Faulty laptop..costing me more to return hard drive?

hobo28

God yes, if its offering safe mode the data is there!!! Get your PC back quick before the morons wipe it!

FallingDownMan

lab-dab wrote: »

Sorry didnt see some of your post until i typed my last one.

When you say they should fix the laptop what else could it be that is wrong with it? If they replace HD and return original they have said they wont do it unless i pay over £100.. if HD hasnt gone then the data should still be there - is that possible?

I wish i did ask here first now and I'll speak to them tomorrow now and hope they can get it sorted asap.

thanks for your help and link

Lab-dab, the hard disk can be 'gone' in a number of ways. Unless it's been put through a mangle, then putting it simply, the two main ones you will normally experience are either damaged platters (that's the area where information gets stored), or damaged electronics (that's the stuff that lets the PC get the information).

If the electronics are dead then your best bet is to go down the specialist route of data recovery (which costs money). Yes, some people have successfully tinkered and taken the electronics out of one hard drive and put it in another, but this is extremely hit and miss. And it may make matters worse if the electronics are OK and you just got the diagnosis wrong. It is also fiddly.

If it is the platters then assuming the drive can be reformatted you can recover data using software up to a point. That point is reached if the platter damage is so severe your data are unreadable. In this case, you are again looking at spending money with the pros.

As I said earlier, rather than get involved in this right now (because it sounds a lot easier than it is if you aren't into PCs and tinkering), concentrate on trying to get your disk back. Then you can decide which way to go.

Remember that when you spend hundreds of pounds with professional data recovery people, they virtually guarantee getting all your data back. You have no such guarantees if you start taking things apart

Only you know the value of your data.

lab-dab

This is the thing I really want the data back as it is all my sons newborn pictures, daughters birthday etc.. i was very stupid but hadnt backed it up for 5 months but did do it regularly before this, i only added 200+ pictures the day before it went.

I'm going to try and give them a ring now to ask what is happening this morning with it and say i dont want the hard drive reformattng..

I can't believe they told me both had gone in the beginning (told by one of pc worlds instore tech people).. and then theyve had it for 22 days with no work on it??

I dont understand computers enough to chance buying anything to move around etc but i do have two offers from shops who are willing to do this for me and have said similar things re: the loop and retrieving it..

Before i took this in and the person in the shop then told me that the laptop then just wondered switch on at all.. maybe that could have just been a battery problem or something.

thanks again.

lab-dab

Forgot - that i was also told by pcworld instore that the company he quoted me of getting the data via an anti-static room at up to £700 wouldnt give any reimbursement if they couldnt get it due to the costs involved in it etc.

lab-dab

I've just rang and now been told that my hard drive and mainboard had both gone and both been replaced and that my HD with information on will be going back to the manufacturer and i now have to chase it with them or the store to get it back???

I was only told at 7:15pm last night no work had started on it and now its been done??

AAAAGGHH i could scream.

Reggie_Rebel

I doubt that either the motherboard or the Hard Drive have gone.

If the motherboard had gone the it's unlikely that you would have got anything at all, and if the Hard Drive had gone the again you wouldn't have got into the loop.

It seems like a quick reinstall of windows, which can be done without losing any data would have sorted you.

Either way I hope you get your pictures saved

FallingDownMan

lab-dab wrote: »

I've just rang and now been told that my hard drive and mainboard had both gone and both been replaced and that my HD with information on will be going back to the manufacturer and i now have to chase it with them or the store to get it back???

I was only told at 7:15pm last night no work had started on it and now its been done??

AAAAGGHH i could scream.

It's like I said: PC World don't have a choice in this if they want to get paid for repairs under manufacturer's warranty, so don't get bogged down with the advice which blames them It won't get you anywhere.

Yes, it stinks. But stick with the manufacturer and don't let go until you get it back.

