Prizes for killing 2 PC's?

sarymclary

Hi guys,

Well, what can I say other than to confess that over the Christmas period I managed to kill both my Compaq laptop and my Fujitsu Scaleo T desktop.

I took both into PC world yesterday to have the techguys have a look at it, and the advisor there said both had an operating system problem, needing to have the recovery disks put in to restore the system.

The laptop was bought 2nd hand earlier this year, so I don't have any recovery disks for it, and the advisor said they only did Vista, which the laptop probably wouldn't be able to cope with running.

The desktop has also had the operating system crash, as it played up in exactly the same way as the laptop, and I cannot find the recovery disks that I know came with the PC when I got it from new. I've had a look online and there is a website that was offering recovery disks, but they have the following message: Please Note; Despite having originally giving us permission to supply Windows Recovery CDs & Windows Restore CDs, Microsoft have now informed us that we also need to be confirmed as Microsoft Authorised Duplicators.

SO, what should I do guys? Is the compaq worth trying to get sorted out?

Also, what could I have done to kill both of them? I use the PC for surfing, downloading music, photo downloads (picture project or Adobe photo shop). The first error message that appeared related to an AOL error telling me to restart the machine. It progressed from there with the last message on the desktop being a reg.exe message. The error messages could not be removed, despite clicking cancel or the 'x' box. They over rode everything else, including the shutdown function. The Techguy at PC world said he thought that it was the action of switching it off, rather than going through the shutdown function (when the machine was paralysed) that has caused the OS to fail, but what's to stop this happening again? I use McAfee (monthly membership at £4 p/m, so it's very current), also downloaded AVG. AOL boasts it's own spyware/antivirus (dunno if that's any good).

I am obviously not at all technically minded, but want to be sure that firstly the laptop is not worth reviving before I consider replacing, and wondering what I do to get new recovery disks for the desktop.

Sorry it was a long post. Hope someone has some advice to offer - yeah, yeah, I know, step away from the PC's (this is the boyfriend's laptop and he is suitably scared)!:eek:

Red_Rose_Exile

so you just spent £50 talking to the "Techguys"

You do realise you could have bought yourself the XP disk and reinstalled windows for that?

Don't bother with the recovery disk, just buy and OEM Windows disk from someone like ebuyer. Once you have the disk you should be able to repair both.

You may well be better off looking in your Thomsons and finding a "proper repairperson",

I am sure that there are some excellent PC world staff. The trouble is they don't work in any store that I have been in.

They are retailers first and computer experts second, and I use the term "expert" loosely.

When I go into a computer hardware supplier, I expect the person with whom I am conversing to know the difference between a crossover and a straight through cable. I expect him or her to be able to give me enough information on basic hardware to make an informed decision . I also do not want to have an extended warranty.

I do not have an issue with somebody not knowing the basic specs,hells bells with the variety available, anyone can be forgiven that, but I do not wish to be given male bovine manure. If they don't know, they should say or keep quiet.

I am fortunate enough to have avoided their after sales service, and fortunately for my pocket, had to pick up the pieces of some of their slightly dubious repair techniques.

b33r

Laptops often have a recovery partition, well the two I've had have (dell and a sony). Check for that, I bet PC World tech guys didn't.

But as Red Rose Exile said, reinstalling windows isn't a difficult process and you can buy an OEM Windows XP cd quite cheaply. The PCs certainly aren't dead (They're better without windows IMO with the problems it causes but I realise why people use it but why not try ubuntu, it's free and a far more secure OS than Windows)

Also have you tried booting into safe mode and carrying out a system restore?

sarymclary

Hi, thanks for your replies.

Firstly, I got the advice from PC World free. I'd taken the 2 pc's there with the full intention of them being diagnosed/fixed. The 1st assistant got another guy to come talk to me. He switched on the laptop, saw that it wasn't allowing any command like 'safe mode', 'safe mode with command prompts' etc to be used. Said that the way it started to load was typical of the OS failing. I said the desktop was the same, and he suggested the recovery disks, saying I'd surely want to try to save my money if possible. Frankly, I was expecting a sharp intake of breath, and being taken for the PC ignorant that I am (wallet an all).

Thanks for the advice re. ubuntu, never heard of it before, so will have a look there.

Just as an aside; the site I found the info about the Fujitsu disks said that they needed a Fujitsu specific one to load on the pre-installed drivers/info. Would an OEM Windows XP cd do this? What happens to all the other pre-loaded programs like Nero or Works, etc? Are they included too?

My OH had a fault on his laptop earlier this year, and an independent techie came out to the house to have a look, then took it away, billed us £80 for his time, but was unable to fix it. A mate had a look at it for him and diagnosed that he needed a new mother board, put it in for him and it was fine.

