Geek Squad, more like stupid ****s

[asianjkim]

Yeah, I got my xps gen 4 back today. They told me the reason why it wouldn't go past the window's screen was because...."they don't know." WTF? I paid 60 bucks to have you guys have my computer sit there and not look at it? They told me that they did but they said it might be the motherboard, it might be the drivers. They don't know. At that point I was speechless. I asked them....what kind of degree do you have? Did you even make it out of highschool? Well anyways, need to get this figured out cuz I need a computer for school. I tried looking at dell.com to see if they had any motherboards but I couldn't find any. If someone with knowledge can point me out in the right direction, that would be great. Just my 2cents....never ever EVER take anything to geek squad. They are a bunch of dumb***ts.

[Ashton]

reinstall windows.

and for the record. some people that work for geek squad didn't graduate highschool nor do they even have a ged.

save your money next time.

[asianjkim]

I tired that. I tried reformatting, and it won't let me.

[Weston-work]

Well, just like car problems, 90% of the time it's just a waste of effort to try to diagnose these things over the Internet or phone... you may get answers, but most of the time it will either be some dumb shit who doesn't know what he's talking about, or someone who does know his stuff but just doesn't have enough information about your problem to give you anything more than a guess. However, I will say that if you can't format the drive and do a fresh install when you boot from the Windows CD, then it's almost certainly a hardware problem. You'd need to have someone actually look at your machine... there are some more obvious suspects for this problem (hard drive, motherboard, RAM glitches, etc), but sometimes even a little accessory can take a whole system down, so it's really anyone's guess considering the limited amount of information.

If it turns out that you need new hardware, check out http://www.NewEgg.com

[john]

Can you boot a linux or windows CD? I'd start with a bootable memtest86 cd and if that loads, let it run overnight to verify your memory. Then I'd try to boot a linux distro (something like knoppix, which runs off of the CD and doesn't touch your disk) and see if your system runs.

[Redteg]

Is the computer still under any type of warranty? Did you call dell?

[asianjkim]

It's not under any warranty. It's way to old. They told me it might be harddrive or the motherboard. So I'm gonna try the harddrive then if that doesnt fix it. I'm going to try the mother board. Right now I dont really have the money to fix it but I need it for school. >_<

[Nate]

How can they charge you for no diagnosis?

[stu]

So you don't know what the problem is, then you hired someone to find out. They don't know what the problem is. Now they are stupid but you are not?

[HondasTrail]

It's not under any warranty. It's way to old. They told me it might be harddrive or the motherboard. So I'm gonna try the harddrive then if that doesnt fix it. I'm going to try the mother board. Right now I dont really have the money to fix it but I need it for school. >_<

Seriously don't go out and blow money on new hardware if you have no idea what the problem is. I suggest borrowing a friends hard drive that they don't need anymore. I've got a few laying around that I could let you have but I can't travel up to Denver to get them to you.

BTW can you get to the windows loading screen, do you have any Blue Screen of Death's that pop up when trying to boot? Or does it just freeze after a certain point when booting?

And Stu There is a major problem with Geek Squad, there are alot of employee's that just know how to do basic software installations. Geek Squad was scaled back quite a bit some time ago, thus they now focus on making sales. They just don't fix things nor are required to have computer knowledge like they first started out.

[asianjkim]

No, I took it into worst buy and had geek squad do a diagnosis on it. Then when I came 15 days later to pick it up. That's what they told me.

[asianjkim]

So you don't know what the problem is, then you hired someone to find out. They don't know what the problem is. Now they are stupid but you are not?
Yeah, I am stupid when it comes to computers. But shouldn't they know how to deal with it? Since I am paying for them to find it out? Well anyways I'm trying to figure out a way to fix my computer if not, just buying a new one. But I dont have the money right now to buy a new one.

[asianjkim]

Seriously don't go out and blow money on new hardware if you have no idea what the problem is. I suggest borrowing a friends hard drive that they don't need anymore. I've got a few laying around that I could let you have but I can't travel up to Denver to get them to you.

BTW can you get to the windows loading screen, do you have any Blue Screen of Death's that pop up when trying to boot? Or does it just freeze after a certain point when booting?

