Things have taken a turn for the worse

Welp, things have taken a turn for the worse. I dropped the 'puter in at the store first thing this morning. They were going to do a back-up and wipe of the computer (They were getting more calls with people encountering the same problem as I was standing there - one guy had his server automatically do the updates - same thing happened to it).

So I leave it and go home. Get a phone call saying it would cost me $129 to get the wipe AND back up done.

I say go ahead - as what other option did I have!?!

I decide to ring Microsoft - I get put through to the tech support. After trying to explain what had happened and bascially getting no where - the guy said I had to have the computer in front of me before they would let me talk to a tech guy.

I said it was at the shop and that it's costing me 129 bucks to get something fixed that Microsoft have basically caused (here is a little extra - was told by the people at the shop that they had a computer on the bench that was being assmbled for a client that had windows and it's updates installed and the restart problem happened. They were perplexed so decided to build a complete new system - they installed ONLY XP and it's updates. No antivirus - nothing else (this was one of the excuses I was given by Microsoft - fair enough) - the SAME problem occured. So they said any problem that had arisen due to a Microsoft update would be fixed by them (or helped to be fixed I guess).

They said I needed the computer so they could go through it with me. So I ring the store up and ask if it is too late to get the computer home? They say no - it is in the middle of a Ghost 50% or so. But that shouldn't matter. I drive and pick my 'puter back up. I ask again that is the computer the same as it is when I brought it in. He said yes.

Get home, ring Microsoft - get told the bit about the anti-virus programs (I tell them about what has happened at the store - i.e. nothing but XP and the updates.) I ask if they've had anyone else ring up with my problem - they said that this is the first instance they've had all day.

Get to a tech guy who specialises in updates (supposedly) called Ben. So I follow his instructions - I turn on the computer and press F8 once every second to get into the F8 screen. This doesn't happen - I get a peculiar error message.

He tells me to restart the computer and get into the BIOS - I do. He tells me to look for the BIOS startup (I think) - and I go into it (enter) and just read what each thing said - like something something - enabled etc.

He says ok fine - exit.

He said to restart the computer - this time using the XP CD ROM in the drive. (Which reminds me - is still in the drive and the computer shop has my computer).

We start up and get to the press any key to continue - do that - and get to the 3 option screen. First point start XP, second point (can't remember details), 3rd point exit.

He tells me to take the second point. Do so.

Enter what looks like a dos screen - but the cursor is different. It has a C:\> prompt. I tell him this - he thinks that is strange. He says type in cd windows - do that - error message. He says type dir - error.

He now is away from the phone for a bit (I gather to seek guidance). He comes back and says type exit (which is what it says to do) to exit.

He tells me that 'we' will have to perform a new folder install. He tells me to start the computer again with the XP disc in the drive. I do - he tells me to take the first option. I do. I enter a blue-screened area. Down the bottom it says Partition (unknown) 52342 (5 rest of numbers made up) Mb - out of 52341 Mb - free. (This even to me doesn't look good.)

Under it says (some other partition) 1Mb or so.

He says that that isn't correct and that he could NOT advise me to go any further since legally he couldn't - as it would require or end up with me erasing Data. So he said leave that screen F3 to exit and turn the computer off. He says take it back to the store and that they will have to recover the Data (if it is still on!!) They will have to take the hard drive out and put it into another computer.

I'm ABSOLUTELY thrilled at this point. (not).

I go BACK to the shop (before hand I ring up the shop and get the owner!!) Mentioned what has happened - I double check with him that it is indeed true that exiting the ghost halfway through was fine - he said NO - I get a bit tetchy at him - wires crossed for a second - he explains it's OK that the computer that I took home would have been identicle to the computer I took in - i.e. that ghosting is only a copy - the original data would be still there - I breath a sigh of relief.

I get to the shop - the person who was working on my computer earlier greats me - and I give back my computer (of course at the end of the queue now.). I mention to him the error that I got when I booted up my computer when I brought it home - he says he didn't get any error like that. He had booted from a boot disk floppy - anyway. I told him what had happend.

He thought it was strange (oh the owner of the shop - on the phone earlier said something like (when I mentioned that Microsoft would lead me through the fix - thay they seem to know what they are doing - when no one else knows what is going on. And that I mentioned it didn't work - and he said that Microsoft would have told me the wrong thing - I told him exactly what I mentioned above - that no 'commands' were entered and nothing was 'changed' the person on the phone only got me to look and read what I saw - and that they couldn't go on as it would require me to wipe stuff - which legally they can't advise.


Back to the guy at the shop who was working on my computer. I double check with him if there was anything wierd/error-ish/abnormal when he was working on my computer. He said that when he was running Norton Ghost (or what ever it is called) that it said the Hard Drive had a weak partition and that it would proceed sector by sector and in his words "he got a list of options he'd never seen before ". He proceeded with the sector by sector choice. This is what was happening when I rang the first time - to ask if it was safe to cancel the ghosting.

He said maybe the Hard drive was faulty - but answered his own question saying it has Smart Disk which would have alert him or me to the fact that there was a hard drive problem and that I was to shut down and get it looked at.

So I leave the computer with him at 4:30pm. I'm worried that I've lost everything. He says that there are still other ways and programs to look at my hard-drive to see if the data is still there. This will be done tomorrow I guess. I'm worried.

He says that they might be able to reform the old partition and retrieve the data - if that's correct?

So, to summarise -

Friday night: Download Microsoft update and install. Shut down computer.

Saturday: Turn on computer - it keeps restarting - ring the place of purchase and told that it has been happening to a lot of customers.

Sunday

Monday: Take computer to store 9:00am

Phone call at 12pm told that wipe and install = $79; wipe, install and BACKUP of data $129. OK the $129 - what else?

1pm ring Microsoft - told to have my computer in front of me - told they haven't heard of my reported problems. Rang shop - told them Microsoft's story and OK'd to bring home PC.

2pm (times are rough) - Computer home, ring Microsoft - nothing much achieved due to errors. Told to take it back to the store.

3:30pm - computer at store. Told that there WERE strange errors by the person who was working on my computer - proceeded anyway with half-a-ghost screen. Told shouldn't matter stopping halfway in middle of ghost. Told that he doesn't know what's wrong - and would be looked at tomorrow (Tuesday).

4:30pm go home tired.

OK, that is EVERYTHING up till now.

It's a long post - I know - but It's best to get everything down.

1. I'm worried I've lost all my data
2. I'm worried I'm going to have to pay exorbitant fees
3. I'm worried that The shop will blame microsoft and microsoft will blame the shop.
4. I hope some of you are still reading this post!

Andrew

 

Please stay with your original thread.