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Best Technical Service? Best Buy, Comp USA, Micro Center???

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005.

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  1. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    Its clear my Compaq laptop has a hardware problem.
    Sometimes it wont boot up, but the lights turn on.
    I was told to bleed the laptop by taking the battery out and holding the power button down. I then reconnected the powercord and it started fine. I worked for an hour before it shut down on me. I was able to restart it, and it went for a little while longer, and then finally it was back to lights turning on with a blank screen.
    It is becoming clear there is a hard ware problem, maybe an overheating or board problem.
    The thing is just a couple of months out of warranty.
    The places above are what Compaq/HP recommends and I would like to get it serviced soon.
    Anyone have any experience with these places in this regard?

    Thanks!
     
    #1 Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005
  2. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    It's a crapshoot as to what kind of service you'd get... but I've found Micro Center's staff to be more knowledgable than most others. That's not saying much, but I'd go there first.
     
    #2 Dr of Dunk, May 18, 2005
  3. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    My dad takes his PC's to Microcenter and seems to really like them.
     
    #3 Jeff, May 18, 2005
  4. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    Microcenter by FAR
     
    #4 DonnyMost, May 18, 2005
  5. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    Thanks Guys.
    I've also heard that Micro Center works on your machines locally and does not ship them out, meaning a faster response time.

    Can anyone confirm this?

    Any estimation on how long this will take to get fixed?
     
    #5 Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005
  6. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    There's no telling. If they have to get a part from Compaq, you'd have to wait for that.
     
    #6 Dr of Dunk, May 18, 2005
  7. Stack24

    Stack24 Member

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    you guys should be bringing your computers to me and my company so you can get some real help..:D

    lol
     
    #7 Stack24, May 18, 2005
  8. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    ^^^what is you and your company???

    I just got back from Micro Center. They wanted $95 just to look at it and said most likely it would be shipped off after diagnostics since it was a laptop.
     
    #8 Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005
  9. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Dang, $95 is nuts. But if it's a hardware problem, then they're probably right - they would have to ship it off.
     
    #9 Dr of Dunk, May 18, 2005
  10. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    would another place be cheaper to "look at it" before tehy send it off???
     
    #10 Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005
  11. drapg

    drapg Member

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    I need help with my laptop.

    Randomly, it has stopped booting up and no longer can identify my boot sector nor my hard drive. I get the error "No Operating System found"

    This is not good.

    I left it alone for two weeks b/c I was too busy to open up the case and inspect it. On Saturday, I finally set aside some time and opened up the case. I turned on the machine with the cover over the hard drive taken off and the HD exposed. Worked perfectly. I screwed the cover back on and it was working fine. I went to bed Saturday happy that the problem was probably some lodged wires. Sunday morning, I woke up to find a black screen. I did a hard reboot and the same error happened again.

    I'm thinking it might be a heating issue, b/c its making a funny noise when it boots up. Plus, I noticed the fan wasn't making a sound while I played with it Saturday.

    I was thinking of taking it to Fry's or Microcenter to get repaired, which is a huge kill to my ego since I've always fixed my own desktops. Its just with laptops, I'm out of my element. There's only so much you can do.

    So, is Microcenter the place for me? $95 just to look at it? Man, why am I not back in the IT field?
     
    #11 drapg, May 18, 2005
  12. huypham

    huypham Member

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    Hey Gummi,

    Does it work if you take out the battery completely and just use the power?
     
    #12 huypham, May 18, 2005
  13. droxford

    droxford Member

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    #13 droxford, May 18, 2005
  14. Gummi Clutch

    Gummi Clutch Member

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    You want to move to India???

    It DID work like this, and it worked on the battery alone as well. Now it wont boot up at all. I left it alone for a couple of weeks because I was busy, finally got around to calling tech support and they helped me get it working again for about an hour and a half, now it wont boot up only the lights turn on.

    FYI My gf used to be a laptop repair technician for Compaq. At first she thought it was the LCD, she opened it up and found it was not. She thinks it's the board now. She also claims I cant go out and buy the exact part I want like with desktop computers.

    drpg,
    Sound like you have a similar problem to me, the $95 fee thing is a killer cause I know they are just going to send it off anyway. Try to find a cheaper place to "look at it", but Micro Center is supposed to be pretty cheap.
     
    #14 Gummi Clutch, May 18, 2005
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