General discussion

  • Creator
    Topic
  • #2250932

    HP Repair Centers.

    Locked

    by Anonymous ·

    I recently sent an HP Pavillion dv9225 US to the repair facility. The heat sink and cooling fans were replaced under warranty. When I received the machine back and booted it, I noticed an increase in CPU and ram usage. I checked the running processes and could find nothing that should not be there, or that would account for a three percent increase in cpu time nor a 19 percent increase in used memory. Without hesitation I restored the computer from a network backup made just prior to shipping the laptop for repair and then called HP to find out what they had installed. They hung up without answering the question.

    The OS is a retail installation of Vista x64. When I purchased the machine I departioned the hard disk and the wiped it with a DOD spec wipe to rid the machine of the factory Vista x64 software, crapware, and any spyware or other undesirable programs and only installed the drivers I needed. When I could find them, the drivers came from the hardware manufacturer and not from HP.

    Since I am paranoid, I would like to pose the following questions for discussion:

    1. What form of software could/would an OEM repair facility install on a customer computer that would run in hidden space?

    2. Would such software have any useful function.

    3. Why would a repair facility install software without telling the customer.

All Comments

  • Author
    Replies
    • #2598805

      Don’t blame your HP Repair Center.

      by ahjac ·

      In reply to HP Repair Centers.

      HP hardware has a smart design, but their software is a pile of “dogshit” which is why I have banned it. The repair center is not to blame for your troubles.

      • #2598620

        Don’t blame the HP repair center…

        by Anonymous ·

        In reply to Don’t blame your HP Repair Center.

        They would do the same thing I would in the same situation: load several diagnostics, run a few tests, and independently determine the problem.

        I became curious enough that I reloaded the image they returned on the computer and did some serious seeking. I found an unexplained nested 6432 registry entry:

        Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node]
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node\Microsoft]
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows]
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths]
        [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\IEXPLORE.EXE]

        After deleting this key and rebooting, the machine operated as it should with appropriate memory footprints and CPU usage.

        The questions still remain, although I will allow for a faulty diagnostic uninstall procedure. Especially because there were audio “training files” in the trash bin which I deleted as forgotten diagnostic test files.

    • #2966324

      Hewlett Packard Service Centers

      by raphaelnikolai ·

      In reply to HP Repair Centers.

      Service centers in the US requires you to agree on their terms, which includes you agreeing that they can install softwares and programs that they wil use for troubleshooting your product.

Viewing 1 reply thread