My fault

[beavereater]

As some of you may have read in the computer forum, I was recently asked to format my friends PC (Which is an NEC ValueStar brand name piece of crap) Anyway, they were tired of Japanese windows and wanted me to put English windows on there. Their PC was also full of junk from a wee bit too much of porn surfing (Much to their denial) Anyway, I assumed that they had disks with all their drivers, and that it would be a simple format, and install. What I failed to notice was that there was a hidden partition with the recovery disk on it. WELL...when it was time to hit the button to FORMAT, I asked them "Are we OK with formatting now" And the answer they gave me was "OK, go for it!"

Now, hours later, after XP was installed, we notice that there was no audio, and the screen seemed smugged. It was a driver problem. My friends, not being very computer literate, looked for disks. But there were none with drivers on them, and the XP drivers didn't seem to work.

After hours of searching, we did find a driver (online) that fixed the display. Now its all about the audio and the SD card port thingy.

Well, without going into further detail, I want to know if YOU think that this would be MY fault. Since they relied on me (they had no one else who knew about PC's any better).

The PC is running fine, without sound (They don't play games, watch movies or anything really that requires sound so badly). Although I do understand the need to get things working PERFECTLY on the PC. There are still many options to try, but MY problem is, I can't be going over there every night trying to fix things. OR...am I wrong, and should put aside my stuff in order to correct their PC perils??? What do you think PEOPLE OF DVDRHELP!!!

[glockjs]

see thats why i dont help friends. reminds me, im gonna write up a disclaimer for friends and family to sign

anyways. you did what you could do and thats all you can do. xp is installed and working so i think your job is done. so i would have to say no, not your fault and your not wrong.

[flaninacupboard]

tell him to buy a proper PC next time! it really depends on how understanding the guy is, but on the other hand, you should have checked what discs you had before doing the format. if it's just the sound i think the easy option is to spend £5 on a cheapo sound card and whack it in, equated in a time/money/stress factor (because driver hunting is a real bitch!) it's the best thing to do!

[Cobra]

I don't think that's your fault at all. Surely your friend is in posession of a manual? It was his responsibility to read it and find out what he needed to be aware of!

It was good of you to help him and he should appreciate that.

I don't know if this site is any good - it was free when I used it last but it looks like you may have to pay now. Anyway, it's worth a go:

http://drivermagic.com/x/wizard

Good luck!

CObra

[teegee420]

It's definitely not your fault that the friend didn't keep all of the driver disks. If it were me, and the friend was computer illiterate, I'd be compelled to tie up the extra loose ends.

[flaninacupboard]

his friend didn't "not keep" the driver disks, there were none to begin with. with those computers you're supposed to reinstall with the drive image on the hidden partition, which beavereater formatted into oblivion!

[teegee420]

Then I'd be that much more obligated. :P

[offline]

How many of us have been there?
You have my sympathy beavereater!
This is why I charge friends cost price + 5%.

[andyp1]

It won't help now but it may in the future.
I found a neat little prog that is shareware , I got it off cnet.com and it is called WinDriver Ghost 2.02.
Before you format , load the prog and when you run it it finds every driver on the PC and creates a folder on C called 'Drivers' and in there it puts every driver in it own labelled folder.
The I saved that folder to a disc.
Once reformatted you then have every driver you need on a disc , its a great piece of software.
You don't need to install the programme back to the reformatted PC.

I think flaninacupboard suggestion of a cheap soundcard is probably the easiest way to go if your friend needs his sound back.

[teegee420]

It won't help now but it may in the future.
I found a neat little prog that is shareware , I got it off cnet.com and it is called WinDriver Ghost 2.02.
Before you format , load the prog and when you run it it finds every driver on the PC and creates a folder on C called 'Drivers' and in there it puts every driver in it own labelled folder.
The I saved that folder to a disc.
Once reformatted you then have every driver you need on a disc , its a great piece of software.
You don't need to install the programme back to the reformatted PC.

