I have a Dell laptop and while many people criticized me for getting it back in 2008, it has served me well for the most part … with just a few minor glitches. I’m no computer geek. When I hit the power button, I just expect the dang thing to work. I think 90% of the population falls into this category. What I know about fixing a computer can fit inside of a thimble, so when it doesn’t work, I’m at the mercy of someone else fixing it.
My first real “issue” with my laptop started after I moved back to Iowa. Maybe I should have seen it as a sign of bad things to come … I don’t know. Mysteriously, the DVD player thingy stopped working one day. It was working fine one minute and then suddenly it kept saying there was no disc in the drive. I tried everything in my arsenal of computer knowledge to fix it …but I couldn’t get it to work. So I was forced to call tech support at Dell.
Ugh, the dreaded tech support call. Yikes. Fearing the worse, I dialed the number on my cell phone and got the nicest guy on the line. He did some fancy schmancy thing when he remoted into my laptop and fixed the problem within minutes. He explained to me that sometimes the computer “forgets” that certain programs are installed and we just have to remind it. He put an icon on my desk top that would “clean the windshield” so the computer would remember that certain programs were there. It all sounded good to me and over the course of the next several months, I had make use of the “windshield wiper” several times to get the DVD player to work. Things were good for a while --- until the unthinkable happened.
A couple of months later, my computer completely died. Dead. Of course, it had to happen just days before I had a really big paper due in one of my graduate classes. And no I didn’t back up said paper on a USB drive. Why would I do that? I’m working on MY LAPTOP!! Not a computer at the library or the computer lab at school. My own laptop, in my own house in the middle of nowhere USA. I did back up the files to the data-safe online feature that Dell provides. A virtual file cabinet with all my junk it in. I thought that was good enough.
So another call to tech support. This time I met Joe – probably the most patient man in the world – because I was a slightly hysterical when I called. I was on the phone with him for a very long time and he actually got my computer to turn back on --- for a minute. But when the “blue screen of death” popped up on the screen – he told me that it was DEAD. I started crying thinking that my paper was a goner. But never fear, Joe became my hero.
First off, Joe sent a technician to my house IN THE MIDDLE OF A BLIZZARD (December 19 2009 – a day I’ll never forget ever) to install a new hard drive. But before the technician even arrived, he walked me through retrieving my paper out of the data-safe online feature from Dell – restoring it to my mom’s desk top so I wouldn’t flunk my class. I wanted to hug the guy – but he was in India, so that was a little impossible, so instead I told his manager that he should get a raise. But honestly, Joe should get a job at his local 911 center -- and talk people through CPR over the phone. He has one of those voices that could melt butter. A voice that makes you feel empowered, even in the face of uncertainty. As much as Joe saved my ass that day, I prayed I’d never have to talk to him again.
After that crisis was over, my computer worked great until May of this year. Then mysteriously one day I couldn’t burn CD’s anymore. It wasn’t that big of deal because it happened about the same time that I discovered “The Cloud” -- the virtual storage thingy with Amazon -- where I could store all my music and load my ITunes music on my phone without the need for a CD transfer. In short, I tried to burn a CD but it didn’t work and I didn’t really care. In retrospect, maybe I should have seen that as a sign because a month later, the laptop started the whole “I can’t see the DVD” thing again. This time I thought I was really smart and reloaded the windshield wiper icon thingy on my computer to make it work. Which it did until about two weeks ago, when my seemingly intermittent problem starting happening every time I tried to play a DVD.
If I messed around with the laptop for a while, I could get the DVD to play and maybe if I was lucky I could get a couple of DVD’s to play. And that all worked fine until Thursday night when I couldn’t get the DVD player to do anything. Well, I take that back, it did do something – it sounded like a garbage disposal every time I stuck a DVD in. But did it load the DVD so I could watch it? No, of course not. So another call to tech support was in order. But, this was not going to be an ordinary call mind you because of course, by now … my laptop was out of warranty.
Before I even made the call, I attempted to trouble shoot it on my own. I went on Dell’s website and did all the little tricks the troubleshooting guide told me to do. None of these worked and by then I was sure it was the drive that was fried. I tried to look up the part – thinking that maybe I could just order a new DVD drive thingy and have the guy (the brave one that came to my house in the blizzard) install it. But when I tried to look it up, there was no part listed. What the heck? Is that some conspiracy to force a person to call tech support after the machine is out of warranty? And even though I made said call to tech support, I still think the whole thing of not listing all the available parts for a laptop is just a ploy to get money from the consumer.
On this call, I got Deepesh. He was nice and even convinced me that their $60 diagnostic fee was worth it because if I took it to another retailer (Best Buy – he didn’t exactly say it, but I could read between the lines) it would cost me $100 and they would have my laptop for a couple of days. So I let him in. It took him nearly 2 hours but he magically got the DVD player to work. Played nearly a whole episode of ER just to make sure it wasn’t going to crap out again. Then, he said “Let’s just reboot to make sure everything is okay.” It was a death sentence. The DVD player never worked again – not for his lack of trying.
Deepesh, convinced it was a software issue – said the best thing to do was to reload the operating system which would clear out any “bugs” in the system. The downside was that it would also wipe out any memory on my laptop. I was okay with this because I had all my files backed on the data safe online feature. I ran the program again just to make sure everything was “saved” and let Deepesh make a last ditch effort to fix my problem. Yeah, well, in the end, it didn’t work. When the laptop finally booted back up, the DVD player would still not work.
