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?
11/09/2009, 12:44 PM
dahamsta
Presumably it's not under warranty? If not, you're f*cked I'd afraid.
11/09/2009, 12:47 PM
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?
11/09/2009, 12:51 PM
Mr A
Sounds like maybe your battery is fecked.
Anyhoo, HP/Compaq have been slashing support for years.
11/09/2009, 12:54 PM
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%.
12/09/2009, 10:13 PM
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.