Dang computers !!!

[Billo]

any one got any contacts at Dell ?

My puta fryed on the weekend ...only 18 months old !!!
In the middle of a serious chat with 'jeffo' and it just fizzled out . [smiley=computer.gif] [smiley=furious2.gif]
looks like a surge blew it ...only i have surge protection built into the house main board and surge protection on my power board from the wall socket .

After speaking with Dell [smiley=argue.gif], they advised i would need to put it in for a service so they could ascertain the problem ( $180 ) ..from there if they identified the power supply to be the culprit , they could replace it ...( another $ 120 ).. [smiley=freak.gif]

I wasn't feeling comfortable with a $300 bill without knowing more , so brought it to work for our IT staff to look at .
They confirmed the power supply was dead ...so we wired up a generic brand power supply to it ....then found out that was not all ....the mother board is dead too .( another $180 at dell prices [smiley=furious.gif]).......wait, it gets better .....
I am getting married in 6 weeks .,. the fiance has been doing all the wedding itineraries , guest lists , booklets etc etc on there , and has not backed them up on disc ....nor did i back up all my gps co ordinates and maps [smiley=disappointed.gif] ..500+ cds i had and an unbelievably large photo album .....so you guessed it , we tried to hook the hard drive up to another work computer to get all the stuff off it .......and that is fizzled too !( $ 150 )and boy isn't she a happy camper !!!

so , if this was to go back to Dell , out of warranty ( limited one year warranty ) i would be up to $630 and counting ....not sure if the CPU or memory or video cards , or cd drives are dead yet either ...

We have come to the conclusion this ' power surge ' has eminated from a possible faulty part in the power supply which then has taken out all the other components with it ....gooooooooone

all this over a $1200 package , and it could cost up yo $1000 to repair . [smiley=angryfire.gif]

so , moral to the story .,...those of you who think ' she'll be right '.......go for the extended warranties if on offer.....cause they seriously don't make em like the used to . [smiley=thumbsdown.gif]...or as far as pc's go , they don't make em like you want them too !!!

on a side note , if anyone out there has any influence with Dell ....please let me know ! i cannot afford to replace the pc or fix it at this point, nor should i have to if the cause of the entire failure is by shotty workmanship .. [smiley=help.gif]

[adriancorrea]

Hi Billo
How about putting it through your house insurance
Just dont tell them about your surge protectors.
I think you can claim under fusion anyone else know about this?

Tight Lines
Adrian

[gcbfc]

I claimed 12 months ago for a fried motherboard and power supply on Home Contents.

Cheers

Wayne

p.s. good example of why people should BACK UP their important crap !

[Gazza]

I am getting married in 6 weeks .,. the fiance has been doing all the wedding itineraries , guest lists , booklets etc etc on there , and has not backed them up on disc ....nor did i back up all my gps co ordinates and maps ..500+ cds i had and an unbelievably large photo album .....so you guessed it , we tried to hook the hard drive up to another work computer to get all the stuff off it .......and that is fizzled too !( $ 150 )and boy isn't she a happy camper !!

M8......your harddisk is possibly set to "master" not slave ,to conflict on boot-up(with other computer).....check it , you "wife" will be pleased ,i hope ;D and repay you , in kind [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[ba229]

I had a power supply burn out and it took the hard drive with it.

Lost several months of photos of our baby girl between 2 months and 5 months old. Mum isn't happy and it will cost $500 or so to get the photos off the HDD

[Gazza]

Mate....5/12V goes to every part i.e. video,lan,disk,etc.....don't part with your money un-necessarily ,unless you have to.

Data-restoration "people" are in the biz of "helping you ...for a price ;) "...and that's their business

[basserman]

well i hope alot of people will take one lession out of this bad new and that is to always have hard or paper copys of your picciys and other important work on your computers
i would hate to think how i would feel if i lost all the pic of my son and family
in this day and age of digital and computers i think we all become a bit blasie about how easy things can disapper ;)

[Gazza]

UPLOAD to a safe ,or several safe websites...
encrypt ,if you think it's required

and/or rewritable CD's 700MB or a few DVD 4.7GigaBytes locally

[Heath]

Billo,

DELL PC's are utter shit, much the same as HP & Compaq

Check out FTC.

Their budget systems start at $699.00

Intel Celeron 2.4GHz Prescott / 256 MB DDR / 60 Gb / 17" MONITOR / FDD / CDRW / Lan / WinXP Home


Intel Celeron 2.4GHz (533FSB) PRESCOTT CPU
MSI 651 Mainboard
256 MB DDR RAM
60 GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive
On Board Display Adaptor
52x32x52 CD-Rewriter Kit
17" Digital Monitor
240Watt Speakers
Intergrated Multimedia Sound
STD P4 ATX Chasis
1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
PS/2 Keyboard & Optical Mouse
MS WINDOWS XP HOME

Remove the bits you don't need such as monitor, KB, OS, speakers, mouse etc etc and pretty soon the price is down nice n low.

Or their Basic box for $379.00 :o :o

[subzero]

I have a few computers networked at home here and we coped a surge last year and toasted 2 of them.
RACQ insurance coughed up pretty quickly and replaced them both.

I agree with Gazza, your hard drive may be rooted but still might not be, these are normaly about the last things to go in the chain.... will scramble the data for the o/s a bit, (usualy stored at the beginning of the drive for faster access), ram, modems, motherboards etc are the first to kiss goodbye.

