Laura Breeden bought a new Compaq Presario C304NR notebook in January. She bought it because she wanted to get rid of Windows and all the malware that surrounds it and move to Linux, and her old laptop lacked the memory and power to run Ubuntu Edgy. The salespeople assured her that the C304NR was "Linux ready." But they didn't tell her that running Linux would void her warranty. Until recently, she's been happy with it, and with Ubuntu Edgy. But a couple of weeks ago she began having keyboard problems. The keyboard is misbehaving when she begins to type quickly: keys are sticking and the space bar does not always respond when pressed. When she called Compaq -- the unit comes with a one-year warranty on the hardware -- they asked what operating system she was running. When she told them Linux, they said, "Sorry, we do not honor our hardware warranty when you run Linux." In order to get warranty service, she was told, she would have to remove Linux and reinstall the original OS. VIA Now even though you could probably load the original recovery disk into the system. Since the keyboard was not working correctly it makes me wonder if she would even be able to do that. And with most new computers coming without a recovery solution other than a partition with the information on it. That might not even enable her to fix things. She is now working with a rep from HP but it sounds like it may be quite awhile before she see's any kind of resolution. I am in agreement with what alot of folks are saying in the various comments to this story. If the Manufacturer HP in this instance will not honor their warranty and are giving you the run around. Make arrangements to get the computer shipped back to them. Acquire proper tracking information. And then contact your credit card company and obtain a charge back for the item. If you did not buy it with a CC of course this will not work. 
Labels: Editorial | 