And Stu There is a major problem with Geek Squad, there are alot of employee's that just know how to do basic software installations. Geek Squad was scaled back quite a bit some time ago, thus they now focus on making sales. They just don't fix things nor are required to have computer knowledge like they first started out.

If you can mail it to me, I can paypal you how much it would cost to ship it, then I can ship it back to you when I am done.
The screen that comes up is a blue screen once every 40 start ups. Sayign its a driver problem..? Then it will usually go to the winow's loading screen and just stay there.

[HondasTrail]

Can you give me what the BSOD says I need all that information. In the meantime you should be able to boot up into safe mode by pressing f8 multiple times after the bios screen (the DELL logo is the bios screen). Select Safe mode from the options menu using the arrow keys and Enter.

If you can't reproduce the BSOD don't worry I have other ways of getting it to.

The fact that you're getting a BSOD and windows is telling you it's a driver problem leads me to believe that we can fix this with out having to put up with a new hard drive.

[Weston-work]

How can they charge you for no diagnosis?

:werd:

So you don't know what the problem is, then you hired someone to find out. They don't know what the problem is. Now they are stupid but you are not?

I'd say so... I can't fault someone for not knowing how to diagnose their computer, but there's a pretty huge problem when we're talking about someone who is specifically in that business and is being paid to diagnose it.

They should at least have the resources to swap out the major components and see what makes it start working again. That's a pretty obvious way to diagnose computers when you have access to spare parts (which they should). Anyone who's had any sort of training or certification should have learned that method on about the first day.

[stu]

I have a feeling that there is more to the story than this. Why did you pay them if they didn't tell you what was wrong with your computer?

[HondasTrail]

Cause if you don't pay them then you don't get your computer back.

[stu]

Sounds like Geek Squad isn't as good as it used to be then.

Which is what you said earlier in the thread.

[Weston-work]

I have a feeling that there is more to the story than this. Why did you pay them if they didn't tell you what was wrong with your computer?

Geek Squad == Computer Nerd Mafia

Instead of "whacking" you for not paying up, they'll just install Vista and then you'll have no hope of ever using your system again! :D

[Weston-work]

Sounds like Geek Squad isn't as good as it used to be then.

Which is what you said earlier in the thread.

Best Buy's computer service guys have been super overpriced and crappy since long before Geek Squad was formed. iirc, there seemed to be a period where Geek Squad was decent, but they've really gone downhill and I haven't heard anything good about them in a long time. Lately, they just keep getting caught copying people's pr0n and doing other perverted things, while being clueless when it comes to actually fixing things.

In any case, it really pays to know how to do this stuff yourself, just like working on your car.

[Bedlam]

Sounds like Geek Squad isn't as good as it used to be then.

They were never anywhere close to GOOD. They are now just shittier than ever before! :)

If you waited 15 days for them to do a "diagnostic" you are just as foolish as their techs. If you paid them to do nothing for you...well thats even more tragic. :p

[asianjkim]

Okay, I hooked up my computer and It magically worked. I dont know how or why? but IT WORKS! I'm never turning off my computer now. hahaha. lol But im gonna try and figure out what the problem is though...cuz i dont want it messin up and not working for 3 months again.

[Deceptakhan]

Might have run a chkdsk on itself because it was improperly shut down. I have had a few occasions where I ran a chkdsk, and it was fixed right as rain. Hard to say though, whether it needs replaced.

[HondasTrail]

Okay, I hooked up my computer and It magically worked. I dont know how or why? but IT WORKS! I'm never turning off my computer now. hahaha. lol But im gonna try and figure out what the problem is though...cuz i dont want it messin up and not working for 3 months again.

Asian if you can get the dump files, just search for the folder minidump on your computer, and send them to me somehow I might be able to help you if this ever comes up again.

[john]

Good deal. The first thing you need to do since it's working now is to backup your data. Just in case.

[co_hatch]

well, i have worked on computers for the pass 4 years, and today i am a systems admin.... so if ur in the springs we can meet up and i can take a look at it, and tell u whats wrong... lmk