Just bought a new E Machine, made by Acer running Win7. Lasted 5 weeks then the hard drive failed. Burnt to a crisp. Now in the process of trying to mail it in for repairs but had to fax a receipt first as they won't believe when it was purchased. Automatic phone system kept hanging up because it asked for the serial number then it claimed it isn't made by Acer. Did this a number of times.Took about a half hour to get through. So back to my old ten year old NorthGate Win XP, just keeps chugging along!
Get a new, brandname computer so the things on it are still relevant. Laptops are best. The only other laptop I had still works but the screen dont work. But every DESKTOP I had crashed. DESKTOPS are a no-no in 2010 and on. Brand I got is ASUS. It's recently new to the table. Can connect to other desktop monitor. Got mic/webcam. Etc. Dont buy ANYONE that uses Norton security. Don't buy any brand by the name of HP either. One I got got trend micro instead of Norton. O, always buy 4gb flashdrives to store key or favored things on in case a computer crashes, so that way you can load all that same stuff, minus any crash causers, onto a new computer. Some allow SD cards as flashdrives.
That sounds like a horrible ordeal. I would be insanely angry. I would honestly suggest trying to get a refund and going with a company like HP / Compaq / Sony / etc. Gateways and eMachines have never had a good reputation from as far back as I can remember.
The store only offers 15 day returns. This puppy was about a month old. I have had hard drives fail in the past but that was back in the dark ages. Like with Win 3.1 and DOS. I bought the E Machine cause I heard that Acer now owns them and that they had vastly improved, I've known several people that have run E Machines for years. I have had HPs in the past. I had one running, oh XP or 95...musta been XP. Any way, it fell off of my desk at work (this was a tower) and hit the concrete floor so hard that it popped the front off and bent the top of the frame about an inch to the right. Couldn't get the front back on. So I laid it over on its side and clamped it down to a bench top, then used a bar clamp to pull the frame back into alignment. Started right up and ran like a charm!