OK, so I'm partially at fault on this one....

[sld72382]

Last week or so I get a new support call on the line. A woman cannot boot up to Windows and I look and she has Windows 98 - FIRST EDITION. When I ask her how old her PC is, she goes, "It's old." Well after a couple of minutes of troubleshooting it's clear that the PC needed a wipe, format and reinstall and she already made a backup of her stuff before the crash. She didn't have a boot floppy so I told her to get one and call back.

Well, I get her again. She has the boot floppy, and I ask her if she has the O/S and driver CD, she said yes. So I proceed to erase that bad boy and format...

Well a couple of hours later I return from lunch my boss said she called back 3 times, 3rd one was a sup call. It turns out that the 1st was assistance with installing '98 after the format, and the 2rd was installing the drivers. Oops, she didn't have the driver CD. Turns out the "driver" CD she had was for her monitor which I can guess was as old as the PC. So the tech tells her to call Dell and order the driver CD. Well on the 3rd time she calls in screaming that Dell will not sell her a driver CD for an 8 year old machine. She was bitching that now the PC is no longer usable (as if it was before ) and she was going to wait till Vista came out to buy a new PC but now she won't have a computer for a 2 months.

My boss asked me if I asked her if she had the driver CD. When I told him yes, he goes, "You should have asked her to read what it said on the label."

Whatever. Calls like this is why my dept is considering dropping support on '98 and Me.

[HawaiianShirts]

At least it was 98. Had a customer yesterday (who was extremely nice, by the way--this complaint is not about the customer herself at all) ask me how to get Internet Explorer back on Windows 95. Her son had erased it trying to make room for a game that wouldn't run on that computer anyway, and, as she had purchased it at a yard sale, she didn't have any of the discs or materials that would have come with it originally. I couldn't figure it out (being in sales, not support). No big deal, though. She said she would do without Internet for a couple weeks until she was ready to buy a new system. I told her now was a good time because Vista is coming, and any computer purchased from my store (and most other places) will get a free upgrade to it in February.

Then, of course, was the woman who wanted to buy a printer capable of working with Windows 3.11. She just couldn't grasp that the computer was simply too old to work with anything I could sell her new.

At least they make for good stories, right?

[Mr. Rude]

Ahh....Like the chap who I spoke to today that was doing an XP install on an older machine running 98...

Me: So, you have an INSTALL disc & license ready when you get home?

Dumbass: yup...Should be good to go.

Me: Ok...It should boot from the disc, install, get AVG on it, update AVG, then do your XP updates..

DA: OK

...Hour or so later....

DA: It's not working...

Me: *Walks DA through an unseen BIOS & settings blind for 20 minutes*...Bring it in...

...Later that day...

Me: Umm...this is an UPGRADE disc....Not an install... Woulda been nice to know this ahead of time..(His 98 install was kinda hooped driver wise...Would only boot in safe mode...Driver kill & voila)

DA: Thaks

Me: Next time your neighbour thinks he can do the install, check with me first please.

BTW, I was rescued by a waaaaayyyyy more experienced workmate there

XP Upgrade won't roll in safe mode, driver issue prevented normal run. Driver kill (AKA blow em all out) prompts basic driver requirements, thusly 98 runs "OK" enough for upgrade.

Neat trick


PS: sorry if my posts take up so much room...It just seems easier to read.

[HappyCthulhu]

You could just tell these dopes what I tell my customers when they have a POS old clunker running 98.
"Tie a rope to it and use it as a boat anchor. That's all it's good for."

[protege]

You could just tell these dopes what I tell my customers when they have a POS old clunker running 98.
"Tie a rope to it and use it as a boat anchor. That's all it's good for."

Nah, a doorstop works better. One of my dad's previous employers actually did that with dead Macs--at the time, it was cheaper to junk them and buy PCs than fix them. Of course, you wouldn't do that now