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Geek Culture / NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Stupid Geek Squad.

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AndrewT
17
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Joined: 11th Feb 2007
Location: MI, USA
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 06:00
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Ok, so I just got my laptop back from BestBuy's Geek Squad where they were replacing my motherboard and wireless card. So I use it for about a week without any problems, then I start it up and see the message "Operating system not found." What!?!?!?? I though they were supposed to fix my computer, not break it. Anyways, I figured it was a problem with the HDD so I did a disk scan in the BIOS and it failed. So before go out on a limb and trust BestBuy with it again, what can I do to fix it, preferably without replacing the HDD because that's what BestBuy will do.

90% of statistics are completely inaccurate.
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Phaelax
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 06:11
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If your drive is damaged then you don't have much choice. Hook it up to another PC if you can and try to recover whatever data you need. It's possible you have a crappy laptop with crappy motherboards and a controller may have went out on the new board. By any chance is it a Dell laptop? Either way, I doubt best buy broke your computer.


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ionstream
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Location: Overweb
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 06:17
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If the computer worked after they fixed it then they didn't break it.

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Aaron Miller
18
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Playing: osu!
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 07:33
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My thoughts exactly ionstream.

Cheers,

-naota

I'm not a dictator to those that do stuff for me by will. Only those who don't.
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SpyDaniel
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 14:34
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You broke it, AndrewT, don't blame someone else for your stupidity with computers.

If Best Buy did break it, it would have been broke when you got it back, it wouldn't just magically break a week later. Who knows what you have been doing to it in that week?

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Robert F
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Posted: 15th Aug 2008 14:41
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Try Phaelax's idea and get the data off. You can find companies online who will try to get the data off broken hard drives.
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 14:53
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It is possible that the Geek Squad damaged something which slowly damaged something else over the week. There's a lot of moving parts in a hard drive which can wear each other down if they are damaged.

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Robert F
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Posted: 15th Aug 2008 14:55 Edited at: 15th Aug 2008 14:56
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Its pretty unlikely though. They are supposed to know what they are doing.

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 15th Aug 2008 15:03
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They're professionals. Of course they don't know what they're doing. They likely don't have much of an interest either as they do it for a job. And something else with a lot of "they" in it.

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tha_rami
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Joined: 25th Mar 2006
Location: Netherlands
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 16:12
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I agree with Nex here. Used to work at a retailer, and I happened to be the only one with actual practical knowledge. The rest just knew their talking. Heck, at one point, the service center called me down to check on a broken PC more often than they asked the guy that does the IT/computer repairs. He'd usually say "it isn't possible, we'll have to send it to [manufacturer]" or repair it only to have people come back two days later.

That's professionals. I'm good at the stuff because I genuinely enjoy doing it. Although my boss hated me for it, lol, I should be selling according to him. I sussed him by showing him my monthly sales report .

Professional, lol, don't make me laugh.


A mod has been erased by your signature because it was larger than 600x120
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Robert F
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Posted: 15th Aug 2008 16:24
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Like I said they are supposed to... but I get most don't.

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Slayer93
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Location: I wish I knew
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 20:45
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I think I had a problem like this with my laptop although unsure what my screen said. But I do remember it was because the hard drive some how came a little loose even though it looked like it was in. So I just took it out and put it back in again. It then started working again.

Although don't blame me if that's not the problem...just keep blaming Best Buy.

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Phaelax
DBPro Master
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Location: Metropia
Posted: 15th Aug 2008 20:51
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Actually, good idea Slayer. I do recall that happening to my cousin's laptop. I popped out her harddrive, found nothing wrong with it and hooked it back up and suddenly the bios found it.

So the moral of the story is, don't drop laptops down stairs.


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sinisterstuf
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Posted: 15th Aug 2008 21:27
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Yeah, it's funny actually, just how often unplugging and replugging stuff works! It's weird!

CYMRU AM BYTH!
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AndrewT
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Location: MI, USA
Posted: 17th Aug 2008 07:09 Edited at: 17th Aug 2008 07:12
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Okay, well it doesn't really matter if Geek Squad had anything to do with it it 'cause now I've got to give it back to them to fix it again, which I'm not too happy about because last time it took them 8 weeks to replace my wireless card. Furthermore I can't try and pop out the hard drive and put it back in because my mom thinks I'll break it. So I sincerely hope it wasn't BestBuy that caused my the problem, or else I can only imagine what they'll do now.

Quote: "You broke it, AndrewT, don't blame someone else for your stupidity with computers."


Whoa, whoa, whoa, what??? I restarted my computer to find out that my BIOS isn't finding the HDD, and my stupidity is to blame?

90% of statistics are completely inaccurate.
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Slayer93
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Posted: 17th Aug 2008 07:31
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Actually if your BIOS can't find the harddrive at all then it most likely is just loose. To bad your mom won't let you take out the harddrive as it would have probably taken a minute depending on how good you are with a screwdriver.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 17th Aug 2008 09:24
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Wonder if it would void the warranty on the laptop? I think with mine it does.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
-Computer Animation Major @Baker.edu-
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AndrewT
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Location: MI, USA
Posted: 17th Aug 2008 16:19 Edited at: 17th Aug 2008 16:53
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Quote: "Wonder if it would void the warranty on the laptop? I think with mine it does."


I'll have to check, but would they be able to tell if I had opened it up?? And the Geek Squad document says I'm responsible for backing my laptop HDD up before giving it to them. I might have to open it up to back it up.

EDIT: Well apparently HP doesn't want me taking the HDD out, as they've screwed it on, placing the screws in an impossible to reach place.

90% of statistics are completely inaccurate.
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