My old Dell desktop mocks me, squatting in the corner like a jester. Most of my data has been removed from it but I haven’t disposed of its carcass.
You see, finally convinced that it was too outdated to serve me well, I went in search of a newer model. Realizing that even the newest item on the market would be technologically behind the second it shipped, I opted for the newest thing I could acquire, the HP Pavillion Elite with Intel’s Sandy Bridge Processor. It arrived in February and if you have been reading my posts, you know all about the tech specialist I hired to spend some time setting it up and helping me learn what I needed to know in order to use it at its maximum.
Like some relationships, it got a little rocky. Last Monday I received a recall notice. From what I could understand from all of the websites, forums, and multiple phone calls that were bounced back and forth between India, Pakistan and the United States – outsourcing tech support is not always a good idea HP – there is a chipset in the motherboard that is leaking low levels of electricity that over time would do damage to the motherboard. And it wasn’t just HP that was affected. Every manufacturer that was installing the Intel 6 series had the same issue.
The options for solving this issue all involved shipping my computer back to HP for replacement, repair, or refund. I was not happy with any of those options. Would I have to hire someone to uninstall all of my data from the computer or risk my information getting into the hands of the wrong party? What about all of the jostling around in the shipping process? Who was going to reinstall my data? It just wasn’t acceptable.
Then I found a precedent where a technician was doing some in-home repairs and after another string of phone calls around the world, found a gentleman who first discerned that I had a warranty that covered on-site repairs and he arranged to have the new motherboard shipped to my house and scheduled a technician to come out to install it here. This would do just fine!
The new motherboard arrived Friday and the technician installed it yesterday. So far it works fine. I’m hoping nothing else goes wrong. My information is still there and I didn’t have to be without my computer for more than a couple of hours.
Now, if I could only wipe the smirk off the Dell’s monitor. Oh wait, maybe it’s just my face being reflected there. Is there such a thing as tech-guilt?
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Writingfeemail's Blog 
Whew! Hope the big bullet (sending your computer off) has been dodged, although not without considerable pain on your part. I looked at the system info in my new computer, nothing about Intel 6 series. It says Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66 GHz 2.67 GHz. Should I be happy if none of that is familiar to you? In any case, you didn’t miss a blog beat. I missed last night. I spent too much of the day outside taking pictures.
No, there was never an imediate danger to my computer, especially since I finally got through to someone who understood the problem and agreed to send a technician to my home. It doesn’t sound like you have any issues with yours-thankfully. Even within the Intel 6 series, there is a group of unaffected chips as well as a group of those that are recalled. Unfortunately, mine was one of the ones that could present a problem in the future. But I am keeping fingers and toes crossed that it is resolved. Of course, the handy blackberry makes it possible for me to send out a blog if the computer goes down. I am so addicted to it!
Can’t wait to see your pictures. I assume they will be posted on your blog.
Ah computers – touche, touche!
Glad you’re way over this moment, though.