How do you RMA a hard drive?

[Chrishuff1]

Title says it all. The drive is a pull from a gateway system, and they computer is no longer under warranty, but the hard drive should still be. Let me know how to do this.

Thank You Very Much,
Chris

 

[skywhr]

contact the manufaturer and tell them what is doing and that its under waranty. they will issue you an RMA.

 

[Dameon]

your results will vary by manufacturer....

TECHNICALLY due to the fact it's an OEM drive, the warranty is via Gateway, which means you have none at this point once the system is no longer under warranty.

Some HD vendors like IBM track this fact by serial number, and will refuse to issue an RMA and refer you to the OEM vendor for warranty service.

Others do not.... your mileage may vary

 

[perry]

I know that WD doesn't warranty OEM drives. At least not the OEM drive that I checked out at work. YMMV.

 

[Cable God]

Gateway........... uuuuummmmm.... might as well throw that one in the river from my experiences with them... Maybe you'll have better luck.

 

[Chrishuff1]

ok.....it is a maxtor....model number 90510d4.....the drive is under warranty until 2001. i dont know the size of it.......it doesnt even power on.....i dont even think that this is the original drive that came with the system......any help with the size or what to do, dont hesitate to let me know.......

thanks,
chris

 

[DaveJ]

If it doesn't have "Gateway" stamped anywhere on the drive, you should be OK. Just head over to Maxtor's webpage, grab the # for support, and give them a call. If it does have Gateway written somewhere on the drive, you're outta luck.

Dave

 

[Chrishuff1]

woohoo it doesnt say "gateway" any where!

 

[urbantechie]

Do a On-Line RMA and you will get a RMA# immediatly.

 

[Zab]

If you rma it and use a credit card they will send you a replacement drive first, then you return the damaged drive to them using the box it came in.

 

[Stark]

Try the online rma (make sure you run the maxtor diagnostics to get an error code).

With IBM OEM drives, Gateway gets them cheaper by covering the warranty. If the drive ever has problems, you go to Gateway or you're out of luck. Hopefully for you, maxtor is different. I just got a 30GB drive RMA'd from them, and their service really is some of the best out there.

Good luck!

 

[dude]

Do their online RMA thingy. It should tell you immediately if it's warranted through them. Seagate and IBM has one of the best online RMA checkers.

The worst companies are those like WD that REQUIRES you to run the diagnostic programs on them. What if the drive doesn't detect or spin up? This happens often, and the bios will NOT pick it up, much less the software. So, use a drive, get the diagnostic code. SAVE THIS CODE!!! Use it on all the drives you RMA of that brand. I used to do this for everytime we get 20 or so drives to fill up a hard drive box.

 

[Chrishuff1]

where do i get this diagnosis software? the drive does not recognize in the bios, let a lone spin up. but the web site says it is still under warranty, so i think i am in the clear there....

 

[Russ]

Chrishuff1,

With Maxtor, don't worry about any diags on the drive. Just call them up and RMA it. My experience with them is that they fall all over themselves to make sure their customers are happy. They have that "we try harder" attitude.

Hell, it's very likely that the replacement will be larger capacity.

Russ, NCNE

 

[Chrishuff1]

larger capacity?!?! really?