My laptop, or as I call it – screed central, has been in my grubby mitts for about a year and a half. In the last two months, the piece of shit has decided that it would be in its best interest to not come back up after it hibernates. Instead, it simply locks up, never to return.
As a result of this, I have had to resort to turning off sleep/hibernation in lieu of having to shut it down by the power switch and forcing it into a lengthy loop of partial start-ups. I often must repeat this many times before it “catches.” It’s extremely frustrating.
Fortunately, the tech support guys in Mumbai have been able to do absolutely nothing whatsoever to remedy the issue.
What follows in the latest back-and-forth between these half-wits and myself.
The expense of an Apple (beyond my means) is hurtling towards worth it, with every passing crash.
[An agent will be with you shortly.]
[You are now chatting with Rory .]
Rory : Hello John,
Rory : Welcome to HP Total Care.
John Cramer : thanks
Rory : Hi, how are you doing ?
John Cramer : fine, you?
Rory : I am doing good, Thank you.
John Cramer : i am following up with the ref# above
Rory : Yes, May I take about 2-3 minutes of your time to check the information for you?
John Cramer : yes
Rory : Thank you.
John Cramer : sure
John Cramer : You still there? (After several multiples of 2-3 minutes.)
Rory : Yes, I am with you online. (With you online? I suspect this guy’s not really called Rory.)
John Cramer : what's next?
John Cramer : the results for the hard drive test were: 00 pass
Rory : Please let me know whether you have performed the harddrive self test in the notebook?
Rory : Thank you for the information.
Rory : John,As per the information given by you and as all troubleshooting steps have already been performed, I suspect a hardware problem with the system.
Rory : I suggest you to send the notebook to repair to resolve the issue. (Because after one useless BIOS update, and one totally pointless power conditioning experiment, what could possibly be left? Such professionalism is the hallmark of Compaq.)
John Cramer : awesome
Rory : Let me check your notebook warrenty.
John Cramer : it's expired, surprise!
Rory : Please let me know the the Serial Number(eg: CNS34915MC) and Product Number (eg:DS542U) of the Notebook? You can find the Serial Number and Product Number of the Notebook by locating on a sticker attached to the top or bottom of the Notebook.
John Cramer : s/n __________, p/n __________.
Rory : Oh! In this case I suggest you to take the notebook to nearest service center or send the notebook to HP for paid mail in service to resolve the issue. (Translation: Oh! That means you have to pay for the repairs! Right on time, asshole!)
John Cramer : now I know why the computer was so cheap
Rory : I understand your concern.Its unfortunate that this had happend (It’s also unfortunate that I have instructed Lord Vishnu to shit on your face.)
John Cramer : yes, it's also unfortunate that Compaq has lost a customer. this notebook is a year and a half old! I don't carry it around, it sits on my desk! I've been easy on it! I suspect the repairs will be worth more than this computer. I think it might be time for an apple. I am surprised that you basically have no information for me other than to tell me to pay to have it repaired. What hardware are you thinking it might be?
Rory : John, this could be issue with the motherboard of the notebook.However notebook should be diagnozed to know the exact issue.
John Cramer : is this a common problem with compaq notebooks?
Rory : John, it is not the common problem with the compaq notebooks.
John Cramer : i don't think this is a motherboard issue. but thanks anyway. (And, I’m also wondering just what is the problem with Compaq notebooks.)
Rory : Have a great time ahead.
Rory : Thank you for contacting HP Total care and giving us an opportunity to
serve you. It’s been a pleasure assisting you today.
Rory : Thank you for contacting HP Total Care Real-Time chat support. If you need further assistance, please contact us again at:
http://www.hp.com/support/chat
Chat support is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare
John Cramer : you as well also for having a good timing! (If you can’t beat ‘em!)
Have a great time ahead? I’ve known Indian people, and not a single one uses English this jilted. What the fuck? Did I just chat up a bot? Could this “support” have been any less helpful if their support page was just a photo of HP’s CEO’s puckered starfish?
I am so broke it’s scary, and yet, I suspect I will be pillaging my credit card in the very near future and hitting up Apple, thereby reducing my odds of doing this again anytime soon.
I never bought an Apple because of the up-front costs, but if you add up the money I’ve spent over the years on PCs, mother boards, hard drives, etc… I am starting to feel very foolish.
god dammit!
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9 Comments:
(putting on his IT guy hat): I highly recommend reverse defenestration, though not necessarily from a hardware reliability standpoint. Macs seem to me to be marginally more reliable than PCs when you consider failure of hardware components (like hard drives) but the real reason to switch is usability and bang for your buck. Macs have a much simpler user interface, once you get used to it, and you aren't constantly bombarded with "Are you sure? Are you really sure? Are you really really sure?" Lower (though not zero) threat of viruses & worms plus a much lighter weight operating system are other pluses.
