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HP Recall on 900,000 Notebooks
phycoman writes "900,000 HP and Compaq laptops have potential memory issues and are being recalled. The RAM chips from four manufacturers can possibly lead to system corruption and lockups. The affected notebooks are Compaq Evo Notebook N610c, Compaq Evo Notebook N610v, Compaq Evo Notebook N620c, Compaq Evo Notebook N800c, Compaq Evo Notebook N800v, Compaq Evo Notebook N800w, Compaq Evo Notebook N1000c, Compaq Evo Notebook N1000v, Compaq Presario 1500, Compaq Presario 2800, Compaq Presario x1000, Compaq Presario x1200, HP Compaq Business Notebook nx7000 and
HP Pavilion zt3000. As a result, HP has created a website whick allows users to download a program to test for faulty RAM chips."
I dislike HP products. We have a scanner, a camera and some other doo-dads at the office, and they all use HP technology. The problem? HP installs a crapflood of memory resident programs to handle even the most mundane tasks that could easily be handled at runtime. I would never personally buy something from HP because of their strange software policy. This is essentially Darwin in effect, folks. Nothing to see here, move along. :-)
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
/me points at HP
/me looks at apple.com... scrolls to bottom... "Extended iBook Logic Board..."
HA ha...
Oh. Damn.
Cthulu saves... in case he gets hungry later.
::helping geeks get laid since 1983::
It's nice to see a company admitting there is a problem AND fixing it.
Wouldn't suprise me if someone was threatning to blow the whistle though...
Every time I've bought an HP product I've regreted it. I even got one of their dvd burners for a mere $99 year before last (when they were ~$300 normally) and then when it broke only 3 weeks after I bought it they said it wasn't covered under warrenty. They claimed that it was covered for 1 year or until they decide the product is obsolete and no longer will be supported. Even though i'd just bought it they had decided it was too long to support any longer dispite the fact that it was still on store shelves. Then last year I got a HP 935 digital camera as a gift. It was a good little camera except for one thing. The batteries only lasted about 2-3 picutres at a time. You could wait for the amperage to build back up between sets of 2-3 pictures (usually a few minutes) but thats totally unacceptable to most people. Terrible designs and business decisions like these have destroyed any support I had left for HP. I know it's HP-Compaq now but hell would freeze over before I buy anything off them.
Sometimes a guy lucks out. I bought a 1500 not to long ago. I got it with the minimum amount of RAM in it. I wanted a gig of RAM but HP wanted almost $700 for that upgrade. I decided that upgrading the screen was far more important as I could not alter that myself later at a cheap price.
As soon as I got the laptop I orderd a gig of third party RAM from an online vendor, total cost less than $200. Installed it right away and now I don't have this problem and never have had it.
Moral of the story: Sometime it pays to be a cheap bastard.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
Laptops aren't being recalled, memory is. Writeup is too sensationalized
Hard to believe that the memory makers who hold 70% of the world market fail to produce their stuff to specs.
Looks more like a flaw with the Intel chipsets in those notebooks, but that would be much more expensive to replace.
If you're affected, check whether the new RAM modules aren't slower than the ones you're replacing.
Let's see how long it takes for the other manufacturers to get on the bandwagon. Especially Toshiba. They only use Samsung memory.
(that may have been what's been causing those random lockups on my laptop. Now I know...)
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned the free 32MB flash drive you get for their screwup.
HP will provide one free 32-megabyte USB Flash Device for each notebook identified as having affected memory module(s). To receive this incentive, customers must complete all of the following steps for each notebook:
Order the replacement memory module(s) through this Web site.
Replace the affected memory module(s) without the assistance of a service partner or HP.
Return the affected memory module(s) as directed.
I get the feeling there're going to be a lot of flash drive RAIDs being made out of these...
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
"HP's replacement program will allow a customer to receive a small kit, containing a screwdriver as well as instructions for the customer on how to replace the faulty DRAM modules, which may include 128MB, 256MB, and 512MB versions. The customer can then ship the DRAM to HP using a return envelope and receive a new module for free."
Sooo... if I read that right (keying in on the last phrase) 900,000 laptops are supposed to go without any memory while the old memory gets shipped back, the order processed (assuming they have 1-2 million proper mem modules already on-hand) and the new memory then being shipped back. That's a ton of culmulative downtime- Ouch!
