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Well said shawnMt, this is a place to share our technical expertise and learn something. Not beat each other over the head. Pretty soon, no one will want to post here for fear of getting bashed. So lets get back on track and use this forum for what it was created for. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
Anothe rpoint missed in this discussion is that the problem centered around UMAX. They are the one who wrote drivers with a compatability issue.
To quote the original problem:
"This was a problem ONLY if you had a Umax Scanner, a Canon BJC 4300 inkjet, AND a Hewlett Packard Pavillion. (or something to this degree.) BASICALLY, all these instances had to be in the formula for the scanner to be a problem.
Something about the .dlls and the way devices are loaded upon startup to conflict with the scanner. Solution: Place a semi-colon on that one particular line in the system.ini file to REM it out from startup. This allowed the scanner, printer, and PC to function completely 100%."
OK folks, show of hands, who knew that off the top of their heads before they read this post?.......Didn't think so.
Our jobs would be easier if hardware manufacturers all worked together, but they don't. They're not perfect, and neither are we.
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I keep hitting escape...Why am I still here??
Give up the "I am Holyer Than Thou" attitude. People like you are the worse to work with in the tech industry because you refuse to listen to any other options to fix issues that you didn't think of first.
POST FROM LuvNCustomers
How dare you judge me like that!! You have no idea who I am and what I go through on a average day!! We have a very large client base and a lot of repeat customers. We get more buisness from referals than we do from advertising. Why? Because we offer fair prices. We get the job done. And we treat all the customers the same. Read the end of my post. For the most part it all averages out. So, sometimes you take a beating on labor. You learned something from it. You got the job done and you learned for the next time. Best of all you will not get a reputation for charging $400 to hook up a $100 scanner. I was not putting anyone down. I am not putting you down. I am just expressing my opinion. I have taken a beating on labor before, but what I learned has been priceless!!
My deepest apoligies to you LuvNCustomers. I reread my post and I realize that it appeared that I addressing you. That was not my intention. My poor attempt at an intention was make that comment to the genral public as it applied. To say that to you was unfair, and not justified. I am sure that we have all worked with people that looked down on us because of our current positions or gender. They believe that since you are a woman, you know nothing of what you are talking about. They have the attitude that since you are just a PC Tech, what would you know about servers? You are in help desk, what would you know about domain problems? Sometimes I have seen people on here flame a tech because he or she didn't do what we thought he or she should have according to our own rules of ethics or rules of operation. That frustrates me because if you are not there in that persons shoes, then who are you, and who am I to judge.
On to the topic at hand now that is said and done. I have an issue with a UMAX scanner as well with a Compaq Presario. I can not remember the CPQ model, but I think that UMAX was an 810 something. I was sent out to attempt to set the UMAX up for the customer with a printer piggybacking off the scanner. The tech that was there before me did not get it working. So I go and try to install the scanner drivers. It errored before the install was complete. It said that a file could not be copied because of a version of another file was incompatible. If you clicked SKIP, it would continue to install to completion. But as you might expect, it would not work. After about an hour or so, I had it all working. That was something that was not a known issue. I went to Compaq's and UMAX's web site, and they had nothing on it. Sometimes, you have to addlib when you encounter things like this. Luckly, I found it pretty fast. The customer had paid for and Onsite Service warranty, so this did not cost them anything. So, I could have been there all day, and it would not have cost them anything except to have a strange man in their house all day.
Nah, this was a weird one. I have seen the vmm.vxd error all the time. This one just kept saying "You need to restart the computer"
-really weird.
Quote:
Originally posted by ledrichard:
hey mikesorensen, were you by any chance getting the error that states that windows is unable to load vmm.vxd and thenthe machine shuts down? If so then that fix is on the tech net cd or on the microsoft website. just to let you know
Had business once that refused to do backups. I showed them how, wrote an auto script for it, created documentation with pictures. It was simple, just click on an icon, and click OK when finished (2 minutes later). No prob right?
Well low and behold 6 months down the road, KABLAM! Some one crashes windows (oh that's hard!) and scandisk wipes the data directory. (someone had to click 'fixit' though none admits - grateful for scandisk logs). Anyways, ends up that last update was 6 mos back when I showed them how to do it ( (for the 10nth time). Was a weekend call Charged them 185.00 to restore the data (6 months old) and probably cost the customer thousands in lost invoices and customer data.
Told em to backup.....
By the way, I now get 185.00 a month to spend 2 hours a month backing up there files and applying patches. If I go over, they get billed 75.00 hour. Lessons are learned the hard way sometimes.
Group hug! Jeez! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2004/03/1.gif
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I might rock, but I am not made of stone!
I would like to apologise, my purpose was not to enrage, or flame anyone, only to get some more information on the exact problem. I have been in a similar position many times and always try to work with my client and reccommend the most efficient and the least costly long term solution, and I was not cumfortable with his explinaiton, so once again forgive my sarcasm. I have had customers who insisted that I fix their current hardware no matter the cost - I have had rude customers that I did not want to give any kind of break to and I have had instances where the time invested into resaerch vastly outweighed the time it took to actually fix the problem and I try to take all that into consideration when fairly billing (after all we do try to make a profit).
So I wish you the best of luck as a net admin at 20 (BTW I'm 23) and hope for forgiveness and clarrification.
Thanks
It's unconscionable to charge nearly 400 bucks to install a cheap scanner.
[This message has been edited by Doobie (edited August 28, 2000).]
