...for better or worse.

I have a batch of AcerPower desktops here that need more memory but there is a warranty sticker on the back.

I'd suggest another brand, particularly as the recent Acers I've had to deal with are pre-loaded with Vista and there are no SATA drivers to get your XP OS CD to see the SATA drives when re-installing.

Contacting Acer just gives you a drone bleating on about 'not supporting XP' - despite their site having XP drivers for these machines. Well, I say drivers. The AcerPower site has drivers a graphics card which isn't even in the machine....

I've missed her.

I would love to see a manufacturer try and hold this up in court.

"That said, the company appears to be making the change not for philanthropic reasons but because the stickers have been applied to machines sold in countries where "these stickers are not permitted"."

I can understand the reasons for voiding the warranty. Presumably they're don't apply the same logic to TVs etc, where technically any monkey with a hammer could give upgrading a go and royally screw the machine. Just depends on where you draw the line on "user servicable components".

1 Sell poster for however much they sell these dinky 3E Pc's for

2 give away free laptop with each poster

3 ?

4 Profit

for the bird !

The real question is does this apply to us here in the UK/EU given it was only posted on the US Asus website news section.

@andy gibson

I believe if you use a Windows XP SP2 Install CD it will recognise SATA drives. You can create your own if you don't have a Windows XP with SP2 install CD handy - it is called a Slipstream CD and instructions are available on the internet.

I don't know about the legal situation elsewhere, but I do know that here in the USA, voiding a warranty for "usual and customary" upgrades - like memory, in a case like this with a standard module slot and a door designed to give access to it - is definitely illegal. I remember this being hashed out in the courts a while back.

@andy gibson

I've had this out with them before and they capitulated in the end.

that new stick of Patriot ddr2 800 2GB in their won't burn it up? OK I am on it.

With the usual disclaimer that IANAL: I used to work for a company that built and sold PCs, and I saw enough ham-fisted upgrades or mods that would come back to the shop with deep screwdriver scratches in delicate components. The perpetrators would actually look shocked that when they removed or damaged the 'warranty void if removed' stickers, we would no longer honour the system warranty.

We would of course warranty the parts so long as they were not damaged, but if you're willing to open up the case and tinker, you have to accept the consequences.

Of course the situation with the EEE is slightly different. I can understand the manufacturer's desire to ensure that the system is as supplied in warranty claims, but it is perhaps a minor design flaw that this affects the owner's ability to perform a fairly simple upgrade. As I recall not a lot else is accessible through the panel on the bottom, so perhaps the warranty stickers should have gone deeper inside.

If the sticker says "warranty void if removed", surely the simple answer is to not REMOVE it, simply stick your screwdriver through it such that it is broken but still in place?? That's what I do every time and have NEVER had a problem!

Oh yeah, I forgot... they're catering for the 'merkin market - got to go with the lowest common denominator of intellect - label must be blatently obvious in case some 'merkin twat cocks things up.

A SP2 slipstream CD will recognise more SATA controllers than previous versions but probably won't have the drivers for the newer hardware of Vista designed machines. The HP NC6400 I last tried this on certainly was not supported by just the CD and I needed to generate the floppy. Check the BIOS of the laptop and see if it supports SATA legacy mode, which will lose you performance but the OS will treat the hard drive like an IDE one. I'd look into exactly what 3rd party manufacturer ASUS used to make their SATA controller on that model and see if the manufacturer of the interface chip itself or another laptop manufacturer using the same interface provides a driver floppy for XP.

Or you could use linux/BSD...