OMG! I ordered a Dell with huge reservations! And I should have listened to my gut. Originally the sales guy said that I could get help partitioning my drive by calling tech support. Upon receipt of my computer I called tech support only to be told that they don't help with partitioning of drives because of their "PC Restore" feature. After an hour of me arguing with them and fighting with them and inisting that I was promised that it would be done, the supervisor made an exception. The tech was helping me but I kept getting some error message about not being able to boot from the disk due to drive configuration problems. Based on that and 4 hours of troubleshooting the tech figured that it was a bad CD ROM so they reshipped. I got the reship and discovered they had the wrong OS on it... Vista instead of XP Pro. I called Dell to get help with the partitioning and to have my XP Pro OS installed (Dell customer service told me to keep my disks from the original computer). Again the same song and dance about not supporting partitioning. After 90 minutes of arguing with the tech and a "policy and procedure supervisor"..... yes, they have a whole department dedicated to just policy and procedures! .... I was left with "I'll try and send a message to the tech from last week and his supervisor and let them know you are still waiting on a resolution of your issue". Now wasn't that a huge amount of help! I called the next day and talked to Dell again and this time I got someone who actually couldn't understand what the issue was with helping me the day before because it was already approved and would have been done had the computer from last week worked. So he managed to get my XP Pro on the system but ran into problems with the partitioning because it kept going in circles instead of partitioning, so I ended up with XP Pro on the whole hard drive on a working computer which is more than what I had last week. I called to get help with my DSL Connection only to find out that the Dell guy forgot to help me install the drivers! I called Dell customer support tell them to just send me out a new system with XP Pro on it like I asked for. I asked to speak to a supervisor. The girl refused to put me through to one and kept telling me that I'll never get another computer shipped to me from Dell with XP Pro on it. I tried to explain to her that it was what I ordered and what I originally got, but she wouldn't hear me. She quickly put me on hold without giving me a chance to say anything and never came back. I hung up after about 15 minutes and called back. The next guy I spoke with was super dim. He refused to put me through to a supervisor until I told him what this was about. I was pissed off by this time and I'm sure I was yelling by now. He went to make his notes and came back and again asked me to go through it again because he missed some of it. I was livid!!! I told him that I was tired of being screwed around by Dell and he replied "Let's keep this civil!" He put me on hold to finish his notes and came back and said "Can you tell me what it is that you are upset about?" Like OMFG!!!!!! I finally got put through to a supervisor who said that they don't ship with XP Pro anymore and that they only have Vista as of January 31st. It didn't seem to matter to them that I ordered my system in January with XP Pro and that was what I got initially and the reorder was done on January 30th. According to her their policy is that effective January 31st no computers are being shipped from Dell with anything but Vista with NO exceptions even if my system was ordered previously! I was so sick of hearing about policy and procedures that I was ready to shove their policy and procedure binder down their throats! I got put through to tech support again! I was on the verge of tears by this time. I was choking back tears and had tears welling up in my eyes and when the tech asked me "can I have your service tag number?" I sighed and nearly broke down crying....actually I did break down crying, but I didn't think it was adudible over the phone but it must have been. Anyway, he read through everything and he couldn't believe all that I've been put through and he said he would help me with the drivers and if I wanted he could also help me with the partitioning of the drive. I agreed to let him. 1 hour later I had a partitioned drive with XP Pro on it and he even helped me with my DSL connection. He told me to not bother calling the regular tech support number anymore and to just call him or one of his team directly and he gave me the direct line to him as well as his home phone number in case of emergencies. I was so happy to have a working computer with the specs that I ordered. I spent the next 7 or 8 hours installing software stuff and then I powered down my system at 2:50am on Saturday only to find that when I turned it back on the computer screen was black. Another call to Dell and and a trial of a different monitor and I am told my graphic card is gone and needs to be replaced. He suggested a new CPU be sent. I told him to forget it and that I wasn't going to go through all of that "we don't support partitioning" etc etc etc etc again. He put me on hold and came back and told me that he will have a new graphic card dispatched to me and either they can help me install it or have someone come in and do it. I told him that I'm sick of paying for do it yourself tech support and that someone can come in and fix it. He then tells me that I'm running a pirated version of my OS!!!! and that my warranty is void because of it and anyone at Dell who helps me will be breaking the law and will hang up on me as soon as they hear that I have XP on a system that was shipped with Vista. I asked him if that was the case how was he going to have someone come out and install a graphic card for me? He said "What OS? I know from your symptoms that it's the graphic card and I didn't have to go into your system so I don't know what OS you are running." LMAO Anyway, I have the system that I ordered with the OS I wanted and I'm being called a thief!!! All Dell had to do was transfer over the License for XP Pro to me which they apparently refused to do, so now according to Dell I'm a thief even though they told me to keep the disks and 11 people at Dell never once said anything about this license stuff to me despite my having gone on and on about XP Pro, and Dell even helped me put the OS on the computer! That was the real straw that broke the camel's back. I'm returning the whole damn thing to Dell and buyiing from Powerland Computers locally like I had considered before. As a matter of fact I'm writing this from a lovely MAC in their office while waiting for them to box up my Dell monitor for me (I through out the box because I never dreamed that I would be returning the thing to them. Plus I have a quote for a new computer with a 22 inch monitor that is substantially less than what Dell was charging me....and that's with a 5 years parts and labour warranty. So I'm off line for a week or two more while a new system is built for me.

