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How prepared are you with that new computer purchase?

Oct 30, 2005 9:14PM PST

Vendor-built Computers Pitfalls

NOTE: If a vendor really wants to make the sale, try hard negotiations with them regarding some of these items. Some will back off and give you, the customer, what you want; others will give you every excuse under the sun to do it their way only hoping you are 'newbie' enough to buy that waterfront property they're selling in the desert.

If you order a computer built by a vendor such as Dell or Gateway or HP (or if you purchase one off the shelf from Wal-Mart), you are getting pretty good systems for the money, and I don't fault you for getting your systems that way rather than custom home-built or custom built at a local shop where you can tell the vendor exactly what you want and expect to get.

However, there are pitfalls to those systems that you need to be aware of and protect yourself from. Here are a few of things you can expect and not be able to change.

1. Vendors will create their own installation disk called a Master/Restore/Recovery disk and it will include everything on one cd.......your Windows version, all drivers for the computer built, special programs as a 'bonus', propaganda advertising hidden as tours, tutorials, a lite versions of programs that are limited in fuction in the hopes that you will upgrade to full-featured programs for more money, spam/spyware that phone home behind your back when you're on the net that track your surfing, antivirus programs that are trial/demo versions only but unless you read this carefully you will be under the assumption that you don't ever have to upgrade/renew and that you got this 'bonus' as a freebie just because they like you, and more than likely you will have an extra partition created that holds restore/recovery information with a shortcut icon to it on your desktop so if you need to reinstall a file, you can use that shortcut to do so. The reason for this is that if you can use the shortcut to replace/restore a file or add a component, you won't have to use the Master/Restore/Recovery disk which normally will automatically format the drive and start you back all over to where the system was the day you got it (and wipe out all the stuff on the harddrive in the process causing you to lose all your files before you have backed them up).

2. Many vendor's disks are PROPRIETARY to the computer built at that time. If you replace ANY of the hardware (including getting a new harddrive or adding ram), the cd will NOT work to restore/format the drive to start over on a clean install because the hardware has changed from what the cd expects it to be. In that case, you are stuck in a dark and scary place knowing you have a system that has been formatted without any way to get it back up and running again. You have the option of saving your old hardware and temporarily putting it back in (or removing extra ram you installed), getting the system back up and running, then removing the old hardware again or adding your ram back in and going from there.......this is a huge pain in the butt and inconvenient and unfair as all get out. But it also means that you may panic and take the machine back to where it came from (ship to Dell/Gateway/local vendor but never Wal-Mart) and paying somebody else to 'fix' it for you when you shouldn't have to do this.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Here are a few ideas.

1. First and foremost.........as soon as you get your system home and set up, pop in a blank cd and burn two or three copies of the vendor cd immediately. If you should EVER lose that original, you will be S-O-L trying to get a new one from the vendor or you will have to wait a long time to get it or you will pay for it dearly, when you've already paid for it once. ALWAYS WRITE DOWN THE PRODUCT CODE KEY FOR THE WINDOWS INSTALLATION....TAPE IT TO YOUR COMPUTER, WRITE IT ON THE CD ITSELF, WRITE IT ON THE CD JEWEL CASE. Cover your butt because if you take it back to a shop somewhere and forget to bring your own cd and code key, they will use an OEM cd from the shop and the product code key will be THEIRS and not yours. You might not be able to activate XP if they use a temporary setup at their shop and it expires after 30 days.

2. Always assume that vendors and ISP providers are going to LIE to you. They figure if you don't know enough about computers that you brought the system to them to fix it in the first place, they can get away with telling you/selling you anything....and if your modem can't connect, it will ALWAYS be your fault and not a problem with their servers at their end. You must have messed with the settings or got hijacked is what you will be told, in addition to being told to 'bring it in and we'll set it back up for you'.......and it will cost you a minimum of $50 for that 'service'.

3. Insist when ordering your computer to be built that they give you SEPARATE installation disks for everything they are going to install. That means a Windows install disk, drivers disks for each piece of hardware, and install cd's for all programs they have installed. It costs them 20 cents for a cd and about two minutes to burn each one....tell them you will pay an extra $25 to get separate cd's. Most will do this for you.....but people don't realize they have the right to demand it so the subject never comes up.

4. Insist that they give you a MOTHERBOARD manual, not just a crappy user manual that gives you a tutorial about hooking up your speakers/monitor/keyboard/mouse to the case when you bring it home. A motherboard manual will tell you everything you need to know about that board and what it is capable of being upgraded to later on, and if you have on-board sound or graphics rather than separate cards inside the case. Also insist on getting the motherboard drivers cd so you will have them handy should you format the drive to start over.

