Re: Dead Packard Bell -Linux blamed (a tad long)

[Travis Dockweiler <akira@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I cant remember why i didn't do so from master 
>pb-cd possibly because i didn't have the floppy to go with it , i don't 
>remember , but after installing from win95-oem-cd it no longer detected 
>cd i called tech-assistance spent hours HOURS with them trying to get it 
>back running last thing did was open case reset jumpers for cd and it 
>worked .... but it wasn't permanent and i would end up resetting them 
>again .... they sent me an updated cd and floppy 
>which fixed the problem and they said it was a pb bug .... so see if pb 
>will send you an updated masterdisk for that specific system and this 
>may fix the problem, i dont know , but i don't think that company will 
>be calling me anytime soon to do any computer work.... pb's should not 
>be called pc's because they barely follow the open system standard that 
>goes for compaqs too. :)

I don't really have a problem with Packard Bells myself. I had one once,
for some 
reason it seems like practically every first time computer user has them. I
heard people
on local bbs's saying "packard bells suck, my hd crashed in two weeks!"
uhh...since when
did packard bell make hard drives? I do fix alot of them, and that's one
bad thing about them.
they're a non standard format, so they really can't be upgraded that well.
and then when your
modem dies you can't just put in a new one, you've got to go out and buy
both a sound card
and a modem since most of the time they're all on one card. I think they do
it that way because
it's cheaper, that's probably the whole point of doing it that way.

One reason i don't think they're so bad is that i had one once. and yes,
there is no way i'd ever buy one
again, but i've had no problems at all with it. ran for five years with no
problem. only problem i really had was
that the mouse kind of went dead. I my opinion they're way better then most
compaq systems.

compaqs are so screwed up. you want to install a cdrom drive and you can't.
you need compaq drive rails 
because screw holes don't exist, you pretty much slide the cdrom drive in
once the rails are in. then all
the pci/isa cards all all on expansion boards. same with the memory,
processor ect on some systems.

the worst thing, is that they're so cheap they solder everything on the
motherboard, like the sound and video.
so when you want to upgrade to a better soundcard or video card. you can't.

about the pb cd. when i had one and i had to restore off the master cd, yet
when i tried to restore they asked me for a 
valid format number, yet the one they gave me was invalid. so i had to call
packard bell and wait on hold forever to get one.

not only that but they gave me the wrong cd, software backups for stuff i
didn't even originally have on my pc. 

i also noticed something strange about packard bell cdrom drives. most of
them are either sony's or panasonic drivers. and most of the 
ones on 486's hook up to a sound card in order to work correctly. one
reason they can't be found is that the settings are changed in the
sound16/144 software.
it's really strange how a software setting could change the hardware
itself. i've did this once, and was trying to figure out for months why my
original cdrom settings didn't work! of course then i was pretty much new
to computers.

and half of those packard bell tech support people don't know what their
doing. i imagine they just get sick of idiots who don't know what their
doing calling. a week after i got my first pc, i called because windows
didn't start, heck at first you really have no idea that editing system
files will fix that. but i remember him saying to put in my master cd and
restore everything from there. hehe....why would you need to format your
hard drive to restore windows?