I think there are horror stories no matter what brand you buy and sorry to hear about all your troubles.

I purchased a Dell last year and couldn't be happier with it.  I guess I was one of the lucy ones.

:)

Attached Link: Build Your Own PC

I bought a Dell last month and I'm happy with it, my 3rd Dell computer in fact! Like Irish, I was probably lucky! Sorry you had a problem with yours, best of luck with your new choice! :)

I bought a new dell about 7 months ago and love it to death.  Nary a glitch, ever.,

Wow.

I've never hear of anything so pathetically stupid in all my life.

Dell is on a major downhill slide.

I've purchased over 35 Dells in my life. Some have been very good. Some have been garbage. I'll have to think long and hard befor I consider buying another one.

You should sersiously consider writing up your experience in detail and sending to someone higher up at Dell. Might be worth a free moniter or printer to you.

We have DELL at work and they seem to work ok but I've never bought from them personally because I don't like the "Return to base warranty" that they give here!
My normal supplier comes to your house to fix problems that can't be fixed over the phone and they're normally there within 3 days!

We use Dell computers at work, as well, and because my son does the on-site tech support for Dell here in Phoenix, I know who's coming to fix one at work.  Right now, in the Phoenix center, we have over 700 Dells.

On the other hand, Kevin and I both build out own computers because of our specific needs - he's much more into gaming than I am but I'm more into computer graphics (duh!) than he is so it works out better to just build our own.

However, if I ever needed to buy a computer OOB it would be a Dell because of my in-house tech support - he he he

 I build my own as well.  It's my opinion that to do anything else is literally tossing $$ out a window.  If you can put together a 7 part lego car you can build a pc.  Just last week I assisted my Uncle in building his first (we talked on phone as he did it) for a total of 850$ we built him a system that we than compared with a similarly specc'd dell , That dell cost 1400.

This is my third Dell and I take care of what I put in it....   I keep it clean and treat it with care...  I have to physically clean the insides soon.. fans, connectors... I don't have much problems except from the software I install in it...  I don't like the proprietary hardware business but...... 

Customer support from people that can not speak "the English" always rubbed me wrong..

BTW...  building your own can leave you without a boat in turbulent sea of problems....  Because you are left without a specific place to call for help...  If you have a problem and it is not determined whose at fault.. HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE...  you can get ping ponged from manufacturer to manufacturer....   Making your own means you are fairly sure in your general and beyond knowledge of computers..

not for the faint of heart...

Yup!!    If I were to buy the computer I have here at home it would have cost me around $2000.00  maybe a bit less but not by much. I paid around $1000.00 instead and did it myself.  I actually got my down stairs neighbor very interested in building his own as he's HAD IT with pre built computers and their lousy specs and often times cheap innards.   I told him I would LOVE to help him out, no problem.  Anything to get him to stop bitching about how crappy his computer is running!! :lol:

Sorry to hear about all your Dell troubles.

Like many others, I build my own. Have done so for over 10 years. And it's getting easier and easier, components are better standardized and documented these days than they were 10 years ago.
If you can tell the business end of a screwdriver from the other, you can build a PC. Honestly.

And any decent hardware shop will give you at least a 6 month warranty on all parts. Used to be different too, in the past.

