September 8, 2008

A Word About H-P.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 8:09 pm

The title promised you one word about H-P, so here it is:

SATAN

Truth is, I have more than one word to say about H-P, and that is Do Not Buy an H-P Computer!

I first told you here about my problem with my out-of-warranty (by about a month***), very expensive computer.. Stripped of detail, the story is that the computer would not start Windows. I updated the sad tale, here and here, which culminated in my sending the computer back to H-P for a $300+ repair.

A short bit of back-story. When I [Mike, my computer maven buddy], was talking online with the disembodied computer geek at H-P, he advised him that he [I] would be sending the computer minus the hard drive, the disembodied computer geek said, “No, you must send the hard drive.”

I [Mike] responded, “OK, but do not fool with the hard drive.”

The disembodied computer geek said, “I will mark the repair ticket ‘Do not reconfigure hard drive.’”

Fast forward.

The computer was returned, and apparently, it now starts Windows, but guess what.

Yes, the hard drive was “re-imaged.” In non-Geekspeak, that means, “We don’t give a fat rat’s ass what we told you, we will wipe your hard drive clean, because we CAN.”

Initially I figured, “No problem, I have an external drive tee’d up to back everyfarookin’ thing up.”

I have since learned that the external drive did not do what it’s supposed to do, and I’ve lost every file that was placed in the computer for the last year or so. It apparently saved the stuff from my old computer, but the daily backups, even thought they showed up on my screen, didn’t happen.

Now, once I fire up the Raptor (I’m still using a borrowed machine), I will have to place myself in a “Wayback” Machine in order to reconstruct my files.

If you are inclined to tell me what I should have done, please spare me. I relied on the expertise of the goddamned computer manufacturer and its promise not to screw around with the hard drive, and I was HOSED. (Mike was adamant about shipping the unit sans hard drive).

So, a few things:

If you don’t hear from me, it may well be that I no longer have your e-mail, your phone number, or your snail mail address.

If I blog a bit less, it is because I’m taxing my memory to update lost goddamned files.

If you’ve stayed with me this long, I want to impress upon you one thing. DO NOT BUY AN H-P COMPUTER. If you feel the urge to buy one, have a cocktail and buy something else.

Oh, and if anyone from H-P happens to be reading this, how’s about you kiss my ample New Jersey ass!

That is all.

*** Actually, the computer was running less than the warranty period, as the components sat in my house for damned near a month in the boxes owing to a family health problem unfolding at that time. We mentioned this to H-P, but it did not matter. I understand. Rules are rules. But, damn!

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