Pain is.... [Archive] - Customers Suck!

trunks2k

08-29-2006, 04:45 PM

..an HP Pavilion trying **TRYING** to run Win XP on on 64 mgs of RAM.

I'm shocked it runs at all. IIRC, I think XP itself takes something like 128MB just to run at all. When you have to use page files to run JUST the OS, it's time to get a new computer.

technical.angel

08-29-2006, 04:48 PM

It's trying. I've shut down every non critical process I could recoginze.

It really despises refreshing a window. It refreshes EVERYTHING. A full 30 second cycle down the screen. Painful.

Any other techies got a Pain is... item?

Rapscallion

08-29-2006, 05:06 PM

If memory serves, XP requires 128Mb to install. My brother did that and then removed ram to make a machine into 64Mb just to see what happened. It worked, but he was glad he didn't hold his breath.

Rapscallion

MadMike

08-29-2006, 05:10 PM

I believe my son got XP to install on a 64Mb machine. It worked, but damn, was it slow.

protege

08-29-2006, 05:29 PM

Up until recently, one of the POS terminals at work was running XP with only 64MB. It was slow as hell!

trunks2k

08-29-2006, 05:30 PM

Any other techies got a Pain is... item?
(didn't actually happen to me, but a co-worker)

Pain is trying to trouble shoot problems on a user's e-mail account...
... and the user is a vice president ...
... and is doesn't understand a thing about computers...
... but the problem MUST be fixed or else the company will explode...
... so you need to use netmeeting...
... on a line running at 56k ....
... on a satellite phone ...
... in the middle of an ocean ...
... and a storm is coming.

RichS

08-29-2006, 09:50 PM

I've felt your pain.

Got in a Compaq Presario 5000 series. 733MHz. P3, but only 64mb RAM, and 8MB used by the onboard video, running XP. :no: :cry:

Tried to work on it, got :pissed: waiting, and put in a used spare 256MB stick, so I could get the work done (cleaning out malware, SP2 install, & updates).

After all that, they never picked up the machine. I ended up getting the restore CD's for it (Win ME - I know, but that's what the original restore CD's were), kept in the used stick of memory, and selling it.

nekoro

08-29-2006, 11:20 PM

Pain is...

...Listening to someone tell you that their instructions say to find several numbers for the registration...
...And you have to pass the instructions for finding said numbers in order to get to that point in the instructions...
...Having already spent 10 minutes getting to this point of the call...
...And then they ask "How do I find...?"

MystyGlyttyr

08-30-2006, 04:34 PM

I'm not a tech, but right now, pain is...

...having to explain to your parents that yes, you've done everything in the book, yes, you've tried everything you know to try, yes, you've consulted tech support, and no, the computer still doesn't work.
...having to say "No, my brother CAN'T fix it any better than I can" 40 times.
...having to say "Do you smell smoke?" while fiddling with the back of the computer.
...having to rig up an ANCIENT console (14.4 modem, 420 MB hard drive, you get the idea) and perform several voodoo spells just to get ANY connection to the Internet since main computer decided fire was good.
...having to download Trillian onto it when I get home so sister can chat. :cry:

RedHeadPhoneGirl

09-01-2006, 12:03 AM

lordlundar

09-01-2006, 12:36 AM

Ugh! my condolences Jenni. And the fact that M$ is no longer supporting 98 doesn't help matters either.:(

DGoddessChardonnay

09-01-2006, 12:40 AM

I'm not a tech either (except in my brother's mind) but for me pain is:

When my brother downloads something he shouldn't and it screws up his computer so the wireless connection shuts down

And he calls me in the middle of the night screaming and cussing and demanding that I come and fix it right NOW NOW NOW

And refuses to listen when I tell him to use my computer in the office until I can fix it

And I have to hang up and call home to get Mom to go and do something to shut him up b/c he's so loud he can be heard all over the house through my cell phone and it's woken up both our dad and stepmom

Because I'm four hours away from home at the beach :pissed:

technical.angel

09-01-2006, 01:45 AM

LostMyMind

09-01-2006, 03:51 AM

Well, maybe 64MB straight off the CD. But after service patches and updates. 64MB minimum it ain't.

