Toshiba

[Andy L]

Rocky, you wanted a report. Toshiba can bite me.

I paid for overnight shipping, did all the upgrades. It got here and wont turn on. I did this because I wanted it for the weekend. Here it is Friday afternoon and I got a rock instead of a computer.

I guess now I gotta go find a Fed Ex shipping place, not easy in the country, and send it all back Tuesday and start over at square one finding a laptop somewhere.

Andy

[captain2k_ca]

Stupid question, but did you plug it in??

Battery might be totally dead??

[Andy L]

Yes, I plugged it in. :rolleyes:

I also called the tech and he walked me through several things before telling me it was junk.

[captain2k_ca]

Heh!

Sorry, had to ask, cause you just never know!!

You'd think they'd test em a bit better before sending em out!!

[denton]

Remove and re-seat the battery a couple of times. Bend the prongs of the AC plug inward to make sure they make contact. Plug and unplug the power supply a couple of times. Do the same on the computer end.

When they are totally dead, sometimes they are easiest to fix. Imperfect connections are a really common root cause.

[fabsroman]

Here is another one. HP sucks.

Bought a HP computer package for a client of mine last Friday and didn't put it together for them because I was too busy. Went down to his shop today to look over his bookkeeping and talk to him about a couple of cases he has, so I decided to set up the computer. I know both the monitor and the CPU have power because their power buttons light up. However, when I start the computer I see the harddrive light blink for a split second and that is it. Nothing more happens after that and then the monitor gives me a message a couple of seconds later that there is no input from the cable and it goes into sleep mode.

With most monitors, I would think that you could get the menu to come up even if the computer isn't on, but not with this one.

The entire thing is going back to Staples tomorrow morning, and do not even get me started with Staples. I bought my entire set of office furniture from them which was about $2,500 and 15 pieces, and it was a pure nightmare. Luckily, I only bought a couple pieces at a time and could deal individually with getting the spare parts from Mills Pride. I could go on for a while about Mills Pride too. At least 50% of the boxes either had broken pieces or missing pieces. I can easily recall three instances of the wrong piece being in the box. I ordered a hutch with glass doors and while the box said it was supposed to have a glass door it had a solid wood door. Called customer service and they sent me another solid wood door. Called them again and I got the wood frame for the glass door but no glass. Called them again and I got the glass, but not the hardware to put the glass in with. One final call and I was finally able to put that hutch together and that was the first box I opened. Another box had two A panels in it instead of an A & B. Staples told me that the lateral files would be 21" deep, but they were only 12" deep. That really got me fired up, and when the customer service rep asked me how I could tell they were only 12" deep when I didn't put the cabinet together, I was pissed. I guess Staples ended up calling Mills Pride and confirming that the cabinets were only 12" deep because they sent me $135 check. The check was nice, but it didn't even pay for a single piece of furniture and it definitely didn't pay for my time.

I could go off on Dell computer too about a computer my brother had for 6 months, but I would be here all night. I shortened the Staples catastrophe too. That one would have taken me a week to explain in full.

[Andy L]

Denton,
The tech walked me through everything you just said. The computer comes on and music plays, but the screen is black.

Im sending it back, with the extra ram, carrying case, cig lighter adapter and software. They can have the damn thing. I think they should check these things out. Instead, Im sure as soon as they saw my money was good, they grabbed one off the shelf of thousands and packed it up.

I lived without a laptop for years. I can continue. I just dont know where to get one. Ive had my fill of Compaq and HP. Dell and Gateway are both ripoff artists. I thought I had something here, but thought wrong.

Andy

[TreeDoc]

Ohhhhh....you wanted one with a monitor that WORRRRRKS?
Well, that will be an extra $500 dollars!




Hmmmmm.....my Gateway M350S came on the first time I tried to start it and has every day for over a year now. I'm everywhere with it. Knock on wood, it has been flawless since day one but a 3 year extended is standing by just in case.

http://www.jesseshunting.com/forums/html/emoticons/smiley_stir_pot_ani.gif

[fabsroman]

Andy,

With computers nowadays, I think it is pretty much hit or miss. I have had a Dell laptop for 2 years and it has been fine. Meanwhile, my brother's Dell Desktop had the harddrive crash after 6 months. I spent an entire day trying to get ahold of Dell's technical support so I could get a tech out there to change the harddrive. Mind you, I spent a couple hours diagnosing what the problem was. At first, the number I dialed was busy. Then I spoke to some idiot that I do not think had a clue. After that, I tried calling the number again and it said it was disconnected. So, I sent them an e-mail to make sure they knew what was going on. About a week later, I received a call to schedule a time the following week for the installer to come out with the new harddrive. It took him all of 2 minutes to put the new harddrive in. They could have shipped it to me and I would have installed it. I then spent the rest of that day loading all of my brother's software back on the computer because Dell does not do that. Man was I pissed.

With this HP that I bought for my client, I think it has the same problem (i.e., the harddrive crashed). Problem is that it crashed right out of the box.

From what the Dell tech told me, harddrives nowadays are not as good as they used to be because the competition is steep regarding technological advances. So, the companies are more worried about R&D than quality control.

Don't know what to tell you about your monitor though.

[denton]

Andy... One more thing to check: Your video may be being directed to the video output jack instead of the screen. Usually, that is changed by holding the FUNCTION key, and hitting either F8 or F5, depending on manufacturer. The FUNCTION key may be labeled "CRT/LCD".

If the music plays, the computer is booting, so it has power.

If there is nothing on the screen, then it is probably one of three things: Video going the wrong place, screen backlight is not working, or screen LCD is defective/disconnected.

Bummer to spend money on something, and then have it not work.

[Andy L]

Right or wrong, I let em go ahead and ram me again. I checked several other places and a couple of stores and I cant do any better and probably wont be as good of machine. And, no guarantee they will work either.

So, after paying for overnight delivery last Wed morning at 8am EDT, I may have a computer that actually works by the following Wed afternoon. Isnt that nice?

Its a shame that in this "improved" world we live in, things like this have to happen. I guess Im nieve. I figgered that people actually checked out these things before sending them out. I guess this thing could have been on the shelf for years and just yanked up and shipped. I wish the small shop that builds the PCs I buy also could build laptops. Its built there, actually set up by local people, delivered and set up in my home and all service work is done in my home. I never have trouble.

Dont be fooled. Toshiba, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, ect.... They are all the same. Just different guys on the other end of the line or email, strokin you to get your cash. Then, they worry about getting you something that actually works later, much later.

Andy

[fabsroman]

Andy, I already know that. You just have to try to pick the least evil of the bunch. Kind of like cars and car dealers.

[Rocky Raab]

Sorry to hear all that, especially as I recommended a Toshiba. But mine truly is a great machine. O well.....

[Andy L]

Not your fault Rocky. I talked to a bunch and they talked the best smack. ;)

Andy

[toxic111]

Andy, the computer may have worked fine when they tested after setting it up. But it may have got banged up during shipping (I know how well couriers bang things around)

As long as everything in the service end goes well, I wouldn't put them totally down yet.

I know my computer guy recommends toshiba all the time for a laptop. I know he won't sell anything that he can't fix, or has too many problems.

[fabsroman]

I will completely agree that couriers bang the heck out of everything. That is why most of my furniture came with dents and dings in it from Mills Pride/Staples. I hesitate to think of what computer parts go through in the shipping process.

[Rocky Raab]

Uh huh. I bought mine at Best Buy, and they almost acted insulted when I demanded they take it out of the box and show me it worked.

But I said, "no workee, no takee" and they relented. Fortunately for them, it fired up just fine.