Re: Sending Notebook in for repair

It is my original laptop. The serial number is the same and had my Vista product key sticker on the bottom. I had a couple of scratches on the screen and they are still there so yup it is mine not an exchanged one.
I have installed vista using the HP upgrade disks I got during the "Express upgrade" promo for this laptop. The install was a clean install the only option HP lets you do. It installed just fine. Most of my data has been restored...it still was a big headache that I don't think was necessary.

"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:mc11f3tkh4mih15hg267tiganvgikfnm6n@xxxxxxxxxx
If you check computer serial numbers, HP may well have sent you an entirely
different computer (probably another refurbished customer return) with a
different hard drive void of any data. If you go through the Vista install
procedure, it should ask you to set up the partition from which Vista will load
and to format it. As a safeguard, take the time to format all of it, just in
case the hard drive has some bad sectors. (It better not!)

As to how you set up drive partitions, it is usual to allocate the entire drive
space as a single large partition containing both software and data. Some
people like to have different partitions for Windows/software and data.

... Ben Myers

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 01:06:13 GMT, "Goldlexus" <nikkiestpkoala@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Well HP DID wipe out my hard drive. They replaced the motherboard. Now I am
having to go thru' the headache of reinstalling Vista and calling in to
activate it (Hp said I wouldn't have to do that). And reinstalling
everything thing else...What a pain in the ***.
Is it really necessary to reformat the HD to install a new motherboard?

"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:m858e313jf1s4r301g18s3f7p3ecmupvde@xxxxxxxxxx
Well, no. I am not being hard on HP. Dell has a much more sane policy.
If
you send a Dell notebook back for repair, they ask you to remove the hard
drive
first. Nothing hard about that. Then the repair people can test the
system
being repaired with a hard drive available for that purpose at the repair
facility. Assuming that the computer's owner is nearly 100% certain that
the
hard drive is OK, why send it back with the computer to be repaired?
This is
simply a pretty dumb policy on the part of HP, and it pisses off customers
in
the long run.

Sometimes I have no choice when repairing a client's computer, and I go to
pretty great lengths to save data which the client has not saved. I've
found
that the easiest solution, when possible, is to replace the hard drive,
reload
the operating system, then copy the data from the old drive, assuming it
still
works.

But more often than not, I end up speelunking the registry and all the
various
system folders for virus-laden files, if the repair has to do with
software.

... Ben Myers

On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:23:16 GMT, "darkrats" <darkrats@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"It is HP's policy to wipe the hard drive and restore it to initial state
because
it is easier for them and to hell with the customer."

I think you're being a little hard on HP here. I often do software or
hardware repairs for people I know, and although I try to do the repairs
without having to do a restore or reinstall of the operating system,
sometimes the damage is so bad or the file system so messed up, that it
ends
up being the only workable solution. But before I can do that, I then have
to spend a long time hunting down all the files that they may not want
deleted. Otherwise I would end up with a working computer, but a very
ticked
off user.

It's a lot easier just to tell them to save everything important to disks
before giving me their machine.


"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ffktd3le6i53piv4f9nl61fstq5jmnuh8r@xxxxxxxxxx
It is HP's policy to wipe the hard drive and restore it to initial state
because
it is easier for them and to hell with the customer. Your only
recourse
is to
back up your data, because the odds are very good you will get back a
system
with a fresh install of Windows. You may even get an entirely
different
computer with different serial number. HP will tell you that they have
no
control over what the owner of a computer may have done to a computer,
so
the
reload of Windows is a safeguard. This is a large crock of manure.

Gateway does this, too, and I got caught in the crossfire between an
ex-client
and Gateway once. Gateway sent back a system with a fresh install of
Windows
and I took the time to get the software reinstalled, printer working,
etc.
Then
the client pissed and moaned about paying me, eventually paying me less
than I
had billed for. Turns out Gateway also charged client large bucks for
out-of-warranty service. I do not business with people who have
unrealistic
views of what my time and expertise are worth, and squander their money
elsewhere.

On the other hand, a Dell in-warranty repair contains precise
instructions
asking the owner to remove the hard drive before sending back the
computer
for
service... Ben Myers

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:53:02 GMT, "Goldlexus" <nospamallowed@xxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

I am sending my Pavilion dv9008 in for warranty repair...the wireless
adapter has failed a new one was sent still no worky. It doesn't even
show
up under device manager. So my notebook has to go in.
My question is WHY do they wipe out the Hard drive and return it to
factory
setting? They don't say they definitely will do that but that there is a
good chance and to make sure my data is backed up. What a pain, a pain I
would rather avoid.
Could someone tell me why this is their policy? Also what is the average
turn around for repair? I can't afford too much downtime.


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