What can void a computer warranty?

[Coffee is good :)]

What things can void a manufacturer's warranty for computer?

I'm assuming that doing anything software related doesn't affect it because they do not warrant the software, just the hardware.

How bout these things:

Hard drive replacement
LCD replacement
Keyboard replacement
Inverter board replacement
CD/DVD drive replacement
Processor replacement
Motherboard replacement
RAM upgrades/replacements

 

[Morrison5891]

It seems that a few Apple warranties have been deemed void due to the fact that the owner was a a smoker. I know overclocking the computer will void it. Some PC manufactures will void the warranty if you open the side panel.

 

[vdub12]

This has been something that has kind of ticked me off in the past.

I have had customers want me to upgrade something but can't because of the warranty sticker. Then the store the got it from has no problem doing the upgrade for them after they tell me I can't.

 

[Morrison5891]

This has been something that has kind of ticked me off in the past.

I have had customers want me to upgrade something but can't because of the warranty sticker. Then the store the got it from has no problem doing the upgrade for them after they tell me I can't.

It wont void the warranty if the store is a authorized service center.

 

[vdub12]

It wont void the warranty if the store is a authorized service center.

No I am talking about a local store that will not let me or any other tech work on a computer that they have under warranty.

 

[Morrison5891]

No I am talking about a local store that will not let me or any other tech work on a computer that they have under warranty.

Oh, ok... I misunderstood - sorry

 

[vdub12]

Oh, ok... I misunderstood - sorry

In fact I am not sure about other manufacturers but I know that Dell will not void your warranty if you have your computer upgraded by another company.

At least I upgrade many Dell's right out of the gate.

One of them is my mini 10v that I plan to rip apart and upgrade the memory and hard drive.

However, I upgraded my moms ASUS EeePC and there was a warranty sticker under the keyboard.

 

[vdub12]

Every once in a while I go out on a service call for a notebook with a bad screen or keyboard or burner or something and the customer will ask if it might still be under warranty.

I always call for them to find out all the time crossing my fingers hoping its not.

Even if it was I would charge a diagnostic but it would suck to loose a job because the hardwares under warranty.

 

[ProTech Support]

In regards to Apple, I have also heard of some smokers warranties getting void due to damage.

In regards to PC's, technically modifying any hardware voids the warrant. That includes replacing the hard drive, the memory, the LCD screen, the processor etc. Now, you could technically change the memory on some computers (that have the bottom access panel) since you would not need to mess with the "warranty" stickers. The problem is if you don't replace it with the same make and model as originally shipped with, they may notice. Oddly enough, when I was doing repairs out of my shop I very rarely ran into a computer that was still under warranty.

However, I also used to be a contractor for a nation wide warranty company. All of the work I got from them was computers under warranty. I noticed that the warranties were actually from the store though (such as Bestbuy, Walmart, etc). I was never an "authorized" technician with any of the manufactures such as HP, but that didn't seem to matter, I guess because the actual company was? I'm not really sure if it was because I was doing the work in honor of a store warranty, and if it had any effect on the manf. warranty. Sorry, it is vague, just my experience.

On one other note, I also was looking into contracting for another company that worked on primarily Dell warranties. For the job, they wanted me to become a certified Dell technician which ran around $5000 after all was said and done. I never went forward with this deal, but was always wondering if it was possible for an individual to obtain this or if this was just offered to me because this was an official Dell warranty company.

Some people seem to think that if they were authorized/certified by the manufactures, it would get them a lot more business. In my opinion, if you can, it is a very pricey road (you figure if it is $5000 for Dell, HP can't be far behind). Add them all together you are looking at 15-20k. In my opinion a general end-user is not really going to know the difference between you being Dell certified, and the guy down the block who is not. Like I said, I never even ran into warranty issues in the 2 years I had the store, or the 3-4 years I was running out of my house.

Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to tell you what I do know, and what I do not know

 

[Coffee is good :)]

In regards to Apple, I have also heard of some smokers warranties getting void due to damage.

In regards to PC's, technically modifying any hardware voids the warrant. That includes replacing the hard drive, the memory, the LCD screen, the processor etc. Now, you could technically change the memory on some computers (that have the bottom access panel) since you would not need to mess with the "warranty" stickers. The problem is if you don't replace it with the same make and model as originally shipped with, they may notice. Oddly enough, when I was doing repairs out of my shop I very rarely ran into a computer that was still under warranty.

However, I also used to be a contractor for a nation wide warranty company. All of the work I got from them was computers under warranty. I noticed that the warranties were actually from the store though (such as Bestbuy, Walmart, etc). I was never an "authorized" technician with any of the manufactures such as HP, but that didn't seem to matter, I guess because the actual company was? I'm not really sure if it was because I was doing the work in honor of a store warranty, and if it had any effect on the manf. warranty. Sorry, it is vague, just my experience.

On one other note, I also was looking into contracting for another company that worked on primarily Dell warranties. For the job, they wanted me to become a certified Dell technician which ran around $5000 after all was said and done. I never went forward with this deal, but was always wondering if it was possible for an individual to obtain this or if this was just offered to me because this was an official Dell warranty company.

Some people seem to think that if they were authorized/certified by the manufactures, it would get them a lot more business. In my opinion, if you can, it is a very pricey road (you figure if it is $5000 for Dell, HP can't be far behind). Add them all together you are looking at 15-20k. In my opinion a general end-user is not really going to know the difference between you being Dell certified, and the guy down the block who is not. Like I said, I never even ran into warranty issues in the 2 years I had the store, or the 3-4 years I was running out of my house.

Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to tell you what I do know, and what I do not know

+1 thanks for all the info )

-- I bet you very rarely run into computer's still under warranty because I'd imagine that most people just take the 1 year mf's warranty. Everything might go just fine for the whole year that it's under warranty. Also, maybe you have worked on computers that were still under warranty and were ignorant to that fact because it was just a software issues, which isn't even covered by mnft warranties? And, if they did have a hardware problem while under warranty, they could just have the mft take care of everything instead of bring it to you.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I've been told by Future Shop that if the customer had bought their extended warranty, I can go ahead and work on the PC and the fact that it would void the manufacturer's warranty was of no consequence. They would still subsequently repair it under the extended warranty, if needed. I'd like to see it in writing somewhere though, as just taking some employee's word for it in a phone call is risky.

I've also suggested that a recent customer check to see if they had purchased an extended warranty, since they also bought the PC at Future Shop. Turned out that they had, so restoring their system after a hard drive failure was going to be free. They were so grateful and said they never would have thought to check for that. I figured, I lost that repair (but still charged my 1 hr minimum), but gained an eternally grateful customer.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

What things can void a manufacturer's warranty for computer?

I'm assuming that doing anything software related doesn't affect it because they do not warrant the software, just the hardware.

How bout these things:

Hard drive replacement
LCD replacement
Keyboard replacement
Inverter board replacement
CD/DVD drive replacement
Processor replacement
Motherboard replacement
RAM upgrades/replacements

All of the above and I wouldn't totally rule out software either. I've seen and heard stories. If in doubt make an image and load a clean OS.

Apple is real funny about warranties. Drops and spills automatically void warranties. If I'm doing the warranty work I'll overlook RAM and hard drive upgrades, but Apple will bounce hard drive replacements and sometimes RAM if they think it would have anything to do with the problem.

If we do a hard drive upgrade on an in warranty Machine we always tell people to hold onto the original just in case we have to send a laptop to the depot for a mail-in repair. Even though we are authorized and did the upgrade they may still bounce it, just depends on who gets a hold of the machine on any given day, so better safe than sorry. So we just swap out/in the original drive in those cases.