I really should start a new category in my cloud for posts from computer hell. I've written enough of them. I've been dealing with problems with my new HP laptop since I bought it in September. (I know - I should have stuck with Dell, Steve!) It mysteriously shuts down if it's idle for about five minutes, and I have to give it a hard kick start by taking off the battery, unplugging, replugging, holding down the power button, and rebooting. It's become such a routine that Henry can do it. It really sucks.
Every so often, I devote an hour or two of my weekend to visiting with service people in India who take me through the same old steps of running hard drive tests, checking various system items, uploading a new BIOS and declaring it fixed. This has been going on since I got it. Oh, and did I mention that the hard drive crashed 3 weeks after I bought it? Yeah, you can read that post if you want to share my pain. They won't exchange it either. Apparently there's no such thing as a lemon law for computers.
So yesterday, after throwing it across the bedroom, I called them again. This time I got the tech support geek of my dreams. He validated the issue and my frustration, gave me some inside knowledge, patiently waited until the computer crashed, and no, couldn't fix the problem.
Meanwhile I learned a lot. He was garrolous in a nice know-it-all tech guy way, sharing a bunch of inside scoop on tech support and the repair process. He told me that the rate of hard drive failure in new PC's is running from 5% to 10%, and that computer companies figure that in to their business plans. Maybe you already knew this, but I was stunned. When I think of the time I've spent on the phone and the anger and frustration I've experienced, and multiply that by even 5% of the new PC buyers out there, it boggles the business mind.
He also said that generally they won't replace your computer until after you've sent it in three times for the same problem. Then, they might send you a new one the fourth time it fails, if you're really pissed. He shared a lot more (we were on the line for the usual hour and a half) and I appreciated it all. But in the end, the thing still doesn't work and they don't know why. Back it goes for another repair. They're going to replace the motherboard this time. I have little hope... Only two more to go til I get a replacement, I figure.
So, the post title: this is what they say about hard drive crashes, so get those backups going...
They say it's the motherboard. I say don't insult mothers by insinuation.
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