Talon

09-01-2006, 04:40 AM

I just experienced pain today. 2 calls, 2 old people, both in a ROW. 60 minutes of explaining and re-explaining the concept that a cable goes out of their receiver and in to their TV. A whole hour of my life I'll never get back :eek:

RichS

09-01-2006, 04:08 PM

Just a QUICK note for everyone (having just studied installing and running XP chapter in my A+ book and passing the chapter test today :)) Windows XP requires a MINIMUM of 64MB of RAM to run, BUT to get acceptable performance, it is recommended that one have AT LEAST 128MB - 4 GB of RAM

From my experience, yes 64MB is the lowest amount of RAM XP needs to install. Believe me, it's a total pain in the behind (see post about the Compaq), but it can be done.

128 MB is OK, but still system performance is sluggish and slow. That's why I've hated to work on early systems with XP - the manufacturer usually put only 128MB in the system.

That's why our custom systems used to have a minimum of 256MB. Now RAM is cheap enough that we've boosted that to 512MB using 2x256MB for dual channel performance.

Personally, I haven't run XP on less that 1GB (2x512mb, dual channel), but then I'm either recording or editing video with my system.

dispatch

09-03-2006, 11:23 PM

pain is getting back from 6 months in hawaii working in hell, and being introduced to the frankenstein of computers. I dubbed it frankenstein because my father decided he wanted internet so he grabbed whatever worked out of a stack of 4 year old CPUs he had killed previously and looted some things from my stash since I was away and wouldn't mind, then he had me take a look at it because "it ran slow"

he was running-

XP with SEVEN user accounts (including one for the cat)
Norton
Windows antivirus
G-force video card

apparently on 64 mb :confused: and he couldn't figure out why outlook wouldn't work, this was in january, I still can't beat through his, or anyone else's, head that $50 at best buy will get you a gig and a half and solve a few problems for you

and they can't figure out why I want to get my own PC on a seperate internet connection when there's a "perfectly good computer right here"

I swear I'd have better luck trying to get an apple 2 to run broadband than de-bugging that thing because in the already mind numbing crawl pace I have to work at gets screwed when a popup comes in (I'm pretty sure the spyware has written itself into the bios, no joke).

technical.angel

09-05-2006, 02:28 PM

... the 64 mg machine COMING BACK!!!!!!!!!!! :cry:

Jenni :angel:

LostMyMind

09-05-2006, 04:36 PM

short out the motherboard, put it out of it's misery.

technical.angel

09-05-2006, 04:39 PM

I'm trying to convince Bossman to let me give it a 6 shotgun salute.

The :censored: :censored: :censored: thing has been trying to install SP2 since oh... 9am this morning. Two and a half hours later, we're a little over half way.

Jenni :angel:

Tejas

09-06-2006, 01:21 AM

pain for me - using windows. i love the goodness of OS X - at the moment i'm running the Dev Version of leopard. it's awesome

JustADude

09-06-2006, 01:51 AM

This was a couple years ago when I built my tower, but pain is...

...opening up your finger while trying to get the MoBo screwed down

...a defective packet of thermal paste that gets over everything on the table.

...droping the old case you just salvaged some parts from on your shin AND foot.

...finding out that not two weeks later the graphics card you bought just droped $60.

MacPrince

09-06-2006, 07:15 AM

pain for me - using windows. i love the goodness of OS X - at the moment i'm running the Dev Version of leopard. it's awesome

Cool. I won't ask how you got it. ;)

...finding out that not two weeks later the graphics card you bought just droped $60.

That's why you buy from somewhere that's got a 30 day price guarantee. ("Our price on an item drops within 30 days, come back and we'll give you the difference")

trunks2k

09-06-2006, 04:57 PM

T

...opening up your finger while trying to get the MoBo screwed down

A few years ago I was assisting my friend in putting his computer together. I was trying to get a slot cover off of one of the drive bays, but I couldn't get it off. So I pushed REALLY hard on it with a screw driver. Suddenly, it gave way and my hand shoots through the bay, with my finger catching the edge of the case. I had to get 5 stitches.