LuvNCustomers: You... you... A$$!!! just kidding! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
I wasn't trying to flame you, sorry if I got up on the soap box a bit. AS far as cars: I used to work on 'em too. Yes, there were flat rates, but they varied from model to model: that was my point (sorry it didn't come through clearly). Every model is different and has a different billing rate: a starter on a corolla is a completely different repair than a starter on a 70 ford pickup... Computers are very similar. Not wuite as varied usually, but some models are much more difficult to work on. We both bill in very different ways, but I think we get the main point: Customers must be happy. That's the thing I took exception with: He kept the customer happy (from what he said). That is the prime requisite. As far as $400 being too much, I don't know. All I know is he says he kept the customer informed of the billing rate and total, so that is the key. I don't know how much time he put into it so $400 may be much, but it also may be right. (Scanners are a real pain though: you have to admit. Every little electronics company in the past 2yrs has seemed to decide that making scanners is a good idea, thus prices have plummeted, but reliability, compatibility, etc have been really sacrificed.) I agree with the comment about certain ways and orders of troubleshooting that can save time, but this sounds like a goose chase that had to be run. I enjoyed your response. Well thought out and defended. And for all the people complaining about flames: These aren't flames. They are thought out arguments on stances that people feel strongly about. This IS the type of post discussion groups were made for. A flame is pointless, undefended name calling, which does seem to go on here. As far as scaring away posters, if you are that afraid of trying to defend your position, you shouldn't be posting your response anyway. Criticism (constructive) is the only way we can grow in this business. If I'm doing something wrong, please tell me! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif But, since I'm perfect, good luck. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/04/1.gif (sarcastic joke alert, please disregard last statement)
OK Luvn, let's grab a cold one and kick it back. (I so know the feeling, computers are much less greasy... But I still get friends wanting help on their cars... What's funny is I will work on friends cars, but not their computers... Burned too many times on computers.) Oh and as a side note: I had a customer come in and request a tune up on his computer- wanted it lubed, etc. We tried to explain how that was not possible, but he insisted. The man was a little crazy. So maybe we could start a business...
Again, thanks for the rebuttal Luvn.
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What's this button d--
hey guys, can we keep the posts to a minimum of about 10,000 words or so? Thanks, Great, Right!
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hey its me again!
As the woman bought a cheap scanner, a cheap printer, and apparently a cheap computer, it seems that money is an issue.
So, why did pay almost 400 bucks for a scanner install? Probably something to do with her female psychology. There's the human tendancy to want to see a problem through if you've already invested a lot into it (it doesn't matter what you've invested, it only matters if what you've still got to do is worth it). She's probably the type of person who would be polite and kind to the bank while it's forclosing on her house. She can't say "no."
She's also not the expert, the tech is. He needs to make her options clear so that she can make a good decision. And, he should have done this from the start. I don't for a second believe that this woman would have agreed to pay nearly 400 bucks if she knew this from the start.
After the woman had told him that other techs failed to fix it, he could have told her how to fix it herself for free - format and restore and load the scanner first.
Ah the old format/reinstall school of Windows repair.
That is not an answer for most people. They do not want to deal with all the little headaches that come from a F&R repair. I'm sorry but I don't feel that format and reinstall is the solution to all problems. Its overused and shows the tech doesn't really know a) how windows works or doesn't work as the case may be b) how to troubleshoot a problem c) most likely doesn't have the patience to walk through a problem to find the solution in the first place.
There is a time and a place for f&r, but a scanner shouldn't be it.
If the tech keeps the customer totaly informed about what is going on with a problem and that customer doesn't want to stop, then by all means continue. The customer, if well informed, can say thats enough at any time. This lady did this with two other companys I believe if the companys did not give up on their own.
I'm going to leave the "female psychology" remark alone. That is playing with fire or at least something warm and combustable. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gifThank God for good judgement.
I'm not flaming anyone, nor trying to insite a riot, but posting my opinion on the subject. I beileve that mikesorensen did what the customer wanted. I believe that the customer in this case was happy with the service that she recieved. In my opinion, this was a job fairly well done.
[This message has been edited by Grider (edited August 29, 2000).]
That wouldn't be so bad, if the customer wasn't in labor...you should be ashamed of yourself, overcharging a pregnant woman like that!Quote:
$389 from customer in labor...for placing a semicolon
Oh wait...l think you just forgot to place a comma in the title...That'll be $389, please! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
EDIT: Since a comma is only half a semicolon, l'll only charge you $195. https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
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=Jon
[email protected]
[This message has been edited by BreakWindows (edited August 29, 2000).]
I had a small assignmenyt once.. Just to install a new printer on a PC. Piece of cake!! Not!!.
This was in the good old Win 3.11 days, where Dos was Dos and Windows something you tried to stay clear off.
This printer, a Canon something was a brand new printer directy from the Factory, so I said: "No prob, I'll install it in a minute".
After 3'n a half hour I still could not make it print anything, only the test-pages. I had cedcked the cables, drivers and everything else more than 3 times, even looked in the manual!!
Then as a final desperate measure I looked in the box it came in. It was empte, except for what I thought was a "Guarantee booklet". It was not..... It was a manual for an extra serial port installed in the printer... Hmmmm.. It shoyuld work anyway... Brrrr wrong, There was a small dip-switch that needed to be switched for the parallel port to work. After that, everything was OK..
I was at that time as a personal assistant to a low-level leader (handicapped) of this center (handicap-center), and therefore I didn't get paid for it more than I would have for just sitting around waiting for him..
/Wizax
[This message has been edited by Wizax (edited August 30, 2000).]
Sounds like a canon 200ex those had a bunch of little dip switchs on the the back. :-)