Desktop "Repaired" with New Hardware. How Bad is the News?

thalictra · 21 Jan 2013

Almost three years ago, I bought a new desktop from HP, with a "3 day, 9 X 5 Onsite Support, 3 yr" Carepack. See specs here: https://www.sevenforums.com/profile.php?do=extra Lately it began having trouble. I'd be busy, as with many tabs, two browsers, and several other programs running, when the monitor would go black. Not gray, but black as if it had no power. It would last usually around 15 seconds, occasionally till I did a cold boot. When it came back from a 15 second episode, sometimes colors were strange and or parts of the screen remained black. It acted like my ancient '98 had when out of resources. But that was rare --usually it just came back and we kept going. I contacted HP and they tried some diagnostics (as in, they controlled my cursor), with no trouble apparent. The told me I'd have to mail it to them. Knowing they usually format the hard-drive, and seeing this as a lot of trouble, I insisted they send a tech. I believed the problem was collected dust. They said the "onsite" was only for if they knew the problem. Long story short, I got an email today reporting the following "New or Like-New Parts Used in Repair":

(Original) Motherboard Foxconn (Aloe) H-RS880-uATX -->> (replaced by)
System board (motherboard) Aloe GL8E

512MB NVIDIA GeForce G210 [DVI, HDMI, VGA]
-->>Graphic Card - Nvidia Geforce GT440 3G FH PCIEx 16

(I don't know the original)-->>PCIe NVIDIA GT210 512MB standard bracket graphics card (Oribi)

I tried googling, but don't know/recall enough to make sense of the results. The Carepack runs out 2/12, and I'm really afraid of what I'm stuck with.

azasadny · 21 Jan 2013

So they replaced the parts and the PC works fine now? If so, I don't think you will have any other options as they "fixed it". Reread the terms and conditions of your warranty to see if they met them...

thalictra · 22 Jan 2013

No, I don't have it back yet. They sent me this information email. The new warranty will be for 90 days only. I was asking if the "new" parts are equivalent to the originals or if I've been down-graded. If the latter, I will only have a short time to battle them. It could easily take longer than 90 days for me to realize that I have lost capabilities.

When I bought it, I'd spent 3 months immersing myself in knowledge of the hardware options, and would have known immediately if I were being ripped-off. After 3 years, that knowledge is gone and would be out-of-date anyway. That's why I am asking for help.

thalictra · 24 Jan 2013

The PC is back and completely non-functional. But clearly this is no longer the place to look for advice.

ionbasa · 24 Jan 2013

The motherboard being replaced has no performance impact on your system, as a matter of fact it most likely the same board model number with newer revisions.
The graphics card on the other hand was an upgrade, from what you previously had.

If the PC is nonfunctional just re-RMA tell HP to pay the shipping.

Kari · 24 Jan 2013

All the replaced parts are better (newer) than those you had. There you have no issues, parts are OK and should work on your PC. Just thinking the value and specifications of what you got I must say you profited from this.

It is practically impossible to help you or give any suggestions when the only thing we know now after repair is that your computer is "non-functional". Please give us more information, at least:

Does the computer boot (start)?
If no, what is happening? What if any error messages or other information you can see on screen?
Does the display stay on, or is it again turning itself off or do you have distortions on screen?
If it boots to Windows, in what way it is "non-functional"?

That being said, here's something a bit more personal:

thalictra said:

The PC is back and completely non-functional. But clearly this is no longer the place to look for advice.

I hope that me being a non-native English speaker, I misunderstood what you said. In that case I wholeheartedly apologize.

The following is valid only if I did not misunderstand you:
Your comment seems quite unfriendly and arrogant, given that every single member here is doing this voluntarily. With over 200,000 members you are not the only one asking for help, sometimes it takes days to get first response. Sometimes the issue is of such nature that nobody knows the answer or solution.

You got a valid response, asking you to check your warranty and conditions. More was not possible, you told you had not gotten the PC back then. Two days later you are back, telling that PC is back and non-functional and expressing your disappointment for getting no help in the same post!

I just want to point out that you posted your last post less than half an hour ago, and I am already answering you although it's past 2 AM here and work starts tomorrow (today!) at 9 so I should be in bed.

I really hope I misunderstood you.

Respectfully, Kari, one of the volunteers at the Seven Forums.

bobkn · 24 Jan 2013

Apparently Aloe-GL8E and a H-RS880-uATX are HP's and Foxconn's names for the same board. No worries there.

The GT440 is a better card than the GT210.

If HP followed standard practices, the parts could either be new or refurbished.

I think that you did OK with the repair, except that the PC isn't running. If it was mine, I'd check the cabling to see whether something has come loose before requesting an RMA. (In particular, I'd check the SATA cables.) I'm no fan of HP, but I'd assume that the machine was running when it left their repair facility.

I hope that HP doesn't give you too much trouble about return shipping if an RMA is necessary.

This may not be the best place to come for advice on repair of appliance PCs. The enthusiasts who hang out here tend to roll their own PCs. We may not be directly familiar with graphics cards like the GT210, which are about as low-end as it's possible to go in the Geforce 200 series.