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by zlitocook

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A user at work told me her computer at home, a Compaq presario about 3 years old. Will only boot to the splash screen and thats all. She has win98 se she thinks and did not add any thing before this happened. Do I supply her with boot disks and how to trouble shoot the computer? She has already told me she has a ton of music files she want to keep and other things she cannot loose.

12 replies

by dbgirl

Is she the type that will understand what you are telling her how to troubleshoot? Honestly, it doesn't sound like she is. After all, the splash screen should tell her what version of Windows she has, she shouldn't have to guess.

If you are willing, you could always do the work for her. Make sure she signs a waiver releasing you of liability if the files she wants to keep are not recoverable. Sounds like she may have to learn a valuable lesson about backing things up if she wants to keepthem.

Of course, if you are not the type to do free computer work for co-workers, then don't make the offer. Although, in my experience, most people I have done 'free' work for have gone out of their way to help me out later.

by zlitocook

Myself and it was a bad cdrw that was halting the system. The computer was out of warrenty and she only wanted her computer working. It turns out that the hardware is still under warrenty and they dont care if the seal is broken:) A good thing for me! And yes the people I fix computers for free have always done good things for me!

by greggen

Having her boot the PC in safemode?

You could also have her rerun setup from the harddrive? She will lose settings but no data.

by xpertdragon

I am not sure exactly what kind of answer you are looking for here. Is this a situation that you are not sure of getting involved with? I am sure someone before my posting has already suggested, it all depends on what kind of help she is suggesting at. Is she a PC savvy person, or is she hinting that she wants you to make a house call? If so, why not....you could make some money on the side I would think. I don't think the Information or the data that is important to her is really an issueat this point. However, it does sound like a possible hardware device in her Compaq has failed. But, by all means, if she assumes that you will take all legal responsibilities and beyond by offering advice, or giving advice....forget her! I.T. professionals run into this "stereotype" all too often, and it is the first thing you should avoid and look out for. These are the type of computer users, very often our co-workers, that WANT another human being around to point the finger at when technology fails. It is best to not be that person, that scapegoat. Her mentaility, just may be that she would have no one else to blame but herself if the computer were to never work again, or need serious repairs.

Best of Luck in which ever path you choose!

Paul M. Chavez

by oaojr

Send her to a local computer repair shop. Anyone who has "things they cannot lose" needs a professional. Anyone doing "free" computer work is helping put the small computer shop out of business. I speak from experience.

by zlitocook

Can not pay $25 to $50 bucks just to come in the door. I work with people who just make it on the pay they recieve and a $50 or $100 dollar repair on their computer would put their bills behind. I lived this way for a long time and will help any one who needs it! Would you help a person who could prove that they can not afford the repair by doing it for free? And hey I get alot of training doing this.

by mtberjim

Try closer to 100-200 dollars, that's what I charge to format and reinstall Windows and whatever other programs and recover data my clients had before "a guy I know worked on it". The problem with doing it for free is exactly what you?re doing. You don't feel responsible for that computer not booting and are in no rush to go over her house to see if you?ve done something. Next she spends money on all kinds of crap recovery software, so by the time my phone rings the OS is beyond recovery and she still has the original hardware problem you didn?t fix. So that ?FREE? service ends up costing a bunch.
If I?ve worked on it and it wouldn?t boot, you can believe I?m going to make time to go back over and find out why.

by kajer

I'm not going to send someone to the "local computer shop" to pay $150 for the "computer guy" to look at the system, tell them it's their fault for doing something wrong, and then refuse to fix it. When I can go over to their house, spend 5 minutescleaning up files from a botched uninstall, or reinstall the correct video drivers.

by zlitocook

That can help if needed. A computer I looked at a few weeks ago, the person was told that she had a bad hard drive and needed a new one. $300. bucks and they would replace the drive and her old O/S was not supported so she had to buy Win2000. She still had her Win95 cdrom with the lic. I ran a H/D scan from the maker and found that there was no problem with it. The memory stick had sliped from the socket. I cleaned it and reinstalled the stick, it now runs fine! I charged her a dinner and to call me first! And I get free cookies and food when ever I go to her house! Cool:)

by zlitocook

When I fix a computer it stays fixed! I have a little training if you read my bio you will see that. As for working on other folks computer how else will people who want to learn do so? If you feel that it is taking away from your shop and busness is dropping well mabie you should reread what you just replyed $100 to $200. And I get the computer back to them in a day or so, do you?
I also give free training and help with free ware to keep their systems tuned up. Thanks

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