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Fire Shelby

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May I say something off topic?
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GATEWAY SUCKS!


There.  I don't know if it's completely out of my system, but that helped a little.


Have been on the phone with customer service and tech support for, oh, EIGHT HOURS, only to be told by "client relations" that Gateway will not cover little Fire Shelby's SIX MONTH OLD monitor that went kaput yesterday.


"Sounds like lightning damage--or perhaps a power surge--or maybe even the video card...but we can't replace it.  However, we can give you a ten percent discount on an identical monitor."


Since this is an internet forum, and since folks use computers to connect to the internet and, thus, this forum, might I warn you to NEVER buy a computer from Gateway.


Grrrrrrrrrrrr.........



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Advocate

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Sorry to say that I had the same problem with a Dell monitor within 3 months of delivery -- it wasn't covered either.  They said I could mail the monitor to them so they could check it out, but if it wasn't their fault I would have to pay for repairs.  Shipping would be on my nickle.  A new monitor was cheaper than the cost of shipping and repairs.  I wasn't offered a 10% discount.  So I hooked up my 3 year old Compaq monitor and it's still going two years later.  The Dell CPU went within a year -- $150 to repair it.  I'll never buy another Dell.

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LVN

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I've been very happy with Dell.  However, do not ever, ever, ever finance anything with them.  Talk about a nightmare.  Someone I know ended up FedEx'ing a payment which wasn't even late and was still called repeatedly about the "delinquent" account.  They talked to supervisors, etc.  and did no good.  Their collection and billing is horrible.


FS do you have a surge protector?  That's a have-to around here.


Good to know you're back on the board.



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FS

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"I've been very happy with Dell.  However, do not ever, ever, ever finance anything with them.  Talk about a nightmare.  Someone I know ended up FedEx'ing a payment which wasn't even late and was still called repeatedly about the "delinquent" account.  They talked to supervisors, etc.  and did no good.  Their collection and billing is horrible. FS do you have a surge protector?  That's a have-to around here. Good to know you're back on the board."

Yep, I have a surge protector.  From what I've heard, gateway just makes crappy monitors. 


Thanks for the welcome back...I've been around--lurking to keep up with the news--but haven't posted much.


Hope all is well with everyone.



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Invictus

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Gateway has really "slud" on their customer support in the past few years. They let a marketing person become president & everything deteriorated from there. Sound familiar?

But I do have an older Gateway on my home LAN. It's since been replace by a newer Dell as my primary PC, but it continues to chug along serving up media files on the local network. The original Gateway monitor died about 2 weeks before the warranty expired & they replaced it free of charge, shipping paid. But that was then & this is now.

FS, look at this as your opportunity to invest in a nice new flatpanel display...

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LVN

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Invictus, I had a circa 1996 Gateway that is still chugging along, albeit slowly.  My Dell is 2 1/2 years old.  I think the same thing happened to both, they "outgrew" themselves  (hmm, where I have heard that before?)  A couple of people with newer Dells, esp laptops, seem to have more trouble than I've had.  Yes, FS, try to get a 19" flat panel.  It's the bees knees!

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dizzy

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If you have a surge protector and if the damage was caused by a power surge or lightening, then you should check the warranty on the surge protector to see whether its manufacturer will replace it and also replace the items damaged when the surge protector failed.  Also check to see if your home is insured against lightening damage and talk to your insurer.  Good luck!

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wary graduate (formerly undergrad)

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Might I add into this discussion about bum computers and the like, never ever to purchase a Hewlitt Packard.  I bought mine three years ago and have since reformatted the stupid machine more than three times. Also, there was a short in the main connection to the monitor on the hard drive that kept shorting out monitors. 


LVN, I agree with you about the Dell finance company.  They call you from India, and harass you until you want to throw something.  Even if you tell them that the check is honestly in the mail, they want a payment right then over the phone.


Thank you for allowing my little rant about computers.




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Knock Knock

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quote:
Originally posted by: wary graduate (formerly undergrad)
"Might I add into this discussion about bum computers and the like, never ever to purchase a Hewlitt Packard. . . ." 
Hewlitt-Packard and Compaq, as of fairly recently, are now the same company! My guess is that Compaq's great customer service support, and their great repair service, have now been fully integrated into the new organization. I recently sent my Compaq (the warranted had expired) back to their repair center. It now works like a new machine! I sent it back once while it was under warranty, and Compaq supplied a box, had it picked up by one of the major carriers, and retuned it to me in applie pie condition.