5. Burn two or three copies of every cd you get and use the COPIES to do your installations with later on. Save the originals in a safe place so if the copy goes bad/gets scratched, you can burn more copies from the original.

6. If you have the extra money to spend while ordering your computer, and if the vendor says he can't give you separate disks for everything, tell him you want an OEM full or update install version of the Windows at the very least. This may cost you an extra hundred or so, but with it you will have the choice later on of downloading newest drivers for all of your hardware and burning it all to a cd including motherboard drivers, and then if you want to start from scratch without using the vendor specific cd, you can install everything separately yourself....and save money in the long run. The update cd has exactly the same information on it as the full version and will only ask you to prove via the installation that you have another version of windows that makes you eligible for the update. Inserting an old W98/ME cd into the drive when asked for it gives you that proof. The rule has always been that if you buy a piece of hardware from a vendor (and a system qualifies), you can get an OEM version of Windows......so get one....and make sure they give you the Product Code Key that goes with it.

7. Now that you have protected yourself and become more knowledgeable about your rights as a buyer, have a good time with the new toy.

ADDENDUM: 1-26-05

Just got off the phone with Dell. Had to make believe I wanted to buy a computer, but got the salesman to check with the technical people. Clearly for the Home systems one gets the restore CD. No OEM as an option.

The other CD is possibly an option in some of the business systems, but I didn't pursue that. I was taking enough of the guy's time with no plans to buy.

It is so totally variable with Dell that it will definitely have to be addressed by model number.

ANOTHER PITFALL:

There's at least one more odd trick they CAN do.
I tried to upgrade an older (P3 500) IBM that had had a second harddrive added to it after the original system purchase. We simply copied all of the documents and other files needed to be saved onto hardrive 2 thinking that would
make us safe, right?

Wrong....The recovery CD wiped out all 4 partitions on both harddrives without any warning or information that this COULD even be the case. After building computers and helping friends and relatives to upgrade or rebuild theirs for about 15 years, this was the first time I ever have encountered such a desctructive way to make a recovery CD work.

ANOTHER QUIRK:
Some of these proprietary systems don't give you a Master/restore/recovery disk at all. Instead, they put everything onto a separate partition on your harddrive, and you have to create YOUR OWN install cd from that partition information, and the vendor hasn't said a word or given you documentation about this NOR do they tell you how.

You should immediately call the vendor for instructions (either the tech support department or some such), so you can create your Master disk faster than they cashed your check or charged your credit card for the purchase. And tell them that if the Master cd you create doesn't match up with the Product Code Key they supplied you with, you are going to be complaining loudly and publicly.

COMPAQ ISSUE:
I'm waiting to hear from this member about how he got the problem resolved....and if any of you have a Compaq, maybe one of you can check your bios for me to see if there is an option to manually fix this.

The member used his restore cd to start over again, and there seems to be a screen that asks for his Model number during the first part of this restore. He accidently put in the wrong Model number and the restore cd stopped working because the cd is specific to his system.

He tried using the restore cd again after shutting down and rebooting, but he never got that screen again and the cd won't work. He then jumpered the CMOS pins to reset the bios to defaults and when that didn't work, he removed the battery for a little while and tried again. No luck...the restore cd still won't work.

I suggested that possibly there is a manual setting in the bios that he can get to in order to choose his Model number since the defaults for the bios may have defaulted to NOTHING, but he hasn't replied yet to the post so I don't know if this is a possibility. If any of you with Compaqs can check this for me I would appreciate knowing if this is an option....and if so, this is more 'pitfalls' information that would be vital for others to know about.

I also suggested that if this isn't an option, he needs to contact HP/Compaq at the following site and send an email or call them immediately and to post how this issue was resolved for him so I can tell you guys about it.

http://thenew.hp.com/country/us/eng/support.html

Support phone number with real people at the other end:

1-800-474-6836

Resolved:
compaq presario 7360

>> in regards to my problem from a couple of days ago with the quick restore disc's compaq gave me a service pack that erased the hard drive. # SP20532 and it took care of the problem. it must have not just erased the hard drive because i had that problem with several differnt hard drives that i tried. but in any case it worked. thanks !! >>

Possible resolution for HP recovery disks that are hardwired to the original factory hardware:

HP using recovery CD with other motherboard

To use a HP recovery disk with another model of computer.

First, use that recovery disk on its associated old computer.
It starts by creating a virtual disk, using your memory

Log to that disk name (Y: ?) and edit the file
Copy the identifier which caracterizes the old motherboard.

Move to the new computer.
Then repeat whith the new motherboard, locate the virtual file, edit and inscribe the old identifier.

No guarantee ....

TONI

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