I am in computer HELL

My boyfriend is a Mac, I'm a PC.  My first computer was a Gateway, my next was a Dell.  Both desktops, and both served me well.  Then last summer when I was planning on going back to school for psychology (which I can't remember if I ever mentioned before or not, but it doesn't much matter b/c that never happened lol), I decided to finally treat myself to a laptop.  So I got an HP, a G series whatever that means.  It wasn't long before I started having problems w/ it (namely it would shut itself off inexplicably when I'd pick it up or put it down, or occasionally even just move the monitor part).

I put up w/ it for as long as I could, until it started happening way too much.  I called HP tech support, they did this, that & the other thing until it seemingly was fixed... and then a few weeks later it started happening again.  I again put off calling them until it really drove me nuts.  The second time I called they told me to mail it into them & they'd fix it.  This was in June if I remember correctly.  Being without my laptop for a week sucked, especially b/c I no longer had my Dell desktop (it was gathering dust in my parents' basement).  I had use of my work computer and my boyfriend's computer, but it wasn't the same.

When I got my laptop back, it was fixed... for about a month.  Then the problems started happening again.  But b/c I had hated being laptop-less so much, I decided to just deal w/ it.  Which I did, for a few more months.  Until my boyfriend actually got so annoyed by it that he called HP himself to try to get it fixed.  Again they did stuff over the phone and it seemed to have resolved the problem.  Again, guess what started happening a week later. 

So a few weeks ago I called them again and again they said send it back to us & we'll fix it.  I sent it back.  One of the tech guys called me and told me that they tested it for over 24 hours & couldn't "duplicate the problem" I'd had.  They did more testing after that & still couldn't figure it out, but they did discover an issue w/ both the hard drive and the mother-board, so they replaced both of those.  Finally they shipped my (supposedly fixed) laptop out to me on Sat and I got it (this past) Monday morning.

As soon as I got my laptop back, I wanted to put everything that was previously on it (Microsoft Office, Windows 7, etc.) back on it.  While upgrading to Windows 7 I got an error message about the keyboard that I kinda ignored b/c I'd done this previously (well, technically my much more technologically-savvy boyfriend had done it, but why get picky) and everything had been ok.  What I'd forgotten in my hurry to return my laptop to it's pre-completely wiped hard drive state is that my boyfriend had uninstalled a driver before upgrading the OS, and then reinstalled it after upgrading.  Whooops.

Long (yes longer than it's already been) story short, after 2+ hours on the phone w/ HP trying to fix it, it turns out the laptop needs to go back AGAIN b/c for whatever reason, it won't boot up from the recovery disks.  Do I want to scream and pull every strand of hair out of my head?  YOU BETCHA!  I actually went to my parents house, dusted off my old Dell (which hadn't been used in I'd say 10-11 months) and brought it to my apartment and set it up.  And that's what I'm using right now to type this!  =P

I've never had a problem w/ a PC until this POS (piece of sh*t) HP.  (I don't like Macs - I used my boyfriend's a bit over the past 2 weeks & it drove me nuts - so don't even suggest it!  ;-)  And I'll never buy an HP again.  Now I must wait for them to send me a box & shipping label so I can send it back to them again and wait another week or so for it to be returned.  I really hope it's here before Nov 1 so I can use it for nano.  *sigh*

Well that's my sob story.  Now you know (just in case you were wondering lol) why you haven't seen me around that often lately...  Anyone have their own computer from hell story to share?

'Till next time...