Not all that surprised since this must be either the fifth or sixth breakdown since I purchased the computer in December 2005. After waiting through many repairs which took weeks/months I'd finally had enough. Pat@Hypersonic pulled me back from the ledge by extending my 3 year warranty an extra six months. The last time I had my computer serviced it came back blank and without a functional operating system. I loaded up ubuntu, but had to do some serious software troubleshooting in order to get the computer running windows xp again. (finally was assisted by a friend of mine who is an IT professional. had to load the special sata drivers on a floppy disk and tinker with the master boot record. We at last got XP running again with a custom windows xp install)

A few days later the warranty extension passed and I was now in uncharted waters. My computer, with a very poor track record for reliability was now no longer covered by warranty. (which imho should only cover time when the laptop was in my hands. if that was the case I'd have another year of support) Every time I'd start the computer and it was okay it would feel as if I dodged a bullet.

Yesterday I wasn't so lucky. I was going through pictures on my harddrive when all of a sudden I started getting major artifacting. Wonderful, the patched up refurb card I got from my last repair is shot. I turned off the computer and let it sit until the morning. (BTW this occured in a 70 degree F house with the laptop propped up an inch off the table for proper ventilation) Artifacting was worse than ever and occured the moment the computer booted up.

Now I don't know what to do. I've got a broken laptop and hundreds of dollars worth of gaming software which I cannot use. Luckily I have a netbook which I purchased durring the last repair so I can at least have a computer to use. This computer has at times been the best computer I've ever used. Unfortunately it has been more of an inconvenience than a blessing, with breakdowns coming at the worst times. (graphics card dying durring engineering 3d modeling project, hdd died when I was working on a website for a non-profit organization I'm a part of, graphics card also died after parents spent tons on the latest video games around holiday time, not to mention all the photoshop work, video game saves, music, videos, pictures, 3d renderings, etc. that have been lost as a result of these breakdowns) This breakdown could not have come at a worse time either, what with younger siblings also entering college and reduced wages from the economic downturn. Just scrounged up some cash to buy fallout 3 and the dlc content. Money down the toilet, seeing as I can no longer play those games.

I hope Hypersonic's reliability has improved since the OCZ takeover. If this were the automotive industry I could have fallen back on the lemon laws on multiple occasions. Just a heads up to anyone looking to buy a new computer: get the longest warranty you can. I thought they were a scam, however if I had gotten the 1 year warranty as I had originally intended, I'd have had my $3500 computer for at most 6 months.

If there is any representative who can help me get my computer up and running again I'd greatly appreciate it, as I cannot afford to by a new computer.

great gooka mooka chode, that has to be cursed