WARNING to all Acer owners

[trash]

So just a quick recap.

You bought it about 10 months ago.

Never registered it til it was broke.

An event that they had nothing to do with damaged it.

You want them to fix it at their expense anyway.

WARNING WARNING!!!

And just what do you think 12 month warranty means? Certainly not 10 months!
Like i said I am just guessing what the cause is/was.. yes the modem is fried, but the machine also shuts itself down after 5 minutes.
So is it coincidence and maybe something else is causing the shutdown... I do not know... It was plugged into a proper power bar.

[aaaantoine]

Thanks for the heads-up, but my laptop's well over 1 year old either way.

[Dremora]

And just what do you think 12 month warranty means? Certainly not 10 months!
Like i said I am just guessing what the cause is/was.. yes the modem is fried, but the machine also shuts itself down after 5 minutes.
So is it coincidence and maybe something else is causing the shutdown... I do not know... It was plugged into a proper power bar.

Lightning strikes are not in the warranty, unless you got some kind of special damage coverage.

They are well within their rights to not fix the machine.

[egwest]

you were using your computer when their was a thunderstorm going on outside?

I never ever do that. When I hear even the slightest hint of thunder outside, I disconnect my systems from any electrical outlet, and any other cables that might be plugged in.
Surge suppressors are good against minor power surges, but in no way protect against lightening. I learned that the hard way about 8 years ago when a strike near my home fried the motherboard of a desktop system I had then.

If you are working on something and not online, and are using a notebook, go to battery and finish up what you are doing. Also if you have a notebook go invest in one of those extended life batteries they sell, it is worth it. But leave your system turned off and unplugged when there is a thunder/lightening storm going on.

[trash]

No it was not in use and my mom always shuts the machine down at night, so it was off and unattended for the storm. Warranties generally don't cover missuse and abuse which is not the case here. Act of god, well we'll see when they do their investigation.
In my home I have backup battery pack to keep the net/wireless up and running and usually unplug(we have lots of powerfailures out here)... I will be telling mom to unplug phone/power cord from now on.

[egwest]

No it was not in use and my mom always shuts the machine down at night, so it was off and unattended for the storm. Warranties generally don't cover missuse and abuse which is not the case here. Act of god, well we'll see when they do their investigation.
In my home I have backup battery pack to keep the net/wireless up and running and usually unplug(we have lots of powerfailures out here)... I will be telling mom to unplug phone/power cord from now on.

Always smart in any case to be on the safe side and unplug all cables from your computer and power it down when their is lightening going on outside. Lightening likes to make unexpected visits from strange sources sometimes.

[trash]

Just got the acer back from it's repair, they replaced the 80gb hdd with a new 120gb, so it had nothing to do with either the modem or powersupply.

Sadly they must have disconnected the dvd drive so it's being shipped back so they can finish the job lol.

Now this all raises a new question, this is the second laptop my mom has had with HDD failure in a 2 week span! first her little Dell latitude x300 started making load hdd noises so i replace the drive with a smaller one i had... and then the week later the Acer hdd died.... power surges??? to be on the safe side i told her to get herself a new powerbar.

[Lostincyberspace]

Just got the acer back from it's repair, they replaced the 80gb hdd with a new 120gb, so it had nothing to do with either the modem or powersupply.

Sadly they must have disconnected the dvd drive so it's being shipped back so they can finish the job lol.

Now this all raises a new question, this is the second laptop my mom has had with HDD failure in a 2 week span! first her little Dell latitude x300 started making load hdd noises so i replace the drive with a smaller one i had... and then the week later the Acer hdd died.... power surges??? to be on the safe side i told her to get herself a new powerbar.

Just because it is a power bar does not mean it is a surge protector, and in reality most aren't. Look for an Surge suppressor it should say it right on the box.

Here is an example it is a 490j(joule) for joules(j) the higher the better.
http://www.beachaudio.com/Apc/P74-p-33080.html

Edit:
here is another better one it is a 2100j for only 2 bucks more.
http://www.beachaudio.com/Rca/Pswts6-p-146075.html

[Shazaam]

Now this all raises a new question, this is the second laptop my mom has had with HDD failure in a 2 week span! first her little Dell latitude x300 started making load hdd noises so i replace the drive with a smaller one i had... and then the week later the Acer hdd died.... power surges??? to be on the safe side i told her to get herself a new powerbar.

The best thing to do is to buy a name brand uninteruptible power supply instead of replacing the "powerbar" with another. Good ones can be had for less than $150 US and usually come with a pc replacement (or monetary award) guarantee if they fail to protect equipment. Another feature most of them have is a bad house wiring (ungrounded outlet etc.) detector which is another problem for electronic equipment (pc's).

[trash]

thanks for the info Lostincyberspace

Shazaam, I have a UPS here so my satellite connection/router stay up and running and you're right they probably are a better investment. I think i paid $80 canadian on sale... well worth it!