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HP Isn’t Honoring the Warranty on Netbook because of Linux!

by | Updated on: Oct 30, 2019 | Tech Tips & Tech News | 3 comments

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I guess I’m hoping that someone here might have some connection at HP, or know how to contact a higher tier tech support, or something.

Basically I have a brand new netbook I got for Christmas. First thing I wiped the drive and installed Fedora on it. Yesterday, the battery went kapoot. It’s completely dead… won’t charge at all. The BIOS is giving me error code 601, which I looked up and says the battery needs to be replaced. You would think that’s enough for the warranty to get it replaced, right? Nope.

I’ve been on the phone with tech support now for over an hour. The guy there has no clue what to do, he’s having me run all kinds of pointless tests that don’t have anything to do with the battery. Then after speaking to his supervisor, they can’t send me a new battery unless I put Windows 7 Starter back on the netbook, then run their special little HP battery status test.

I’ve given them the BIOS error code (I don’t even think the guy knows what the BIOS is honestly), and I told them the output of the acpi command, which is “charging at zero rate – will never fully charge”. But they’re going by the book, and without the HP battery status application they won’t send me a new battery.

Right now the only option they’re giving me is to PAY to order the Windows 7 Starter media from them to restore my netbook to factory condition, to run their utility, to get my damn battery replaced.

This is absolutely f’ing ridiculous. I’m steaming pissed right now… and I’m still on the phone holding to speak to the supervisor.

Can anyone offer any assistance? A phone number for higher level support? Or someone at HP who works in tech support that actually has a brain and doesn’t work in India?

I know /r/linux may not be the best subreddit for this, but oh well… I need people with linux knowledge to understand my headache! :)

EDIT1: Quote from the supervisor:

Him: You have voided your software warranty and need to reinstall Windows 7 to get it back

Me: Ok, well the issue I’m having is HARDWARE, not SOFTWARE

Him: I understand, but in order to get the warranty ID #, you need to use Windows 7

Me: Well I can’t do that, and I haven’t voided my hardware warranty, which is what the battery is covered under.

Him: Well I am the supervisor here and I know the warranty better than you do.

EDIT2: I’ve now been on the phone for 2 hours and 20 minutes… I finally spoke to some case manager, and she gave in and is overnighting me a new battery. But if the “problem persists, I will need to reinstall Windows 7”. I can guarantee this is the last time I will ever buy an HP product.

EDIT3: I got the battery this morning. Guess they shipped it overnight air. Netbook is working just fine now. :) I did notice that the ‘acpi’ command in Fedora doesn’t work right with the battery though. It still says the same thing, that the battery is charging at a rate of zero, and will never fully charge. However it is charging, unlike the other battery. I guess that has something to do with the acpi in Fedora not being fully compatible with the netbook’s hardware.

Author:- Debajyoti Banerjee is the Founder, Director & CEO of Seven Boats - A leading digital marketing agency & digital marketing training institute in India since 2011. He is a TEDx Speaker, Google & LinkedIn Certified Digital Marketer & Trainer, Brand Strategist, Consultant & Entrepreneur. B. Tech in computer engineering & post graduate diploma in Marketing, Debajyoti has 18+ years of domain experience and successful track records in digital marketing services & digital marketing training with 500+ clients & 100K+ students in 165+ countries. He has been invited & felicitated by 25+ Top B Schools & universities including London Business School, AICTE ATAL FDP, UGC-HRDC, IIM Shillong, IIM ROHTAK, IIT KGP, IIT Guwahati, Calcutta University, Ranchi University, St. Xavier’s, Brainware, Techno India, JIS Group, Jaypee Group, Shikshayatan Foundation, IIEST Shibpur, Bhavan’s, ICFAI Business School, GITAM Deemed University, Swami Vivekananda Group of Institutions & many more. He has been awarded with more than 20 national awards and he has received notable media coverage. Learn more

 

3 Comments

  1. Aurthur

    Thank you for sharing this post, I will rethink to buy a linux one now.

    Reply
  2. Vishal

    great post its upgrade my knowledge……thanks for sharing you knowledge to us.

    Reply
  3. Bruce Markey

    Just thought I’d share my experience with my brand new HP Envy 6 Sleekbook.

    I’ve had it for about 3 weeks. First thing I did was remove windows and install Linux Mint. Everything works great. Except.

    1. The spacebar works about 70% of the time.
    2. The battery completely discharges when the laptop is off.
    3. When plugged in the charger gets too hot to touch.

    I’ve spoke to HP now 3 times. They are finally going to let me send it in for repair BUT they will only do this if they can wipe the machine and load windows. They wanted me to run a bios utility and when I informed them I was not running windows they were very confused. “Do you mean you are not using Internet Explorer?” . No, I’m running a totally different operating system.

    Even after talking to a “manager” I got the same story. They said they’d fix the spacebar but not the battery issue. After arguing they finally agreed to look at it, but only if they can wipe the machine.

    I will never buy another HP product. This is some of the worst customer support I have had to deal with.

    I hope others read this and think twice before buying from HP.

    Bruce Markey.

    Reply

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