To ask DSA for another Laptop/Desktop

[Daughter96]

Student finishing studies going on to do a masters. I will be assessed again for DSA as I'm technically starting another course, and want to know if it would be cheeky to ask for another pc. I only started receiving DSA a year and a half ago and was given a laptop and all the other equipment. However, for the past 6 months, my laptop has been giving me hell. The fan keeps breaking, overheating, freezing, deleting stuff, the mouse having a mind of its own. I have gone through the insurance 3 times to try and get this fixed, I called the DSA provider, explained my worries and said I'd like a replacement if they couldn't fix it as I was worried that it would wipe my work and I needed it running to do my dissertation. I got it back saying it was fixed, it wasn't. I then took to it to independent tech shop to get it fixed but still wasn't working correctly. I'm at the end of my tether.
I have a language impairment and rely on the technology within my PC to help compensated otherwise I would be getting 50s instead of 60/70s so it makes a huge difference. A FEW of the laptops on loan at the uni have this technology but they are only one-day loans and I can not get into university every day next year as I will be working and have to live fairly far away.
I cannot afford to buy my own laptop/desktop, even second hard as my postgraduate loan will only cover my course and most of my housing. Plus, it would not have the technology to support me in my work. I can't get a loan or ask my parents to help out as they aren't particularly flushed atm
Could and would they give me another PC? As otherwise I'm not sure how I could cope.

All DSA computers have warranties for the length of the course -- for this exact reason. They don't want students stuck with a broken computer, unable to use the very expensive assistive software, and they don't want to fund a second one. If the original supplier can't repair it then the onus will be on them to provide a replacement. But OP will need to get in touch with her assessment centre to get advice on how to chase the supplier properly.

Go back to your assessment centre and explain you have a machine that isn't working but that the supplier hasn't resolved the issues. They may contact the supplier on your behalf. If repair can not be fixed then your assessor may ask for a replacement. You shouldn't have to wait for a review or new assessment to get this resolved.

If you don't have your report for contact details the Google DSA QAG and they should have a list of all centres.

Right.
I had the laptop checked over and apparently, there is some sort of fault in the laptop. She said that she could fix it but it would require quite a big repair job and its way more than I can afford.
I contacted the DSA assessment office and she was nice and gave me loads of infomation but I'm still stuck.
I contact my provider who basically stated the IT repair guy was just trying to take me for a ride and there was nothing wrong with my laptop.
I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Is there any advice?
Should I just wait till I have my DSA assessment and talk to them face to face about them helping me get my laptop fixed. As they might be able to go through it on my behalf if I show them what's wrong with it and the diagnostic report.
Otherwise, I will just have to bite the bullet and take out a loan to get another.

If you have a diagnostic report for the laptop, would posting a copy here for others to look at and comment be any help?

Get hold of DSA, they're supposed to fix the computer if it isn't working.

Don't wait. Just get onto them, it's their responsibility. Ds has tourettes and broke the screen on his, it was replaced and a laptop was provided on loan, by dsa until it was fixed.
Same with Dd when hers started overheating. Just don't take no from them and don't take the laptop elsewhere.

If you're saving your files to the cloud, such as One Drive then it doesn't really matter how many times your laptop crashes, the files aren't going to mysteriously disappear.

Use the cloud version of Office that comes with One Drive, or Google Docs, which autosaves your work every few seconds.

What make is your laptop OP? My advice would be to contact the company directly especially if you only had it for a year before issues arose. Did the IT person explain what was wrong and what the likely cause is?

See whether you can get a report from the person who checked it over, detailing what's wrong and what needs to be done.

Then see if you can find a second computer person to check it over and also provide a report. If these match, you'll have a stronger case to present.

Also worth posting the report on here, as there'll be someone who knows something about computers, or who knows someone who knows something!

I think you need to start being very firm and saying, it doesn't work properly, it hasn't worked properly since x date despite their repair and it is affecting your studies and you know you are entitled to a working laptop and they need to send you a replacement urgently and you will return this one to them once the new one is up and running.

Does your uni really not have a Disability Officer or similar to help you sort this out?

Yes good point there must be someone who can help you with dsa unhelpfulness. Is there a student union welfare type person?

Can't help with DSA, but I would really recommend using some form of cloud storage solution for your important files. Even a perfectly good laptop can break due to some sort of an accident/randomly and retrieving files may or may not be possible depending on the type of damage.

If you have Windows 10, OneDrive should be pre-configured. DropBox is also very simple to use just like a local drive.