Laptop fault - under 2 yrs - manufacture won't fix for free - help!

Mx42

Some of those things I have tried and they were repeated by Tech Support to no avail.  I'll see with the others.

Many thanks for the tip.

HillStreetBlues

Mx42 said:

Perhaps I should have mentioned in the first post that the wi of card stopped working after the laptop updated to Windows 11 - the system message said it was supported and the upgrade was recommended by the manufacturers support software on the laptop.

That would indicate  software is the  issue not hardware.
Was you able to roll back to Win10?

Mx42

HillStreetBlues said:

That would indicate  software is the  issue not hardware.
Was you able to roll back to Win10?

That is what I thought.

Tried but that did not work, neither did a completely clean Windows 10 install booting from a USB drive.

Could it be a coincidence?  The wi of card failed at the same times as the laptop was updated with recommended updates?

HillStreetBlues

Mx42 said:

That is what I thought.

Tried but that did not work, neither did a completely clean Windows 10 install booting from a USB drive.

Could it be a coincidence?  The wi of card failed at the same times as the laptop was updated with recommended updates?

Unlikely
Have you gone to the makers website and looked for drivers for the card?

Mx42

Yes.

Did all that without success - then the Tech Support did exactly the same thing without success.

HillStreetBlues

It has been known for different cards to be put in that doesn't tally with the driver on the website.
If you haven't done so
Go to device manage right click and select properties  of the card,  Click on the "details" tab
Select Hardware IDs  (under property drop down box); under "value" in the box there will be lines of text
Right click and copy the top one, then paste into Google,  you should get the results and should tell you full details of card
Then you can try and search from the driver on-line with those details.

Mx42

HillStreetBlues said:

It has been known for different cards to be put in that doesn't tally with the driver on the website.
If you haven't done so
Go to device manage right click and select properties  of the card,  Click on the "details" tab
Select Hardware IDs  (under property drop down box); under "value" in the box there will be lines of text
Right click and copy the top one, then paste into Google,  you should get the results and should tell you full details of card
Then you can try and search from the driver on-line with those details.

The Tech Support agent did that - I granted them access to my laptop and watched them do it - and still didn't work!

HillStreetBlues

That does sound strange.
I've had issues with drivers before but when rolled back ( I do take a disk image)  they work again.
Never had it  that it then doesn't work on the  rollback.

Mx42

FINAL UPDATE

Sad:

• They will not fix for free
• Consumer rights are not as extensive or protective as I had assumed

Happy:

• I have been educated on my rights
• I have received both a written and a verbal apology about the way customer service treated me

For many years I had operated under the assumption that my rights meant I had up to six years cover if my laptop stopped working.  To me I still maintain that in paying £1500 a laptop should last 2 - 3 years at least.  But seems that the consumer rights act does not give the protection I assumed, under the 'fit for purpose' and 'reasonable length of time' tenets of the act.  

Why did I assume that?  Because when my old PowerBook HD failed after 2.5 years I took it to an Apple shop and they fixed it for free without me asking - I went in expecting to pay.  And maybe I did not read beyond the headlines of consumer rights act articles?  Note - the computer is not an Apple product; it is a Windows based laptop.

I am self-justifying to myself that the outcome is OK because the cost of repair is about the same level of the discount I received courtesy of my defence discount card on the 'civilian' price.  There are great discounts to be had with the defence discount card - makes twenty years service worthwhile.  The invoice shows £1,799 discounted to £1,499.  If only cash back had worked with that purchase too.

Most importantly thank you to all you replied to my first post and for helping me understand my rights - many thanks.

km1500

one option would be to downgrade to W10 and see if the problem goes away. I would bet it's the W11 upgrade and not the card that's the problem.