Does this sound right?

Black Dog

My laptop, Compaq Presario, simply conked out a few times before I realised the fan wasn't working, the machine was overheating and the machine shutting itself down for its own safety. It could be started again after cooling down so I backed up my files onto an external hard drive.

I left it in to a computer company; was told they could replace the fan with no bother but weren't satisfied that there wasn't damage done by the overheating as they didn't have the equipment to check this. They suggested I bring it back to where it was bought, which was a branch of PC Planet.

When I brought it in to them they took it in and explained it would have to be sent to a company which did all their repairs. They have now told me the laptop cannot be repaired but I have no details of why or of what happened to the machine. It will be returned to me shortly and there will be no charge for their looking at it.

So, and I realise I am asking the question while providing little information but this is all I know to date, does this sound correct? When it was possible to restart the laptop when it cooled down I felt there might not be too much wrong with it.

Any opinions?

And, should I have to get a new one, any suggestions? Use: internet, email, photographs - lots and lots of photographs.

Many thanks for any comments or advice.

Occono

You could try looking for a BIOS update that fixes it

Dannysaurus

Occono wrote: »

You could try looking for a BIOS update that fixes it

I don't understand, the first place you brought it to, did they not replace the fan?
Perhaps you could contact the manufacturer. Otherwise, your best bet at this would either be replacing the fan yourself (replacements on eBay) or looking for a bios update

Jarren

Bring your laptop to another repair shop to get a second opinion,is the laptop still under warranty?

Occono

Dannysaurus wrote: »

I don't understand, the first place you brought it to, did they not replace the fan?
Perhaps you could contact the manufacturer. Otherwise, your best bet at this would either be replacing the fan yourself (replacements on eBay) or looking for a bios update

I just mean I've heard of BIOS updates for fan problems.

danger_mouse_tm

How old is the laptop? Under consumer law you actually have a two year warranty, although if someone has already taken apart the laptop, then that's out the window. Now what I have seen before is someone taking in a laptop, making a balls out of fixing it and coming up with a story that it can't be fixed. Don't be shy about naming the people that you brought it to...

Black Dog

Many thanks for the comments above.

To clarify: The laptop will be three years old in September so it out of warranty and beyond the two year threshold.

I brought the laptop to a company, Radius Technologies, Waterford, a company I had dealt with for many years while I was still at work, so they looked at it out of kindness - their business would be more towards business solutions rather than dealing with individuals. Nonetheless, a technician did look at it and, while he could have replaced the fan, he decided not to do so as he felt some damage had been done from overheating and he couldn't identify precisely what amount or where this damage had been done. He recommended I bring it back to the place of purchase, PlanetPC, as they would have the facilities to examine the machine in greater depth and detail. Their (second) opinion was that it was not possible to repair the laptop though I haven't had an explanation of why this is the case. The laptop is still with them - it was sent to England for repair and hasn't come back to them yet.