A power transformer blew in my neighborhood Saturday..it was too much for the power surge protector to help. My computer is only 3 months old and it fried my hard drive and disabled my element reader..What can I do? Is it the fault of the power company? Should warranty cover such a tragedy?
2006-10-09 03:32:19 · 7 answers · asked by Stacy W 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
The power company is responsible. But get your computer FIXED and produce a bill for the expenses. No, your computer warranty would not cover that, unless you lied and whined.
The power company will whine and compain. Not even a surge protector would have prevented that sort of catestrophic failure. If you do not get satisfaction, contact your state's Department of Public Utilities Control.
There is "transient voltage" protection equipment that you can get. Even your power company can provide this. But it is expensive. If you have a high end entertainment system, computers and other equipment, you can get this to protect your whole house. see http://www.superiorelectric.com
2006-10-09 03:37:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would go with Martin's approach, don't tell them about the transformer. if the computer is older than 14 days you can't go back to the store unless you bought their instore service plan
Greater than 14 days but less than 1 year you need to go to the manufacturer, call their help line and say the computer won't start then they will try a few things over the phone and then send you a shipping label via email for you to send the computer to them. The computer is covered by at least a 1 year warranty and they will replace and reinstall the OS but most probably all your files will be lost if there is an issue with the hard drive.
2006-10-09 05:38:30 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The power company is responsible. For that incident, you going to need your lawyer for them to pay for the damages.
When you press the button, does it turn on? If it doesn't turn on then most likely the power supply in the computer is burnt and not the harddrive. There is 50% chance that your motherboard was fried by the surges.
Do whatever you can to get your replace by them or sues them.
2006-10-09 04:06:15 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think the power company is gonna pay for anything
you may have
home insurance that may cover it
the guarentee on the surge supressor itself ( many come with a replacement for connected equipment)
and if nothin, I am wondering if its not the powersupply, not the hard drive......
(powersupplies cost 30-50$) depending
2006-10-09 03:52:14 · answer #4 · answered by papeche 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You probably need a new HD. You could probably send it to a compant to recover lost data but that may cost over a thousand dollars. On saturday I had a power surge around midnight and it fried my HD tv. I am located in Ridgewood, NJ.
2006-10-09 08:09:53 · answer #5 · answered by chase 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a frying pan and placed it on a range set to extreme, then upload oil into it and wait till it encompasses a sizzle. Then placed the hard disk into it and you have a fried hard disk. i think of McDonalds fries harddrives too.. they fry each little thing else merely high-quality.
2016-12-13 04:55:10 · answer #6 · answered by karsten 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on what you say when you return the computer. You are definitely still covered on the warranty. Just say it doesn't work anymore, and you don't know why. They won't probe you about it, so say as little as possible or play dumb. You will get a new computer.
2006-10-09 03:36:45 · answer #7 · answered by martin h 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