@Copmom: I do understand your problem, but on a different level. My wireless router is a Belkin that I have had for about 6 yrs with not a problem. My internet is through Time Warner Cable *SPIT* or Roadrunner if you are more familiar with that name. Everytime there is any problem with my internet and I call TWC they always..ALWAYS try blaming my wireless router. They won't even apologize later when a supervisor tells them that the lines are down because of an accident/weather/etc. They always want me to unplug it for 3-5 minutes and let it reboot and if that doesn't fix it they tell me it is the wireless router. That I should call Belkin Tech Support. I have to say though, that even with it being about 6 years old; when I have called Belkin tech support they are always polite and help me run through a diagnostic to show me it is ok. Granted, I do have a problem sometimes with accents. I just watched a special where they showed how most of the tech call centers are in India and around there. The labor they say is so cheap. They had a man from England go there with nothing and walk through the steps of getting a job there and working and living in their shoes for a few months. A real eye opener in some areas and the 'English Class' they had to graduate from was.. strange. As for having to transfer you if you have trouble understanding.. well, I think most won't say it because they do not want to offend, others because they are afraid they will be seen as racist, and I know even when I have mentioned I have had a hard time understanding them I a get a touch of attitude and handed to a co-worker that is a touch better at best. I do recommend contact HP direct or trying the link I used on their web site.

@jempeace: First, I have to laugh at the 'Mr Weeb'! That kills me everytime they do that because it seems so obvious on the spelling. Most of my dealing with HP are on the same thing, because my hearing isn't so great anymore and I seem to have real trouble with some of the thicker accents. I laughed on your quotes of what they say too because they used many of those on me. I think they must have hot keys set up with those. I know that I got a lot of those "I will be with you every step and walk you through each step." then followed up with a "I need you to flash your bios and restart." or "You'll need to do a complete system recovery." Which of course left me just where you said.. starting over. I did get smart after the 2nd time and started writing down names and asking for session #s. I recommend that to all.

Great news about your computer! Hope it comes out of the box and ready to hit the starting block!
Copmom, I'm almost deaf and use the HP Live computer link. It's a riot, I feel like I've been to the shrink's office! Yes we are here to support you, don't worry we will work on your problem together, I understand your problem, my fav is, I will be by your side every step of the way - now restart your computer! Of course this makes me lose my connection to them and now you have to restart with someone new!
I will say that some of the techs I had were actually trying to help me. One named Marvel stayed online with me, for over 3 1/2 hours he had me do everything except stand on my head. He was the one to give me a clue, as to what was wrong. Then I googled, yes "Mr. Weeb" I'm with you on that one! Ended up fixing it myself. May not know much about computers but I can read!

Well hooray for your persistance! It really does pay to be a squeaky wheel. (When driving in a quiet car, no problem, but if the wheel starts to squeak, you pay attention to it!)
I've got a couple things to say.. first I spent ALL day today trying to 'fix' something. Every time I used windows explorer, an error popped up saying it had to shut down.. this is a first for me. Of course I Googled it, and followed everyone's suggestions, including using a program to fix/clean my registry. Well, then I got a pop up about trayapp.msi Grrrr. Finally found that's an HP item that got deleted in the registry cleanup .. lucky I have their CD. That fixed it so far, but also learned that Windows Explorer is notorious for shutting down when using it for any video files! Don't know why, and it just started this today. Sorry I got off track here.
Back to the original topic.. of course, this is for those of you that are in the USA. I recently heard that when we call tech support about whatever, and most can't speak English.. either they're in South American, India, or who knows where, and you can't understand them, that if you specifically request that you want to speak to someone in the USA, they HAVE to transfer you to someone here. I've got to try that because I've had HP issues since I got my 4 in 1 printer! It won't recognize the camera cards, and I've mentioned before my card reader stopped being recognized by the USB port, but it does see my thumb drive and the camera when it's plugged directly into the USB port. When I called HP he walked me through a whole bunch of stuff that I'd already tried, like you, and finally.. he asked me what kind of computer did I have, I said Dell, he said call Dell! HP stinks for customer support as far as I'm concerned. No, I haven't called Dell yet, don't feel like being on the phone for a few hours holding on!

Not sure how many of you are from the 80's or remember a movie called 'Summer School' (1987, had Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley) but it was on one on about a week back and got me to thinking. So, as I mentioned before I have been having some computer problems with my new/refurbished HP. Honestly, I have been hearing for a looong time the HP was really working on their image and wanting to be known for quality along with the higher dollar names. Anywho, all the tech support would say is to do a complete system restore. Over and over; even after telling them I already had. While fuming, Summer School came on and I started thinking about it. There is a scene where Chainsaw (one of the kids in summer school who is a hopeless dead head) for his assignment writes a letter to the owner of a company 'Cool Shades' because they keep breaking and in the end gets an apology and a box of shades. Then it hits me; go straight to the top! On the HP website there is a link to send an email to the Pres/CEO (I am not so dim to think that he actually get them).

