I Fucking Hate Computers

[woodsmoke]

Any of you remember that new HDD I got about a month ago? The 320G WD that cost me $95?

 

The piece of shit just went up in smoke (not literally, but it sounds about like an 85 year old woman with a hole in her throat and won't boot up).

 

Is it really so fucking much to ask for a machine that just consistently works?

[Amethyst]

Get a Mac.

 

I got a Macbook and I love it. Of course, I still use the PC for gaming...but I love the Macbook.

[woodsmoke]

Of course, I still use the PC for gaming

 

See, that's 90% of my computer use. I built the thing specifically as a gaming rig. Were it not for that, I'd have gone Mac years ago.

 

As is, being as I bought the hard drive OEM from newegg, the only option I'm aware I have is to shell out another $100 for a new HDD (a Seagate from TigerDirect this time; I read they're a better brand while I was shopping for this one but went for the cheaper option--lesson learned) while taking it up the tailpipe from the old one.

 

As an aside, I fuckin' love ExC. My second hard drive in as many months blows up, I'm having trouble keeping up with and staying motivated for school and my car got rejected for inspection today. I have every reason to be feeling just fuckin' shitty (and I was when I fist logged in), but after reading a bit here and getting some feedback to my naturalization thread in ToT I'm actually feeling alright.

 

I don't know what kind of crazy voodoo magic you work to make this place do what it does, Dave, but you're my fuckin' hero for doing it.

[Amethyst]

They do have some games for Macs now, like World of Warcraft. The down side is the Macbook's screen is too small for gaming. I use it for writing.

 

I love ExC too.

[HuaiDan]

Are you completely sure it's the HD? Usually if a computer starts making a lot of noise it's one of the fans that went caput, which could mean your CPU is overheating. It's rare but not unheard of for a HD to crash so soon. Could be a virus too. Did you try reformatting? If you got the HD only a month ago it should still be under warrantee, no?

[JGJ@ReligionisBullshit]

Are you completely sure it's the HD? Usually if a computer starts making a lot of noise it's one of the fans that went caput, which could mean your CPU is overheating. It's rare but not unheard of for a HD to crash so soon. Could be a virus too. Did you try reformatting? If you got the HD only a month ago it should still be under warrantee, no?

 

Good point, CPU overheat could be the culprit, might just be the fan. Try going in the bios and seeing what your temp is at. I had that same problem with my puter once. Wouldn't boot up for more than a few seconds. Another thing you could try is booting from your operating system cd.

[woodsmoke]

I'm as certain as I can be it's the hard drive. It's been giving me the "Disk boot error. Please insert system disc" error message, which is pretty self-explanatory. It's not shutting down prematurely, and when I start the computer up it's not until the HDD activates that I start hearing the bad noise.

 

I'll check the BIOS and reformat just to be sure (though there's some information thereon I'd really like to save, so I'm putting it off despite being pretty sure there's no way to retrieve it), but with the thing making the noises it is I don't hold out much hope.

 

They do have some games for Macs now, like World of Warcraft. The down side is the Macbook's screen is too small for gaming. I use it for writing.

 

True, and I do play a good bit of WoW, but the only reason they made an OSX port for it is because it's an incredibly popular/successful game--which is just about the only way a standard-market game makes it to the Mac in most cases. Being as I play a fair number of games which aren't as incredibly popular/successul (plus the fact all my games are the Windows version, and I'm not particularly interested in buying them twice), I think I'll stick with Windows--much as it galls me to do it.

[R. S. Martin]

Any of you remember that new HDD I got about a month ago? The 320G WD that cost me $95?

 

*********snip**********

 

Is it really so fucking much to ask for a machine that just consistently works?

 

Possibly I don't know what you're talking about but asking a computer to work when you paid only $95 for it is probably asking too much. Or was that money for something extra?

[woodsmoke]

No, the $95 was for the hard drive alone. All told I've payed over $1200 for the whole computer, but I've been relatively fortunate in this having been the only hardware to give me problems so far.

