Compaq Keep Fallin' On My Head

I stumbled onto the “Compaq Sucks “message board (I belly laughed) while looking for a Super Socket 7 upgrade board for a Presario 7470- I even laugh at myself as I write that. Upgrade- my ars. I digress. It seems that my Compaq "love affair" is shared by many. There were a lot of "F-bombs" in the string- hilarious really! So I replied to a posting with the following text.

I have been a Compaq owner/operator since 1996. My first computer purchase ever was a Presario 5190. Immediately I ran into checksum/portal errors, which required me to do exhaustive research on the topic itself. Only to find that altering logarithms was something I, personally, could not do on my own.

Blessed "limited warranty” afforded me the luxury of a replacement MOBO. I will spare the drama of those lost years, but I will confess that I have gained much knowledge since that time. I owe it all to a checksum error via the Compaq folks. I could get really specific and blame the board mfr - but I prefer Compaq as the scapegoat, as they threw shoddy elements into their lovely bundles to begin the cycle.

Turning the page...

People often ask me these days, "how did you get interested in computer repair?" What I try to humorously illustrate to them, is this: if you own a Compaq- either you become an expert of your own machine or you purchase something else. Suffice to say, I couldn’t afford to switch manufactures. And many people cannot.

Having said that, I also want to take a plunger (or hammer) to the HPs & the Gateways of the world. HPs, with their proprietary installations, and Gateways with their delightful "refurbished" components and "stellar" customer service. It is fitting, to me, that Compaq and HP are now woven into an incestuous union. Sister & brother sharing one house, as it were. Gross!

These pre-packaged, "fast-food" computer bundles plug up the “great drain” – the entrance to the plumbing system of the dead technology underworld. The place where all bad boxes should go. The substandard or failing component’s “not-so-great beyond”. Where'd my plunger go anyway?

The moral to this story is this: one should never buy bundles that come from “super stores” if they want a truly upgradable system. Canned computers will only last you so long, and you will end up spending as much, if not more, as you did on the original cost of the unit. On what, you say? On repairs and upgrades. Furthermore, buy local – and enlist your custom-builder to get you what you want for your all-important buck!

You may think that from a repair person’s point of view, it would be a great fatted cow to be flooded with repair calls. But the headache comes from having to tell your customer to be prepared to shell out way too much money on repairs that will only bandage the ailment for a short time. As many service people know, you fix one issue- you get three more to contend with. This comes from boards and peripherals that are created to be co-dependent on one another for their optimal functionality. So the upgrade and/or repair costs can accrue quickly. And for this techy, there is no way I want to bankrupt my customer just for a dollar to stuff in my own meager pocket. But you can end up doing quite the opposite – not charging for many of the hours you actually put in to get it running "just right". That's the tug, I guess. Overcharge vs. undercharge. You'll never win that battle!

The beauty of being baptized into the Compaq church, is that you get the unique position of being in a volatile working environment most of the time. Instability provides invaluable educational benefits. Maybe that is the true moral of this story. Hmm- yeah, that really is it: "Instability provides invaluable educational benefits". In life & cyberlife, as well.

Happy Computing!

 

I remember reading on a computer author's site once that Dell had changed the pinouts on the main power into the motherboard?
Why?
Who knows? Maybe so that you would have to buy another PSU from Dell.
Anyway, they didn't tell anybody about it for a while...

Alot of boards ended up getting fried.

 

Yes, so true & HP has done likewise with their factory IDE cables. Yes, they want us to HAVE to repurchase THEIR rubbish!