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XP Hell
That's a clever opinion. An IBM engineer I knew in the 80's said that one of the PC problems was that management panicked and brought the PC to market from a prototype without the usual R&D engineering time spent. The results were a bunch limited designs that we still live with--after all the R&D folks were just sort of playing with this curious toy and then somebody said 'it's going to market.' The IBM PC probably wouldn’t have competed successfully in the market if ‘users’ rather than ‘systems’ types had been doing the buying.
Of course, the rush to market doesn't explain why the AT chip couldn't run in protected mode and why the 386 chip had memory registers that couldn't hold addresses long enough to support much multi-tasking, but can't blame that on IBM exactly.
Like a Greek tragedy, we seem to be doomed to suffer punishment for the sins of our ancestors. Organizations that find some success tend to just keep doing enhancements and variation on themes till limitations in the original thinking kills the act. Tractor companies do the same thing. Got to remember that the original Windows came out during the AT days. Current versions are still built on a foundation of very old thinking and we have to suffer for the sins of a bunch of very well rewarded ancestors.
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I installed a larger heat sink as well as a larger cooling fan on the old AMD processor. The computer store seemed happy to get rid of the outdated part for $15. It is much better now although it still slows down after about two hours use as opposed to the original one hour. The mouse seems to skip slowly around and the hard drive makes noises as though it is opening a program or working on something, very strange. I will try a scan disc and defrag tonight but I doubt that will help, I am stumped. Those people in that computer store were very helpful and have some pretty nice deals going on custom machines. Everything I need in a computer for $750. Nice flat screen monitor for $150 would top things off....Priced Gateway and Dell, about the same as the custom but I can't look them in the eye when something goes awry. The only drawback is the lack of software support, I believe the big boys have that down pretty well and include a toll free number. Has anyone had any experience with this type of service problem or needed software support from these folks? I had a hardware problem with this Inteva while under warranty and received great service over the phone.
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XP Hell
I bought a Dell about 4 years ago. The keyboard went out twice. Called them up and they sent a new (2) keyboard overnight express. The cdrom went out when it was 2 years old. They sent a new one overnight express.
Billy
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XP Hell
Billy,
Was it out of the warranty period?
Dennis
CTB
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XP Hell
It was out of the home service warranty but not the total warranty.
Billy
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XP Hell
Cutter;
The only Dell I have had was a laptop about 3 years ago, although we had a few 10 years ago to run interferometers at work. I did not have any real problems with the laptop over the couple of years I had it, so can not speek to Dell service. We did with the desk tops on the Interferometers and new parts were shipped overnight.
I have only worked on one Gateway and that was a friends old 166 486. I had an Acer at the same time and did not think the Gateway system compared at all. Up until recently I always thought that they were a step behind in terms of technology and the price seemed high.
The last system I bought was a HP, but I would not necessarily recommend it now.
I like the extended waranties on the Dell and the Compaq.
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Thank you both for the input. If I compare machine for machine, they come very close in price and hardware. I am a service nut and want support to be there when I need it, even if I have to pay a bit more up front. I am in a quandry at this point, a co-worker offered me his three year old IBM (has had multiple problems with it but is ok at this time), 19" monitor and cheap printer for free, he just upgraded to a Compaq. I can now give that to my son and see if this one will keep going another year, but I am sick of constantly having to work on it...ahh...decisions, decisions. The thought of looking at a Mac is inviting as well, I have the time now....
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Gateway has been real good to me.
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Onward and upward. Ordered a lap top hard drive on the internet 10 gig for 75$. I did not think I could be price. I guess I will be tackling reloading it over the weekend.
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Well the laptop is working, but the Win 98 will not update. Thankyou MS.
I am not sure how the 10 GB turned out to be 8 GB. The package on the drive read 10. My computer read it as 8. Oh well 8 is double of the 4 it was.
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Gas Generator Weather Protecti
07-07-2002, 07:23 
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