[JGJ@ReligionisBullshit]

Do you have another puter you can stick it in?

[R. S. Martin]

I haven't reformatted yet. I think I'm going to have to, but I've got some information in there I'd really like to save, so I'm putting it off. 'Sides, sounds like that are about the best sign one can get the hard drive is crawling into an early grave.

 

I've a really sneaky suspicion that I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about but I don't see why you're putting something off just because you've got info on there that you want to save. Save it to a USP drive (not sure if that is the right name; it's also known as flash drive or memory stick). I carry major amounts of information from the school computer to my home computer with it.

 

I have to scan all my course texts onto computer so I can read them, due to low vision, etc. For a few months I was without a scanner. My old one burned out. I would use the school's scanner, save the material to memory stick, then put it on my home computer to read. I would think you could save your info to memory stick, reprogram your computer or whatever you need to do, then put it back on the computer.

 

Just to be safe, I'd check that the memory stick actually works before deleting it from your hard-drive. For example, save it on the gadget, then try putting it on another computer (friend's, at work, wherever you have access to) that does not have it. See if it works. If it does, trust the thing, fix your computer, put it back on. If it doesn't, well, then you'll have to find another solution.

[R. S. Martin]

No, the $95 was for the hard drive alone. All told I've payed over $1200 for the whole computer, but I've been relatively fortunate in this having been the only hardware to give me problems so far.

 

So it's something you put together yourself? I better keep my fingers off it. I guess if I paid that kind of money I'd want to buy it new. I'm not sure what mine cost three years ago. It worked for three years then it caused one problem after the other. I got it fixed and now it seems to be working again. I hope it keeps on working.

[Thurisaz]

As is, being as I bought the hard drive OEM from newegg, the only option I'm aware I have is to shell out another $100 for a new HDD (a Seagate from TigerDirect this time; I read they're a better brand while I was shopping for this one but went for the cheaper option--lesson learned) while taking it up the tailpipe from the old one.

 

What, no product warranty?!

 

Over here, you sell anything and it doesn't get abused (run over by a truck or something), it'll be your problem if your product fails within 6 months after purchase. Like it or not - it breaks after 5.5 months, you replace it. For free. You can bitch, you can moan, but you will do it. By force of law.

[mwc]

Any of you remember that new HDD I got about a month ago? The 320G WD that cost me $95?

Personally, I've never had any luck with WD (I used tomeany years ago) but I know people who swear by them. I use Hitachi (IBM) now and others hate them. I have so-so luck with Seagate (had one get so hot to the touch it fried in less than a day...this was in a Sun server way back when). Go figure. When you find a brand that works you tend to stay pretty loyal but when they let you down you tend to just run far away. The nice thing about hard drives is they usually fail early or run and run. Yours died early.

 

Anyhow, the dead WD, OEM or not, should still be under some sort of warranty from the manufacturer. They'll probably even cross-ship so you aren't without a drive for too long (just remember to return your drive or they'll bill you full retail on the replacement). I get all my stuff from Newegg so don't be put off by the failure. And the whole OEM thing doesn't mean the drive is crap either. Paying more for the retail box gets you a longer warranty, and maybe peace of mind, which might be worth it if you're not used to the whole doing it yourself thing...but the drive inside the box is basically the same (I have OEM drives that have been running for nearly 10 years 24/7 now).

 

mwc

[garrisonjj]

As is, being as I bought the hard drive OEM from newegg, the only option I'm aware I have is to shell out another $100 for a new HDD (a Seagate from TigerDirect this time; I read they're a better brand while I was shopping for this one but went for the cheaper option--lesson learned) while taking it up the tailpipe from the old one.

 

What, no product warranty?!

 

Over here, you sell anything and it doesn't get abused (run over by a truck or something), it'll be your problem if your product fails within 6 months after purchase. Like it or not - it breaks after 5.5 months, you replace it. For free. You can bitch, you can moan, but you will do it. By force of law.

