My roommate's HD is making a weird noise and basicly doesn't work....

[SithSolo1]

The Click of Death hath cometh!

Ok, immediately upon power you can hear the harddrive going kusssh kussssh, kusssh kussssh, etc.

"Warning: Your harddrive be facked. Please consult your manual while we laugh.

With Love,
The Gateway Family"

He says it takes about 20mins to boot and he wants me to fix it. Yes, fix it.
I nearly spit my coke in his face with laughter but I held it in.

OK to the point, I know this is non-salvage able but here is my question.
This is the second harddrive that has done this in his system. He bought it from Gateway a lil over a year ago. Last time he took it to them and they fixed it but the same thing happened. Should he take it back to them or get his own HD and do it? They charged him like $150 last time and its only a 40GB hd.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,
J.

 

[Woody419]

Originally posted by: SithSolo1
Should he take it back to them or get his own HD and do it? They charged him like $150 last time and its only a 40GB hd.

Hmmm..........decisions, decisions. What to do?

Should I let Gateway sell me a 40GB hdd for $150?
Or go buy one for $60

I dunno, what do you guys think?

 

[Woody419]

A few more thoughts, in no particular order:

Does he have an XP disk? or is the restore program/OS on the hdd that went south?
Do you have to buy XP to get it running, add $100 do it yourself cost - but it is an investment too.
Drivers, can you download all the necessary Gateway motherboard, soundcard, and other drivers?
Does the $150 include the OS install?
This drive probably has a three year guarantee, RMA the sucker.
This drive probably has a three year guarantee, Gateway should replace it for free.

 

[zephyrprime]

It's salvagaeable. But not easily.

Text

 

[Paperlantern]

I agree with woody, 99% of hard drives are 3 year warranty, they should replace it for free. Chances are the last time he paid they turned around and got a replacement from the manufacturer themselves for nothing. I would try to RMA the drive myself, but if you cant becasue it was sold to an OEM, then demand gateway replace it, you should not have to replace a hard drive out of your pocket inside of 3years, hard drives, with normal use should last 5 years minimum, i have ones here that are 7 and 8 and still fine. and even an old 15 year old 20MB drive that still works. DO NOT pay for the replacement, if you raise enough hell, they will cave to make you happy