tales of a jersey masshole

for somebody who fixes computers for a living, i shouldn’t really have too many computer problems. you’d think. but as of right now, there’s no end in sight.

after i replaced my dvd-rom and keyboard, i decided to restore my system per the recommendations of costco and hp. i figured this wouldn’t be a bad idea since i haven’t done it in a while and i have all my data backed up anyway.

so as i began to restore the system, i was able to run through the first of two restore cd’s from hp without a problem (the cd that wipes your hard drive). as soon as i tried to run the second disc (that actually installs windows), the restore fails. i tried this several times before getting angry and calling costco and hp again. this time, they tell me my hard drive is bad. super.

they tried to tell me to send it in for service, which can take from 5-15 days to get back to me (not to mention the time it would take them to send me a pre-paid box to ship it back in). oy. i told them i wasn’t shipping it back. then they tried to tell me to take it to best buy, because they’re in some sort of partnership. i told them i work for best buy and have never heard of such a partnership. so finally, i convinced them to send me a new hard drive. i was without computer for a little over a day, and i thought i was going to shoot myself.

i still have my old dell but i couldn’t restore it because the cd-rom was broken and i couldn’t boot from the os install cd. my a+ instructor was nice enough to give me an old cd-rom he had laying around, which successfully installed last night and was able to install xp. freakin’ SWEET!

this means now:

- i have a working computer
- i am able to finally use the kvm switch i bought 8 months ago
- i will (hopefully) have 2 fully functional computers once this is all over.

let me tell you. there’s nothing like fixing other people’s computers all day just to come home and fix your own. but it’ll all be worth it once they’re working together.