The terms of all warranties I've seen state that the manufacturer/vendor isn't liable for loss of data so what they're saying is right - even though it, too, stinks. Any liability will lie with the manufacturer and not PC World. After all, it isn't PC World's fault it broke, but it IS arguably the manufacturer's fault.

As you've said yourself, you hadn't backed up valuable data for some time so this adds more weight against being able to claim. But you can at least try.

But the main thing is to get that disk back if possible. Don't let the trail go cold whatever you do because they'll not keep it if is it's broken.

And with respect to PC World, I can promise you they don't like replacing the whole of the innards without being pretty sure they are faulty. With respect, they have the machine in front of them whereas other people are simply expressing opinions based on assumptions.

Incidentally, it IS possible for a machine to offer Safe Mode and still have a faulty disk. It's also possible for a machine to boot up normally and have one. It depends on what's wrong, to what degree, and where the faulty area of disk is.

albertross_2

Ok, who has this laptop? Have they given you a method of chasing/tracking the HD, or just fobbed you off?

I think they are telling porkies. You called yesterday, and it hadn't been touched, and now your HD has left the building, (during a postal strike), after you asked about it yesterday.

Ring up, complain, put your foot down, complain again.

It is true it is possible for it to offer safe mode and have a faulty disk, but if that was the case it is also true that the disk is spinning, the hardware is working, and at that point, data is retrievable. The odds of the motherboard then failing at the exact point in time, are a million to one chance, like your back wheel failing off at the same time your alternator fails, while you happen to be in kwikfit

lab-dab

Thanks for replies.

I'm still waiting for a final call back from the tech people now but as it stands i've been told:

My hard drive and motherboard have both been replaced - yesterday and the system had not been updated. I have had a parceline attempted delivery of my laptop today while I was out.

I've been told that they check if it switches on, if not they replace the hard drive to check if it is this first, if broken still they return my hardrive and then replace the motherboard as it wouldn't power on, then if no joy they replace both. This is what has happened in my case but i've had no explanation of why it broke in the beginning.

I've been told by the manager that they are going to chase my hardrive to the workshop to see if it is there, if it is they will get it back to me whether it costs or not is another thing.... if it has gone back to the manufacturer they said i've lost it!

also, they told me to prepare myself that i've lost my data as even if they find the HD the information may be lost or be unable to retrieve.

.. my annoyance is that when i booked this in for repair i specifically asked for the return of my drive. This has not been put on the system and although i've been told i would have to pay i may not even have this opportunity as it may have been lost!?!?

on a positive note i have at least got my repaired laptop on the way back to me but i'm no further forward with my hardrive.

FallingDownMan

albertross wrote: »

It is true it is possible for it to offer safe mode and have a faulty disk, but if that was the case it is also true that the disk is spinning, the hardware is working, and at that point, data is retrievable. The odds of the motherboard then failing at the exact point in time, are a million to one chance, like your back wheel failing off at the same time your alternator fails, while you happen to be in kwikfit

I don't think anyone's suggesting the data aren't retrievable. It's virtually impossible for them not to be - just depends on how much you want to spend.

It's academic whether it was the mobo or not. If it had gone back to the manufacturer, they'd most likely have done the same thing PC World did. I know Hewlett Packard/Compaq (and their agents) do exactly that. Whoever repairs it, it is a quick fix they want, not an in-depth foray into the discrete components on circuit boards. Most repairs treat major components (HDDs, mobos, etc) as 'black boxes' these days. Components are so cheap (to the trade) it is easier to just throw them out and put new ones in.

The only time PC World start messing about at discrete component level is when the mobo is obsolete and it has to be repaired (and they send them away, usually, if they have to do that). Some older eMachines are a case in point.

Messing about with generic replacement parts on less-than-a-year-old machines is likely to void any warranty - and in any case all this is with the benefit of hindsight (and a dose of imagining the worst because it's PC World). When a lappie which is less than a year old breaks, most people don't open it up and start poking around: they invoke the terms of the warranty rather than void them.