The mate would, I'm sure be able to fix my PC's, were it not for the fact that he's a new dad, is refitting the plumbing in his house and installing a new kitchen right now! How do you find a reputable techie? A local shop wanted £150 off my OH just to diagnose his laptop's problem! I feel more competent dealing with car salesmen than I do computer guys (except you lovely chaps here, of course)!

p.s. redroseexile, I totally relate to the lack of knowledge in these places; there was one guy wandering round PC World with a red balloon attached to the clipboard he was carrying around - now, that's no way to earn a living.

mb2_2

ring fujitsu and compaq and tell them you want some restore CDs. you might even be able to download them somewhere..

ormus

shame you dont live nr me.
i repair the OS/SW for 40 quid per pc.

its easier with the correct recovery disk as it has all the req drivers on it. but its not essential. all the drivers are on the net somewhere.

marble

Do your computers have the Microsoft stickers with the licence key on them? Many laptops have the key on the bottom of them ... desktops tend to have the sticker on the side.

If they have the stickers, you could probably get away with 'finding' a copy of the Windows install disk without having to buy another copy. If you don't have the stickers (or licence keys) you may have to buy another couple of copies of Windows (or use Ubuntu).

Al

banger9365

you killed two pc well i killed a £150 motherboard yesterday and it's not 12 month old yet

Nilrem

As Marble says if your machines have the sticker on the side you should be able to use a standard OEM windows XP disk of the right type* to reinstall (the licence is tied to the serial number/PC and not the install disk).


*Home, Media center, or Pro

sarymclary

:eek: Hi guys, back online again (with a few blips along the way),

the kill count is now up to 4 machines! I don't know how I've developed such a destructive gift, but hell am I good at this!!

So the saga is currently at this stage:
1) the desktop recovery disks were found in the loft, have reinstalled all progs and drivers successfully. It seems a bit slower than I believe it should be, but it works. Have done a defrag and there is loads of space on the HD, so perhaps it will settle down. I had probs being able to use the net initially; lots of warning boxes about security certificates, which were annoying. Have managed to download the XP service pack 3 (pack 2 wouldn't install), have downloaded I.explorer 7, and the errors aren't so frequent.

2. Have tried to load XP onto my laptop using the desktop's disks. Loaded OK, but won't accept the product key (sticker on desktop). It says I have it for a 30 day trial. Any way round this? Should I just download Ubuntu and use that as an XP alternative? Any issues I should be aware of if I do that?

3. I was using DBF's laptop, and that started with the error sound, then error messages, and keeps crashing/locking up. When it does this it won't allow you to go thru' the normal shutdown procedure. No programs or applications will run, close or open when it does this. He's tried to put his own recovery disks in, but they won't run, we have browsed them, but can't see a start point to get it to do it's thing! I am worried that a file saved on a 4GB memory stick with files from my desktop have affected the laptop. I saved primarily photos (from phone/camera), music files, a few documents I'd written & received, and my son's GCSE coursework. I'm too paranoid to put the memory stick into the newly recovered desktop! What can I do to check it?

4. I haven't used the DBF's desktop, but when logged onto his laptop on his AOL account at my house, his son tried to log onto AOL from the BF's house, and it froze up. They restarted the desktop, and it's now making the same error noise, not working properly, freezing up, running very slowly (and there are no recovery disks for this one, he was meant to save one to disk when he got the machine, but didn't!:eek: Now, considering I've not even used this machine, but it's also behaving in the same way, what the hell is going on?

Is it likely that there is a virus that has infected all 4 machines? If so, why hasn't it affected anyone else I correspond/send files to? Just to clarify, I use McAfee as a firewall, which I pay £4 p/month for online (via AOL), and AOL spyzapper is my virus protection.

jaydeeuk1

Hi, sorry to hear about the problems you are having, how you've managed to kill 4 is some talent!

1) Slow down could be due to older drivers on the restore disks, if you send me the model number of your computer, I'll give you links to download and install the latest drivers, if you're able to reinstall windows, then installing new drivers will be a cinch.

2) Don;t try Ubuntu, you'll have all sorts of headaches at despite what people say, its no where near as straight forward as XP - plus lots of programmes games etc will not work. Sounds like you are trying to use the desktop product key on your laptop, when you've already just activated the same key in point 1 on your desktop, is that right? If so, that won't work. For a start, you can only have 1 license (key) on 1 machine. Did the laptop have XP on previously? If so, was it a 'legal' version/preinstalled?

3) Have you run a virus checker on your memory stick? Sometimes checkers are only setup to check hard drives (fixed disks).
If you want to check the memory stick, It should be safe to put in a machine that has 'autorun' disabled, and then run a virus check on it. I really doubt its the memory stick causing the problem, unless its a hard ware fault, such as an internal electrical short.

4) I've never been unforunate to have to use AOL software, and would be unable to advise you on the cause of this without looking at the machine.

Where abouts do you live? I build/repair computers as a part time job, if you are near Belper, derbyshire I'd be happy to take a look for you.

Cheers

James