Help help help!

My cousin brought me her computer thinking i was able to fix it... so i begin toying with it and it will not do anything! she took it to geek squad at our local best buy and they suposivally ran a test and said the hard drive and such was okay but its got the BSOD it says the following....***Stop:0x0000007b, 0XFFFF880009a9928, 0XFFFFFFFFC000000d, 0x000000000000000, 0X000000000000000.:cry

NOTE: I CANNOT get in this computer @ all!!! safe mode doesnt work, nothing will work. i was told to get a recovery download and burn it to a cd and boot from it but tried that it didnt work. I DO NOT HAVE A RECOVERY DISK, 7 obviously i dont know how to make one either LOL

(the computer is a dell inspiron 537s preinstalled with windows vista home premium but geek squad upgraded it to windows 7)
But, i received this error - Error Code: 0148
Msg: Error code 200-0148
Msg: Hard/ Optical Drive 0-incorrect status:/A
Error REgister:0020h


I would greatly appreciate your help. Remember to elaborate on problems &/or fixes I'm a newby =)

thanks so much.

 

My first question is, did she pay them or ask them to upgrade her system to Windows 7? If she did not ask them, then at that point, she needs to file a grievance with her states attorney. As for the problem, have you tried reloading Windows Vista back onto the machine? Also, does the CD or DVD rom drive appear in the bios?

I personally would take it back to Best Buy, and raise a holy stink with the store manager and tell them to fix the machine at no cost out of pocket to her the customer. People need to quit dealing with Best Buy, and they are doing nothing to help people in fixing computers. Only good thing about Geek Squad, is they are helping to raise revenues for selling new computers, and profit is scamming customers in unneeded services.

 

She paid them to upgrade, i have tried using my computer and downloading iso files and puttin them to my usb and then booting the other pc from my usb but NOTHING WORKS! its so frustrating anything i try to do it takes me to the BSOD. yes, when i hit f12 to boot from the cd drive it appears. it shows the hard disk, cd/dvd drive, usb, then it says diagnostic, and utility partition. (if i remember correctly.) Again, i cant get anything to work. My cousin told me geek squad ran a test and said the hard drive was fine, that its possibly a virus affecting the os.
thanks for your reply.

 

Then tell her to take it back, and tell them to restore the machine back to the original OEM version of the OS that came with it, at no cost to her, since they did not do the work as stated in the agreement. Also, she needs to file a complaint with the states attorney for her state about Best Buy's Geek Squad performing work that she did not ask for. As stated before, she needs to raise a big stink with them. Best Buy has this problem as I stated before, it ripping off customers, especially those bringing in computers, that they seem to think that people do not know how to fix them.

 

Hello,
Before you have Best Buy take it back to the original OEM status. Is there any files you need to get off the drive? If so try the following.

First you will have to go into your cousins computers BIOS and make sure you can boot off of USB. Then download the following.

Unetbootin. The USB must be formatted as Fat32. You can use this utility. Just make sure you are formatting the USB drive and not your hard drive. Download the latest version of Puppy here. Then run Unetbootin in an admin account. In the Window, select Disk Image and ISO in the drop down box. For type: USB drive. Make sure the drive letter matches your USB flash drive. Then click OK. When finished, you should now have a bootable USB flash drive. Connect it and boot the computer. Connect an external USB drive or flash drive to the other USB port and Copy over your files.

 

tgell, doubtful that there is anything left, due to as they previously stated, BB did a wipe, and the so called tech felt that the machine would perform better with Windows 7. As for the problem with the drive, let BB fix it at no costs, since they screwed it up in the first place. And if they can't, let the states attorney general take care of putting some pressure on them.

As for the original problem, if it was me, I would be looking inside the case to see what the screwball tech did with any cables, and making sure that everything was hooked up properly. i would not doubt that the idiot made things worst at that BB, than what the original problem was to begin with.

 

Oops, I missed the wipe part. :-o

 

tgell, the whole issue is that this is a driver issue, due to most likely the idiot at bb that messed up this system, did not realize, that you just can not load a OS on a system thinking that it will just work. Even a system that I had, that was only rated to run XP, when I loaded 7 on it, I had to go off to the OEM site to search for the proper drivers, along with going to the chipset manufacturer.

Vista is a great OS, same with XP. If you do not need the latest and greatest, both work great. Only reason that I ever upgraded two of my machines to 7, was one had no hard drive, and I did not want XP on it, the other was originally a Vista machine, and since I got Windows 7 at a great deal through the Microsoft Great Steal for college, I could not pass it up.

I always have regards in first jumping on a new OS, especially from MS, until I know that it will work with a machine, that had a older OS on it. Even one of the machines that I had that had ME on, when I took it to XP, I had more headaches on that one, than I did with ME.

