New HP has 12 hours on it

[Tekguy]

I just bought a new HP desktop for a customer & shortly after turning it on I checked the SMART data which showed that the drive had been in use for 12 hours. Do OEMs pick out random computers from a batch & run burn-in tests on them? I was just curious why most of the time a drive in a new computer will have zero hours on it, but once in awhile a drive will have a few hours on it.

[angry_geek]

Quality control, imaging, etc. Doesn't really surprise me. I bought a new car in January with 400 miles on it.

[compnet]

I worked in the HP plant where they did the business desktops about 8 or 9 years ago.

Every computer would be assembled, go through a pretest(about 10-15 minutes), then they would go to "run-in" where they would do the install and burn in tests for 8+ hours.. Any computers that failed run-in or pretest would go to repair and go through the whole process again after being repaired.

I mostly worked in repair but I also took a position in production control, tracking computers, and it wasn't uncommon to find computers "lost" in the run-in racks that had been there for weeks.

I don't check many new computers these days, but I doubt any hard drive comes in a new computer with "0" hours on it.

[NETWizz]

Originally Posted by angry_geek

Quality control, imaging, etc. Doesn't really surprise me. I bought a new car in January with 400 miles on it.

That is the same analogy I was going to use... I wouldn't worry about 12 hours provided it came from a bonefide seller in the original shrink wrap... it's new.

[Tekguy]

The reason I asked was because the tape sealing the box didn't look quite right & when I turned the computer on it started the "HP Finishing Setup" routine & then failed.

Examining the box, it didn't appear that the tape had been peeled off the box anywhere & everything inside was sealed up nicely so I just did a factory restore.

[angry_geek]

Did you buy it at a box store? Best buy has been known to yank parts from other machines for service and tape up the box afterwards.

[Tekguy]

Originally Posted by angry_geek

Did you buy it at a box store? Best buy has been known to yank parts from other machines for service and tape up the box afterwards.

Yes, I bought it at Officemax. It really is painful buying anything at these big box stores & then having to reject whatever optimization/extended warranty sales pitch they throw at you.