Crosshair

09-06-2006, 05:32 PM

There is nothing as beautifull as a well tuned Windows 98 setup. It is very stable and fast on computers that are well obsolete by modern standards. (Pentium 166MMX, 80 MB of RAM setup I have works great.) I always use Norton Ghost to save the install so if I FUBAR it I can just have the original install in 2 minutes. I have some old HP systems now that I'm gona put 98 on. (833 Mhz, 256 MB RAM, 10 Gb hard drive.:) )

technical.angel

09-06-2006, 11:36 PM

THE 64MG PAVILION IS DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenni :angel:

LostMyMind

09-07-2006, 03:51 AM

Wow, and it only took you a week to install it :lol:

repsac

09-12-2006, 06:11 AM

You want to talk pain? My first laptop cost me fifty buck, the HD didn't fit in it right, it had only two colors (funky brown and black) and ran windows 3.1.

This was in 98. Don't even ask about it's connection speed.

Rapscallion

09-12-2006, 07:21 AM

My first one cost me about twenty quid, though it was a portable desktop given the size. Orange lettering on a lack background. It might have had a half meg of RAM, but I wouldn't count on it. Only took 720Kb floppies, but it still worked for a year or two until it gave up the ghost.

It was great for text editing on DOS, and that was about it. Did all I needed, and I started writing a novel on that fellow.

Rapscallion

symposes

09-12-2006, 10:42 AM

The computers we have access to at work, to mess around on the net during lunch and breaks, are running XP with 128 megs, and they are slow as hell.
I would probly perfer to grab a hold of a 110v hot wire, then try and use them.
(I just use my comp at home, whatever it is, it can wait. I dont use the company email at all, and considering they watch internet like a hawk, i dont need some popup from nowhere costing me my job)

technical.angel

09-12-2006, 12:02 PM

This was in 98. Don't even ask about it's connection speed.

What was it's connection speed? ;)

Jenni :angel:

LostMyMind

09-12-2006, 02:44 PM

Oh, it was faster than my 80'ish modem for my TI99/4a. If I had to guess, I would say 1200 or 2400 baud.

repsac

09-12-2006, 08:48 PM

What was it's connection speed? ;)

Jenni :angel:

about 4 k on a good day.

LostMyMind

09-12-2006, 10:25 PM

Wow, faster than what I guessed. I must be getting rusty there.

EmiOfBrie

09-13-2006, 01:25 AM

Pain is...

...Spending 2 hours trying to get "WinAntiVirus" (a known piece of malware, it does exactly the opposite of what it says it is) off the boss' laptop computer, then being chewed out because it still won't run right (because he wouldn't let me run Ad-Aware nor Spybot S&D on it to clean off the flotsam)

...a week later, having a problem with Act 6.0 on my workstation, knowing I have to simply reinstall it, and being told by the boss not to do anything because of said previous experience with the laptop. The boss then ends up paying someone extra $$$$ to do exactly what I would have done during my normal work time.

Overall, said boss is mega-great to me (including treating me to lunch some Fridays) but there are some times where I just want to throttle him. He has also learned to trust me more around the company PCs and server since the aforementioned incident, especially after I cleaned an internet worm off the mass-e-mailing workstation ;)

Tanasi

09-13-2006, 08:49 PM

My first computer was a Radio Shack TRS-80 Model one. It had a whopping 16K, a cassette drive. We later upgraded it to a blistering 48K with two countem two single sided 5.25 floppy drives. You had to buy the floppies pre-formatted from RS and they were $9.99 each. We had a Oki U82a printer with the graphics upgrade chip.
Eventually my younger brother put a 10 meg HD on it and it continued to run for years. It's packed up in the OEM boxes at my Mom's house and it was still working when it was put away and I have no doubt that it would fire up, now weather the floppies have de-resed by now who knows. This thing put off so much RF that you couldn't watch any TV channels under channel 8. It didn't have any fans and it would over heat in about 2 hours. A couple really fun games was Haunted House and Zork both text based.