HP ENVY 750 desktop won't POST

Your welcome, Gary. My next questions will be to the eBay seller: Is he willing to reimburse me for the sub-contacted cost of repairing the defective motherboard he sold me? Why did he offer a refund of just the board cost and not the shipping cost -- both ways? Sure looks like a negative review coming up for him, and possibly me.
 
Porthos said:
EBay sellers dont usually. One reason i dont use it for client parts.
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Yes, although I have had full refunds on occasion, especially when I escalate an issue. In this case, I hadn't provided the results of my colleagues diagnosis so they wouldn't have know that the MB is clearly defective. Once I explain that, I would think a full refund would be offered -- if I wanted to return the motherboard. It will be interesting to see how they respond to my request for compensation for the repair. LOL. They'll probably say they didn't authorize it so not a chance, and that they would have gladly shipped a replacement MB at no cost (which would make 28 days total wait time for a workable MB). I told my customer that these are the reasons I'm very reluctant to agree to a MB replacement.
 
The few ebay returns I've had to do they all refunded the whole amount, and provided shipping for the return. Sometimes they didn't even want the part back!
 
I would have returned the board and told client to buy a new system.

The old board died, the replacement has issues. I wonder what else will happen in a few weeks.

I stopped board repairs and replacements. Always bit me in the proverbial ass. When a board goes it's like the foundation and frame of a house. Condemn it, tear it down and build new or one night it will cave in while you are sleeping.
 
NviGate Systems said:
I would have returned the board and told client to buy a new system.
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I did earnestly try but he was very determined to repair it. He was even willing to buy a new i7 (as well as replace the MB) if that's what it took.

EDIT: ... and he offered to pay for what my colleague will charge to repair the replacement MB -- without my even asking!
 
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Larry Sabo said:
I did earnestly try but he was very determined to repair it. He was even willing to buy a new i7 (as well as replace the MB) if that's what it took.
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And there's the rub. You are guided by what the client wants!
You can recommend all day long but ultimately it's the client who makes the decisions.
 
NviGate Systems said:
I would have returned the board and told client to buy a new system.

The old board died, the replacement has issues. I wonder what else will happen in a few weeks.

I stopped board repairs and replacements. Always bit me in the proverbial ass. When a board goes it's like the foundation and frame of a house. Condemn it, tear it down and build new or one night it will cave in while you are sleeping.
Click to expand...

Just outright refusing to do motherboard replacements is rather shortsighted. I agree that replacing the motherboard on a 10 year old computer is a very bad idea without also replacing the processor/memory/PSU/HDD (basically replacing everything except the case, fans, and CD drive), but so long as the existing system isn't too old you can easily replace the motherboard with a brand new one from Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, etc. and it will be MUCH better than the board that was already in there, and better than any board he'd get in an off the shelf computer from Dell HP, etc.

The computer the OP was tasked to repair was only 2 years old or so. I would have recommended replacing the board with a better quality one and upgrading the PSU and the client would have been very happy in the end. Maybe even do an upgrade to an SSD. They'd end up spending quite a bit, but they'd have a much better system than anything they could buy from the store and I would have made a few hundred $$$ in profit. Everyone wins.
 
Larry Sabo said:
It already has an SSD and a HDD.
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Well, then my point is even better made. If it came with an SSD from the factory then it was probably close to $1,000 less than 2 years ago. Why would I tell my client to throw this fancy computer in the garbage when I can fix it up using better quality parts for about $500? Makes no sense.
 
The new MB means it needs a new Windows license, if I'm not mistaken, unless it's an equivalent replacement for a defective MB. Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong. :)
 
Larry Sabo said:
The new MB means it needs a new Windows license, if I'm not mistaken, unless it's an equivalent replacement for a defective MB. Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong. :)
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Doesn't matter if the board is equivalent or not. You still need a new Windows license. The exception would be if the replacement board has a license in the BIOS, which an original replacement might have. Still, I wouldn't want to buy some used piece of crap off eBay. Heck, I wouldn't want the same board even if it were new. The thing is obviously made like crap, failing so soon.
 
Larry Sabo said:
Thanks for the clarification, @sapphirescales. My understanding was that a "replacement" motherboard would not require a new license but would require a call to MS to explain the reason in order to activate.
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Technically speaking you can do this with any replacement board, whether it's the same exact replacement model or not. But it's against Microsoft's ToS. According to Microsoft, your license lives and dies by your board. If you have to replace your board, you have to buy another license. If you buy a replacement motherboard and it has a license slipstreamed into the BIOS then that board already has a license and you're good to go. Although it's possible to extract the license key from the BIOS of a functioning motherboard, it's against Microsoft's ToS to use that extracted license with any other motherboard, whether it's going in the same machine or not.
 
glennd said:
i have read a similar thing though I am yet to test it. You should call and ask...
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Have you ever called Microsoft product activation before and talked to a real person? I think I could understand a humpback whale better than I can those Indian call center guys. You ask a question and they just ignore it and ask for the number. They don't freaking care one bit. All they know how to do is put the number in on their screen and have the automated system spit out the activation number. They don't know jack about anything. I doubt they even know what Microsoft is.

Besides, if what you said were true, how would you get the old license from the DEAD motherboard? You can extract the key from the BIOS using software, but the board has to be alive in order to do that. They haven't put product keys on the outside of the case since Windows 7, which was like 5 years ago. Good luck getting one of these call center morons to give you another license key.
 
Barcelona said:
I have called their Activation Service many many times. In fact I've never had a problem at all.
They even speak English and are always polite and courteous.
Click to expand...

Well heck. Is there any way I can easily spoof my phone so the activation hotline thinks I'm calling from Australia then? I always seem to get Abu Bundi Gandoo Hami that can barely say "hello" in English.

On another note, their "support" team is generally much easier to understand. Unfortunately they don't know jack either.
 
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