your laptop issues. If you can't get them to help, then you might just have an expensive weight.

[Varmint260]

Oh for FUCK's sake! I took the hard drive out of my laptop and tried to connect it to the desktop. It's got HP proprietary connectors on it, and the only thing it'll fit in is the laptop! Apparently HP makes $30 connectors that allow regular SATA hard drives to work in their laptop, but there's no connectors I can find on google that make it so an HP laptop drive works with regular SATA connectors.

Any ideas?

[legionaire45]

Post a picture.

I don't believe that they have proprietary connectors, since for the most part they buy OEM HDDs from Seagate/WD in large quantities. If you mean the little external metal case it is in, then that's part of the laptop; there should be a standard drive in there.

If you pull the HDD out and the connector doesn't look like SATA then it's one of the off forms of IDE that show up in laptops. You'll need to get a cheapish adapter from newegg or equivalent in that case.

[jcap]

It's a standard 2.5" laptop hard drive. They don't make "proprietary" hard drives.

Chances are that it has a small adapter on it that rests over the pins of the actual hard drive interface. On either a Sony or Compaq drive I have, there is something about a half inch long and 3/8" thick. When I first removed the hard drive, I freaked for a minute before I discovered it was an adapter. It took a lot of force to remove, too.

[Varmint260]

A lot of force? Okay, I hope you're right, then, that it's just an adapter on it, 'cause I'm 100% sure those aren't normal SATA connectors.

EDIT: Son of a gun, I didn't even notice it. It's a really obvious-looking extra-tacked-on piece of plastic. There we have the regular sata connectors. Only thing is, it looks like I need another cable, 'cause there are two connectors (one is for power and the other is for data transfer, right?) and there is no smaller of the two, just an empty place for one on the motherboard. I think it's called a SATAII cable? Will have to see if I can get one. But please, be easy on me. I haven't opened a computer with the purpose of changing anything inside for five years, and even then, I only installed a PCI card that went in exactly like they said it would.