 

 

I spent a fuckin $1800 on a shop nbc cmputer. Within the first year, a motherboard was replaced and a hard drive! Not to mention all the aggrivation assocated with it. lts fine now.

[Barnacle Bill]

As is, being as I bought the hard drive OEM from newegg, the only option I'm aware I have is to shell out another $100 for a new HDD (a Seagate from TigerDirect this time; I read they're a better brand while I was shopping for this one but went for the cheaper option--lesson learned) while taking it up the tailpipe from the old one. sad.gif

 

The Western Digital Caviar, Caviar SE & Caviar SE16 WD3200 series (320 gig) OEM or 'Bulk' drives (EIDE or SATA) have a 3 year limited warranty. The Caviar RE WD3200YS series drives have a 5 year limited warranty (The 'RE' designates this drive as a Raid Edition series). So, unless you bought one of these drives from NewEgg as an "Open-Box Item", it should still be covered under warranty from Western Digital. You'll need to contact Western Digital about getting an RMA to either get your drive replaced or refurbished. Here is the Western Digital Warranty info from their website. Since you didn't say whether you had an EIDE or SATA drive, just so you'll know, after July 18, 2005 Western Digital extended the warranties of all of their OEM Scorpio, Caviar, Caviar SE & Caviar SE16 series drives (EIDE or SATA) from 1 year to 3 years, according to this FAQ.

 

As I'm sure that you're probably aware...remember that ANY drive, irregardless of the manufacturer, can suffer from mechanical failure. I have built and upgraded many many systems over the years, and of the relatively few that have experienced premature drive failure, they have run the gamut of WD's, Seagate's, Hitachi's, IBM's, Fujitsu's and Maxtor's, to name a few. In my personal experience, I have had more failures from Seagate drives than any other brand, but that doesn't mean that Seagate drives are more likely to fail, on average, than a WD or Hitachi or ???. It just means that this was "MY" personal experience. I know people who will say the same thing about WD drives and Hitachi drives etc., so as far as positive and negative personal recommendations go, it usually depends on which drive gave a particular person good service and which drive did not give good service.

 

I have bought alot of hardware and software from NewEgg ever since they began in business and, all things considered like product inventory, competitive prices, expedient shipping and good customer service, they have been consistently better in all of these areas than any other online reseller I have used. I also use ZipZoomFly on occasion, as well as TigerDirect and a few others, but NewEgg is usually my first choice because of their higher level of consistency over the past 7 years or so.

[woodsmoke]

Well, I started it up again this morning to try reformatting it. After the system disc booted up, it mostly confirmed my suspicions by telling me it didn't see a hard drive there to do anything with. I'm going to plug it into my folks' computer here in a bit just to make sure, but it seems the thing decided to drag its other foot into the grave last night.

 

So it's something you put together yourself?

 

Yeah, I built it about two years ago, ordering nearly all the internal hardware (save the HDD, A-drive and memory) individually from TigerDirect. Worked fine for all that time until the old hard drive finally died and I had to replace it with this one--which also died after about a month of use; hence this thread.

 

It's actually a pretty damn solid machine, it's just this one drive that suddenly went AWOL, and because I spend so much time on my computer I tend to take it rather hard when it breaks down.

 

I'm not sure about the warranty yet; in truth I'm not really sure how to go about finding out. It's a WD Caviar SE16 7200, which seems to qualify it for the 3 year deal, but I don't know who to call or what to say to get it replaced.

[scitsofreaky]

My guess is that you have to contact WD. Did you register the product, because if not you might be sol.

[mwc]

I'm not sure about the warranty yet; in truth I'm not really sure how to go about finding out. It's a WD Caviar SE16 7200, which seems to qualify it for the 3 year deal, but I don't know who to call or what to say to get it replaced.

Contact WD support directly and they can take the info from the drive label to determine its warranty status. If you have the NewEgg receipt so much the better id they want a copy (you can get a copy online if you don't have it handy).