$500-00 to recover the data??? you can by the software online to do it if you want to fork out in the region of about $100-00, and then its not guaranteed, but just the same I would like your odds... you may not get it all back, but you might be surprised

Cheers Lloyd

[Kerry]

Intel Celeron :o :o Ahh no :-X not the chip that never got to be a chip :o Move on folks there nothing to see here :P

There's only one person to blame if anybody looses data, no backup, no contingency, no excuse >:(

Cheers, Kerry.

[DR]

go to www.runtime.org
you may find something that will be of help.
good luck

[NQCairns]

Give all these name brand computers the flick, they are for corporations etc that can claim depreciation and insurance payouts etc, also for those govt departments who can buy with free money.
Get someone to build one from off the shelf equipment or DIY, bugger all down time when something happens, easily upgradable and cheap with no compromises in performance. Bloody putas.
Good idea checking the jumper on the disk. Hope you get it all back. nq

[Dug]

Go Mac!

[ba229]

$500-00 to recover the data??? you can by the software online to do it if you want to fork out in the region of about $100-00, and then its not guaranteed, but just the same I would like your odds... you may not get it all back, but you might be surprised

Cheers Lloyd

Not a software problem. The drive isn't spinning up.

The PSB (power supply board i think) is fried and needs to be replaced with one from same HDD type.

Only problem? mine seems to be a rare type.

[PinHead]

Billo,

DELL PC's are utter shit, much the same as HP & Compaq

Check out FTC.

Their budget systems start at $699.00

Intel Celeron 2.4GHz Prescott / 256 MB DDR / 60 Gb / 17" MONITOR / FDD / CDRW / Lan / WinXP Home


Intel Celeron 2.4GHz (533FSB) PRESCOTT CPU
MSI 651 Mainboard
256 MB DDR RAM
60 GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive
On Board Display Adaptor
52x32x52 CD-Rewriter Kit
17" Digital Monitor
240Watt Speakers
Intergrated Multimedia Sound
STD P4 ATX Chasis
1.44MB Floppy Disk Drive
PS/2 Keyboard & Optical Mouse
MS WINDOWS XP HOME

Remove the bits you don't need such as monitor, KB, OS, speakers, mouse etc etc and pretty soon the price is down nice n low.

Or their Basic box for $379.00 :o :o



Does anyone actually buy a computer with only 256meg RAM any more..I am at 1 Gig RAM and want to double that.

[Heath]

256k is plenty for the average user.

Want more, add another stick.

[Big_Muddie]

Some interesting stuff in this thread.

First a comment about "brand names" vs "custom built and others."

My experience, over 30 years of activity in the Information Technology field (including 16 years with PCs) is that brand names beat the others by a country mile.

I have personally owned 3 Dell PCs - all are still working flawlessly. I would still be using the very first Dell PC I bought had I not started using software that demands more and more power and memory and storage.

HP Vectra PCs were my first real experience with brand names back in 1989. This was back when a desktop standard was an XT (8086 chip) and the super machines were AT (80286 chip). The HPs were real workhorses and I suspect some of them still are. In the same time frame, and in a situation beyond my control, some "other, cheaper brands" were introduced. Guess which ones caused the most problems and frustration - NOT the HPs!

Over the years, I have had to use a mixture of "brand names" and "others". Give me a brand name any day. My experience tells me that I will get greater reliability and sustained performance that way.

More recently, as part of volunteer work that I do, I have been using the latest HP/Compaq machines. In the past 18 months of using them, I have seen absolutely nothing to change my mind about brand names.

My son-in-law manages a nationwide network which is increasingly populated with HP/Compaq machines. They are being used instead of the "other, cheaper" machines because they are reliable and over time cost less to support and maintain.

Now, having said my piece in defence of "brand names", I also support use of the "others" where price is a significant determinant in what someone can buy. Many can't afford to pay for the "brand names" - that's life. Just as many simply won't pay the money for a "brand name" - that's also life. We all make our choices according to our circumstances and approach to life.

Finally, in today's computing environment, regardless of whether a PC is used at home or in business, it's a given that advances in software design and functionality will demand more resources to run the software. I personally subscribe to the approach of configuring my PCs with resources above the average requirement - somewhere between "average" and maximum config is probably right for most. I personally take mine to the max.


PS - I always take out extended warranties and next business day onsite service for my personal equipment. I have peace of mind, and the cost of that over several years is really pretty small. Never had to use it, but I'm happy to make that investment.

[Blinky]

it will cost $500 or so to get the photos off the HDD

:o I got the data retreived from my previous HD for an hours labour and cost of a DVD.

[ba229]

Any info on how you did this?

[subzero]

Thats a bugger Ba229.
If you know your hard drive make and model I can ask a couple of blokes I know in the industry if they have the one you are looking for. One of them is a real hoarder and never throws anything out.
I wouldnt have a clue how to switch the disks between the 2, if I can find one you will have to get someone to do it for you.
Let me know if you want me to try tracking one down for you.
Cheers Lloyd

[ba229]

Yes please.

I am searching or a Western Digital 153BA. There some 153AA's about but it needs to be the BA.

It is a 15.3Gb 7200rpm hard drive and what I really need is the PCB (power cirtuit board). These just unscrew and screw onto the broken HDD. Apparently this should fix my problem.

I appreciate any help given.

Cheers Alex

[subzero]

Their is one selling in the USA right now Ba229 on ebay, buy it now price $29-00 US, will post worldwide... let me know if you take it so I can stop looking.
Cheers Lloyd
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=16178&item=5156651369&rd=1&ssPageName=WD2V

[subzero]

Bugger, forget it I just had another look and its a AA model