great support from Dell

My 5 year old Dell start acting flakey. I tried running the Restore disk
doing the "fix damaged files" thing- the system seemed a little better but
not enough.

I also tried did a Restore from a few weeks earlier when the system was
stable.

I realized I would need to reformat the hard drive or buy a new one if that
didn't work.

Since the computer was that old I didn't think I could get any free support
from Dell. But my nerd days were back in the mid '90s and I didn't feel
confident enough do the install procedure and I had left my 1,000 page XP
book at a friend's house- so I called Dell- got to someone within a few
minutes. He explained that I should try a "quick format" then reinstall via
the Restore disk. I said "thanks for your help" and was ready to hang up
when he said, "do you want me to walk you through the install?". I was very
surprised but took him up on the offer.

Before I called Dell I had tried F12 and got as far as the point where it
showed 2 partitions and asked what I should do about them- but I had no
clue. The tech explained that I need to delete both, which is something I
never would have tried. He then stuck with me through the entire reinstall
of XP and drivers- about an hour.

He never said anything about charging me for this time. Maybe he was just
bored and wanted to kill some time?

Regardless, I seriously doubt any other computer maker would have given that
much support after 5 years.

Joe

"Joe" wrote in message
...
My 5 year old Dell start acting flakey. I tried running the Restore disk
doing the "fix damaged files" thing- the system seemed a little better but
not enough.

I also tried did a Restore from a few weeks earlier when the system was
stable.

I realized I would need to reformat the hard drive or buy a new one if
that didn't work.

Since the computer was that old I didn't think I could get any free
support from Dell. But my nerd days were back in the mid '90s and I didn't
feel confident enough do the install procedure and I had left my 1,000
page XP book at a friend's house- so I called Dell- got to someone within
a few minutes. He explained that I should try a "quick format" then
reinstall via the Restore disk. I said "thanks for your help" and was
ready to hang up when he said, "do you want me to walk you through the
install?". I was very surprised but took him up on the offer.

Before I called Dell I had tried F12 and got as far as the point where it
showed 2 partitions and asked what I should do about them- but I had no
clue. The tech explained that I need to delete both, which is something I
never would have tried. He then stuck with me through the entire reinstall
of XP and drivers- about an hour.

He never said anything about charging me for this time. Maybe he was just
bored and wanted to kill some time?

Regardless, I seriously doubt any other computer maker would have given
that much support after 5 years.

Joe


I have to say I am surprised at that level of service in this day and age.
Glad to hear a positive experience.

OS reinstall is a definite requirement of hardware tech support. No
above-and-beyond here, especially if your warranty and service tag
were still valid. However, most times customers will be a little more
ticked off about losing all their data when the partitions are wiped
out.

You should've done the thorough format. From what I've been told the
quick can frequently become a disaster. As a courtesy, when I replace
hard drives I almost always begin the XP reinstall with the regular
more thorough formatting process. Unless theres a $100 cash tip,
on-site techs don't do complete OS reinstalls.

Dan

On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 06:56:39 -0500, "Joe" wrote:

My 5 year old Dell start acting flakey. I tried running the Restore disk
doing the "fix damaged files" thing- the system seemed a little better but
not enough.

I also tried did a Restore from a few weeks earlier when the system was
stable.

I realized I would need to reformat the hard drive or buy a new one if that
didn't work.

Since the computer was that old I didn't think I could get any free support
from Dell. But my nerd days were back in the mid '90s and I didn't feel
confident enough do the install procedure and I had left my 1,000 page XP
book at a friend's house- so I called Dell- got to someone within a few
minutes. He explained that I should try a "quick format" then reinstall via
the Restore disk. I said "thanks for your help" and was ready to hang up
when he said, "do you want me to walk you through the install?". I was very
surprised but took him up on the offer.

Before I called Dell I had tried F12 and got as far as the point where it
showed 2 partitions and asked what I should do about them- but I had no
clue. The tech explained that I need to delete both, which is something I
never would have tried. He then stuck with me through the entire reinstall
of XP and drivers- about an hour.

He never said anything about charging me for this time. Maybe he was just
bored and wanted to kill some time?

Regardless, I seriously doubt any other computer maker would have given that
much support after 5 years.