 

I've had to RMA drives to plenty of companies over the years and have never had a problem (just follow their directions to the letter). Oh, and I've never registered a hard drive in 20 something plus years (to put your mind at ease).

 

mwc

[Barnacle Bill]

I'm not sure about the warranty yet; in truth I'm not really sure how to go about finding out. It's a WD Caviar SE16 7200, which seems to qualify it for the 3 year deal, but I don't know who to call or what to say to get it replaced.

 

According to this link, your drive Series is: WD Caviar SE16 and your drive Model is: WD3200KS.

 

Since you said that your drive was around 30 days old, the first thing I would do is to contact NewEgg to see if you can RMA your drive to them for a replacement. NewEgg has a "Limited 30-day return policy" on their harddisk drives, although sometimes if the product is over the 30 day expiration date by a short period of time they will still allow for a replacement...but not for a refund. This is not always the case, but it may be worth a try to help get you another drive in the shortest time possible. You may want to call them first, before you try using their online RMA process, and explain your problem to them and let them discern whether or not they will allow a replacement in your particular case or if they will tell you to contact Western Digital about replacing your drive. As far as "what to say" goes, pertaining to the drive's problem, just tell them that it is making an excessively loud noise (if indeed it is?) and describe the noise as best you can and tell them that it also fails to boot (if this is also the case?). When you have to type out a description of the problem within the RMA request form (at NewEgg or WD), just describe the problem via text in a similar manner. To contact NewEgg go HERE.

 

If you decide to call NewEgg, be sure to have the order information from the NewEgg invoice from your drive purchase when they ask for it. If you need to find that info, go to NewEgg and login (using the same login info you submitted when you bought the drive). After you login go to the bottom of the page and look under the "My Account" menu section for "Order History/Print Invoice" and left mouse click on it. This will take you to a page with all of your Invoices with NewEgg. Find the appropriate invoice number and left mouse click on it (on the left side of the page) and this page will show all of the pertinent information from that particular order...like invoice number, order number, purchase date, purchase price, shipping amount, parcel carrier, tracking number etc. To print out a copy of this invoice to include with your RMA return (to NewEgg or Western Digital), there is a "Printer-Friendly Version" button on the bottom left of the invoice. Left mouse click on it and then print the page to have a hard copy of your invoice.

 

If NewEgg will allow you to RMA your drive back to them, you will have to pay the shipping cost to send it to them and they will pay for the return shipping.

 

If NewEgg won't issue an RMA for this particular return, due to their strict adherence to their "Limited 30-Day Return Policy", then you'll need to contact Western Digital to get them to issue an RMA for replacement. To contact Western Digital for info about "Product Replacement For End Users", go HERE and follow the instructions. If you choose the option for "Advance Replacement", you will have to provide them with a credit card number and they will ship out a replacement BEFORE they receive your defective drive. You will have 30 days to return your defective drive to them before they charge your credit card for the replacement they sent to you (using WD's pricing + shipping...not NewEgg's pricing). If they receive the defective drive within the 30 day period, your credit card will NOT be charged. If you choose the option for "Standard Replacement", they will ship out a replacement AFTER they receive your defective drive. The RMA that they issue you will be valid for 30 days from the date it is created, so they will need to receive your drive within this 30 day period or the RMA will be void. Again, same as above, you will have to pay the shipping cost to send it to them and they will pay for the return shipping.

 

The exact model and serial number of your drive is located on the drive's label. The serial number is usually above or beneath the barcode on the drive's label, depending on the particular drive model.

 

If you are able to get the drive to boot up, you can also get the exact model and serial number by running WD's "Data Lifeguard Diagnostic" program. This software can be downloaded from this page HERE (it's free). It is also the same software they request you run in step #1 of the "Product Replacement For End Users" instructions that I mentioned above. Again, the correct software and version for your drive and Windows Xp is...Data Lifeguard Diagnostic for Windows - Version 1.09b - Publish date: March, 2007. The filename is WinDLG.zip and it is a 4.25mb file. BE AWARE...to be sure to read the WinDlg.txt file (that is included within the WinDLG.zip file) beforehand if you decide to click to run any of the tests included within the program.

