Never buy a refurbished computer

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

In december, I bought a refurbished computer from ecost. It was a deal of a lifetime! A compaq with 512 megs of ram dvd burner/cd burner and 160 gig hard drive all for like 350 dollars.

Needless to say the thing didn't even last through the month. I sent it in to compaq and they replaced the motherboard for free.

Today, it didn't even turn on! No warning nothing. THe thing refuses to turn on and yes I made sure it was plugged in.

So is there any possible way to get my money back from ecost or compaq? Or am i screwed? It is past the warranty date and I don't even want to get the thing repaired because at this point i realize its just a pos.

[CraigSca]

This just happened to my non-refurbished PC the other day. /incoming one new power supply for $50, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, I've had the same issues with refurbs as well. I bought my wife a Canon i80 printer and the thing was DOA. After speaking with Canon, they suggested I drive the damn thing 3 hours for repairs. No more refurbs or Canon printers for me.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Hmmm, is there a way of knowing its a power supply problem without actually wasting 50 bucks on a new cord?

[Samdari]

Hmmm, is there a way of knowing its a power supply problem without actually wasting 50 bucks on a new cord?

Do you have an old computer lying around anywhere? You could try the power supply from that.

[Bee]

I bought a couple refurbs many years ago. I think they always have bad power supplies. The first one I got, I replaced the power supply about a month after I got it. The second one started making a strange noise about 3 months after I got it and I replaced that power supply as well. I didn't have any problems from either computer other than the power supply though. I still have one of them I use for a couple old games and it's about 8 or 9 years old and still going strong.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

The power supply idea was a great one guys. Unfortunately, I plugged two in and neither one did the trick. Looks like I will have to call compaq.

[CraigSca]

Hmm...my new power supply comes in today. I'm hoping that's what the problem is on MY PC now. I had left it on, and when I came back it was off. I thought, "that's strange..." and then it didn't turn on when I pressed the on/off switch. Everything else hooked into the surge protector was still on, so my first thought was "power supply!". I'm hoping that's it now...

[gottimd]

My Dell D600 had the same problems. One day it didn't even power up, so Dell came and replaced the motherboard. Then after they replaced it, my computer would no longer recharge and it wouldn't allow me to dock it in my docking station at work, so they had to come out and replace the motherboard again. Apparently the D600 is known for shoddy motherboards.

[Warhammer]

I think the problem is not the refurbished computer, its that it is a Compaq!

[hhiipp]

The power supply idea was a great one guys. Unfortunately, I plugged two in and neither one did the trick. Looks like I will have to call compaq.
Are you just trying a different power cord or did you actually put a different power supply into your PC? Power supply is about a 4" by 6" box with a fan and multicolored cables coming out of it.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

Are you just trying a different power cord or did you actually put a different power supply into your PC? Power supply is about a 4" by 6" box with a fan and multicolored cables coming out of it.


oops.

Just the power cord. I didn't realize there was a difference. Is there an easy way of using another comptuer's power supply to test out on my POS computer?

[CraigSca]

You'll have to open it up and re-plug the motherboard and the other devices in the system with the new power supply. It's really not hard to do, buy may be for a person who doesn't know the difference between the cord and the actual power supply (no offense meant).

[MizzouRah]

My Dell D600 had the same problems. One day it didn't even power up, so Dell came and replaced the motherboard. Then after they replaced it, my computer would no longer recharge and it wouldn't allow me to dock it in my docking station at work, so they had to come out and replace the motherboard again. Apparently the D600 is known for shoddy motherboards.
Funny you say that. Out here at MCI we just replaced over 200+ motherboards. Yes, they are junk.. stay away from the D600 laptops. :)

HD's go bad in these as well.


Todd

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

None taken!!!

[MizzouRah]

In december, I bought a refurbished computer from ecost. It was a deal of a lifetime! A compaq with 512 megs of ram dvd burner/cd burner and 160 gig hard drive all for like 350 dollars.

Needless to say the thing didn't even last through the month. I sent it in to compaq and they replaced the motherboard for free.

Today, it didn't even turn on! No warning nothing. THe thing refuses to turn on and yes I made sure it was plugged in.

So is there any possible way to get my money back from ecost or compaq? Or am i screwed? It is past the warranty date and I don't even want to get the thing repaired because at this point i realize its just a pos.
ecost - There's your problem right there. If you go refurbished, I did, go straight through Dell, HP, or Compaq.. and MAKE SURE you have at least a one year warranty.

Anyhow, get the part # off of your power supply or take it out of the pc and go to best buy or somewhere like that and get a new one - they cost about $40 and should fix your issue. If it doesn't, it's the motherboard - take the power supply back and get your money back.

Todd

[hhiipp]

It's a fairly simple task that usually consists of opening your case, removing a few screws, unplug all the power heading to your motherboard, floppy drive, cd rom, and harddrive. Then throw another one in there and plug everything back in, it's one of the few things in a pc that is almost impossible to screw up.

If you have to end up buying one make sure that:

1. It fits in your pc before you buy it. I'm thinking Compaq has proprietary power supplies that will only fit in their boxes, so if you have to buy one you'll likely have to get it thru them.

2. That you get one that give enough juice for your PC. Your current one should say on there how many watts it is, whatever it currently is I'd recommend that you get one with 50 more watts of power, just to be safe.

[Flasch186]

It's a fairly simple task that usually consists of opening your case, removing a few screws, unplug all the power heading to your motherboard, floppy drive, cd rom, and harddrive. Then throw another one in there and plug everything back in, it's one of the few things in a pc that is almost impossible to screw up.

If you have to end up buying one make sure that:

1. It fits in your pc before you buy it. I'm thinking Compaq has proprietary power supplies that will only fit in their boxes, so if you have to buy one you'll likely have to get it thru them.

2. That you get one that give enough juice for your PC. Your current one should say on there how many watts it is, whatever it currently is I'd recommend that you get one with 50 more watts of power, just to be safe.


i was just about to say.....when I just had the new comp built, which were stillworking on :) you open the case and man youre intimidated. But if you take one thing at a time and follow the cable to the motherboard you slowly begin to understand everything and then the innards start to make sense. Then you can start unscrewing stuff.

[Bee]

The first time I changed out a power supply, I took a photo of everything inside before I got started. It helped to look back at how everything was hooked up when I started putting it back together.

That was so long ago it was a polaroid. I guess now you could do it with a digital camera...:D

[ShaqFu]

Well, look at it this way, even if you buy a new PC and it has problems, most companies will repair it with refurbished parts or replace it with a refurbished system. I had problems with my new computer and Dell simply sent a box of refurbished parts.

[CraigSca]

New power supply came this morning and the PC works like a champ now. Fortunately, it's possible to open my case from the top, so I didn't have to remove the motherboard to install the new PS.