"New," Refurbished Probook 4530s: General System Failure (black screen) after Kernel Panic

[intromission]

Good morning folks,

So I started up the Probook just fine out the box, registered everything, and made sure all was in order before installing Snow Leopard.
I shut down, started with Iboot and incorrectly hit OSX without swapping the discs, which resulted in a Kernel Panic. I had to force a shut down and when I attempted to power on again I got a blank screen, loud fan noise, and the 5 LED flashes under the Caps Lock key which indicates a General System Failure. I've already been in contact with HP about an exchange but I'm curious, did I cause this?

The issue also made me wonder what people do as far as warranty repairs if they should come up? Do you send in the laptop with OSX installed? I'm assuming they wouldn't work on it.


Thanks in advance.

 

[BigDonkey]

I don't think the failure it's related to installing SL on it. My 4530S took every possible software and hardware abuse and still works fine.
Did you try to reset the laptop? Remove battery, disconnect power cable and hold the "Power Button" for 30 seconds.

As far as warranty you can always remove the hard drive and format it in another computer.
Here's more reading how people dealt with it.
http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook-4530s/35088-my-4530s-just-exploded.html#post222119
http://www.tonymacx86.com/hp-probook-4530s/82655-warranty-dilemma.html