Re: OT: Windoze Vista Horror Story for BryanUT

On Mar 26, 11:20 pm, "Road Glidin' Don" <d.lan...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mar 26, 7:04 pm, "Jujitsu Lizard" <jujitsu.liz...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:





Since you mentioned your dislike of Vista ...

Got an HP laptop last week (Sam's Club).  Comes loaded with Vista 64-bit.
(Note the 64-bit:  this will be significant later in the story.)

After starting it up, spent about an hour uninstalling trial software I
didn't want (which was pretty much all of it).  Messed up and accidentally
uninstalled the BluRay player, so had to do a factory restore and do it all
again.  But, got it right, all the uninstalls were clean.  Did all the Vista
updates via my DSL line.  Took about 8 hours total, but things were looking
pretty good.

COMPLAINT #1:  Machine comes loaded with tons of software that I just plain
don't want.  As the consumer, I'd like to choose.  I don't want to have to
uninstall.

I do microcontroller work for a living.  It ends up that the drivers and
software for the emulator and debugger I use aren't compatible with Vista-64
(but they are with Vista-32).  So, I thought, I'll just call HP and ask to
be downgraded.

Chatted online with an HP support technician.  Said it couldn't be done, and
that I'd have to purchase Vista-32 retail.

I decided to take up the matter with Microsoft.  They also indicated that
they couldn't do it, because the operating system came bundled with the
laptop from the OEM (HP), so HP must support it.

So, I went down to Best Buy and spent $140 for a Vista upgrade.  I can now
supplant my 64-bit Vista with 32-bit Vista.  Fortunately, HP has the
Vista-32 drivers on their website (which saves me the trouble of hunting
them down from the subcomponent manufacturers).

COMPLAINT #2:  I have now successfully bought the same operating system
twice.

Well, I will know by tomorrow morning if all my specialized applications
will work.  I'm guessing yes.

Seems to me it's not HP's fault you bought a 64 bit system when you
wanted a 32.  And, like .p.jm says, they probably got a big discount
on the 64 as they distributed it, versus to buying 32 bit outside of
that.  You can't demand the same deal for the 32.

Coincidentally, I just bought a 64 bit, quad core, 8 Gb HP desktop
unit with Vista after Christmas.  I'm actually very happy with it and
the 64 bit's ability to use more RAM.

I bought a 64 bit, quad core, 8 Gb Gateway desktop just after
Christmas. Not much to complain about. I did uninstall a few
programs, but that's not a big deal. The only software that didn't
work was for a $40 scanner that I bought at least eight years ago.
The computer is so much faster than my old one that I don't even
notice how much Vista slows it down ;)

But, last Sunday night, my hard drive crashed.  I didn't buy no
freakin', stupid extended warranty from Best Buy either.  But I did
make restore disks.  And I did register for warranty with HP.  So, at
midnight on Monday, I phoned up HP support (24 hour number, printed
clearly on the side of the computer).

A half hour spent on the phone with the technician named
"Sonny" (curiously, seeming to have an Indian accent!), as I followed
his testing instructions (flipping the data wire, plugging into a
different slot, reporting back the error codes, etc.).

Then, satisfied I was right at the beginning, stating "It's the hard
drive itself", Sonny was also satisfied it was the hard drive at
fault.  He handed me to the people who ship hard drives and they are
sending me a hard drive, stating I should get it in 7 days.
Absolutely no cost (including no shipping fee for sending the old one
back).

As far as I'm concerned, there's not much to complain about there.
The technicians were friendly, knowledgable and helpful.

So, while I'm waiting for my new hard drive, it's a good thing I still
have my server.  To tell you about this and to straighten out all the
dope heads here!  ;)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

.

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