Rant about my PC

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Two weeks ago, October 17,I bought a new all-singing-all-dancing-all-in-one-Acer-Aspire desktop. (see link)


http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/06/acer-...e-on-sale/

Over the last two weeks, I have had three BSOD errors.They were resolved with a lot of help from a specialist on a windows 7 forum. He analysed the mindump reports for me.

Groovy,eveything was just spiffo. Today it will not boot.Black screen. I can hear the fan going.

To access my waranty, I have to pack the thing up,take it to the post office and send it to Sydney,which is nearly 1000 miles away.(Acer pays) That means at least a week and the danger of damage.. I'm livid.


Right now I'm using my laptop,which is pretty good, but I want my spiffo new one,stamp little feet.



Rant over.

[Autumnlicious]

I own an Acer laptop and can tell you these things can't be left running with their original crapware (you need to deinstall over 30 software packages) and the build quality is subpar enough to warrant gentle handling.

I find it boggling that you chose Acer for a workstation.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I own an Acer laptop and can tell you these things can't be left running with their original crapware (you need to deinstall over 30 software packages) and the build quality is subpar enough to warrant gentle handling.

I find it boggling that you chose Acer for a workstation.

Not terribly helpful post ex facto old sock. Perhaps you might like to give me list tof software to uninstall. So far I've removed McAfee and replaced it with MS security essentials and removed Norton on line backup..Also updated a bunch of system drivers and the driver for my printrer.


I chose an Acer because they are one of the largest computer manufacturers in the world and because my second PC was an Acer and I had several years trouble free use from it.

Right now,the most practical choice I have is to try to get it fixed under warranty---Unless you happen to have a useful suggestion to make,rather than being a pain in the arse..

[The Magic Pudding]

I don't know what to advise give, that computer looks like a big laptop.
The beep codes can sometimes tell you what's up.

You could try these things
Checking the cords, try a different cord.
Plug directly into another power-point,
Fiddle with the memory, reseat them, try it with one module if there are two.

Can you hear the hard drive? the add doesn't seem to indicate a silent SSD.

Is there a HDMI, DVI or Dsub video out socket? Laptops have them, plugging it into another monitor may tell you something.

Sorry to be another old sock, at least you have a pair now.

[Angrboda]

I haven't kept up with Acer's reputation in general, though I suspect they are likely on a par with others in the field such as HP. I've heard good things about their netbooks, which persuaded me to purchase one that I found on clearance. I have had no problem with it, and the newly acquired Acer monitor.

Acer has a checkered past, but I don't know that their history is relevant. I've had occasion to buy systems like yours in the past, or fix them (friends & family), and my experience is that if you get a functional unit, they will likely deliver years of good service. I have encountered ones which were defective as delivered, one which was returned after exasperating experience with their tech support (that was Acer, but that was over 10 years ago), and the other CTX. The latter one once swapped out for a good unit, performed admirably for years. My sister currently has, I think, an HP which she has enjoyed for several years, and my first pentium unit, a Packard Bell, worked flawlessly for 8-9 years (likely largely due to an Intel made motherboard). The quality of components in these ready-made boxes is somewhat spotty, but by thorough testing of their integration as an OEM unit, most perform just fine.

I'm not gonna make apologies for the above comments. People who are very computer literate often forget what a challenge things can be for someone not as technically advanced, and, in my experience, have an undesirable tendency to engage in snobbery and elitism. I've been building my own machines for over 10 years, but if I were to go to buy something today, I'd have an immense research project on my hands. The technology changes so fast, and it is difficult for the inexperienced to navigate their way around a morass of what is often conflicting and uninformative technical advice (which likely includes this post, lacking clear suggestions). Anyway, you have my sympathies, though I suspect (hope) that once the unit is replaced, your frustrations will be reduced to much more manageable and solvable ones.

I haven't kept up with technology over the years, as aside from the netbook and learning about SSDs, my technology is back at the core2duo stage. However, if you feel that I can be of assistance in any way, feel free to contact me.

[fr0d0]

If you have any data on it my priority would be to get that off. Get a connector to USB or slave it in another PC.

All of the crapware needs to come off any PC. All that's useful are any manufacturers own hardware drivers, and then the original ones: intel, broadcom etc are usually better.

I disagree with slating Syn's post. I thought it was spot on. Acer are well known for lowish quality and very poor warranties. There's a reason they're cheap.

[Zen Badger]

I agree with Frods, I've heard of too many problems with Acer to ever trust my money on one.

This laptop and my last 'puta were both HP and they've both been reliable, the last one went to my daughter and is still going strong.

[Autumnlicious]

I'm not gonna make apologies for the above comments. People who are very computer literate often forget what a challenge things can be for someone not as technically advanced, and, in my experience, have an undesirable tendency to engage in snobbery and elitism. I've been building my own machines for over 10 years, but if I were to go to buy something today, I'd have an immense research project on my hands. The technology changes so fast, and it is difficult for the inexperienced to navigate their way around a morass of what is often conflicting and uninformative technical advice (which likely includes this post, lacking clear suggestions). Anyway, you have my sympathies, though I suspect (hope) that once the unit is replaced, your frustrations will be reduced to much more manageable and solvable ones.

