Customer Service

[Rellik]

Originally posted by Gollo
I think that all the really good advice has been given so.....

Windows ME?

My, and a Voodoo 3500 to cap it off.... It was a good card, but I can't see it running well in WinME

[WildTech]

Hehe,

At the time this system was built Windows Me and the Voodoo 3500 were the items the owner chose. Gotta make those customers happy!

[Guts3d]

Boy, i'd probably make a ghost image of a fresh system install on a bootable CD and hand it to them and say "if you have any problems, back up your data and insert this CD."

Dell, Micron, Gateway, Etc. all use the same method for fixing ANY software problem.... " Put in the recovery disk and reboot.... "

[kato2274]

Originally posted by Guts3d
Boy, i'd probably make a ghost image of a fresh system install on a bootable CD and hand it to them and say "if you have any problems, back up your data and insert this CD."

Dell, Micron, Gateway, Etc. all use the same method for fixing ANY software problem.... " Put in the recovery disk and reboot.... "

this method does have it's merits if employed correctly. when I build a pc for someone, I put the image on a second partition along with their download folder, my documents folder and email store for Outlook Express. then I give them a disk that they put in the machine while in windows and execute the recovery icon which Xcopy32s their favorites to the second partition then reboots. upon reboot the PC boots from floppy and reimages the pc.

all they have to do once the reimage is done is execute a small Batch file on the disk to restore their backed up favorites (I'm actually trying to work out how to do it automatically with the run once reg key) no email loss, no data loss, no backing up to do. most of the pcs I build for people are for very limited home use, and they generally don't install any extra stuff. this method works GREAT! and has helped me avoid more than a few calls to fix stupid registry corruptions or driver problems.

[TechLarry]

I think you have been more than reasonable considering the computer is years out of warranty. Though we all like to help, there is a limit to one's good graces especially when being abused.

When I come across issues of continually corrupted registries or system files, I immediately start looking for:

1. Hardware defects, especially bad RAM, bad processor caches, bad hard drives, etc...

2. Software that is corrupting things. Who knows what this kid is trying to do on this system.

At this point I would offer to try and resolve the problem, but I would not do it for free. It would be normal labor and parts rates from this point on.

You've done enough.

TL

[TechLarry]

Originally posted by WildTech
Hehe,

At the time this system was built Windows Me and the Voodoo 3500 were the items the owner chose. Gotta make those customers happy!

I missed the part about Windows ME.

Windows ME is the worst, most unstable operating system ever released by any computer vendor. I personally would never sell it much less install it.

Any chance of getting them to upgrade to Windows XP or 2000 ?

TL

[Ya_know]

Originally posted by TechLarry
I missed the part about Windows ME.

Windows ME is the worst, most unstable operating system ever released by any computer vendor. I personally would never sell it much less install it.

Any chance of getting them to upgrade to Windows XP or 2000 ?

TL

There have been several debates about the reliability of ME, and it has always boiled down to using proper driver files for the correct OS, and avoiding limitations of driver support; in that most manufactures stopped making drivers for ME, so hardware is going to be a problem if you use unsupported drivers in a pinch.

The OS was flaky, yes, but it wasn’t the core of the problem for most of the issues found.

[ilovetheusers]

I don't own a shop and I work for a corporation so I support whatever I'm told to. I have worked retail for 15 years though.

When it comes to constant PIA customers, you have to know when to say when and quit being a nice guy sometimes. Most customers are decent people who understand the capatilist system of you get what you pay for. Some people just abuse you and try to get as much as they can for free.

I'm not beyond helping a customer to keep him/her but when they become a constant pain it's time for them to go. Sometimes the headache just isn't worth it. you have gone far beyond what you should have done by supporting software issues that this guy never paid for even though he feels that he did.

If you want to stay in his good graces, reinstall from scratch one last time and tell him that this is it. Explain the issues come from the OS he asked for and that the software his son is installing is causing the issues. Tell him that any more repairs will be charged for.

If he keeps it up I would maybe print this post out and show it to him and show him a copy of the warranty (hope you have it in writing). If he gets irate tell him you don't need him as a customer anymore.



Oddly enough most of the people I installed ME for have had several issues that have caused me to have to reinstall from scratch. It's a nice little OS to put on older systems to keep them alive a little longer IMHO but as for being able to fix it or having it stay stable in tha face of a kid or several kids, it stinks.

[TechLarry]

IMHO, there ain't NO debate when it comes to Windows ME I am so thankful it was never designated as a corporate operating system. I could not imagine in my wildest dreams having to support 13,000 people running that garbage.

TL

Originally posted by Ya_know
There have been several debates about the reliability of ME, and it has always boiled down to using proper driver files for the correct OS, and avoiding limitations of driver support; in that most manufactures stopped making drivers for ME, so hardware is going to be a problem if you use unsupported drivers in a pinch.

The OS was flaky, yes, but it wasn’t the core of the problem for most of the issues found.

[Rellik]

Originally posted by TechLarry
I missed the part about Windows ME.

Windows ME is the worst, most unstable operating system ever released by any computer vendor. I personally would never sell it much less install it.

Any chance of getting them to upgrade to Windows XP or 2000 ?

TL

When I upgraded to XP with my old 3500 still in my system, driver support is pretty much non-existant as much a 3dfx is.

2000 and XP might work as there are third party drivers, but getting the right combinatiion of drivers, tools, and visualreality is a real pain.

If anything, I would downgrade to W98SE but: 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it™'

[WildTech]

Thanks for all the input................you guys have some great ideas.

The Windows Me debate is ongoing. Personally, I'm more of an XP or 2000 kinda guy myself. In defense of the configuration however, I built nearly 100 machines nearly identical to this one with Windows Me on them and this is the only serious problem I've incurred. Of course I had many operater induced issues and an occasional registry problem with ME but not like this one.

Whats worse is that I can not replicate the problem in the shop. I've run burn-in software and individual component test software for a week on the bench and the system test fine.

[TechLarry]

A bad processor cache will drive you BONKERS in exactly this manner.

As a test, you could disable it in the BIOS and see if the situation improves. But, once the registry is corrupt, it's corrupt. You'd have to start from scratch as well.

TL

Originally posted by WildTech
Thanks for all the input................you guys have some great ideas.

The Windows Me debate is ongoing. Personally, I'm more of an XP or 2000 kinda guy myself. In defense of the configuration however, I built nearly 100 machines nearly identical to this one with Windows Me on them and this is the only serious problem I've incurred. Of course I had many operater induced issues and an occasional registry problem with ME but not like this one.

Whats worse is that I can not replicate the problem in the shop. I've run burn-in software and individual component test software for a week on the bench and the system test fine.

[WildTech]

Thanks TechLarry

I have run HotCPU and it tells me all is well.

[Dankman420]

User Error is all it comes down to. You said yourself, the machine has burn-in tested for a week solid. You even ran his "troublesome" games.
Warranty has expired. Time to Pay UP.

[firemonkey]

Don't warrennrt software of any kind, that would include viruses, games, kazaa, weather bug, and all others. that the users like to get them selfs into.