This may be a coincidence but I doubt it.
I'm old enough to remember a time when HP products were ubiquitous in labs and scientists' offices. In those days they were paragons of good design and reliability.
Folger's used to be a brand associated with gourmet coffee. Once the brand got bought out, it was used in a sort of goodwill mining operation to sell vile instant coffee crystals.
This is the way of the publicly traded corporation with its short time horizons. A respected brand is just a resource to be cashed in.
mt
Translate: "We shipped some faulty chips, which caused bluescreens, now we will send a screw driver to everyone on our list so they can replace it themself"
Wow, this comes right at the time when I'm buying my first laptop. Gather round and hear the sordid tale of their utter lack of customer service!
;)
The HP zt3000 model seemed to have the perfect balance of price and performance. I tried ordering one on their site, but since I didn't sign up simultaneously, it took me to a page where I couldn't check order status and I didn't get a confirmation email. So, I ordered my customized model over the phone the next day.
Imagine my shock when I checked my confirmation email and found that the default configuration had been ordered instead -- $50 more expensive than my customized one, and less powerful to boot! I called back to correct it, and they said it wouldn't be a problem; they'd call *me* in 48 hours.
48 hours and no phone call later, I called them back and was advised to cancel my order outright and place it again. I tried, but the screw-up order had placed a hold on the money, so I couldn't order again until it expired!
At this point, their *original* mistake had cost me the better part of a week on a time-sensitive deal, so I figured I'd get them to pay for expedited shipping. Twice, I was told a supervisor would call me by such and such a time. When this failed to happen both times, I called again and requested to be put through to a supervisor. I told him what had happened and asked for free shipping so *they* could cover the mistake *they* made. And he wouldn't even give me that.
So, to summarize, I made 13 phone calls, was told "don't call us, we'll call you" three times and it never happened, and they wouldn't even take action to correct *their* mistake which cost me all the time. At this point, I realized no laptop is worth all that crap.
(Seems I've gotten a happy ending, though. I found a very comparable (slightly better) Dell Inspiron 8600 for slightly less, and by Googling I found a coupon for a not-insignificant 10% off! It'll arrive in a few weeks, and I can't wait to put Gentoo on it
"Ford Pintos aren't being recalled, gas taks are. Writeup is too sensationalized"
Uh-huh.
4,900,000 copies of Microsoft Windows software have potential memory leaking issues and are being kept on the marketplace. The Windows software from one manufacturer can possibly lead to system corruption, lockups and comprimised security of stored documents & personal information. The affected releases are: Longhorn (beta), all versions of XP, 2000, ME, 98SE, 98, 95OSR2, 95A, NT Workstation 4.0 & 3.X, Windows 3.x & Windows for Workgroups 3.x. All upgrade versions of the software is also affected. Windows versions below 3.0 are not affected. As a result, Microsoft has created a test which allows users to test for faulty software: If it says "Microsoft" on statup, it's defective. Microsoft officials insisted that the memory leaks were "features" intended to inform the user after approximately 300 lockups or the next release of the software (whichever comes first), the user should upgrade to the latest release.
Shouldn't HP be commended instead since they're the only ones who are currently taking action to resolve this problem?
My employer purchased a few hundred of these laptops. We've been complaining to them and dropping evidence on their laps since the fall of 2002 that something was wrong. Now, nearly two years later, they finally admit that there's a problem. It's nice to see a company admitting that there is a problem and fixing it, it would have been nice to see a company admitting that there is a problem and fixing it in a timely fashion.
These aren't laptops that they sold to consumers a few months ago. These are models that consumers have been suffering with for years, and being told that there is no problem.
Whenever I buy a new computer or new memory, I always run it through a memory tester I boot from a CD. It's good to run one of these for at least 24 hours. If you find any memory problems, you might want to return the product.
It's also fun to benchmark it after the tests are done. I used SiSoftware Sandra BenchmarkHQ.
One thing to look out for though is BIOS programs that load into memory addresses that will effect the test. I kept getting errors until I disabled my onboard IDE RAID controller, and then the memory checked out fine. I guess the controller was loading something into the memory and the test would read it back after the controller changed it.