Some people in this thread have said that they bought DEL computers and were happy with them. I don't doubt them, but that's not the point! The point is about DEL customer service and tech support! It sounds like DEL have put Acadia through hell. No one should have to go through what Acadia was put through. Acadia, you have my deepest sympathy!

You never realy know what a company is about until something goes wrong and they have to fix it. I hope things are much better with the new computer from Powerland Computers. Sending good vibes your way.

i agree with everyone that said to build your own...it's not that hard to do, just keep grounding yourself so no static charge is happening.
i build my own. the last one cost me $1300 and would have cost around $2000 at a store. you definately save money. and you also get what parts (mobo, chip, graphic card, etc)  you want instead of buying "what comes as a package"...which is usually a big waste of money in the long run.

The bitter irony of the story is that Dell spent much more time arguing why they should NOT help Acadia than it would have cost to actually help her. Talking someone through a basic WinXP installation shouldn't take more than half an hour, fixing up drivers maybe another half an hour, that's it. An hour's worth of actual support. 

My personal experience with Dell support is much better, probably due to two facts:

1. I'm in another country, so I had to deal with another support team;
2. I represented a business that had ordered 20 workstations plus a server, which is a significant order. Hinting at the possibility that more, even larger orders might follow if customer support was good enough... You get the idea.

I wouldn't trust Dell as far as I could throw them, because their customer support is non-existant.

In fact, there are several companies that are now on my "do not buy" list because of a bad customer service experience.

I also build my non-laptop computers, and have done so for about 10 years now.  I don't think I would ever go back to a pre-built box.  They are, for the most part, over priced and too limited for my needs.  I select my parts from companies that I know support their products, and if I have a problem, I can usually fix it myself without too much trouble.  Heck, a lot of time time I can replace a problem part for less than it would cost me to take it in to some store to have them "diagnose" a problem, much less actually fix it.

Beyond that ... upgrading and adding on are not a problem.  I remember the last pre built box I bought ... years ago .... it was a Gateway.   At some point I added something ... I think it was a network card ... and maybe a year or two later I had a mother board problem.  I had paid for a warranty extension, but when I called Gateway, they told me that the second I had installed the network card I had invalidated my warranty.

My reply was .... "you are now on my do not buy list, and you can forget getting any more money from me ... ever."  I went straight to Fry's Electronics and got a case and all the goodies to go inside of it.  I have never looked back.

Gateway ... ick.  Dell ... ick.  In fact, any company that does not put its customers first .... ICK.

Quote - BTW...  building your own can leave you without a boat in turbulent sea of problems....  Because you are left without a specific place to call for help... 

In a way, that's a good thing, because then you don't get your nose rubbed in how spectacularly unhelpful all of them are anyway.

Acadia if I were you I'd cancel the order and get a refund, and go with the hardware list I helped you research a while back.

Acadia,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with Dell (OK, your nightmare with Dell).  It's been my experience that as long as your happy with the generic, out of the box, standard config PC, then Dell, Gateway, etc. are typically OK (used to be the CIO for county government, bought, and fixed many PC's). Unfortunately, your timing was bad in the coorporate sense - Dell no doubt has some licensing argreement with M$ to not let anymore XP licenses "out the door", and the date or your re-shipment confused the heck out of the less than intelligent support staff.

Unfortunately, many of the support staff at the large PC companies probably know less about PC's than you do, they simply follow instructions on their screens, and can't deviate from them (literally, they have no clue what they are doing, and can't do anything that isn't on their "cue card"). At home, except for laptops, I have built my own computers, or got customized systems from small custom PC makers for the last 10 years. I have the advantage of being able to be my own tech support, but they really are much better computers than the out of the box variety.  I always run through the cost analysis, and sometimes the small custom computer builders can beat the price of buying it all myself. I think you'll be much happier with the machine you get from your local computer store.

But, do beware of the local "techno nerd" type of shop that builds for techno nerds, and not the general public. Typically you'll get a great performer that needs constant tweaking to run properly.  As I recall, you had an AMD based unit several years ago that was a nightmare - that's the type of system to watch out for.  AMD's are solid now, and have been for many years. But many small shops put out some really unstable systems several years ago. In the right techno geek hands they worked quite well, for anybody else they were a disaster.