Unless you are a corporate slave (no offense, corporate slaves) and you have to use one for work, or you're a hardcore PC gamer, there's really not much reason to use a Windows based system any more. Especially since Microsoft Office is available for Mac OS X. Personally, I gave away my PC about 3 years ago. The first Mac I bought I still have, I've bought two others and I haven't had any significant problems with any of them although they aren't completely trouble free, because they are computers after all. The only thing I really miss from my old PC is the games. Especially Doom. Which I could get for my mac, if I really wanted to. (IT hat now removed).
Trust me, the IT hat is rather appreciated. These fucking guys. I know machines break, but I go through PC hard drives like they are stamped onto Pop-Tarts (mmmm... Pop-Tarts).
So, hey H-motherfucking-P, if you are going to hire someone to provide IT, you might want to consider someone that wasn't sprung from the imagination of Kafka. I love all the empty open-ended obtuse vapor that spills from their keyboards as much as the next guy; which is to say, I totally fucking despise it.
"Have a great time ahead."
It may have the trappings, but it's not really English now, is it?
As a person who has been a mac person for almost 16 years, I have to say, switching to a mac is not going to absolve you of your hardware issues.
I just bought my first PC, an HP Pavilion dv7 notebook a a few months ago, and it sits beside my desktop mac.
UI issues aside, we'll see how the hardware goes with the HP, but I have had two macs die on me. One was a blue and white G3 which apparently was known to have 'issues.'
So, just do your homework and find what people are saying about the machines before you buy them - no matter what brand. This is why you don't buy something brand new, because you have no idea how it's really going to work in the field.
Even though the Macs and the apple products really disappointed me last year, enough to switch, I'd say overall it was a great product, though I don't think the price point is quite justified. This is why I got the PC. However, if I'd known I could have gotten away with a 15" laptop, I probably would have stuck with the Mac.
Especially if you buy from Best Buy and you have 0% interest for at least a year. Awesome!!
I chose an HP because I researched the company for a year very, very well and knew that model was rated quite well and had been out for like 6 - 8 months already.
And really, in some points the UI is kind of better. I see no real difference though and I only get hampered by doing a screenshot (still can't figure that out on a PC) and the keys for cut and paste are different. Otherwise, same thing.
Good luck!
Well. obviously I won't be buying another HP after this fiasco. When it works I am happy with it, but if it's going to start crashing beyond repair within two years, it's a piece of shit. Best of all, they don't care in the least. I'm going somewhere else. And yes, I will research before I buy.
As I totally suck when it comes to computer know-how, my Dell Dimension 3000 from 05' has given me minimal trouble. It has crashed a few times but restarted just fine. Of course Dell has it's share of horror stories. P2P file sharing and streaming porn haven't hurt much. I think your in the wilderness here.
Watch out for Vista though, looks like a super drag on the system.
The more I know the less I understand.
Logging off.
I used to have a Toshiba laptop (before it was stolen) that would regularly freeze when coming back from hibernation, so I don't think the freezing is necessarily the hardware. Since switching to Mac, it still happens to me, but not nearly as often, so it doesn't drive me as crazy. So maybe a Mac would be better for you.
Before doing anything, though, you might consider installing Ubuntu Linux on your Compaq. It's free and it might be all you need. Check it out:
http://www.ubuntu.com/
Thanks Justin, I just may do that.
I always buy used/refurbished/build your-own from ebay and places like that. Lucks got something to do with it I guess but I've always had good luck and besides, considering the cost you can afford to have some bad luck this way.
I recently bought a Dell Precision laptop (two gig ram) with all the extras for 300 bucks in New condition.
Two things I hate to buy at full retail value are computers and cars.
If you go this route - you can
still buy XP machines and not have to worry about it going out of date because you will be able to upgrade to 7 and avoid Vista entirely. I think they are going to get considerably cheaper too.
So if money is an obstacle that is the route I'd take.
wasn't compaq a different kind of machine than what HPs make? Different chip? Possibly different hard drives? Those are the things to look at. I remember one chip, I think it's still sold now that was referred to the 'Celery' chip. Celeron, that's it! Don't go that route.
There are lemons. There are models that suck. There are bad experiences.
I'm just saying that they happen everywhere, Apple, HP, Dell or whatever.
HP is number one in the world. Dell is number one in America. Apple is a BMW, a specialty item. But BMWs still have issues, though less than, I don't know, a Yugo.
Build your own, sure, whatever, if you have the time and know-how.
Mac is definitely good. You've just caught me in the days when I don't give a damn about them. I don't think they have a simpler interface. I think their integration of products and web is rather awesome though it wasn't too hard to switch to PC to get my podcasts going, and on the Mac side they suckered me into $100 a year mac address so I could post my pictures, which you can do for free at other places.
and remember, knowing how to research your product is the same thing you need to do to research your help. know how to go up in the chain of command to get your computer fixed. there is a method and certain things you say to escalate.
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