I bought a Compaq latop about three years ago and it’s been great. It’s been on a half-dozen youth retreats as well as various trips to south Georgia, Kentucky, Florida and Michigan, and it’s held up very well. About a month ago the screen went dark. You could still faintly see the text on there, but the backlight was shot. I did some research and determined that it was likely the inverter board that died. I pulled the laptop apart and got the inverter board out so I could order a new one. It didn’t have any info on it that would help, so I decided to call Compaq. Here are parts of that conversation:
Me: My screen has gone dark and I suspect it’s the inverter board. How can I order a new one?
Him: You mean the motherboard.
Me: No. I mean the inverter board.
Him: Oh. The inverter board? Let me talk to my technical supervisor. I”ll be right back.
…
Him: My supervisor says it might not be the inverter board.
Me: Ok, great. What else might it be? (I was excited, though doubtful that it could be something else)
Him: Well, it could be the USB cable for your floppy drive.
Me: What? That makes no sense, not to mention I don’t have a floppy drive.
Him: Or maybe it’s the hard drive in your monitor.
Now I had to stop and think. Did he really say that?
Me: Did you say the “hard drive in my monitor”?
Him: Yes, the hard drive in your monitor might be bad.
At this point, I let him have it. I’m not an expert on inverter boards, but I know when I’m dealing with a complete moron. I asked for the technical supervisor. The conversation pretty much consisted of me asking for an inverter board and her telling me that they don’t exist and/or I can’t order one. Telling her that I was holding it in my hand didn’t help convince her that it was a real part.
So, I got her supervisor. He simply said he’d transfer me to their parts department and I could order it there.
Sometime during the transfer I got disconnected. I found one on eBay instead. It showed up a few days later and solved the problem.