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USM Sympathizer

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FS,


Can't tell you how happy I am to know that you are still with us (in every sense of the term).  I hope you will post more often.  We miss you wit, wisdom, and occasionally withering sarcasm.  I hope all is very well in your life. 



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Sick of it

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I had a similar problem with an apple monitor, and Apple replaced it free of charge, about 11 months after it was purchased - fedexed the new monitor PRIOR to receiving the old, and I had it in my possession within two days, AND it was the new model, not a replication of the old....what a wonderful company.

They've also replaced expsnsive power cords/adapters and fixed various systems for free or cheap over the years...Not to be so pro-apple, and i have heard generally good things about Dell....

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ahc

Date:
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quote:
Originally posted by: LVN
"I've been very happy with Dell.  However, do not ever, ever, ever finance anything with them.  Talk about a nightmare.  Someone I know ended up FedEx'ing a payment which wasn't even late and was still called repeatedly about the "delinquent" account.  They talked to supervisors, etc.  and did no good.  Their collection and billing is horrible. FS do you have a surge protector?  That's a have-to around here. Good to know you're back on the board."

I have a Dell laptop ... well, had. After only two years, the hard drive died. Now, let me say this: I've never had a better working machine than my Dell laptop. It is simply devine. But they couldn't answer as to why the hard drive simply keeled over. It makes me so sad.


It costs a little more than $200 to buy myself a new hard drive - money I don't have right now. But I would say that if I had it all to do it over again, I'd buy Dell all the way. I never had one mechanic problem with it until the ... incident.


BUT - yeah, don't finance. I did get behind on my payments and I was just waiting for them to come scoop up my youngest child in lieu of payment. I think they really would have taken her ...



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BogusBoy

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One thing that is easy to overlook with these incredible specials Dell and others offer is that the special price skimps on the warranty. It can be as little as 90 days on a Dell laptop, and if you don't look closely, you'll miss that.


Increasing the warranty coverage adds to the cost, of course, but it pays for itself in less worry and more time spent with a healthy computer. You can get warranties that will bring Dell-related techs to your house (no mail-ins) and protect your computer even if you drop it in a mud puddle ("Complete Care" warranty).


And, no, I don't work for Dell!  (but I like their stuff)


 



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Michael Kimber

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I'm a Mac user. Never had a problem with a monitor, including one I've used for over ten years, except when reading those "Information for the University Community" letters from You-Know-Who; then my screen would seem to freeze -- but it could have been my eyes, or my brain.

I always wondered, if my computer had been seized (can you believe I often used it to read my personal e-mail?!?!?!?!?!), whether SFT's iTechies would know how to ferret deleted files out of a Macintosh hard drive.


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Eagle in Cairo, Egypt

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Here's an interesting one for you.  Before I moved to Egypt, I bought a HP lap top.  I've had some problems with it since I've been here and took it into be fixed.  It needed a new hard drive.  If I was anywhere else in the world, it would be covered under warranty.  But HP apparently has/had a factory in Israel and the warranty cannot by Egyptian law be honored here because some of the parts may have been made in Israel.  How is that for weird???

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Invictus

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quote:
Originally posted by: Michael Kimber
"
I always wondered, if my computer had been seized (can you believe I often used it to read my personal e-mail?!?!?!?!?!), whether SFT's iTechies would know how to ferret deleted files out of a Macintosh hard drive.
"


Hmmm... This shoves this thread back into the "on topic" column...

I am very interested in what "forensic procedures" were used by iTech to get the files off the hard drive. As I understand it, forensic experts will "clone" a hard drive to another piece of hardware to avoid contaminating the original evidence. Another way they do this is by using a "boot CD" (often a Linux distro called Knoppix that will run from the CD) without a swap file, so that the original HD is unmodified by the forensic examiner's activities.

OTOH, if iTech simply booted up the computer & started recovering deleted files, reconstructing crud out of the swap file, etc., then the "evidence" would have been contaminated & inadmissible in a regular court of law. It would have been the equivalent of a detective handling a suspected murder weapon without "gloving up."

I wonder to what extent "tainted evidence" played into the Judge's eagerness to "settle out" at the hearing...



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Pinky

Date:
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FYI - there are applications that completely & conveniently destroy 'deleted' files - as opposed to normal Windows and Mac trashing/recycling, which simply renders a file invisible, and sets a file permissions bit to allow for overwriting -- where it will remain, largely intact until it happens to be completely overwritten.

See 'Shredder'

http://www.topshareware.com/East-Tec-File-Shredder-moreurls-471.htm>

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