Thats it ive had enough no more

[ZPR]

Yea, I agree with lward1, the first PC I ever got had windows 95, with 16 MB of ram with a 2 GB Hard Drive, man did I screw it up, but I was like what 9 or 10 back than, and I messed up so bad, we had a local computer place come fix it, I was amazed, they just popped in a floppy and all these things popped up, later I learned that it wouldn't boot off CD-Rom and that's where my niche in computer repair started. I wanted to be like that, needless to say I ended up re-installing windows at least 50 times on that thing, I'ld mess it up so bad it wasn't even funny, but I had fun doing it, we all have to start somewhere, I even took it all apart and put it back together, used computers are always good to start with, they may need fixing and the experience gained is just the start, my story would be a post all in it self.

But sometimes, you wanna just get out there and get working, which I think reesk92 has done, his family most likely herd that he knows a bit about computers, and is trying his best to take on the role of a tech, which needs respect, after all, you have to start somewhere, but has been burnt by it, so when ever he does become a pro, he'll have practice with the hard clients and will model his service after this experience. The younger generation will have issues of there own to worry about, as computers get cheaper & just being thrown out instead of fixed, they'll have to come up with more ways to put the bacon on the table.

 

[reesk92]

exactley zack ive deffinatley learnt form this, 1 GET IT IN WRITING, 2 TREAT THEM AS IDIOTS BACKIT UP, 3 NO LICENSE NO OS INSTALL.



as a side note does any one know how to put the vista revovery disk on usb i mean the one that dosent reinstall xp just repair

 

[gunslinger]

ive had enough of fixxing family computers and getting it back in the neck when something turns out not like they expected im through they want the pc fixed they can **** off and pay 60+ pounds for some one else to dot it.

where shalli begin

about a year ago my nan got a free laptop on one of those broadband deals and the second she got it my aunt told her vista is **** (where she got this idea from is beyond me she hasn't even used it) and that she should use xp so anyway i was 15/16 at the time and they came to me and said install xp so i did i installed xp (BTW they didnt even have any xp install media) so i used a dell xp disk and patched it up good (please don't say it i know ) so any way now a year down the line im being shouted at for fucking up the laptop because they now want vista and they don't have any install media for it on the count that it got wiped during the install and im being blamed when i did exactly what i was told so i am ****** off like you would not believe



p.s sorry for not punctuating this but i am really not in the mood ill go over it once ive calmed down

To start with, Vista is ****. This is the only thing here that was right. Second thing, installing XP on a vista box these days is asking for problems even though XP is a much better OS, most companies no longer make XP drivers.Third thing, its a pretty big job and not one I would do for anyone with $$$ family included.

 

[reesk92]

To start with, Vista is ****. This is the only thing here that was right. Second thing, installing XP on a vista box these days is asking for problems even though XP is a much better OS, most companies no longer make XP drivers.Third thing, its a pretty big job and not one I would do for anyone with $$$ family included.

exactly my point but i was told toput xp on and i did now they want vista

but im beginging to think that windows not activating isnt the problem i think the hdd is playing up its always reporting disk read error so its probably them being idiots and trying to guess ill keep checking and see what i come up with

 

[NWPhotog]

im gonna have to start piling m,oney into getting a full fista install disk and then charge them for the licences

Why not just buy the Vista reload disk from the manufacture? It should be about $25 US.

 

[ZPR]

What reesk92 was talking about doing was getting the Vista disk for installs, but for the task of reinstalling vista, I couldn't agree more, just get the disk from the maker, and the drivers are all on there anyways, so just charge them upfront the cost of the CD and call it no better.

And you can check if it's the disk by using a smart monitoring tool, but even those don't work right 100% of the time, or by using even viewer.

And I do agree, personally I perfer linux, but if I had to use windows, windows XP over Vista, but all the PC's I've helped setted up had Vista on it, and it was the Home Basic or Preminum Editions that they had to, but they didn't care, just so long as it works. So even though I wouldn't use it, most of my clients still don't care what it is, just so long as it works.

But reesk92, how come they even wanted Vista back in the first place?

 

[reesk92]

i have no clue

 

[Afford-A-Tech]

ive had enough of fixxing family computers and getting it back in the neck when something turns out not like they expected im through they want the pc fixed they can **** off and pay 60+ pounds for some one else to dot it.

where shalli begin

about a year ago my nan got a free laptop on one of those broadband deals and the second she got it my aunt told her vista is **** (where she got this idea from is beyond me she hasn't even used it) and that she should use xp so anyway i was 15/16 at the time and they came to me and said install xp so i did i installed xp (BTW they didnt even have any xp install media) so i used a dell xp disk and patched it up good (please don't say it i know ) so any way now a year down the line im being shouted at for fucking up the laptop because they now want vista and they don't have any install media for it on the count that it got wiped during the install and im being blamed when i did exactly what i was told so i am ****** off like you would not believe



p.s sorry for not punctuating this but i am really not in the mood ill go over it once ive calmed down

this is exactly why i will not work on a family members pc. i usually just send them to a fellow tech i can trust.

 

[reesk92]

update

just thought id give a update on this


the pc in question turned out to not have a messed up xp install but instead the hdd died, so still being under its oem warenty i sent it back to dell they swapped the drie for one of there ready imaged ones and every one was happy...

untill the fail bus came around again and he asked where is xp to which i replied (not going to happen i am not installing vista again no way)btw why does this man even care he still uses aol for christ sake.

 

[lawson_jl]

reesk92 I have to say I feel your pain. I'm 30 now but have been "working" on comptuers since I was about 15 and got my first one. Like you I started out by working on the PCs of friends and family (and my own quite a bit too since I was always doing something to break it).

The best you can do right now with your relatives is to apologize to all the relatives involded by saying something like "I'm sorry for any problems that arose from me not fully explaining the changes to your PC and the effects it would have." I know it's not fault but at this point you just need to smooth it over and get past it. As far as your step dad goes I wouldn't bother arguing with someone for 4 hours. It's best to just state your reasons and maybe point to the website and say "believe what you want to believe." I knows it hard to sometimes just say "your a f$%#ing idot and have no idea what your talking about." Trust me I've had to bite my tongue on that alot.

I can offer some tips that I've picked up over the years that will help you avoid some of theses situations. Unfortuantly soem people simply aren't gonna understand but at least you made every effort from the start.

1. Treat everyone as a paying customer (even if they are not).
2. Do your best not to change the way a customers PC works.
3. If you do have to make changes explain in detail to the customer what the changes are and how they will effect them using the PC before doing so.
4. If at all possiable make sure your changes are reversible.
5. Never install (or fix problems with) bootleg software. This will always bite you in the ass at some point.

This will prevent most problems with customers but like I said there will always be those people that just can't get it. You will occasional have to deal with a person like that in that case it's best to be polite and send them elsewhere.