HP Pavillion woes

[Jorsoft]

BTW is there anything I can upgrade myself w/o messing with the laptop besides the RAM? Or is more RAM about it?

RAM and Hard Drive are about it. Sound is integrated and 99% of the time video is integrated as well. The CPU can be upgraded generally but it can be very tough if you don't know your way around inside your laptop. Finding a compatible processor can be a pain, too, since it can be tough to know what your laptop's mobo supports exactly. Often times it's not even worth the money and difficulty.

 

[gsteffens]

ok cool. As for the repair, they are sending me the box and I'm getting it sent out whenever it arrives.

Is there any special notes I can write down on the sheet they sent? Like do a full system test on it? I already hav ethem down to fix the space bar (probably a new keyboard assy) and replace the hinges again and check the connection at the screen.

As for an external monitor that will have to wait a bit. No access to one but my one computer buddy may be able to help before I send it out.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[Jorsoft]

If there's a space on the sheet for it just write down the symptoms, not particularly what you think they should check. The techs should know what to do from there.

 

[gsteffens]

thanks. This is one of those cases where I was glad I spent the extra money on the warranty.

 

[Jorsoft]

Yeah this is a case when it definitely was worth it. Laptop screens are really expensive and they can be a ***** to do yourself. It was a very good investment this time around.

 

[SHaTTaFaKKaP]

do laptop warranties usually come in handy? or just in rare cases like this, I'm thinking about purchasing a laptop and adding on a warranty since I know i'll be moving it around a lot in college and I don't want to drop it one day and be screwed over cause I don't have warranty on it. and if I decide to get a warranty, where should I get it from? the store, or a well known replacement place like squaretrade or something like that?

 

[Jorsoft]

Not sure about Square Trade, don't know them well enough to say one way or the other. Stores can be good, depends what one and how much you spend on it.

 

[gsteffens]

Just got my computer back! I tell you this is some dang quick service considering I send it across the country! I sent it to California last year and just this time it went to a depot in Texas.

Anyway they replaced my keyboard, they "reseated the video cable" (please explain this to me), they flashed the BIOS, reinstalled windows, diagnose tested everything and 'reimaged the hard drive' (please explain this)

So far so good it works fine. This kind of warranty is definitely worth it being that I plan to keep this thing for a long time.

Now time to go to my buddy's office and get all my files back!

 

[Jorsoft]

Ah, good deal then. I remember the mail-in service usually being pretty good. It spends more time in transit than it takes to repair it most of the time. Explanations:

Reseat video cable: The video cable connecting the integrated graphics on the laptop's motherboard to the lcd screen had become loose or improperly connected in some way so they just reconnected it.

Reimaged HD: They took the hard drive out of the laptop and hooked it up to a machine that erased your hard drive and copied over a fresh install of windows. It created a new partition, basically, with only Windows XP on it and threw away everything else. Lots faster than installing from a CD, this method only takes 2-3 minutes and you're good to go.

Good that everything worked out okay

 

[gsteffens]

Thanks for the explanation. I had it serviced once before and they replaced the LCD screen. Maybe they got the plug cocked just a little bit, who knows.

So what they did to the HD is quicker than using the CD, is it also better overall?

Ah, good deal then. I remember the mail-in service usually being pretty good. It spends more time in transit than it takes to repair it most of the time. Explanations:

Reseat video cable: The video cable connecting the integrated graphics on the laptop's motherboard to the lcd screen had become loose or improperly connected in some way so they just reconnected it.

Reimaged HD: They took the hard drive out of the laptop and hooked it up to a machine that erased your hard drive and copied over a fresh install of windows. It created a new partition, basically, with only Windows XP on it and threw away everything else. Lots faster than installing from a CD, this method only takes 2-3 minutes and you're good to go.

Good that everything worked out okay