So, I click the link and write my note about all I have gone through. Including the nightmare of the Toshiba and their so called help. Two days later I get a call from Brian Cook; Supervisor of Tech Support. He got a letter, with a copy of mine; on his desk from some big wig with a post it on it that said "Fix this and make it right. NOW!" (or so he tells me). He agrees with what so many tech savvy friends have told me (that something is wrong with my NVIDIA card/chip). He tell me that withing two days I will get a box to ship it back and he personally will make sure that when it is returned it will be right. The next morning I got a box from FED EX with postage paid overnight and packing material to send it back. On the label was (in bold caps) ATTN: Brian Cook. That was Friday and I sent it. He did tell me that it would be 5-8 business days before he would be able to fix and send because he wanted to make sure everything was handled.

I know, another long note from me, but I wanted to post this to perhaps let/inform other about this. Don't give up if you know your right and they keep giving you the run around. Don't judge a whole company by the first few jerks you deal with, and if you are not getting result don't be afraid to go to as close to the top as you can!

I have to say, once past the original lackeys that I had to deal with everyone has been really polite and willing to listen/help. Hopefully them hearing that their front line guys/gals are this way will make some change.

Thanks for reading and baring with my looong posts!

ibwebb.

too true... :)

Oh man, sorry to hear about all the chewing issues. Don't think you are safe though with a cat copmom.. I have three and they are the ones I have to watch. Especially with the cable.. they love to chew on it. I had to go out and buy a plastic shield to put around it to make sure they don't do it when I am not looking. They cable guy says it is very common with cats and dogs inside for some reason and outside the squirrels are the ones. They say that they love to chew down to the coating because it helps keep their teeth short and sharp. I wish I could remember the number, but it was huge the money they spend every year correcting the problems from them.

I hope you get that wireless thing figured out WRabbit. Like I mentioned before; I am lost in that world and seem to take hours and several calls to tech support with anything involved with it. You would think that technology would get easier, not more difficult.

Why do rodents seem to be attracted to wires and cables? We had a mouse in the house once, (that's why we now have outside cats), and it chewed the plug wire behind the refrigerator! Another time the car acted crazy.. wouldn't go into reverse, park, etc. Had it towed to the dealer and it turned out the cable wiring underneath had been chewed by rodents. The dealer found the rodent 'droppings' to prove what happened! They need to coat all those wires with rodent deterrents!

Hi Ibwebb I bought new wireless network cards when I bought the wireless router. I've replaced the new cards with the old, which are supposed to be compatible, but the old G cards wont work either. The whole system cost me a lot of money as well because the system had only come on the market a few months previously, so prices were high. So it's annoying that I've had to revert back to cables.

We babysat a friends rabbit several months ago. Guess what it did the first time we let it loose in the living room? It ran behind the sofa and chewed the main cable to shreds. lol.

Thanks for the suggest though. :)

regards

Whiterabbit

Spent last night on with my fav HP techs again. They insist it is an OS problem. *waits for the laughing to stop* I told them I knew that but lets fix my problem then continue to wonder why Microsoft put out a faulty OS. I hope Windows 7 is better and I get copy. They are sending me the Vista discs now to try that. Somehow I thought that the sys rec redid the os too.. they say no. Got some help off Google and it seems to be more helpful than they were. Though still want to find a way to test my NVIDIA card to see if it is going bad. Anywho. I had a comment that part of my past comment might be seen as offensive ("if you heard the accents you'd be laughing at these obviously made up names"). I hope no one took it that way. I really just meant that they all had very strong accents (and obvious language discrepancies) that made it hard to believe that they had such English sounding names. If I did offend anyone then PLEASE accept my apologies and know that I meant no offense.

ibwebb

UPDATE: Phone call, 0730 : Mr Webb (pronounced Mr Weeb.. is that really a difficult one?) this is Charles a level 3 technician from HP. After reviewing your issue that you discussed with Gabriel (if you heard the accents you'd be laughing at these obviously made up names) and we have decided that instead of taking your laptop in we need you to do a... Read More complete system recovery. If this doesn't resolve the issue then feel free to contact us again with the issue id number given to you by Gabriel. Thank you.

Yes, I didn't answer the phone at 0730 from an 'unknown number'. Though I did call back. So, now you all know where I have been and what I have been doing ALLLLLL weekend between running, whining, and complaining about my joints. Yet, I am almost back up and running were I should be and the issue is fixed!

THE PROBLEM:Every time I boot up my laptop it would be at 800*600 resolution. No matter what I did it would go back. I googled for an answer. Uninstalled and reinstalled my driver, updated bios, and walked through the insanely comical list with 'Gabriel' trying to fix it. In the end, Gabriel told me that he thought it ... Read Morewas a pre-warning (a 'pre-warning'? is that a warning about a warning?) that my NVIDIA card was dieing and needed to be replaced. Charles (Lvl 3 tech) said it wasn't so; just that the initial setting didn't embed into it and it needed to be reset from the beginning. They like to use lots of technical words to try to confuse me like: embedded, pre-warning, re-reinstall, and I wish I had the space (and a copy) of that comical list of things I had to walk through with Gabriel. They included me having to explain to him HOW I reboot my computer and if I clicked the 'apply' when I changed the settings. Anywho.. it seems to all be good now. Just lost all my GiveAway stuff (again) and have to reinstall (re-reinstall in their words).