So Deepesh’s manager got on the line with me and gave me a few options. I could A. buy a new computer, because by the time I got done buying the part and having it installed, I could have bought a new laptop for just a few more dollars – and because I was having a technical issue that wasn’t able to be resolved through tech support, they would apply an 10% discount to my order. B. call the out of warranty department, order the part and have an authorized technician install it or C. buy an external DVD player that attached to the laptop via USB – and would work just as well as the internal unit. I had lots of questions about the external drive option – because I never understood what those things were for or why someone would buy them. In the end, I felt confident that I knew what I had to do to get the DVD function working again on my computer.
Buying a new computer really wasn’t an option. Other than the DVD player not working, there is nothing wrong with my laptop. It’s still fast and has a lot of memory on it. It would be nice if I had a smaller, more portable one – but that’s just a wish. I did price a new model on Dell’s website – and after loading it up with all the gizmos that I would want, I realized I couldn’t really afford it – even with the 10% discount and my Dell Preferred charge account. I was still considering calling the out of warranty department to get the part, but after a lot of research on the topic, I ordered an external DVD drive from Amazon.
I also had to order Office Suite 2010…I had Office 2007 on my laptop before the “reboot”, but the disk only allows 3 downloads before it self-destructs and I had already downloaded it 3 times. (once on my mother’s desktop, once on a friend’s computer and on my laptop in December 2009 when the hard-drive bit the dust). I wanted to order Acrobat Standard X – so I could manipulate PDF files, but that effing thing costs like $300 – so I decided it wasn’t that important at the moment.
Then, I began the slow process of reloading everything back onto my laptop. I logged onto Data-safe online, downloaded the program and clicked off the buttons to “restore” my files. The estimated time to completion was 12 hours, so in the meantime, I reloaded everything else and then went to bed. I woke up a couple of times to check the progress of the “restore” and then fell back to sleep. When I woke up a couple of hours later, the “restore” was done and had transferred exactly ZERO files.
I tried to run the restore a couple of more times – with smaller batches and every time it looked like it was working, but in the end, nothing transferred. Then for a moment I thought maybe it wasn’t working because I didn’t have office suite loaded, so I tried to restore just a few key files to my mother’s desk top. Again, the program faked me out – looking like it was going to work only to not work. Needless to say, that completely stressed me out --- to the point where I had to go get a pedicure and be pampered for a while.
So once again, I had to call tech support. This time, I chatted to Dave – for free. I was expecting it to be something simple -- You know when your car makes some weird noise for weeks until the day you take it to the shop to get fixed – and they find nothing wrong with it? Like I had forgotten some little step to make the restore function work – yeah, not so much. Dave and I were on the chat line for 2 hours and he couldn’t get the files to transfer either – which, as much as it pissed me off, made me feel great – like I wasn’t crazy! After Dave fiddled around with stuff inside my laptop and on the data safe online site, he said he had to research why it wasn’t working and made an appointment to call me back at 1 pm on Saturday.
Yeah, I couldn’t wait that long. I guess it wouldn’t have been such a big deal if my RESUME wasn’t stuck in lalala virtual file land, but since it was -- I couldn’t wait the 14 hours until Dave called me back with his alleged fix. I needed to apply for jobs – and quick, since my father tried to ship me to North Dakota to live in a camper with my brother. I started playing around with Data Safe Online thingy myself. I tried to “share” the file with my resume in it with myself – which emailed a link to me to download the file. I crossed my fingers when I hit send … and magically 10 minutes later, a link appeared in my inbox, which allowed me to download the file. So I spent the rest of the night “sharing” my files until I had restored everything back into my documents.
Dell Tech Support never called on Saturday, which totally pissed me off. Granted I would have told them that I had fixed it myself – but it’s just the purpose of the thing. If you say you’re going to call someone at a specific time, call them -- even if you’re 10 minutes late. I could have gone to the German Fest or to Park Farms to hear my friend’s band play or something else equally more fun than waiting around for a phone call from tech support!! I stewed about it for an entire day, and then on Sunday sent them some scathing feedback through the portal on their tech support site about their lack of concern for my lost files.
About 6 hours later, some dude from Dell called me back and apologized that no one had returned my call. I wasn’t by the phone when he rang, so he had to leave a voice message and then he emphasized that someone would call on Monday to confirm that everything was okay with my laptop. Am I going to hold my breath for that call … ah, no. Am I going to be nice about their blowing me off? Probably not.
Anyway … so after all of that… my computer is back to working again. All my files are almost back where they belong. I’m using a trial version of Office Suite 2010 – which is no different than Office 2007 in my professional opinion. (and since I just sent out 20 cover letters, I feel like I’m an expert on that subject). I don’t have the DVD player – so I’ve been forced to watch DVD’s in my sister’s room – on the TV. At some point this week, I’ll get my new external drive in the mail and then things will be all normal again.
Of course, now that I think about it … that means I’ll have to clean off my night stand to make room for it. UGH! As for getting a new computer? I’m crossing my fingers this thing will last another year or two – or at least until I get a job.
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