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  • Sir, time costs money...

    For me, the worst part of my job is when I have to call back customers whose computers are unfixable. For the most part, they're understanding, and willing to listen to my suggestions on what to do next. This guy, however...

    He brought in a vintage Toshiba TE2000 laptop a few days ago. One which he had purchased as refurbished, and which he'd gotten a couple of years out of before it started acting weird on him. When I plugged it in, it actually managed to start booting, and attempted to load Windows XP. Unfortunately, about the time it was to finish loading, a blue screen popped up for a split-second, the screen reverted to the Toshiba splash screen, and then disappeared. I told him that there wasn't much I could do, but we'd charge him for a diagnostic, and see if I could get it to boot. He paid the money, and left.

    A few days later, after over 20 attempts, I could not get the old thing to boot at all. Seeing as I don't have unlimited time or resources to go in and attempt work on the innards of the thing, I had to call him up and tell him the bad news. When I called, he was quite upset. he claimed that I'd known all along that nothing could be done, and that he'd paid $50 for nothing. In fact, he claimed that he felt as if he were robbed! I told him over and over again that I'd tried numerous times to attempt to get some sort of spark of life from the machine, but still he persisted, wondering if there is any way he can get some sort of refund from a manager for the money he spent for the diagnostic (doubtful). Going into an area where I'd tried not to go into, I told him flat-out, "Sir, time costs money." Amazingly, this seemed to calm him somewhat, to the point that he backed down from his ranting. He finished the conversation by saying that he'd be by on Monday to talk with our managers about it; I just hope he doesn't bring a gun...
    -Adam
    Goofy music!
    Old tech junk!

  • #2
    Quoth AdamAnt316 View Post
    Going into an area where I'd tried not to go into, I told him flat-out, "Sir, time costs money." Amazingly, this seemed to calm him somewhat, to the point that he backed down from his ranting.
    That's not really amazing. Most people are willing to spend money if they get something in return. What they're hoping for and expecting is a fixed computer. If they don't get their expectations, then they're going to be pissed. But... you just pointed out to the guy that he did get something for his money, in a way that he understood. It wasn't what he wanted, but he did get a return for the cash outlay... so he calmed down.

    I wouldn't rate him as really sucky, just the run-of-the-mill suckage most of us do when a repairman tells us something we don't want to hear.

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    • #3
      Did you try to boot into safe mode? If you did was it doing the same thing?

      As long as it gets past the OEM splash screen, then it can probably be fixed with a format....

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      • #4
        Quoth sld72382 View Post
        Did you try to boot into safe mode? If you did was it doing the same thing?

        As long as it gets past the OEM splash screen, then it can probably be fixed with a format....
        It sounds to me more like the hard drive is slowly dying, in which case it can be fixed by replacing the HD, formatting the new machine, and if you're lucky you can get data off the old one before the old HD kicks the bucket.

        I've seen that problem before. It's going to be impossible to fix the current HD, but the machine isn't totally out of service.
        Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Gallactica.
        Dwight: Bears don't eat bee... Hey! What are you doing?
        The Office

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        • #5
          Yeah, that sounds very much like what happened when my hard drive started dying.
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          • #6
            99.9% of the time, some of the lights at the edge of the keyboard would come on, but that was it (no video/LCD, no hard drive light flickering, etc.). The only time it did something close to booting was the very first time I tested it, with the customer. The hard drive light started flickering, Windows XP began to boot, but just when it seemed like it should be finishing, a blue screen of some sort popped up, the unit immediately reset to the Toshiba splash screen, and then went blank, never to return again.

            As a postscript, the owner of the PC came in to pick up his unit today. He got compensation for the failed diagnostic from our manager (I was surprised that he did), and will likely be purchasing a new computer from us in the future (the one he brought in to be fixed is at least 7 years old, so he was about due for a replacement anyway). All in all, it went better than what I expected.
            -Adam
            Goofy music!
            Old tech junk!

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            • #7
              Ah, so then maybe it was a combo of mobo and psu? Hard to say. At least you gave him a really good excuse to upgrade.
              Jim: Fact: Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Gallactica.
              Dwight: Bears don't eat bee... Hey! What are you doing?
              The Office

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              • #8
                one of the reasons i hate diagnosing PC's is that you cant tell whast broken where other than by trying to isolate. with cars you just sorta ope the hood and say "Ohh look your engine block is cracked."

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                • #9
                  I'm with you there Cyphr. Just last month I had a hard drive ribbon cable go bad. I spent a couple of days trying to track down this problem. I swapped out mother boards, power supplies, hard drives, etc. (fortunately, I'm paranoid and an ex-Boy Scout, so I keep spares for most things ... except the motherboard and new CPU ... but, I'm not crying that I have new ones ).