@WhiteRabbit: I know this sounds super basic and probably something you have tried, but I had a friend that had the same problem. It turned out that the wireless card in his computer didn't accept the N signal. Past that you are WAAAY past my knowledge. I have trouble with all the wireless stuff. I got my wireless router set up and don't mess with it... though I have been advised that it is old and the security isn't as great as it should be. Ahh something for another time to mess with I keep telling myself.

@Desethead47: I find that I always google for an answer and if that doesn't work I ask more tech advanced people before going to the online tech for the computer. They seem to always give you some half fix and an excuse. Then tell you to system restore and call back if it isn't better. To be honest, if it wasn't for the warranty issue I wouldnt have called them. Some of the BEST help and information I have ever gotten is from all the people here. Everyone is honest and helpful without a personal agenda behind their answers. Also, seems if they don't know the answer they will help you figure it out or find it.

Hope all is well with you all,
ibwebb

Had a similar issue with router,unable to connect on 'wireless' when signal med/strong,had 4 pc's hardwired untidy but efficient to network and one pc and a laptop which were wireless,problem seemed to be an intermitant signal connection from IP causing the bother(which they of course deny),difference in signal not noticed by wired pc's but wireless sometimes had the problem depending on signal strength.So far got half of house now with hidden wiring and I'm looking for the electrical wires to follow for the rest,and have set up a couple of docking stations around elsewhere for the laptop.

Sounds like you were tearing your hair out over that. I'm glad you finally found a solution.

No matter how much time and money I spend on my computers, there always seems to be a problem with one or more of them. I've reformatted the hard discs and/or reinstalled Windows on all my cpmputers (apart from the recently purchased laptop) more than once this year already (one of them I've reformatted twice and reinstalled windows four times).

My latest bug bear is that since replacing my old G standard wireless router and wireless network cards with a N standard router and cards over a year ago - which allows for a wider coverage of my house (I had blind spots with the G grade router), I've not been able to get my computers to work wirelessly. So my present set up has a cable running from the modem which is situated in the living room up the stairs to the study; connected to the router, with cables running to my two desktops plus one that's been rebuilt, but doesn't work yet because I've not reinstalled the OS yet; and another cable for the laptop, plus another longer cable running from the study down a longish corridor to my sons bedroom. (The router only has five cable ports). Not a good idea, with cables running everywhere. My wife hates the cables even though most of the ones apart from the one that goes to my sons room are hidden behind the desk. But, try as I might, I can not connect to the internet via a wireless connection. The odd thing is, when I configure the router for wireless operation, it shows the network as connected with a medium to strong signal, but when I try to open a browser I always get the disconnected sign.

I've still to find a solution to this problem as I'm also getting sick of seeing the cables everywhere (apart from the fact that they are a hazard)

Regards

Whiterabbit

Before I stopped working it was rare to have your owncomputer in the classroom, you were lucky if you had a typewriter. This was the 90's, not stone ages. Was told not to touch them and didn't. Play games on my home computer, keep in touch and write, still don't touch a whole lot and now haven't the energy.
About 2 months ago I turned on my computer and had a red X on my volume icon. I can't hear so it didn't bother me. Then some games wouldn't download,Got a little angry. Checked wires, prayed, yelled at it, a witch doctor danced, monks chant, did search and tried few things.

Contacted HP's live help 11 times and spent 18 1/2 hrs, 5 with just 1 tech alone. Almost everyone said it was a graphics problem. Famous last words of all were I won't leave you till the problems fixed,restart your computer, goodbye. I'd even on advice did a total system recovery. Finally I found something in Vista forums about deleting real-tek, rebooting, reinstalling, restarting and then restarting again. It worked, I'm still kinda scared, can't afford another computer and a repair bill is not an option.
I always tell people how great it is here and how helpful everyone is. Sorry I didn't come here and ask you first. I've been around computers a while, but for me like a TV it's entertainment and most of you seem to tear them apart and put them back together blindfolded.
jempeace

Bad luck ibwebb; hope we see you sooner than later.

Regards

WR

Oh no not again! Well, I hope they get it back to you soon! :) Good thing you got that warranty!

-Duane.

Just curious, have you been getting no audio output device detected boxes?
jempeace

Sorry to all that I promised that I would be back more. In my incredibly wonderful luck (feel the dripping sarcasm?) I was having some very minor issues with my new/refurbished laptop. I had been on the chat screen with HP Tech support about it a few times and now it turns out that it is a warning of a bigger problem. Perhaps a bad graphics card. So, I have to take it in to the shop so that they can 'get into it' and verify. I hope this is a quick adventure and I will be back soon. A quick thanks again to all for the help before and all the wonderful games offered that I wish I was playing. See y'all soon I hope!

ibwebb