Hope your new system is trouble free, and gives you many many many loooong hours of trouble free use.  Nothing can be as frustrating as not getting what was promised, having a glichy computer, and dealing with brain dead tech support (something that the companies that purchase several Dell's, Gateway's, etc. don't typically have to deal with)!

Good Luck - better days are ahead!

DR

Caution PC techie rant below :)

Theres a valid technical reason why you can't partion some drives. Both XP and Vista.
It's hiding behind "software protection", but its mainly to force you to pay more later, many companies don't include a full copy of your O/S. They only include a recovery disc. 
The recovery disc calls data off a hidden partion on your HDD. But if you've removed it or your HDD is dead then the recovery will fail. 

Ok the sales guy was wrong here, and it's PR to say the customer is being dishonest. 
And yes at times Dell support is poor, but no worse than other big players.  

But it does sound from your description the techies are trying to save you from breaking your PC.  Also consider your service agreement - if you know something isn't covered why ask. I don't expect EF to teach me how to use Lightwave why I buy Poser :) 

""many companies don't include a full copy of your O/S. They only include a recovery disc. ""

Yet another reason to build your own and actually the very reason I first started.  I didn't want a bunch of crap installed on my system I would never use.

As for technical support or pc repair.  Many places like comp usa - or even many local businesses offer support for either a time frame (ie 1-2 yrs) or per call basis.  If you really needed to go that route and your manufacturer warranty was up (w/e) it would still cost less in the long run.  Plus you get the bonus of english speaking help.

'Duuuude, you're gettin' a Dell!'  - runs away screaming in horror! ;)

Sorry, my Windows PCs are either 'spec-built' or built by yours truly.  By 'spec-built', I mean that I go to my 'computer guy' (techno geek) and I tell him what I want and he makes sure that a custom build is all compatible and works properly.  He knows that I know the he knows that we both know our shit when it comes to computers... ;P

Never once had to deal with all of that pre-built crap.  On the other hand, laptops are another story.  Can't build them from scratch (realistically).  I had an old Compaq laptop - same type o' deal.  It had the custom install disks and you couldn't upgrade to like Windows 2000 or XP as it was 98 or bust.  [Looks around] Nope, no laptops in my vicinity.  I'll stick with my very well working home-built computers (and iMac). ;)

Except for your Mom who uses email and can't figure out computers, stay away from the pre-built stuff - especially if you are using for anything remotely hardcore (3D for instance).  Even Alienware which was once the place for pre-built jet fighters is now overpriced - please pay for my logo junk.  YMMV, YEMD

one thing to consider acadia is my first computer i built i had the company that i bought parts from, i had them install windows on the hard drive for me and install the chip to the mobo, thats all. and yes, you want the disk...no start up crap. that was the only part i wasn't sure about (for myself) and they happily did it for me. other than that you plug crap into the little plugs, they usually only go one way (so you somewhat safe there ;P). the mobo come with a handy guide that shows you where your agp slots are, this goes here that goes there. i bought from 3 different places. 
zipzoom and fly, newegg and can't remember the company that builds/installs/sells stuff that did the initial harddrive and chip install. i think i just googled and typed in "build your computer for you" and waded through the mess.
just be careful and go slow. your not building a rocketship. mine started right up first time and i've been sailing ever since.

of course that doesn't cover the unexpected hard drive crashes or xp locking up for no reason. you can thank mr. gates for all of that crap.

you got a lot of good info from the earlier thread, some good peps had some good stuff for you to buy. we all love buying with your money.

Considering I probably couldn't build a computer if I tried, I went with what I KNOW would work, run like a top, and give me few headaches.   Everything in my laundry list of workable office machinery is HP.  My comp is an HP Pavillion, which...... not for nothing was affordable as heck, and is like a tank.   Very little compromises it, and after upgrading it to 2gig HD, its so fast my hair blows back.  My printers as well, both my portfolio printer and my poster printer are also HP.  

I've found the customer service at HP not only good, but they basically treat me like the Queen of Shebah......... a far cry from the (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah the horror!!!) E-machine I used to have.

Its not a perfect machine, which I don't think any really are, persea...... but it has what i'm looking for, especially the pocket book (under 900 bucks), and has the most important feature, its upgradeable.

I like HP.  Iv'e got a number of HP printers and laptops.

