Scary

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously owned by an IT
sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first (as you do) and there
were some pretty scary letters to customers - such as

PC freezes after about 30 mins
Their solution - Could be CPU, Memory or Motherboard faulty. Recommend total
replacement of all including modem and graphics card - £400 + VAT

No wonder they went bankrupt, the thieving ****s. Will have to download this
stuff and have a good look, see what other gems are contained therein.

--

Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers Ltd

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:19:37 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously owned by an IT
sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first (as you do) and there
were some pretty scary letters to customers - such as

PC freezes after about 30 mins
Their solution - Could be CPU, Memory or Motherboard faulty. Recommend total
replacement of all including modem and graphics card - £400 + VAT

No wonder they went bankrupt, the thieving ****s. Will have to download this
stuff and have a good look, see what other gems are contained therein.

Jezzus. Sounds like they were dealing with corporate hardware if they
think they can get away with that. First hint to me is a s/w problem
or environment such as putting the machien next to a heater with
insufficient cooling and/or dust in the fans.
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:19:37 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously owned by an
IT
sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first (as you do) and there
were some pretty scary letters to customers - such as

PC freezes after about 30 mins
Their solution - Could be CPU, Memory or Motherboard faulty. Recommend
total
replacement of all including modem and graphics card - £400 + VAT

No wonder they went bankrupt, the thieving ****s. Will have to download
this
stuff and have a good look, see what other gems are contained therein.

Jezzus. Sounds like they were dealing with corporate hardware if they
think they can get away with that. First hint to me is a s/w problem
or environment such as putting the machien next to a heater with
insufficient cooling and/or dust in the fans.


Nope, given that the system was a Tiny one, it looks like a domestic
customer. First things I would look at are memory and/or software
instalaltion too.

Had a similar one with a local shop telling a customer he'd need a new
motherboard because his PC kept shutting down. In truth he was running a
1.3Ghz Ahlon, 40gig, CDRW, DVD off a MicroATX 145watt PSU and had just
started running the monitor off the PSU also as he was running short of plug
sockets.

.....oh, and the same shop told someone else they'd need a new motherboard
after a DIY installation of a CDRW drive. He bought it to me for a second
opinion and I just put the IDE cable in the right way up......

--

Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers Ltd

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:48:18 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:19:37 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously owned by an
IT
sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first (as you do) and there
were some pretty scary letters to customers - such as

PC freezes after about 30 mins
Their solution - Could be CPU, Memory or Motherboard faulty. Recommend
total
replacement of all including modem and graphics card - £400 + VAT

No wonder they went bankrupt, the thieving ****s. Will have to download
this
stuff and have a good look, see what other gems are contained therein.

Jezzus. Sounds like they were dealing with corporate hardware if they
think they can get away with that. First hint to me is a s/w problem
or environment such as putting the machien next to a heater with
insufficient cooling and/or dust in the fans.


Nope, given that the system was a Tiny one, it looks like a domestic
customer. First things I would look at are memory and/or software
instalaltion too.

Yep, Sound sliek they just wanted the money and didn't want the
investigation time. Wonder if they charged for the quote?


Had a similar one with a local shop telling a customer he'd need a new
motherboard because his PC kept shutting down. In truth he was running a
1.3Ghz Ahlon, 40gig, CDRW, DVD off a MicroATX 145watt PSU and had just
started running the monitor off the PSU also as he was running short of plug
sockets.

Heh, I'm supprised though that putting the monitor on would cause a
problem, I guess it may be making the power just a little bit too
noisy as I assume the power output would just be a through connector.


....oh, and the same shop told someone else they'd need a new motherboard
after a DIY installation of a CDRW drive. He bought it to me for a second
opinion and I just put the IDE cable in the right way up......

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.


No, it's just not a very 'techy' area up here in North Wales and there are
not many PC shops so they can basically tell people anything and charge the
earth for it.

--

Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers Ltd

In ,
Snowdon Computers typed:
"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.


No, it's just not a very 'techy' area up here in North Wales and
there are not many PC shops so they can basically tell people
anything and charge the earth for it.

but are you at the bottom of the mountain or the top? I guess you could
charge a hell of a lot if you where a the top!

only kidding!!

Jason Russell
Dotcom-Computers Ltd

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:06:47 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
.. .

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.


No, it's just not a very 'techy' area up here in North Wales and there are
not many PC shops so they can basically tell people anything and charge the
earth for it.

I'd keep quiet. You'll get laods of wannabies setting up shops in
Wales else :-)
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

"Jason Russell" wrote in message
s.com...
In ,
Snowdon Computers typed:
"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.


No, it's just not a very 'techy' area up here in North Wales and
there are not many PC shops so they can basically tell people
anything and charge the earth for it.

but are you at the bottom of the mountain or the top? I guess you could
charge a hell of a lot if you where a the top!

only kidding!!


Probably but I don't deal locally at all. For the same reason that it is not
very techy, I just don't have time for a steady string of people knocking at
my door because they've buggered up their software installation and want me
to sort it out.

If I had shop premises it may be different but I am 99% mail order through
EBay and make a good enough living that I have no need to do repairs or deal
direct to survive. I am under no illusions that were I to start dealing
locally I could bother undercut the local boys by a large margin and provide
a far better service by just being honest.

Want to move up here?
--

Best Regards
Niel Humphreys
Snowdon Computers Ltd

Bagpuss wrote:
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:48:18 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

"Bagpuss" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 10:19:37 +0100, "Snowdon Computers"
wrote:

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously
owned by an IT sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first
(as you do) and there were some pretty scary letters to customers
- such as

PC freezes after about 30 mins
Their solution - Could be CPU, Memory or Motherboard faulty.
Recommend total replacement of all including modem and graphics
card - £400 + VAT

No wonder they went bankrupt, the thieving ****s. Will have to
download this stuff and have a good look, see what other gems are
contained therein.

Jezzus. Sounds like they were dealing with corporate hardware if
they think they can get away with that. First hint to me is a s/w
problem or environment such as putting the machien next to a heater
with insufficient cooling and/or dust in the fans.


Nope, given that the system was a Tiny one, it looks like a domestic
customer. First things I would look at are memory and/or software
instalaltion too.

Yep, Sound sliek they just wanted the money and didn't want the
investigation time. Wonder if they charged for the quote?


Had a similar one with a local shop telling a customer he'd need a
new motherboard because his PC kept shutting down. In truth he was
running a
1.3Ghz Ahlon, 40gig, CDRW, DVD off a MicroATX 145watt PSU and had
just started running the monitor off the PSU also as he was running
short of plug sockets.

Heh, I'm supprised though that putting the monitor on would cause a
problem, I guess it may be making the power just a little bit too
noisy as I assume the power output would just be a through connector.


....oh, and the same shop told someone else they'd need a new
motherboard after a DIY installation of a CDRW drive. He bought it
to me for a second opinion and I just put the IDE cable in the right
way up......

LMAO, feck me sounds like he either wanted to shift a load of unsold
mobos/charge a shed load of labour or was a thick c#nt.

well, being charitable i guess it depends: if a 2nd line guy passed a fault
to me saying it locked up after 30 mins i'd kind of assume he'd ruled out a
software issue already, if you see what i mean? it *might* not be as bad as
it sounds?

"Snowdon Computers" writes:

Bought a laptop at a liquidation auction, had been previously owned by an IT
sales company. Had a gander at the hard drive first (as you do) and there
were some pretty scary letters to customers - such as

Is whoever sold you the laptop not breaking the Data Protection Act
in not removing such 'personal information' before selling it to you?