Computer Geek Search....

Long story short....

My hard drive crashed, I called Dell who promptly sold me a new one, along with a better memory module. Got everything, including a borrowed XP disc which I'm told I'll need to reload onto computer.

I am extremely wary of attempting to do all this myself, even though people claim it's pretty easy. Verizon would charge me $250.00 to have somebody come. Surely there must be someone out there...am thinking of taking it to Staples unless I can find an 'expert' out there. Been putting feelers out just gotta find someone in my proximity would gladly pay for the service, just not $250!!!

Or...is it really ok to open back pull out old & reinistall new? (Just thining of opening the back makes me nervous...)

Thoughts welcome.

So are insults...as long as they're grounded in reality.

Apple

If in doubt, don't do it yourself.

Does your daughter have anyone in her school who could do the job for you?

Also, for the price of a tongue sandwich and a bottle of Stoli, I bet Geoff could be talked into it.

LOL...actually, JGeoff was one of the first people I thought of when all this started. At an hour & a half travel time though, it is simply too much to ask.

And I'm not sure we have the right kind've tongue up here in Bergen County!!

Actually my niece (age 23) may have a friend that could help. I'm waiting to hear back on that.

It is pretty much as easy as it sounds. PCs are not at all as sensitive to some of the errors users made in the past when attempting to install hardware. I'd give it a try. At worse, it won't work, but it won't damage anything.

Would the geek squad at Best Buy be cheaper?

Is it a laptop or desktop? I'm assuming a laptop would be pretty easy. Didn't Dell give you any instructions?

Hi...it is my desktop that needs the repair. Luckily, my daughter got a laptop for her b'day last year and THAT is what has kept us connected with the outside world.

No actual instructions came w/ the hard drive but Dell cust svc did say to call if I needed assistance. Also I'll look at the manual. Again the resident computer expert at work (who is also one of the company owners) assured me it should be pretty forthright & easy.

Guess I'll start by opening the back and seeing what is there. If it looks like more than I can handle may just wait for help. Gotta start somewhere....!!

Really, Apple, just take a conservative approach and you'll be fine. Just ask yourself: would Sarah Palin retreat from this challenge? Well, at least not until she's half-way through it!

Not everyone drives as slow as you.... throw in a case of beer and Geoff can make it there in 45 minutes.

Well...if I knew I could make a few million, pay off my bills and get a really bad tv show out of it...I would be most happy to give it a try & quit halfway through!!!

If I new Geoff were coming, I would throw in TWO cases of beer, TWO bottles of Stoli and reimburse him for the gas.

Not for the speeding ticket, though.

And I still couldn't guarantee the quality of tongue that he's probably used to...

You betcha!

I just took a look at the back of the terminal. NO WAY I'm touching that. Needs a serious dust vacuuming as well.

I called my local Staples, they're having a 50% sale on recovery & technical services. I may still need a recovery cd from the manufacturer as well. Think I'll haul everything over there today.

Unless Geoff is already on the way, in which case I'm off to the liquor store.

Thanks for the input,

Why not just invest in a new CPU? It'll probably come with MS Office.

Thought of that too but have already purchased hard drive & memory. Assuming the repair/restoration are possible I still save several hundred $$$. It's not a good time of year to buy myself a brand new system.

Assuming the repair/restorations can be accomplished (and I don't see why it can't)...this is fine.

But NEXT TIME....

Since we're discussing PCs, does anyone know why this happens or have a solution to it? When I view just about any type of web video, it will stop after a few seconds and then recommence and so on. I just viewed a video of Jackie Evancho and it did the same thing.

Is that buffering? Idk.

That happened alot on mine, too. I figured it had something to do with amt of memory, the computer just didn't seem capable of running some audio/video without interruption. Hopefully that'll change once the thing is serviced.

I'm sure that JG will correct me if I'm wrong, but it has to do with available bandwidth as well.

Well, yeah... the amount of bandwidth you get is what you pay for. But in 2010 I'd think it'd be enough, regardless....