A 2 gig HD??  I would blow through that in a matter of a day.  My system is 1.2 terrabytes at the moment.  Much of that is graphics, but also just materials from work.  And, some of that is backup space.  When I hook the rest of the computers up to the network (in my house), I've got about 2.5 terrabytes ... however, a LOT of that is duplcation.  Which can be a good thing ... the last time I had a system meltdown, I was able to recover everything.

But you know .... you could build a computer.  Anyone who can handle a basic set of tinker toys can build a computer.  You just plug stuff in in a certain order, run a few utility programs, and start installing software.

People just get a mind set about it being hard because it involves electronics.  But really, its no harder than the cloth room or nodes or ... well anything ... it has a learning curve, and then you get over that curve and suddenly it's all second nature.

I'm hoping that Tiari meant 2gig RAM. :)

Oh and that hair blowing back are all the cooling fans... ;)

OMG! I knew DELL customer service was bad, but damn.... You're doing the right thing, send that turkey back! I have many DELL horror stories. The machines are designed to break right after the warranty ends. I've seen this over and over again. cringes at the memories If you are switching to MAC, you can partition your drive, no problem. Last time I looked, Dec 2005, Consumer Reports gave Apple "Best Customer Service." DELL was "Worst Customer Service." bB

I'll have to try that crying thing next time my girlfriend claims to have a head ache!

The best solution is built the computer by yourself, there are many poweful reasons.

• It will cost you less.
• You can pick the components (CPU, motherboard, disks, video....) that you want and not what they imposse to you.
• You can always upgrade it at any moment you want, so your computer can be always actual without the need of purchasing a new one.
• You can install any OS that you want and not be forced to use Vista.
• You don't need to buy all at once, you can buy the minimal and later add more RAM, a better video card, another disk and so on.

Components are reliable, even Chinese are!! The only problem that exist is the child death as happened with DELL. If a component don't died in the first days it will live for years, so it probably became obsolette first. If failed in the first days, there's no problem, where you have purchased they will change it for a new one.
Is not difficult to assemble all the parts, you can do it in less than a hour, in the begining you can feel lost, but is easy and in the end you will learn how to do it and so, you will know how to change or upgrade parts.

I've had 5 pcs, 3 from PC World, 1 from Comet and 1 i built myself with help, they have all had the odd problem but the hand built one was a nightmare and i'm never going that way again, the 3 from PC World all needed new monitors so rang and told them, next day a new monitor arrived, the packard bell actually had 3 monitors in its 3 year life, the acer had 2 and a motherboard and the new HP had one changed because of a dead pixel........the new HP and the HP from comet have been great so i'll be looking at HP again, but will be happy to by PB too as my laptop is a PB as is my old graphics machine which has been so abused yet still runs almost silent and rock solid........the only thing i can fault PC World on is the time it takes to get through on the phone.......Steve in the UK

And to counter -that-..... My first home system was an Apple IIc that my mom won at work; Promptly on moving out, I got a Laser 128 (IIc clone with add on card port). Getting tired of the limitations, I bought a 386sx at the local mom and pop. I added the 387 co-processor myself, and never bought an 'integrated solution again'. Every box I've had since then I've built myself, and had far better component quality, and far fewer issues than most (Remember AMD's K6 and all the problems people reported? Never had them. Why? I used a high quality motherboard (tyan), and installed the drivers in the correct order, not the recommended order, and I didn't overclock). I know in seems intimidating; I've seen newbies freeze and gibber at connecting all those funny colored wires from the case to the pin block on the mobo...despite having manual in hand. Can't help laughing when it happens, and watching the eyes glaze as I regale them of the 486 days, when you had to set address jumpers on your HDD controller card, modem, NIC, sound card, and usually video card. Set the timing on the CPU with motherboard jumpers about half the size of your litte fingernail...and dealing with chips that were easily destroyed by body static discharge. Today is a cakewalk, until you get to the software side of it...

Quote - My first home system was an Apple IIc that my mom won at work..

Well i will raise you a C64 with a tape drive :) As in actual audio tapes ! God i loved that thing, would sit for hours, ruining my eyes in front of the tiny TV at home, amazed at how it could do 64 unique colors LOL. Or was it 128 ? I forget. Much later our school bought a bunch of 286s which was my first introduction to a 'real' PC. Cutting edge turbo button and all hah ! Those were the days when we would drool over amazing 100 Mhz 486s with 2MB RAM, 400 MB hard disks and this new fangled thing called '3d' We even persuaded our Comp Sci teach to spring for 1 MB RAM on one of the boxes so that we could install Win3.1 on it. All of it on 10 floppies :p

And now we have quad core 2GHz monsters with 4GB RAM and an OS (VISTA) that takes 500MB RAM starting up and 8 GB HDD space just to install. Not sure if you can call it progress or not..

