Laptop Woes

CaptainMagenta

I started up my laptop earlier today and started browsing away. Having been on for no more than around ten minutes it shuts down(or more precisely, restarts) and doesn't get past the boot screen where I get the option to enter setup and whatnot.

My OS is Windows XP and nothing like this has happened before; my laptop's only around a couple of months old and I've had nothing but good vibes from it until now. Thanks in advance.

robaal

You don't get to the screen that let's you boot in safe mode? (tap F8 from when you see the boot screen)

Or try to boot from the XP install CD - if you can do that do a repair install (you might need to go into the BIOS and set CDROM as the first boot device).

CaptainMagenta

From around two seconds after I hit the power button a screen with "HP Invent" comes up with "press <esc> to change boot order" and "press <F10> to enter setup" in the lower left. This was routine and would go after about another three or so seconds. Now, it hangs at this screen - if I hit F10 it says "please wait" and doesn't actually go anywhere.

If I leave it at that screen it'll eventually go completely blank with the exception of a blinking underscore in the upper left corner. About Windows XP discs; prompts were made by my computer but I, tragically enough, ignored them, saying to myself that nothing'd ever go wrong and I'd be wasting my time making them. I know, colour me ten kinds of idiot.

robaal

It sounds like there's something major wrong with the lappy, rather than just a broken OS as I suspected.

If you have something you'd want to keep on it you can get an adapter for laptop ATA hard drives that would let you hook it up to a normal PC; even if you don't feel confident opening the case you can get ones that connect via USB.
If it's SATA then you don't even need adapters (unless your desktop doesn't support it) unless, again, you don't want to open the case, in which... case you can get an USB one.
Then you can be sure you'll have the data still after getting the notebook back from repair

CaptainMagenta

The unit itself is still well under warranty, what's the proper etiquette with regard to handling the tech guys?

Do I just phone them and request that they repair/replace it?

I'm also not entirely sure that I have a receipt of purchase here, will one be required? Again, thanks for the help.

robaal

I don't really know how it works with laptops, but check the manufacturer's website for support information. Just tell them what's wrong with it and I suppose they will first try to troubleshoot the problem via phone, but if they can't figure it out you'll most likely have to send them the laptop to check out.

I'm not sure about the proof of purchase - do you have some warranty card or something like that?

exoplasm

For warranty they can check it based on serial number. No need to worry there, unless you managed to rub all the labels off the bottom of the laptop.

You will probably have to deal with the guy from india (maybe not) walking through his script of things to troubleshoot ("please reboot" etc.) before you get anywhere with repair and such. Just don't get angry at the person on the phone and you should be alright. And don't be afraid to ask for a supervisor or a higher level tech if the person you're talking with is completely inept.