Unbelievable...

[Udel]

So a couple of my good friends I've made here in school are all completely computer illterate. But, these are some of my good buddies and they always let me crash at their place and I've had some totally good times with them. So apprently four of these guys have laptops that are hardly usable. They are covered with tons of viruses and spyware. So, because they have been so cool to me I offered to fix up their computers. (Simple scans with good anti-virus, spyware programs, defrag, registry cleaner.. ect) Straighforward stuff. So none of them have service pack two. I was working two of their laptops at once and while SP2 was loading the one kid's laptop shuts off. Apparently it "does that all the time"... the battery won't hold a charge and even plugged in the power often cuts out. So now Windows won't load at all because it was shut off during the update. I took his computer with me and I am trying to run the Repair CD and boot into Windows. *Safe mode would not boot up either*. Now this problem that was originally a simple fix is going to take most of the night or longer. Great.. I feel like a jerk, his computer was working before and now it won't even boot. I hope I can get it sorted out for him tonight. Wish me luck ATOT!

 

[Syringer]

 

[happybelly]

Originally posted by: Syringer

And milk.

 

[Continuity28]

Sounds like his computer would have crapped out sooner or later anyways.

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: happybelly

Originally posted by: Syringer

And milk.

:laugh:

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: Continuity28
Sounds like his computer would have crapped out sooner or later anyways.

Yea, but now the blame goes to me because he is not able to realize that.

 

[xcript]

Smash it with a hammer.

 

[n7]

Ah yes...

 

[thelanx]

That happens quite a bit in tech support. Good luck with it, I know your pain.

 

[Udel]

I want to grab another beer so badly, but his laptop is on my lap running chkdsk and I am afraid to get up. Drats! I do this for everyone, though. The computer techs on campus are ruthless thieves who charge like $70 for simple spyware scans. Even if I have to do it alone, I would rather rake up some good karma and help people out then have them pay through the nose to this lousy place that has bleed me nearly $400 in parking tickets.

 

[Udel]

Chkdsk holds at %55. Wonderful.

 

[LtPage1]

Sounds like you need to be an on-campus computer tech. Start your own service and charge $60.

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: LtPage1
Sounds like you need to be an on-campus computer tech. Start your own service and charge $60.

I absolutly could! It is amazing how many people have almost no computer skills at all. Great as it is to make a killing off these guys, I am just more then glad to do it for them. We take for granted that we keep out PC's running smooth. The average guy can get clobbered with viruses and spyware if he doesn't know what he is doing. Considering it is such a simple thing to fix, I feel the good karma I snag doing it for everyone is totally worth it. This one case, however is a complete pain to have to work with. But, we will see what we can do.

 

[DaWhim]

hdd with bad sector?

 

[shoRunner]

Originally posted by: Udel
I want to grab another beer so badly, but his laptop is on my lap running chkdsk and I am afraid to get up. Drats! I do this for everyone, though. The computer techs on campus are ruthless thieves who charge like $70 for simple spyware scans. Even if I have to do it alone, I would rather rake up some good karma and help people out then have them pay through the nose to this lousy place that has bleed me nearly $400 in parking tickets.

ruthless theives? sounds like $70 dollars for what you've done so far would be a mere pittance. you under value your labor and therefore screw yourself...i've learned this and charge all my friends, that way we both end happy.

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: shoRunner

Originally posted by: Udel
I want to grab another beer so badly, but his laptop is on my lap running chkdsk and I am afraid to get up. Drats! I do this for everyone, though. The computer techs on campus are ruthless thieves who charge like $70 for simple spyware scans. Even if I have to do it alone, I would rather rake up some good karma and help people out then have them pay through the nose to this lousy place that has bleed me nearly $400 in parking tickets.

ruthless theives? sounds like $70 dollars for what you've done so far would be a mere pittance. you under value your labor and therefore screw yourself...i've learned this and charge all my friends, that way we both end happy.

Yea, I'm with you to a degree. Somebody I just barely know I may charge a bit for my time. But these guys have always been throwing me freebies. Two of them work at this pizza palor so I always get free pies, they always let me crash at their place and use all of their stuff, and they are just great friends to have. So for these guys, I am more then happy putting some time in to help them out, even if it does require some extra time. If anyone asks me nicely, I cannot resist giving them a hand. I may not bet getting rich off it, but I believe in karma and I believe doing the right thing pays off. That, and I have too much time on my hands anyways.

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: shoRunner

Originally posted by: Udel
I want to grab another beer so badly, but his laptop is on my lap running chkdsk and I am afraid to get up. Drats! I do this for everyone, though. The computer techs on campus are ruthless thieves who charge like $70 for simple spyware scans. Even if I have to do it alone, I would rather rake up some good karma and help people out then have them pay through the nose to this lousy place that has bleed me nearly $400 in parking tickets.

ruthless theives? sounds like $70 dollars for what you've done so far would be a mere pittance. you under value your labor and therefore screw yourself...i've learned this and charge all my friends, that way we both end happy.

I just say that because the tech guys here really are criminals. $70 for an anti-virus scan may be alright at a place like Bestbuy, but I don't see how you could really charge more then $25.... It takes what? An hour of your time at most?

 

[Udel]

Huh? Chkdsk went from 68% to 50%? Has anyone ever seen this before?

 

[Udel]

I ran chkdsk twice now and it still bluescreens and reboots everytime I try to get into Windows. Any ideas? Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[I Saw OJ]

Don't charge your friends who are completely computer illterate, thats what friends are for to help each other out. Also sounds like the computer was about to take a dump, ever thought about a fresh start on the OS?

 

[Udel]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Don't charge your friends who are completely computer illterate, thats what friends are for to help each other out. Also sounds like the computer was about to take a dump, ever thought about a fresh start on the OS?

Me? Sure I have. But he, I'm, sure, has a ton of things he cannot affort to loose. :roll:

 

[I Saw OJ]

Originally posted by: Udel

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Don't charge your friends who are completely computer illterate, thats what friends are for to help each other out. Also sounds like the computer was about to take a dump, ever thought about a fresh start on the OS?

Me? Sure I have. But he, I'm, sure, has a ton of things he cannot affort to loose. :roll:

Tell him it wont be that hard to download all that porn again


Seth

 

[swtethan]

i would just say buy an usb external enclosure for a 2.5 hdd and backup all necessary files and reformat, but thats a last resort

 

[Platypus]

There are lots of variables here.

I would rule out the drive first, run the HD manuf. diagnostic tool and do a throughough scan of the drive for bad clusters.

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ

Originally posted by: Udel

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Don't charge your friends who are completely computer illterate, thats what friends are for to help each other out. Also sounds like the computer was about to take a dump, ever thought about a fresh start on the OS?

Me? Sure I have. But he, I'm, sure, has a ton of things he cannot affort to loose. :roll:

Tell him it wont be that hard to download all that porn again


Seth

Whats so hard. Hook the drive up to an external usb enclosure, connect to your computer, import outlook.pst, bookmarks, files and such, reinstall windows.