But yeh i do understand how some people just want a PC 'appliance', not a lifestyle. DELL and other vendors like them fulfill this need. And actually IIRC, DELL pretty much built their business on giving better customer service then their competition. Its sad to see how far they have fallen.

Vic-20 with cartridge was my first...

The first pre-built desk computer we ever bought was a Sony Viao.  It worked so good we ended up getting 2 more.  All of them have been great - no problems after 3 years.  They are well built, quiet, and the cases don't rattle (my Dell at work buzzes so bad sometimes I have to smack it).

Thankfully our IS department has to deal with Dells support.  I did buy a used Dell computer and had the power supply go up in smoke.  At least getting a replacement part was fairly easy - one e-mail and one phone call.  Will see how fast it arrives and if it the right part...

Quote - Vic-20 with cartridge was my first...

Definately showing our age here! My first was a Sinclair ZX81 with 1k (yes kilobyte!) of memory, and man that machine rocked! :lol:

Wayne

Ahhhh, of course, 2 Gig of RAM. Has to be.  Stupid me for not figuring that out.

My first PC was a Kaypro.  That was about 1984.  I upgraded that until it was beyond upgrading, and then I think I got the Gateway.  After that, it's been mostly home builts.  I think a Sony VAIO might have snuck in there somewhere, but generally it's been a new home built PC every 2-3 years.

I don't even want to think about how many laptops I've been through .... My first of those was a Kaypro too, and as I recall, it weighed about 15 pounds.

I've been building my own since the 286 chip came out. 

As mentioned above, the 'script kiddies' have a pre-programmed series of responses to 'basic' questions, and if you call and say your PCs on fire, they'd ask "is it plugged in, is it turned on?"
You get them 'off the script', and they are totally...lost. One of the scariest thing I wind up doing nowadays is explaining to the guy on the other end how to fix my own problem.

One thing they're working with (almost all call centers) is they have a given amount of time to fix a problem, and they'll look for any excuse to get you off the horn. They're supposed to fix you within 'x' amount of time, because the 'business model'. 

However, they're not supposed to blow their cool. You should have every right to complain to their manager, and if they refuse, call back, and get their name! Can't stress this enough. I 'know' their 'name' is 'Mark', or 'Sandy', even though their real name is another 7 syllables.
(Nothing against that, there are millions upon millions of South Asians who speak better English than I do, it's just that none of them work at call centers...;)

I was taken aback when last you notified us you were going back to Dell (I kept thinking of Princess Leia in When Harry met Sally, when she kept going "he's going to leave her'..;) And the current track record (I lost track of how many bad parts you got sent) is nothing to write home about.

The Vista bit you're stuck with. Microsoft sets things up that as of launch time, anything you get will have Vista, period. Ka-ching..:|  The serial number of the Operating system is probably tied to the Serial number of the unit you had, so that's why it's 'pirated'.

I've been doing PC tech support for 20 years come June, and I've lost count of the number of times I've called Tech Support (yes, we do that too, only our questions are harder and much more pointed..;), and I've noticed a substantial decrease in the helpfulness and knowledge the person on the other end has. It's sad, but it's all about cost, and driving that down even further.

The folks above are right; do it yourself is the way to go. Heck, if they have you replacing laptop system boards, making a new desktop/tower/small form factor/whatever is a lot easier than that. 

What I do is sort of a halfway thing; if I'm making a PC, I'll have the store mount the processor and memory, and test that. They leave the whole thing together, then it's just a matter of putting the screws in, attaching cables, and figuring out various options. Usually the system board will come with a CD with all the drivers you need (for the system board), and usually some utilities as well. 

And we should be able to help you over the rough parts, should you need to do that. I know Vista can do repartitions, because of the 'training course' I took. We care 'bout ya hon, and think you've suffered enough. Just let us know what more we can do.

Good luck with all this.

