Laptop....Packard Bell Easynote TX

Moonshine · Oct 14, 2011, 16:09:06

Hi all

I could do with a bit of advice please.

My laptop has just broken, as of yesterday. I bought it a year ago for £550.00 from PC World. It's a Packard bell Easynote TX. Nothing had changed whatsoever with the usage of it, and there were no prior incidents with it. Suddenly, the internet didn't work on it, yet it did on my desktop computer, so I knew it was an isolated issue with the laptop. Then, strange messages kept appearing (Internet Explorer has stopped working, Desktop Window Manager has stopped working, Microsoft Support Emergency Support Tool has stopped working....), and then it froze on me altogether. When I tried to log in, I clicked to try to repair it, but it kept failing. I then got the blue screen of death, and it's been that way ever since. I called a Microsoft Certified professional technician to look at it (he's fixed my desktop computer for me beforehand), and he's had it most of today. He said he has tried everything, but thinks it's a hardware failure, possibly the motherboard. He said there's nothing more he can do, and thinks I've just been very unlucky. I have phone Packard Bell, and got through to India, whereby I terminated the call (my issues from way back with Orange call centres in India have taught me a thing or two!). My husband has gone into our local PC World, who have basically washed their hands of us, and told us we should have purchased an extended warranty. I have phoned PC World Customer Service, and got through to a call centre. They said they will charge me £50, because it's out of warranty (by three days!!!!) for their repair team in Newark (heard bad things about that place!) to look at it and give a diagnosis. They said if they will refund the £50 if it's a manufacturing fault. Their out of warranty team will be ringing me back to take payment, I am guessing, within 48 hours. What I really want to know is.......is it worth paying out another £50, for them to say they can't fix it, or worse still, for them to diagnose a problem which will cost me roughly what the laptop itself cost me! I am devastated that a laptop has only had a life of 12 months, and there's nothing I can do about it, because I foolishly thought it would last much longer than that, thus I didn't purchase an extended warranty. If anyone has any advice, I'd be really grateful.....

A very disorientated and disappointed Moonshine.

Glenn · Oct 14, 2011, 16:18:56

Take a look at this http://whatconsumer.co.uk/faulty-laptop-rights/ Rik will be able to guide you, he knows a lot regarding The Sales of Goods act.

Rik · Oct 14, 2011, 17:19:55

Essentially, the warranty period is a smokescreen. Goods sold must be durable and, in the case of electrical goods, the law considers six years a reasonable life. Obviously, there is a sliding scale of value, but three days outside the warranty, the retailer wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Send a letter to the manager of the branch, pointing out that the goods are not fit for purpose according to the Sale of Goods Act and ask for his/her proposals to remedy the fault within seven days. Tell them that if you do not receive a reply in that period, you will have the notebook repaired at your own expense, then start a small claims action to recover your costs from them.

For the future, never buy Packard Bell.

Moonshine · Oct 14, 2011, 17:54:14

Many thanks for that.....it is most helpful. I will certainly write to the Branch Manager....whether they'll bother replying is another matter.

Rik · Oct 14, 2011, 17:56:47

Probably not, but if you go to court they will cave, it's not in their interests to put up a fight.

Moonshine · Oct 16, 2011, 23:17:22

Good evening all.

Regarding the faulty laptop, I have taken on board your advice Rik, and sent a letter to the PC World store, and copied their Head Office. I await their response, but won't hold my breath, since they didn't seem to care less in store. I will definitely pursue the court option though, since £550 is too much to lose, and I'm banking on getting at least some of that back, because I'll need it to repay the amount I'm thinking of spending on another computer.

This brings me to my next point. Does anyone know if the following desktop computer is any good at all? It's to be used for browsing the internet, word processing/letters, photos storage, general computer usage really. I don't do downloading really, and apart from browsing the net a fair bit, am quite a light computer user.

I've pasted a link, but not sure if it's worked:-

http://www.johnlewis.com/231302275/Product.aspx

With my ongoing plight with PC World, it's looking likely that I need to get another computer, but I really don't need a laptop (someone suggested to me that if I don't use it away from the house (which I don't), and have it wired rather than wireless....(which I do), it's better for me to have a desktop computer, because if the keyboard etc goes wrong on a laptop, it can affect the whole thing, whereas on a desktop computer, it's just the keyboard that would need replacing). I don't want to purchase the cheapest option just because it's cheap, but want something with a bit of speed to it, something efficient, and something which is likely to last more than a year!

I just wondered what people thought of the Acer desktop computer in the link. I've heard that computers that are i3, i5 or i7 are supposed to be quite good. I'm not sure what this means, but the one in question is an i5......is this a good thing to have?! Any opinions, good or bad, would be gratefully received.

Always grateful for advice....

Moonshine.

Lona · Oct 16, 2011, 23:25:42

Same destop computer at ebuyer. I have purchased many things from this store with no problems

http://www.ebuyer.com/279906-acer-aspire-m3970-desktop-pt-sg5e2-091

Lona · Oct 16, 2011, 23:29:09

I would also advise you try booting into the bios and go to safemode to see if you can change to a restore point.

sobranie · Oct 17, 2011, 02:42:44

How odd!!! Just sorted one of these out with a similar problem today (Model Easynote TJ61). Eg: BSOD and just managed to catch a message 'driver irql not less or equal,' together with strings of 0x messages. Unable to evoke safe mode before BSOD flashed past.
Well to cut a long story short I decided to do a reformat by pressing f11 at startup (advised on the Packard site). Not a chance, just kept looping around to the BSOD and just to add to my frustration the owner had 'binned' the windows 7 CD, so no chance there!!
So, went the f8 route & with 'Repair' selected (with some trepidation), I arrived at the 'Factory Reset Page, which was on a 'hidden partition' (I presume).