 

Forget everything the other are saying, there is only one way to fix that issue and get into the computer really when things really are that. There is a program called Hiren and it allows you to enter an ON DISK part of Windows XP or Linux. This will allow you to access the drive and make some changes as needed. I still really do not know how to fully use Hiren but it has a TON of useful programs to help you fix your PC


Here is the Link to the IMAGE to create the disk, Good Luck Buddy...

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

 

Really? That is not going to fix the issue at hand. What you are talking about frankzro, is a Boot CD. Again not the correct way to fix the problem that the idiot at Best Buy's Geek squad created. What is missing Frank, is the driver, and I bet the version of 7 the store idiot used, is not even licensed for BB to use on customers machines.

 

I used to work for Geek Squad... its VERY over rated... but good perks

Anyways, what I am getting at is there is a mini version of windows on that disk and I think it can be used to help him fix driver issues on his main OS, but again I still fully have not figured it out but that disk saved my *** many times lol

 

Hi

I believe (assume... lol) there's some assumptions going on here, and that we need to simply clarify things:

Did your cousin purchase the Windows 7 Upgrade, and pay Best Buy to install the upgrade on the machine?

If so, did the machine work properly after Best Buy did their "work" on it?

If not, it needs to go back to Best Buy, and you need to ensure the machine works before leaving the store next time. If it did work, and these issues developed later on, then we can go from there.

 

Problem is, the OP does not have the DVD most likely that GS used, and also, the mini version is not enough to install the proper drivers for this issue.

 

I never said install them >: ) I mean to UN-install them so Windows doesn't
pick them up again

Now I am only going off assumption on this so... it is an option.

And please try your best not to let Geek Squad touch your computer ... PC repair really has no guarantee that something is fixed or done properly. Working for geeksquad I can honestly tell you they DO NOT train you on how to work properly on a PC or even how to work on one at all, they only show the employees how to operate the Computer and run small geeksquad tasks. Their might be that ONE guy that knows everything but trust me, speak techno-babble and they will look at you like you are some kinda nut-case. Not to say I am great when it comes to PCs but I am good enough to take down a server from a remote location Jk but for me I know enough to be dangerous. ( Wow... Rant -_-)

On to the subject... you bought the Windows 7 Upgrade? That was your mistake... NEVER buy the upgrade when you can get the full copy for only a little more as an OEM ---- See NewEgg.com for the OEMs.

 

I never said anything about me buying 7 upgrade. And no, it is not a mistake. Typical GS employee response. You stated it correctly, that they do not know what they are doing. They need to leave computers to the professionals that have experience in how to properly diagnose and troubleshoot systems (ie mom and pop shops).

 

An OEM license is only good for the computer it's installed on... so what's the point in paying more for an OEM version, versus a cheaper Upgrade license? That makes no sense.

Also, it's obvious to any geek that "Geek Squad" is akin to having Wal-Mart rebuild a car engine for you.

 

I have a degree in computer science... I know what I am doing. Plus I am also a contractor to IBM.

My understanding from using an upgrade disk is that you need to install the Original then use the upgrade, but the upgrade can't be loaded onto a bare Harddrive to start off. Unless something changed then mybad .

On the OEM, you can use it on more than one machine just not at the same time, but how many people run more than 2 PCs in a normal home? I would just bootleg a copy for my other PC , but that's just me - Anyways it wouldnt be all that bad, if hes using home then if he bought Pro OEM he could use that on his PC and put the home on another PC, I've done this before.

Another note, I used to work at Geek-Squad, but I quit a long time ago... being skimpy on the hours and I was in college at the time.

I dunno, just saying , there's more than one way to skin a cat on this. :duck

 

Hmm wait I think I fully get what you meant with the upgrade license, can it the upgrade be used to upgrade any copy of Win 7 Home to say Pro on any PC?


Not hijacking...

 

It can. It depends how you want to skin that cat, and what version of the cat you want to skin. In reality, the Windows 7 upgrade from the Ultimate Steal, is in reality a full blown version of Windows. You just need the disc, or a licensed copy to you on your machine to authenticate, if installing. You no longer need the OS on the hard drive with W7 upgrade, only the disc of the previous version, when it asks for it.

There are just some machines, especially those that where out of date, when XP came out, but came with XP on them, that have a tendency to not like Vista or 7, so you have to know what you are doing to get the machines to work properly, and have the proper drivers available when you install.

GS/BB has a tendency of not hiring real techs, and those kids that they do hire, only know how to scrub and reload, or if they do not know what the problem is, even though it is simple, will tell you that your machine is fubar, and you need to go and purchase a new machine, which they will be glad to help you choose, and allow them to load crapware on it.

GS got their hands burnt once before for using tools that were not licensed to them, for use in their stores, and also gave out that licensed software on discs that they were handing out to customers.