Holy shit, that sounds fantastic! Thanks for the tip!

[Capmaster]

It's both your fault - your friend's for wanting something for nothing and yours for helping. I know you were just trying to help, but I've found over the years that when working on a friend's PC anything that can go wrong will. It's a living testament to Murphy's law. "Friends don't help friends" at least with PC problems. It sounds selfish, but ....Otherwise there will be hard feelings.

I would try to fix what's already been done, but on your schedule and not his. He's ultimately responsible for his own PC.

[VCDHunter]

I know you were just trying to help, but I've found over the years that when working on a friend's PC anything that can go wrong will. It's a living testament to Murphy's law.

No shit. I built a guy a PC a year or so ago, and about 4 months ago he somehow managed to get a virus and its seriously screwed up his HD. Its now upto me to get it back in working order. Trouble is the guy works early so is in bed by 8pm. Leaving me about 2 hrs in the evening to try and fix his PC with him yawning in my ear and his bloody kids running round the place.

[flaninacupboard]

if it's that screwed take it away.

[VCDHunter]

if it's that screwed take it away.

Oh hell no, he doesn't want that ! I even offered to fix it whilst he was away on holiday - but no.

[teegee420]

I built a guy a PC a year or so ago, and about 4 months ago he somehow managed to get a virus and its seriously screwed up his HD. Its now upto me to get it back in working order.

I hate it when you build a PC for someone and all of the sudden you're expected to be the person's 24 hour repair technician. Like you placed a Maytag emblem on the case or something. I don't mind so much for family but it's still annoying as hell.

[teegee420]

if it's that screwed take it away.

Oh hell no, he doesn't want that ! I even offered to fix it whilst he was away on holiday - but no.

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

[Capmaster]

if it's that screwed take it away.

Oh hell no, he doesn't want that ! I even offered to fix it whilst he was away on holiday - but no.

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

Midget Clown Porn. I've seen it before

[teegee420]

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

Midget Clown Porn. I've seen it before

You know I set that one up for you, right? I threw you a nice fast ball and you hit it right out of the park!

[Capmaster]

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

Midget Clown Porn. I've seen it before

You know I set that one up for you, right? I threw you a nice fast ball and you hit it right out of the park!

Teamwork Gotta love it

[VCDHunter]

if it's that screwed take it away.

Oh hell no, he doesn't want that ! I even offered to fix it whilst he was away on holiday - but no.

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

Midget Clown Porn. I've seen it before

OK I confess - its Capsters pc :P

God only knows whats on there ! I think he's reluctant to be without kazaa for 5 mins

[Capmaster]

if it's that screwed take it away.

Oh hell no, he doesn't want that ! I even offered to fix it whilst he was away on holiday - but no.

There's obviously something on that sucker he doesn't want you to see.

Midget Clown Porn. I've seen it before

OK I confess - its Capsters pc :P

God only knows whats on there ! I think he's reluctant to be without kazaa for 5 mins

If it was mine I wouldn't be embarassed about the porn. I'd be embarassed about the other stuff ...oops! Said too much

And Kazaa is ghey. WinMX all the way!

[Cobra]

I built a guy a PC a year or so ago, and about 4 months ago he somehow managed to get a virus and its seriously screwed up his HD. Its now upto me to get it back in working order.

No, I disagree. He got the virus because he didn't protect himself - that's his fault, not yours. You need not do a thing. I have had a similar situation myself...

I built a PC for one of the guys I live with - what a mistake. He's not got a single shred of common sense. He had it for one day, flashed the BIOS (it was a good Asus board, too...) with something nasty and tried to set it up. Windows was crashing all over the place, spontaneous resets etc. and he denied all knowledge of having touched a thing. Apparently, it was like that when he got it. That's total crap - I sat and showed him everything about it for two hours and it didn't do a thing wrong. He was feeding me blatent lies. He'd also clumsily tried to overclock it and it all went badly wrong...