True, apophenia, I would agree with you taking up issue with the lack of help here if that was all it was. However, I do note that Padraic often purchases computer equipment and then manages to discover some show stopping flaw with it, whatever it is. As such, the solution, in my mind, is not to purchase another one but to discover why, just why, the equipment we hear about fails so often.

I suspect that either Padraic simply has terrible, terrible luck (it takes me months to decide what my next target computer is; so I am leaning heavily towards this interpretation) or has the static thumb for computers.

Unfortunately for him, asking for "what is best?" never works, because the build quality, price, performance, etc, etc, all do influence each other. But it is an imperfect world, and we never exactly know what his needs precisely are. This contributes to him being given advice to buy computers that are probably unstable to begin with, but the audience to whom those computers are targeted to either doesn't care about that or simply replaces it on a whim.

Pad is not that audience, and as such, will fell shafted time and time again with hardware that, for him, will be of too-low-quality.

I'd advise a Panasonic Toughbook (http://www.panasonic.com/business/toughb...puters.asp). Wait and see.

If Padraic manages to break one of these quickly, I'm uncertain of any computer surviving him over a month.

[Jackalope]

I haven't kept up with Acer's reputation in general, though I suspect they are likely on a par with others in the field such as HP.

These days, Hewlett-Packard pretty much makes crap (along with many other good brands from yesteryear). I've heard of problems with Acer products, though I've owned and been happy with a couple of their LCD displays. I don't have an opinion on their desktops and laptops having not used one in many years.

These days, consumer PCs at the low and mid end are pretty much commodity items built to a particular price point with all of the usual corner-cutting that occurs with commodity items. Obsolescence aside, I don't expect consumer electronics to last for more than two years - that wasn't always true, I have a friend with an 8 year old Sony Vaio laptop that is just now showing it's age, and I had a business-grade Dell laptop that I used for 6 years. Then again, both were >$1000 new.

Price tends to be a pretty good indicator of quality. You rarely get more than you pay for.

I use three laptops these days, my work laptop is an obscenely high end Dell (>$5000), my main home laptop is a mid-range (but well-equipped) Dell Inspiron 17R ($850), and my knockaround home laptop is a low end Lenovo G570 ($300). There's a huge quality difference between the consumer Dells and the high-end workstation replacements (not to mention performance).

Despite being very affordable, I'm very impressed with the Lenovo for what it is - though it was as inexpensive as it was due to being a previous model year closeout. Almost no crapware installed (I uninstalled maybe one or two things). It's perfectly adequate for most people, though I'm sure it would suck hard for anything more than casual gaming or graphics work.

When I get a new laptop or desktop, the first thing I usually do is reinstall the operating system from original media and any necessary device drivers. That ensures that there's no crapware lurking around. I didn't bother with the Lenovo because there just wasn't the quantity of crap that you usually get. YMMV, there was more installed on one a friend bought at Best Buy. Mine came from Office Depot.

---

If you have any data on it my priority would be to get that off. Get a connector to USB or slave it in another PC.

I'll second this. Any time you have serious PC issues, getting a good backup of at least your valuable data should be a first priority.

All of the crapware needs to come off any PC. All that's useful are any manufacturers own hardware drivers, and then the original ones: intel, broadcom etc are usually better.

Better, and almost always less intrusive. I have a major pet peeve for device drivers that install "helper" applications/widgets when the operating system has existing functionality that is more familiar and integrates more seamlessly. Hewlett-Packard printers are particularly bad in this regard, as are lots of wireless NICs.

As I said in another post, starting with a fresh OS install from original media, followed by loading whatever drivers aren't installed by default is good practice for new installs.

It's also something I do when I'm helping friends or family "fix" their PCs (I'm the family IT helpdesk apparently). It's often a case of having so much crap installed (either as-shipped or installed by the end user) that conflicts crop up and cause problems - particularly in the case of the technology illiterate that can't help but click on links they shouldn't, and installing every toolbar, animated cursor, and Cthulu knows what else because they don't know any better. It's worth trying a fresh install when you've got an unexplained problem that is probably not a hardware issue (in my experience the vast majority of problems aren't).

That, and those who don't realize that having their anti-virus subscription expire is a very bad thing, especially when it's expired for months. I switched everyone I support to Microsoft Security Essentials and automatic updates for this exact reason. It may not be the best AV/spyware solution, but it doesn't expire and updates come with Windows updates, so everyone is going to be kept up-to-date.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Obsolescence aside, I don't expect consumer electronics to last for more than two years - that wasn't always true

My rule of thumb is three years.

I made repair disc and saved a system image to an external hard drive on day one.I used them after the firts BSOD error, then had two more BSOD errors. Had the mindump report analyised on a Windows 7 forum .As as a result then removed some software and updated some drivers.

Right now,I can't get the thing to boot,at all . It booted this morning, twice. On startup the 'repair startup function' opened. I used it,but it could not repair the problem..I tried to do a dskchk repair, that failed.Then tried a system restore.That took ages, and seemed to work. (showed 'finished) Rebooted. System booted,playing startup sound, but without graphics. Tried boot into safe mode ,could not. Tomorrow it goes back to the manufacturer for repairs.

Moros is right in some ways,although I do the best I can to get the best I can to do what I want and be fun to use.The Acer is my fifth new computer .
since 1999. This is the first one with which I've had any trouble in the first year..

In future I will stick to tech forums with any such problems