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HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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Posted by telly2 (My Page) on Fri, Oct 30, 09 at 0:34
| I have an HP Pavilion a6500f which I have had for exactly one year, and which I love. It has every feature I need, and until this month have had no problems at all with it. 3 weeks ago however I was able to power up, but the monitor would only go into sleep mode. No loading of Vista ever showed up on the monitor. I called an independent computer service company to come to my home, and they diagnosed a bad motherboard. Their service tech waited 2 weeks, then called to say he was having trouble finding a replacement motherboard. Another week went buy, tech not returning my calls now. Hubby said 'take it back to Best Buy' where it was purchased and let their Geek Squad take a look. They are sending it to Kentucky to confirm the problem, but they also said that a new board would likely run $300 to $600.00 ! They also commented that this particular model has been discontinued. I'm pretty upset about this, since I can't really afford this kind of repair, especially since I should be able to purchase a new tower for much less. Again this computer was purchased in Sept 08, and in Oct of 09 I already have a bad motherboard ? Does anyone here think that either Best Buy or HP is going to give me any kind of break on this repair, or am I looking at buying a new tower ? Should I just cross my fingers that the original technician is wrong ? What would you do ? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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| How did you pay for it? There are several credit cards that extend warranties by one year automatically when you make a purchase with the card. For example, my American Express and my MasterCard both do this. |
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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| Nice to know that for future purchases, but this one was made by debit card....probably doesn't count, huh ? |
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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| Wow, that is sad. Do not expect any price break. Now you have 2 confirms on a bad motherboard you might consider abandoning this tower, it would probably be the cheapest route. With that motherboard replacement you will also need a new copy of Vista because the operating system is tied to that particular board. Not sure I would allow the computer to ship to Kentucky, if the super duper (?) Geek Squad can't fix it locally what will the distance do other than cost more more money. It has a Foxconn Model: MCP73M01H1 motherboard and there definitely seem to be none for sale. However it is a socket 775 processor so perhaps most of the other components might migrate to any other socket 775 board. What ever happens BE SURE to get the tower back! There is a 500 gig hard drive in there that you could slip into an external case. Plus all your data is on that drive I suspect, you do not want that sold and have others poking through your life. |
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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| Telly, just a tip for future purchases in brick and mortar stores or online: always use a credit card versus your debit card. If a problem develops, it is much easier to deal with it through the credit card company. By using a debit card, you have paid cash and have no recourse. Also, I would not allow the BB "Geek Squad" to ship my tower off anywhere. If they cannot fix it locally, forget them. Owbist has given you some good advice. Really sorry you had such rotten luck with your HP. I have always liked their products. Still, it might be worth contacting their customer service and see if they might do something for you---even a refurbished model. But if that motherboard is so rare, I think I'd want a different model. Good luck to you! |
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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| I also have an HP Pavilion - and thought last year motherboard was toast - at 2 years - but it was something else, so I paid for the other "card" whatever it was and the diagnositic ($50 in Canada). BUT prior to purchasing this computer I had an IBM - with an extended warrantly. Motherboard went at 3 years and 1 day - IBM would do nothing for me. I did not buy the extended warranty for the HP because of this. HP couldn't understand why not?! And IBM couldn't understand why I wouldn't buy another unit from them. Same thing with a good quality toaster - lasted 1 year and 2 weeks - warranty wouldn't cover - next toaster wouldn't even start - so now at 6 months with newest toaster. When my HP was in for service I was looking at other models, just in case and the HP rep was in the store - he told me not to bother with the extended warranties. Re the motherboard going at one year and one month - they can go any time. At work one day my hard drive crashed, the tech came and replaced it and by the time he got back to his office, the new one had crashed. Yet I know someone who is still operating a 12 year old computer. I am using XP on my HP. I don't know what I will get next time. I really only use it for e-mail and internet - no music, movies, games - ZIP. Just the basics trying to extend the life best I can. I would do as suggested and get a new tower - and make sure you get back you old drive if you have anything personal on it. I am event thinking of a 17 inch laptop - but I would need to plug in a "real" keyboard and mouse - I hate the laptop keyboards - they interfere with my 120 wpm typing. |
RE: HP Pavilion with bad motherboard ?
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Thanks everyone;I knew I could count on THS members for some good advice.
I did let BB's Geek Squad ship my tower to Kentucky; I didn't like the idea, but was unsure what else to do at that point. They confirmed a bad motherboard, and gave me a total price to repair it of (hold on to your seat)...$682.00 ! I have my receipt here, for the original purchase in September of '09, and the total for the tower,monitor,keyboard, and mouse was $588.00. The BB rep who quoted the repair price said that motherboards rarely go bad on a tower as new as this one (at least in his experience),and suggested that it was likely that my motherboard probably had a defect straight from the manufacturer. Sigh. So now to shop for a new tower; I already know I'm gonna shy away from HP, even though I have really enjoyed mine (until now).
Owbist, thank you for mentioning my hard drive...It had already occurred to me that there were documents/pictures, etc on there that I want, so I hope I will be able to find out what to do to retrieve them when I get my tower back. I have removed/replaced an internal hard drive before, but am not familiar with how they work when used externally. I hope you don't mind if I ask you about this when the time comes....
Eccentric: I feel the same way about laptops; they seem super convenient but I prefer a 'real' keyboard and mouse, just like you do. |
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