New Computer Takes Nose Dive

Patience Wearing Thin...


My heart sank into my shoes about 1 PM today when the new HP laptop froze up and wouldn't re-boot.

I fumbled around with the F10 key and system diagnostics, and the report was not good:

Hard Drive Test Failed.

Just DAMN.

After spending five and one half days deleting all of the crappy demo software (Quicken, AOL, MSN, etc.) and installing some really big programs and getting everything configured, I was really afraid that I was looking at sending my computer back to HP for service.

In looking at the Circuit City paperwork, they confidently demand a 15% restocking charge, IF you bring the computer back within the first 14 days after purchase and IF you've opened the box.

Since I, like most people, have trouble typing on a keyboard and viewing a display through heavy cardboard, my computer's box had been opened on day one, so returning the machine to the retailer and getting a new one somewhere else was not much of an option.

As usual, I couldn't find anyone in the state of Georgia that could make a decision about replacing the machine without making me ship it back to HP, so in desperation I did something unusual...

I READ THE LITTLE THIN PAPER MANUAL THAT CAME WITH THE MACHINE.

Low and behold, I found a possible remedy. As luck would have it, on Sunday I tried a new windows feature that allows you to make a System recovery partition on the hard disk to use in the event that your Windows Boot files and sectors get corrupted.

I closed my eyes, hit the F11 key on startup, and TWO HOURS later I had a functioning computer again.

The only loss in the end of the ordeal was a few word processor files and a little Photoshop work I had done, along with all of the software that I had installed from CD's--things like Photoshop and my Cannon camera software.

I also lost all of my favorites list in Internet Explorer that I was rebuilding from scratch. Regardless of how many dozens of hours it will take to get me back to where I was this morning, anything is better than shipping the computer back to HP and waiting a couple of weeks for it to return, because...

I'm actually busy WORKING right now…