HP desktop woes

Recently I bought my first desktop PC in a long time (2004?).  I got a refurb HP Pavilion Desktop Refurb P6320Y from TigerDirect.com for $540 delivered.  This is a Quad Core 2.8 GHz box with 8 Gb RAM and a 1 TB hard drive running 64-bit Windows 7.

I've had it for a few weeks and it has been rock-solid.  This weekend, it started rebooting randomly.  Aw, crud.  Was it the new USB KVM switch I installed?  An update?  One of the random shutdowns corrupted Chrome; another gave me an error saying that my Windows 7 was not registered.  Sigh.  

In a moment of clarity, I booted into the system hardware checker.  Sure enough, it found a memory error.  Woo hoo!  Now I have a path to fixing the problem.  I pulled out the first stick of the four, then ran the check again.  Happily, it passed.  I then booted it using a memtest386+ CD and ran diagnostics on the remaining 3 sticks = 6 Gb.  The first round passed, but to be sure I let it run all night.  This morning, all was still reporting good.  Using System Restore, I chose a restore point from a week ago.  That worked well; no more "your copy of Windows isn't Authentic" messages.  Things are looking up!

So, I took the bad stick of RAM to work with me.  During a break, I called HP support.  Because the PC initially came without the WiFi antenna, I knew to say the magic words "Pavilion Desktop" and was quickly greeted by a support associate.  She took down the information and said that I had 54 days remaining on my warranty.  Beauty.  I'm thinking they'll send me a new stick of RAM, I'll send back the defective one, and the world will be good.  Wrong.  :-(


I have to send the entire PC back to them, she says.  Any cards I've installed must be removed (and I've installed a parallel/serial port and modem cards).  They'll send me a box with a prepaid label.  The machine will be gone for 7 to 8 business days.  Evidently RAM is not a user-serviceable part.  Really?  They post instructions on their support site how to upgrade RAM.  She says if this was a business system, they could send me the part, but it is considered a home machine so they can't.


For now, I'm probably going to run with 6 Gb of RAM while I sort this out.  A new 2 Gb stick is $24 delivered from numerous vendors, so I'm not going to get too worked up about this.  Still, the conditions on the HP warranty do seem to be ludicrous.  Why should I have to pay for a stick of RAM that was defective from them?  It is probably the reason that the box was returned to them in the first place and is being sold as a refurb.  In my eyes, I've diagnosed their hardware issue for them at my time and expense, yet they're not willing to own up to the warranty without me jumping through some hoops which includes modifying my PC, sending it away for over a week, and getting it back only to have to test it again.


My incremental time investment to do this: 

1. Receive empty box
2. Disconnect PC from monitor, USB, printer, etc
3. Open PC and remove cards.  Reinstall bad RAM.
4. Package PC.
5. Drive PC to shipping point.
6. Repair old PC (needs new thermal grease, I think).
7. Connect old PC to USB, printer, etc.
8. Re-map printers and network drives to old PC.
9. Wait.
10. Get back new HP.
11. Open new PC and reinstall cards.
12. Test hardware.
13. Connect new PC to USB, printer, etc.
14. Re-map printers and network drives to new PC.

Or I can pay $24 on my own for some RAM and keep my PC.  When the RAM comes, install it.  That's it.


Thanks, HP.  That warranty I have?  Not worth anything to me.  Is that your intent?


Thinking about this from their perspective, it is hard to justify the policy.  They're going to ship me an empty box with packing materials -- say $10?  Then pay shipping from my house to the repair depot ($15? $25?).  Pay a technician to open the box, pull the PC out, open it, ID the bad RAM, replace it, and put it back in the box.  Say $20/hour = $30/hour with benefits.  I'd bet there's an hour of labor per box, especially when you consider somebody has to receive it, put it in the right queue, pack it, ship it, etc.  Then there's freight back to me.  That's looking like $70 to $90 at a minimum -- and I bet it is more.  It'd be a lot cheaper to send me a stick of RAM at $24 delivered and an envelope for me to send back the bad one.