just ignore and let this one die

Nice pix - and re your Dave Barry quote -she looks better in lipstick than Biden - talks better too

Thanks And I agree, though I haven't seen Biden in lipstick yet.

That's OK. I already have a pretty good idea.

/me puts her sweater on

that's actually a really bad idea. Thins the blood, more bleeding and swelling makes the heal time alot longer.

eep, I knew they weren't cheap but that's a bit ridiculous. And it's a little difficult to ascertain that a mobo is bad in 40 minutes. That sounds like a cop out catch all to me. Unfortunately, much like the computers themselves, geeks are hit or miss. I hate to propagate stereotypes, but in my personal experience the most knowledgeable geeks do have horrid people skills. And vice versa. If he's nice to you on the phone he prolly doesn't even know what a "mobo" really is.

OK- Maybe I phrased it incorrectly- he didn't charge 140 per hour- her charged- 140 for the reconfig he wd do if the second restore attempt did not work- I was there for almost two hours. He also sd that if the hardware was a problem then they wd refund part of that and only charge the diagnostic. Sorry if I was not clear.

This guy went thru all kinds of things trying to determine what the problem was and even tried to solve it with out putting the machine in the "system". After he started the second Restore attempt I asked if it wd be best if i just returned for it and he sd he was trying to avoid putting it in the system so he wouldnt have to charge me- I really have no complains he was super supportive- I don't know how often crying desperate women come in with half dead computers but he tried very hard to help me and didn't think I was silly crying over computers

- I get emotional, you guys may not have noticed that...

Just wanted to point out that if a tech can't diagnose that it is a bad mobo within 40 minutes then they have no idea what they are doing. I can and do troubleshoot systems and build my own systems for both work and at home. But I am far from having a windows certification and would consider myself slow compared to most. But I dxed a bad motherboard at work the other day within 20 minutes, went down and bought a new one and had it replaced within an hour.

But OMG this one is true. The ONLY personality I have is an offbeat-twisted sense of humor. As an aside, fortunately my 12 yr old daughter is a geek like me Math and Science honors program this year!

Amar, this may provoke a flame war but o well. Just in case you do need to replace your system. Do you REALLY have to have a laptop? Think very hard on this one because if you don't HAVE to have one then you are always way ahead of the game by buying a desktop. 150 to 200% more computer for the same money and 5 years from now if you want to upgrade or a mobo goes out then it is never a problem. Great motherboard for a desktop; $200, new power supply; $29, 8800GT vid card; $200, great vid card then $400+/-. And this is where there is the greatest divide in the two systems. Not only is it more expensive to buy a laptop but if you need parts then they coast 2 to 3 times as much, are much more expensive to replace and that is if you can get the parts, just like you are going through now.

Night night - I leave you with this cute picture:

Looks like so much fun!!!!

Awwwwwwwwwwww! Sweet!

PCI post-code card FTW.

Along with a mixed bag of spare parts -- power supplies, video cards (ISA/PCI/AGP), extra heatsinks, and memory.

Heck, thats cheating and doing it the easy way!

Not only that but I dont know of a laptop that lets people upgrade on a whim.

You can change the CPU, add more RAM or bigger Hard Drive, but good luck when you find the video card is no longer adequate.

There's also the issue of abuse. Laptops get beat up pretty good. Heh! I've had to replace entire LCD screens along with the hinges because someone dropped it. Also its easy to get a laptop stolen. Try sneaking off with someone's 25-30 lb. tower system

Amara:

Goodnight, Threadies...sweet dreams.

Have you looked at "Geek Squad's" prices lately?

LOL! $130 just to "add a device to an existing network", $120 to come to your house to set up a "standard wireless network".

Damn... and I have been doing it for free.

Good night everyone.

I'm not sure how this happened... *blink blink*

oops, parse error on my part. Ain't English fun? I understand now. $140 for 2 hours or more of work is reasonable. I hope there's a happy ending.

Night thread. I'm beat. See you all tomorrow.

A flame war isn't warranted, that's your opinion, but I respectfully beg to differ. I guess I should have included the words "for certain" in my statement somewhere. Probability is on your side that it's a bad cap, but you didn't actually know for sure it was the mobo until you replaced it and it worked. A burnt/ESD/cracked/pin-issue cpu, dislodged/defective ram stick, faulty power supply, loose/defective vid card, or even the oddball case grounding or short in ANY power line can all appear the same. And a diag card has a good chance of reading 00 or FF in any of these cases. A post card only works when it's NOT the mobo, but a post card not working does not conclude it IS the mobo. To fully declare a mobo dead it needs to be removed from the case, properly grounded on a static free bench. Fitted with a known good/compatible cpu (thermal paste+hsf), known good/compatible RAM, known good/compatible vid card and known good PSU. As a last resort a CMOS reset as well. Do all that in 40 minutes without damaging something yourself in the process like a CPU pin? As I initially stated, "it's a little difficult".

All of which is completely irrelevant since the guy took 2 hours or more.

well ya see...when a pink poseball falls in love with a blue poseball, they...