When he complained to me, I went down and took a look. I asked him various things and he just lied to me. I think he'd changed his mind about the PC when he'd ruined it and wanted money back. I recovered the BIOS and set it up again, and after such a beating this PC came right back to life and was performing perfectly again. I told him that he was under no circumstances to try messing with it again like he did, and not to come whining to me if he breaks it again and it's his fault.

He hasn't had a problem since. I hope he doesn't need a warranty claim, because I don't know if it's still valid after that treatment.

What do you guys reckon?

Cobra

[VCDHunter]

And Kazaa is ghey. WinMX all the way!

WinMX, eMule, Shareaza all suck - I'm holding out for Jack Valentis Super Quick DVD to PC in 5 seconds p2p system

[Capmaster]

And Kazaa is ghey. WinMX all the way!

WinMX, eMule, Shareaza all suck - I'm holding out for Jack Valentis Super Quick DVD to PC in 5 seconds p2p system

Yeah, what kind of phat pipe do you suppose that old goat-****** uses that he can get a movie in 5 seconds??? Maybe an internet backbone node? Naah ...he wouldn't know how to use it

[VCDHunter]

And Kazaa is ghey. WinMX all the way!

WinMX, eMule, Shareaza all suck - I'm holding out for Jack Valentis Super Quick DVD to PC in 5 seconds p2p system

Yeah, what kind of phat pipe do you suppose that old goat-****** uses that he can get a movie in 5 seconds??? Maybe an internet backbone node? Naah ...he wouldn't know how to use it

I've used a few phat pipes in my time - none of them got me any DVDs though

I have read on www.horeshit.com that he has a connection that has a download speed connected to his brain - the more out of touch with reality he gets the quicker the pipe This time next year he'll be downloading movies before they're filmed

You say goat shagger like its a bad thing

[flaninacupboard]

some people are so hard to work with. tell him you need to take it away to run a full diagnostic on it. if that's not good enough tell him to take it to PC world and see how much they charge him.

[flaninacupboard]

He hasn't had a problem since. I hope he doesn't need a warranty claim, because I don't know if it's still valid after that treatment.

What do you guys reckon?

Cobra

I say screw him. if it breaks and needs returning get him to pay for the return postage. if they refuse it that's tough shit on his part.

that's pretty low to **** it up and then want his money back.

When i supply a PC i put AVG from www.grisoft.com and tiny personal firewall on there. if they're gone then those folks are on their own. i also lock the bios and password it. and now on XP i create and password an account for me. if its a family machine i create limited accounts for the kids/teenagers and show parents how change accounts over to normal for installing a kids game and then locking it back up. just hope no-one hacks my password! (no peeking baldrick!)

[SLK001]

I built a PC for one of the guys I live with - Cobra

Cobra, you're beginning to worry me! (And NEXT time, password protect the SETUP, so that only you can O/C, change settings, etc.)

I like andyp1's suggestion of the "Driver fetcher" program. I'm getting this one for myself!

I always had this problem when I did stuff for my Dad. EVERYTIME, he had miss-placed some disk, or some program that I stress was very important (not to him, tho, because he never used it!), and told him NOT to lose. So, I got into the habit of demanding that EVERYTHING be present before I would even start (although, this doesn't always work!).

[SLK001]

The program is no longer on CNET.COM, but I found it here:

http://www.shareup.com/WinDriver-Ghost-download-671.html

[northcat_8]

I have to agree with Cobra and Flan...

Computers I build carry an exchange warranty. Once it has went from my hands to yours...it's out of warranty. But like SLK001 said, I password everything and I am the administrator and they just have an account without adminstrator priveledges.

I'm not totally heartless, I will fix things if they get messed up but for a virus I send them to www.trendmicro.com

If they have screwed it up from trying to flash the bios, or overclock it or by deleting files from the windows folder, then they are just shit out of luck and I charge them for it.