My first? It was 1984. My sisters and I asked Santa for a Mac, but what we got I don't think of it as computer. To me, it was like a transitional machine between the typewriter and the computer, - the Radio Shack, a TRS80. It used the big floppy disks and casette tapes.

http://www.1000bit.net/lista/dati/tandy/trs80mod4_ad.jpg

The most I ever did with it was play Pyramid (I never got past that darn snake) and write a program that would "draw" an ice cream cone.  ;P

bB

Sorry to hear about your Dell nightmare. Your experience is, if not typical, at least amazingly common. Head over to www.gripe2ed.com and check out some of the Dell horror stories there.

Their support used to be top-notch, and that is when a lot of corps standardized on them. But they've always operated on the margins of the business, profit-wise, and as those margins have shrunk, they've had to cut everything to the bone to stay alive. Their support has been on a downward slide for at least five years now, maybe more.

I read that they just ousted their CEO and Michael Dell is coming back in to run the company. Dell has been slashing support AND PRODUCT quality for years to maintain a cheap price, and now the company is finally tanking and their stock is suffering as a result. We'll see if he can turn them around.

Building your own computer is not really hard. If you can hook up a vacuum cleaner and change the bags, you can probably manage it. It was an experience much like yours that got me started building PCs many years ago. Maybe life is giving you a lemon because it wants you to do something with it.

My new system was spec built and it's been awesome and was cheaper than any of the namw brand houses. The last major computer brand I had was a Gateway after dealing with them I've only had spec built machines or have done it myself. I am so very sorry to hear about your problems with Dell. You were so much looking forward to getting a new machine. I hope the local geeks put a real nice one together for you!!

Silly question, why did you bother to talk to Dell Support in the first place? you must have 50+ people on just this forum alone that could have guided you through the process with far less hassle, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the video card was fine but wasn't sat in it's slot properly & that's why it wasn't working. Opening the case doesn't invalidate any warranties even if they try to tell you it does.

Yes, but now she gets to spend much less money and end up with a better machine.

First computer was a Z80 based Exidy Sorcerer in 1980.  Had a whole whopping 4k of memory.  We did a modification to the motherboard and hardwired in another 4k of memory.  In those days you had to modify a tape recorder to load your programs. 

Quote - First computer was a Z80 based Exidy Sorcerer in 1980.  Had a whole whopping 4k of memory.  We did a modification to the motherboard and hardwired in another 4k of memory.  In those days you had to modify a tape recorder to load your programs. 

My first was an Atari 800 that I bought in 1979.  It too had 4k of memory, but did come with
a plug in cassette tape drive for storing programs.  Later I bought an Atari 800XL
from Toys R Us, that had a whopping 64k of memory and a 5 1/4 disk drive.
Then I sort of gave up on computers for a while and my first PC was some
Laser brand 286 job that I bought in somewhere around 1988.

What a nightmare, acadia. Sorry to hear about this.

Sounds like you should put the word "support" between quote marks ... as in CUSTOMER "SUPPORT" .... thus signifying support in name only.

I wonder if they spend thousands of dollars big-noting themselves about how good they are. Here in Australia we have a saying for people like this .... "bullshit artists".

The Laser was the first computer I owned; the first one I got to play with was a genuine Altair 8800. Aaaah, the days of toggle switches and LEDs...! I need to find one, just for nostalgia's sake. Of course a more modern one with 64 k of ram and dumb terminal capability would be better..... :P And Dell has earned the monikers Smell and Hell for good reasons, customer confusion and propietary hardware being the top two reasons. I would =love= to see a resurgence of the white box stores. The quality was better, the prices about the same, the option list was ungodly by comparison, and it meant that a geek was within driving distance.

Ahahahaha I've been goggling everyone's old computer to see what they looked like. I keep ending up at this site: http://www.1000bit.net  and try this one too:  http://oldcomputers.net/

It's a hoot looking at those oldass machines. ;p
.... and prices! EEk!  oO

bB

BastBlack, If you are looking for old computers see if you can find the Heathkit H8. That was my first in '75.

I think I saw my first laptop .... I'm pretty sure it was a Kaypro 2000 ... but the screen had been improved a bit from the one in the photo.

I also saw my first Kaypro PC in there somewhere.  Man, talk about awful customer support ... they took the cake.

I still laugh when I think about our first hard drive - it was 10MB and cost almost $800.  My husband swore that he would "never be able to fill it up".  Ha, it's now a door stop in the garage.