 

 

The quotes below are from Western Digital's Website:

 

Return Material Authorization (RMA) From Western Digital

 

No Product may be returned directly to WD without first contacting WD for a Return Material Authorization ("RMA") number. If it is determined that the Product may be defective, you will be given an RMA number and instructions for Product return. With the new extended warranty policy effective July 18, 2005, End Users are required to include a copy of the original purchase receipt/invoice inside the return box to receive replacement product under warranty. An unauthorized return, i.e. one for which an RMA number has not been issued, will be returned to you at your expense. Authorized returns are to be shipped prepaid and insured to the address on the RMA in an approved shipping container. Your original box and packaging materials should be kept for storing or shipping your Product. To request an RMA, please click on Warranty information

 

Western Digital Phone Support

If you need to contact us by phone, please note that a fee may be required for customers in the United States and Canada. Please see our service plans for details.

 

 

WD Basic U.S. and Canada Support (Not Available on U.S. Holidays)

 

WD Basic Support 1 (800) 275-4932

Monday-Thursday 9 am - 7 pm CST*

Friday 9 am - 5 pm CST*

Saturday 8 am - 5 pm CST*

 

 

Standard Support Service Plan:

Limited-time support that will help you install your new in-warranty Western Digital product for 30 days from the date of your first call. Standard support is available for all products and covers the following installation and drive troubleshooting issues:

 

* Installing a drive into a computer system

* Formatting and partitioning a drive as part of the drive installation process.

* Setting up the drive for use.

* Troubleshooting basic drive-related issues that is caused by the drive.

 

Cost:

* Free for 30 days from your first call.

* After 30 days the per-incident price is $14.95.

 

 

Extended Support Service Plan:

Assistance with drive-related issues for a full year. Covers the same support services as the standard support plan, but for an extended period of 1 year from the date you purchase the plan.

 

* Available for all products except SCSI.

* Must be purchased within the 30-day free support period.

* $14.95 for 1 year from the date the plan is purchased.

* Renewable yearly for $9.95.

[webmdave]

I don't know what kind of crazy voodoo magic you work to make this place do what it does, Dave, but you're my fuckin' hero for doing it.

 

It's not me. It's you, and everyone else.

[HuaiDan]

I have 2 WD caviar SE 80 GB SATA's running in my machine. Flawless.

The first two 80 GB WD caviar FE SATA's I bought wouldn't work from the get go.

[woodsmoke]

/target thread

/cast Raise Dead

/cast Polymorph: Horse

/beat

 

Due to a lot of craziness that occurred around the time all this was happening I never got around to sending that drive back, and just found it again the other day. Of course I'm still well within even the previous 1-year warranty period, but I've a few concerns.

 

First, the receipt for the hardware is long gone. I just did a quick search of my gmail account and it looks like I still have a digital copy of the invoice, but I wonder if that would meet WD's standards.

 

Second, and most importantly, I've since learned the problem wasn't with the drive itself but with the nefarious case design of my tower. The HDD slots are situated in about the only unventilated section therein, and when closed up like a tower "should be," the drive overheats and ultimately shuts down. I wasn't ready for this because my IDE had never had any such problem, but I know now SATAs run hotter, so I've since taken to keeping my case open and haven't had any trouble with the Seagate I bought to replace it.

 

That's the real crux of the issue. I've come to realize the problem wasn't with the drive but (however ignorant) operator error--in which case I'm afraid the warranty won't apply as the hardware itself wasn't actually defective.

 

Is there any chance I can still salvage this, or is it just another unfortunate and expensive case of "lesson learned?"

[Warrior_of_god]

Well, you could always augment the case, add a new fan. I dont think that the warranty would apply in this case, the HD isnt damaged. You could always ask.

[woodsmoke]

But.. the HD is damaged, just as a result of case design rather than internal defect. The thing was fried and hasn't worked since.