Heads up on failing HP 6735s

Glitzkiss

Earlier this month my HP compaq 6735s laptop stopped working. I could switch it on and hear the fan whirring but nothing else would happen except 5 flashes of the LED lights located next to the caps lock. At first I was resigned to ditching it and having to buy a new one as I'd bought it in Jan 2009 but I decided to google the problem to see if there was an easy fix. Thank goodness I did

First of all I came across the HP page that told me that my LED's flashing 5 times meant General System Board Failure (scroll down and click on Table of sample blink codes). A further google eventually took me to the nvidia defect forum which explained everything to me. First of all this is not a nvidia problem but it is something similar. It turns out the ball grid array that bonds the ATI graphics card to the motherboard is faulty and that is what caused the laptop to fail.

Still, just over 3 years use for a laptop is not bad right? Well yes if you misuse it but no if it is due to the manufacturer using substandard parts as HP has. This means under SOGA the machine is not durable for a reasonable length of time (six years) and I'm within my rights to claim a refund back from the people I bought it from. Which I have

At first the company tried to fob me off saying it was HP's problem but I pointed out my contract was with them so they agreed to pick up the machine and have their engineers inspect it. I received an email this morning admitting my laptop failed due to the BGA and they have issued me with a partial refund that is equivalent to just under half what I paid for it.

Well done if you've read this far

My reason for posting is this: if you have, or hear of anyone, with an HP 6735s laptop that suddenly fails get them to investigate further and don't let them just ditch it. It may be that they are due a partial refund which is, after all, better than nothing

fwor

Good result!

Glitzkiss wrote: »

This means under SOGA the machine is not durable for a reasonable length of time (six years) and I'm within my rights to claim a refund back from the people I bought it from.

Just to clarify this part - the SOGA does not say that anything should last 6 years.

It gives you 6 years from date of purchase to claim against your supplier, but it does not specify what a "reasonable lifetime" actually is, because that depends on what the item is.