Wednesday, January 30, 2008

THE WORLD IS ENDING!!!!


Monday night, the world came crashing down on me. My computer has a corrupt file and I can't get on the Internet!!!

I visited my local computer guru the next day, and he couldn't do the work without the recovery disk(s). That led to a mad (as in crazed) search of the house, including the basement, with no luck. Back to the guru.

"Oh, you probably bought your computer when Hewlitt-Packard didn't include the disks with the purchase. You'll have to call and order them."

He helped me locate the HP assist number and I went back home to make my frantic call.

Now, those of you who've ever called a 1-800 service number know the routine: after you get an English-speaking line, a robotic voice asks you 10,000 questions and when you've answered everything correctly, you either get disconnected or are lucky enough to get a real live voice. I got the live one on the second try. Of course, he was from India and I had a difficult time understanding him. Repeating himself numerous times, his message came through:

"You need to speak with the Parts Department. I'll transfer you."

"You have reached the Parts Department. We are sorry, but we are closed now. Our business hours are........"

Well, today I finally got through to the Parts Department. The conversation went well until there was a struggle to find the serial number of the computer. I gave the extremely patient HP parts dude every number on the blasted thing EXCEPT the number he needed. Big Bore finally interceded, with flashlight and magnifying glasses in tote, and located it. My hero. The disks are ordered and will be here within one week.

Until then, I am Internet-less unless I come to the library, which is where I may be camping out for the next few weeks.

7 comments:

Sarah said...

Oh how frustrating! I hope all gets fixed soon. Let us know how it goes and how quick it gets done.

Unknown said...

That really stinks!! Those computer gurus are great arent they? That is frustrating. Glad to hear its on its way. It will get fixed soon. Until then, remain strong, and good luck camping!

GLADYS ANNE said...

Wow, Bummer!!!
Been there, done that many times.
Only after much much searching
and tearing up the house, gnashing
my teeth I finally found the backup
disc. I called that 800 number too
for Gateway, and when I finally got
through they said they would send
me a new backup disc for $100.00
or more. I don't remember the exact amount, but it was exorbitant. Make sure you've saved
everything, because I think he
wants that disc so he can clear
out the complete program, and then
you'll have to start completely
over collecting everybody's addresses and your blogs like this.
That's what happened to me when
local gurus worked on my computer.
It's an easy way of fixing the
problem. This may not be the case
with your guru, but be prepared for
it. If you go into your settings, you will find 'restore'
(I think that's the word) which
will take your program back to a
date you know everything worked
fine. It was pretty simple, and
I didn't have to pay anyone or
look for a backup disc. While
you're at the library see if they
have a 'Windows for Dummies' you
can look up the above to find out
how yours works. I categorize
computer repairmen right up there
with mechanics and used car salesmen! Of the dozen or so gurus
I've had over the years (and this
is no ad)only the guy from rescue
com did any good. He charged a lot
per hour, but he did everything he
could possibly do in under an hour.
I was amazed how much he helped me.
and nothing has gone wrong in almost two years now. Call me and
together maybe we can look it up in
my Windows XP for Dummies and you
can fix it yourself. Hang in there. This too shall pass.

Unknown said...

Not all computer gurus are like car salesmen. My husband is a computer guru, works as a network admin at a credit company, and works on peoples computer for free..So see, there are nice, reliable, computer gurus in the world!

Anonymous said...

On the local news in LA tonight at 11pm, they had a feature about what scumbags the computer repairmen are that you take your computer to to be fixed. I guess they took several computers to the shop and put tracers on them to record the keystrokes of the repairmen. They looked at all your pictures, copied a few, wrote down all the passwords you computer remembers for you, saw if they could access your on-line banking, etc.

When I worked for a software company a few years ago, I used to be friends with a man who did a lot of custom programming. Yes, he was one of the scum bags who always left himself a backdoor so he could get back into any computer he worked on and, worst of all, he always but in a timed bomb to blow up if he didn't deavtivate it when the client paid in full. Or, he just left it to start reformatting the disk if they had offended him in some way. At that point, I sort of decided that anything my family can't fix is pretty much toast.
Most computers come preloaded with software, at least operating systems now and so you don't even have backup disks. I do backup my computer to an external drive every so often though and use external drives to backup all my photographs and iTunes. Recently, my son did an ill fated upgrade to a new version of an onliine game he and his Dad play, called Eve Online. He was one of only a few people who were totally downed by the upgrade. He had no computer for work or play for nearly a week and spent countless hours trying to perfect a work around. No luck! Even the technician they sent to the house couldn't fix it. Computers, they can make mistakes faster than any human!!!

Pam said...

I love your blog. You're so creative, as I'm constantly telling you. Now, what would be really creative is if you'd come up with your own list of survey questions for your friends. Dare ya!

Pam

Nancy Evans said...

Okay, Pam, that might be a fine Blog topic for the future. I shall start pondering....:) N