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Comments
Speaking as a person who recently accidentally had a hard drive go kerflooie -- and by "recently" I mean "Friday" -- I feel your pain.
Posted by Channing at February 17, 2008 12:10 PM
216.114.17.9
you can always take comfort in technology zen, haiku style:
Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working
Windows is like that.
http://baetzler dot de/humor/haiku_error.var
Posted by coelacanth at February 17, 2008 12:26 PM
81.101.143.125
Aw dang, I hope you had backups, though the HD itself might still be salvagable. That seriously sucks.
Anyone in here have good advice for a computer? I put forth a motion that we start a "Get Spike A Reliable For Real Type Computer" fund.
Posted by B at February 17, 2008 12:26 PM
206.116.69.106
Augh. I hate it when computers choose the worst times to fail. I recently replaced my 3 year old laptop, which is slowly running itself into the ground, with a tablet, which already has it's share of issues. And I can't go long without a computer as a computer engineering student, so I feel your pain Spike. Though, in my experience with Dell Techs, they should bring the parts to you can fix it on site. Then again, I don't know what level of support you have wit them. Regardless, good luck getting it fixed!
Posted by Bremma at February 17, 2008 12:35 PM
71.171.23.241
I don't know where you live, but if it's near the Bay Area I might be able to cobble together something functional out of spare parts to loan (and pull your data off the hard drive.) If you're not, you might be able to find someone locally who could do the same thing.
I suspect you have dedicated enough fans that just being able to say "I helped Spike make a comic" would be payment enough :)
Posted by Ben Wilhelm/ZorbaTHut at February 17, 2008 01:06 PM
69.12.150.54
Wait, didn't you just get that thing, like... a year ago?
Posted by Lisa Jonté at February 17, 2008 01:26 PM
71.146.98.203
Wow. I knew I hated Dell-the-proprietary-bastards before (even though both of my comps came from them) but now...they just better do a good job on Tuesday. Or they shall suffer the wrath of the really-pissed-off-person. From a distance. And something.
And I...shall stop posting comments while sleep-deprived. Uh-huh.
Seriously, good luck, Spike. And if it comes down to "buy-spike-a-good-computer" time, let me know.
Posted by coyoteweeps at February 17, 2008 01:44 PM
71.195.226.194
I broke my sister's screen on her laptop and she got it back two days after shipping it out to Dell to get it fixed, so hopefully it'll be painless.
I lost a either a motherboard or a processor a month ago and am down to using my "occasional use" laptop full time. It's not really cutting it, but I can't justify spending $600 on a new system. Le sigh.
Posted by Uthor at February 17, 2008 03:04 PM
74.141.225.135
Don't worry about it! It's okay to take a week off, even though we'll all miss Templar.
By the way, I just got my copy of the book and my commission. It's so incredible and I'm about to go get it framed. I hope that helps lift your spirits, at least a little.
Posted by Magnolia at February 17, 2008 03:14 PM
198.7.242.130
Well, that suck majorly. I hope the HD is salvageable.
Posted by Sul at February 17, 2008 03:53 PM
89.100.100.164
Well at least it's good that the computer is still under warranty. It's really upsetting when these things happen just one day after the warranty expires.
Posted by Wood at February 17, 2008 05:35 PM
86.210.30.56
Dell had a real problem with that a few years back. We had to replace all of, I think, the GX260s we had in our organization because the capacitors on the motherboard would melt down and goo all over the place. It was pretty bad.
Posted by Ishaar at February 17, 2008 10:18 PM
69.154.199.242
To be fair, everybody had a capacitor problem a few years back. Dell wasn't the only one suffering from this problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
http://www.badcaps.net/
Posted by Wagner at February 17, 2008 11:22 PM
72.179.54.161
Also:
http://www.news.com/PCs-plagued-by-bad-capacitors/2100-1041_3-5942647.html
Posted by Wagner at February 17, 2008 11:23 PM
72.179.54.161
SUCK. Sorry to hear that, Spike. Hope you get it working sooner rather than later.
Good luck.
Posted by dirk Tiede at February 18, 2008 12:17 AM
68.72.134.104
For a reliable computer, you want to find your most competent 12-25 yr. old friend/genius, and ask him to build you one, and put UBUNTU Linux on it.
My parents in law run Linux, it isn't too bad. (though there are occasions where they run behind Windows in supporting hardware -- my last mobo had serious issues of 'this is so stupid, no one would ever use this' /'oh, wait, it's the only option??'
That got on the 'fix me now' list immediately after the mobo was released, but....
The Capacitor Plague is why you don't let physicists be industrial espionage agents. (wait, that made it to production? aw, hell...)
Posted by Miako at February 18, 2008 12:31 PM
128.147.28.1
No.
No, you're not allowed to have a broken computer. We shall hold you to the same impossible standards that readers of webcomics everywhere hold their creators to and demand an unreasonable update schedule.
Yeah, not really. ^.^ Of course, getting a Dell is practically asking for trouble [that's why you get an Acer]. Just make sure you yell at the Dell guy plenty, and we'll call it even. Maybe if they get yelled at enough, they'll starting putting together stable computers, and they could hire more *cough*better*cough* employees.
Miako is right. Building one is the best way to go. Unfortunately, it's not so good if you haven't been paying attention to the techie side of life for a year or so. Knowing how to build it is useless if you can't figure out which parts to buy...That, and it's time-consuming.
Note: Yelling at customer service reps is highly unrecommended. We talk about you behind your back...if you're lucky.
Posted by Savail at February 19, 2008 04:59 PM
207.119.1.111
yelling at customer service reps when your boss is president of the company is particularly not recommended.
Try Ars Technica for some info on what's good to buy. Also know your requirements. I built a honey of a computer for $300 that is still going strong three years down the line -- but it isnt' a gaming computer. For a gaming computer, the price is probably closer or above $1000.
Posted by Miako at February 20, 2008 09:57 AM
128.147.28.1
Sounds like Dell...
On the upside, they'll probably just replace the whole damn thing rather than try to fix it. I got three keyboards out of 'em on my last go round, and on the third try the tech guy told me I should just ask for a new computer if it failed again. I swear that company thinks of its stuff as disposable.
Off to knock on several kinds of rare wood and say a prayer for my current model...and back up again, of course.
Posted by sweetlife at February 20, 2008 05:51 PM
66.25.165.87
I hope the HD is salvageable
Posted by Nikolos at February 23, 2008 06:24 AM
92.113.128.181
Dell's are not known for their reliability, they popped up to give cheap PC's when AOL first came out. If you can't go custom built (Which is usually the better choice, and cheaper) you are better off with pretty much any other brand. HP or IBM is nice. They cut their teeth on technology before Dell even showed up on the scene.
... What can I say. I'm a geek, with middling brand loyalty, after Howard loyalty (My hardware guy.)
Posted by Ghede at February 24, 2008 08:06 PM
71.247.238.24
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