Compaq support

[pineapple stu]

My Compaq laptop is after dying on me; pretty sure it's just the power cable (even though I just got a new one). Rang Compaq's support desk and I'm given the option of looking up an FAQ list on the internet or of paying E19.99 to talk to a tech support guy. WTF?! Any other options?

[dahamsta]

Presumably it's not under warranty? If not, you're f*cked I'd afraid.

[pineapple stu]

Nah, warranty gone two years.

Is that the done thing now, to charge for tech support? Never heard of it being done before.

As I say, I'm pretty sure it's the cable is gone (because when I got a new universal cable, the laptop worked until I realised that, despite the charging icon appearing, it wasn't charging, and so I ran out of battery), so is it worth my while ordering a new cable off them, or do I just buy a new laptop and do a hard-drive transfer? The latter is what PC World advised, but it seems a bit much?

[Mr A]

Sounds like maybe your battery is fecked.

Anyhoo, HP/Compaq have been slashing support for years.

[pineapple stu]

In that case, the laptop should work on the charger with the battery taken out though, which it doesn't.

Battery being fecked was my first thought alright though. I plugged it in last week at about 70% battery, and the whole thing just died, with or without the cable. PC World tried a different cable and it came back to life, with 70% battery still. That dwindled down to 0% as per usual. It was working grand during that 70%.

[Mr A]

What I should have said was that it sounds like an issue with the mechanism by which the battery is charged. Hard to say though.

Your ticket has been closed.

Best regards,

HP support.