                  Finally, by accident, I use the ribbon cable that came with the new mobo. The machine started behaving. In the 27 years I've been dealing with PCs (basically, since IBM started selling them), I've _never_ had one of those go bad.

                  So, two days of time gone ... cheap ribbon cable thrown away ... shiny new mobo and CPU. I guess it turned out OK.
                  "Always stand near the door." -- Doctor Who

                  Kuya's Kitchen -- Cooking, Cooking Gadgets, and Food Related Blather from a Transplanted Foodie

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                  • #10
                    Quoth Cyphr View Post
                    one of the reasons i hate diagnosing PC's is that you cant tell whast broken where other than by trying to isolate
                    Yeah, but that's the fun of it.

                    And yes, after 5+ years, I can still call it fun. Burnout's for wimps.
                    SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
                    SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

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                    • #11
                      Quoth marasbaras View Post
                      I'm with you there Cyphr. Just last month I had a hard drive ribbon cable go bad. I spent a couple of days trying to track down this problem. I swapped out mother boards, power supplies, hard drives, etc. (fortunately, I'm paranoid and an ex-Boy Scout, so I keep spares for most things ... except the motherboard and new CPU ... but, I'm not crying that I have new ones ).

                      Finally, by accident, I use the ribbon cable that came with the new mobo. The machine started behaving. In the 27 years I've been dealing with PCs (basically, since IBM started selling them), I've _never_ had one of those go bad.

                      So, two days of time gone ... cheap ribbon cable thrown away ... shiny new mobo and CPU. I guess it turned out OK.
                      That used to be one of our "Frell with the trainees" problems. An IDE cable and a pin
                      Lady, people aren't chocolates. D'you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling. Dr Cox - Scrubs

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                      • #12
                        Quoth marasbaras View Post
                        Finally, by accident, I use the ribbon cable that came with the new mobo. The machine started behaving. In the 27 years I've been dealing with PCs (basically, since IBM started selling them), I've _never_ had one of those go bad.

                        So, two days of time gone ... cheap ribbon cable thrown away ... shiny new mobo and CPU. I guess it turned out OK.
                        Sadly ive had 4 of these go bad on me in a single month.(found out the mobo was power spiking into it) but ive seen many an ide get tossed as bad,.
                        This is a drama-free zone; violators will be slapped. -Irving Patrick Freleigh
                        my blog:http://steeledragon.wordpress.com/

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                        • #13
                          Quoth Cyphr View Post
                          one of the reasons i hate diagnosing PC's is that you cant tell whast broken where other than by trying to isolate. with cars you just sorta ope the hood and say "Ohh look your engine block is cracked."
                          You've never had a problem with the electronics in a car then. When my controller went, it would shut the fuel pump off at random times. We replaced that pump twice before they stated poking around at other things.
                          The Rich keep getting richer because they keep doing what it was that made them rich. Ditto the Poor.
                          "Hy kan tell dey is schmot qvestions, dey is makink my head hurt."
                          Hoc spatio locantur.

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                          • #14
                            Quoth Geek King View Post
                            You've never had a problem with the electronics in a car then.
                            Exactly. Cars no longer die from engine failures or rust. Electrical problems can, and do sideline many older vehicles. Metal contacts corrode, wiring insulation goes brittle, relays and solenoids sometimes stick, etc. It can be a very expensive cycle of trying to track down the problem.

                            Like most of them, my MGB suffered from poor wiring...mainly because the harness had been butchered over the years. Quite a few places had new wiring let into the harness...with the old bare wires still in place...and against the bodywork Needless to say, I promptly ripped all that crap out, and fitted a new harness. It simply wasn't worth trying to fix 35-year-old-plus wiring. Too many snapped-off spade connectors, too many places of "repairs" and too much split insulation.

                            Getting back on topic here, I've never had a ribbon cable fail either. I have though, seen the end connectors actually pull out of the cable. Those were usually cheap ones though. That's not usually a problem, since I hang onto any cables when I scrap a computer. That, and all the brackets, blanking plates, screws, and other hardware. It saves a trip to the computer store
                            Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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                            • #15
                              Quoth marasbaras View Post
                              In the 27 years I've been dealing with PCs (basically, since IBM started selling them), I've _never_ had one of those go bad.

                              So, two days of time gone ... cheap ribbon cable thrown away ... shiny new mobo and CPU. I guess it turned out OK.
                              I had a similar problem, once.

                              The issue was that my hard drive would spin down at random intervals. While checking connections after restarting the machine with the case cover off, it would spin down any time the power cable was touched. It turned out that the new power cable I had purchased to ensure I had enough connections had a bad line in one of the splits, and that was the one attached to the drive.

                              ^-.-^
                              Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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