Machine is now running sweetly I'm glad to say. Hope this helps.

pctech · Oct 17, 2011, 06:40:05

Yep it does yell software issue to me too so I'd explore that route first as that is the first thing they will do on receipt of the machine I suspect and will then try and charge you £50 for sitting and watching an automated process!

If I had earned 50p for everytime I'd heard things about this outfit I'd probably have £200 by now.

BSODs are in my experience generally the result of buggy or corrupted drivers that destabilise the Kernel (the bit of the operating system that controls everything), driver corruption can occur over time so that is why personally I tend to reformat every 18 months or so.

All the best with it and let us know how it goes.

Steve · Oct 17, 2011, 06:49:51

As stated in the first post, if a certified MS technician has spent the best part of a day on the machine I would think all software avenues will have been explored.

pctech · Oct 17, 2011, 09:50:18

But if s/he hasn't tried a reformat then everything hasn't been explored, clearly.

cavillas · Oct 17, 2011, 09:58:40

Hi Moonshine, if you area really light user and wan to try one of these machines http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/search.php?search=VT- That might be a cheaper and easier way to go.

Steve · Oct 17, 2011, 11:07:48

Quote from: pctech on Oct 17, 2011, 09:50:18
But if s/he hasn't tried a reformat then everything hasn't been explored, clearly.

I would hope a certified MS technician can diagnose a hardware issue without formatting the drive.

pctech · Oct 17, 2011, 11:10:01

Yep, I don't think its a hardware issue personally.

sobranie · Oct 17, 2011, 14:01:56

The machine I fixed was obviously a software problem BUT I was informed today that it was a motherboard or mem problem (diagnosed by the local computer MS techs) and would cost in the £100's to remedy. Oh yeah

, loadsa dosh in the bank.
I see far to many decent computers banned to the attic/dustbin thanks to mis-diagnosis by so called experts. Well, I am no M$ technician/expert but I will spend a few hours on a rogue machine seeking similar faults on the net. If at the end of my self imposed allotted time & no remedy found I will inform the punter that a reformat will probably fix the problem and if they haven't burned backups then they shouldn't really have a 'puter in the 1st place. If the punter decides to scrap a 13 month old machine then it's they're problem!!!
Moonshine, If your 'puter has shuffled off its mortal coil as it were then a reformat will cost you nothing!!!!!

pctech · Oct 17, 2011, 15:16:28

Totally agree sobranie, I'm actually a Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician (Windows XP) too but most of what I know I learnt from studying technical documentation and breaking and fixing stuff to find out how it works along with many years of helping others.

Technical Ben · Oct 17, 2011, 16:09:59

Quote from: pctech on Oct 17, 2011, 06:40:05
Yep it does yell software issue to me too so I'd explore that route first as that is the first thing they will do on receipt of the machine I suspect and will then try and charge you £50 for sitting and watching an automated process!

If I had earned 50p for everytime I'd heard things about this outfit I'd probably have £200 by now.

BSODs are in my experience generally the result of buggy or corrupted drivers that destabilise the Kernel (the bit of the operating system that controls everything), driver corruption can occur over time so that is why personally I tend to reformat every 18 months or so.

All the best with it and let us know how it goes.

Or a dry joint. Especially on laptops, cracks appear. My HP ZD8000 got a BSOD crash problem. The cause? An overheating/cracked GPU. Either the heatsink had come unstuck from the GPU or the actual connections within the motherboard had come unstuck. Either way, after about 5 mins of use, it crashed out. Eventually it lasted no longer than 20 seconds. It's defiantly heat caused, as it cold boots every time. It just never lasts long before it dies (even in the bios menu). So not always software.

PS. Oh, that's before we even get onto hardware conflicts (not software, pure hardware conflict). My current AMD Penny II has a known memory controller bug that causes it to give random BSOD and crashes. Thankfully a Over Clock, of all things, fixed it!

PPS. I still agree FAR TOO MANY "professional" computer experts ask for more money to buy hardware/software. It took an extra couple of minuets, but I actually helped someone avoid buying either new software or a new Blue Ray player today. By helping them convert HD video into a HD-DVD format. It only just works, but it works none the less.

pctech · Oct 17, 2011, 17:07:02

That is all possible Ben but lets look at the simple stuff first eh.

Technical Ben · Oct 17, 2011, 19:00:28

Well, if the customer has not dropped it, I'd guess it's software. But if it continued after a fresh install, then I'd guess at hardware.

Moonshine · Oct 18, 2011, 23:33:58

Many, many thanks to everyone for their help and advice, it is much appreciated.

As things have turned out, I have now been able to get the laptop working (yes, measly me, with not an ounce of computer chip about me). As a last ditch attempt, I restored it using the recovery discs (never meddled with anything like that before). Lo and behold, it is now working! Not very happy with the Microsoft certified technician, or the fact I wasted half a day typing a letter to PC World!

Thanks again to all who have contributed.......how right you all were!

Moonshine.