PC World Problems, faulty laptop

pookiewn

My OH bought a laptop from PC world (against our better judgement - but unfortunately the best deal at the time), which was delivered last Wednesday. He tried to install linux (sabayon and ubuntu) by partitioning space on the hard drive, but every attempt, including completely wiping the hard drive, locked the machine forcing a hard reboot. Which leads us to think there is an issue with the hard drive or processor.

We took it back the the Tech Guys for a physical hard drive test, but were told that, although they would do the physical test, their policies won't support 3rd party software installed :eek:. They also said the machine isn't designed to run anything other than windows:eek::eek::eek:, installing linux would void the warranty as provided by PCW, but having picked apart the T&C's cannot find anything to that effect.

Is this tech guy just trying to get out of supporting the machine?

We're expecting a phone call with results today and are not sure how to proceed if nothing is found by them. Acer, the manufacturer, have said that laptops bought at PCW are supported by them only.

The laptop itself are the specs that we wanted, are we within our rights to ask for a replacement rather than a refund?

OH is a rather experienced geek and doesn't need day to day support, but cannot do any thing about faulty hardware. Any experience or advise would be greatly appreciated please.

Thank you!

Esqui

I think I posted a thread asking about the theory on this.

As I recall, they can request you try to put Windows back on there (hope he made recovery discs if he formatted the hard drive!) so that they can assess it. Though the legality of this escapes me.

Warranties never cover software, and, as they are in addition to your legal rights can contain clauses that void them by installing other OS on them (unfortunately).

Though as it's under 28 days old, it might be wise to take it back to another nearest store and ask for a replacement - easier if you can demonstrate the fault without going into the OS.

Darksun

Can you boot into Ubuntu Live?

If so, open a terminal and try the following command (may have to do "sudo su" first):

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

This will wipe out the boot sector of the drive, I had a similar problem on my old laptop and had to do this before Linux would install. Please note, it's not a good idea to use this command on a drive you are using/has important info on.

I'm assuming that it's a SCSI rather than IDE drive as well, it it's IDE replace SDA with HDA.

Anyway, installing Linux may well void any warranty, but that doesn't matter. You still have your rights under the Sales of Goods Act, and since you've had the laptop less than 6 months it's up to PC World to prove that the laptop is not inherently faulty.

Edit: What is the make/model of the laptop? It may be a known issue, if you google (laptop)+ubuntu you might find someone else who has had the issue and possibly found a solution

rsykes2000

I think you meant SATA rather than SCSI

Darksun

rsykes2000 wrote: »

I think you meant SATA rather than SCSI

Yes, too early for my brain to function

Though, I think it uses /dev/sd* for SCSI devices as well as SATA

pookiewn

Thank you for all your help!

PCW called today saying that there is a hardware problem with the laptop, and offered us a replacement. :T

Thank you again for those who helped! :rotfl: