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MageB420666 · 09-22-2004, 06:12 PM

Ok, I have a nice little story to tell.

I decided to format my hardrive and reinstall windows xp because I was having popup problems and I had messed around with some settings on windows.

So first I try to do it the way microft wants which is by putting the software disc in the drive and letting their little automated dealy do it's thing, only to find that when I try to delete the main partition, I can't because setup files are stored on it, so I then restart the comp and have it boot straight from the disc, it works and I can now format the hardrive.

So after doing this I get windows set up, only to find that my internet is not working. I connect through a LAN at school and this kinda thing should be automatically done by windows, but as I look into the problem, I find that I only have one of two drivers I need to have my nic work, so I get out the dell software/driver disc only to discover that it does not have the driver I need.

So I then call dell support and patiently and calmly explain the problem to the tech support lady. She has me check a few things(which I had already checked by myself, but did it again just to be sure that I hadn't missed something). So after doing this the dell lady tells me that I need to call my ISP and get a new IP adress(keep in mind I had already said I use a LAN), so thinking she had forgotten I tell her again that I don't have an ISP and that windows should be obtaining the IP adress automatically, but she doesn't listening and just keeps on saying that I should contact my ISP, so I get tired of this and just agree and hang up.

So I now go back to my comp, find out exactly what ethernet card I have and go download the ethernet driver I need(I have the 1394 adapter but not the ethernet driver), so then after trying a few times to load the driver, I finally start the comp in safe mode and go to the device manager, select the ethernet card(which has a driver loaded, but it's a bad one and the device cannot start) and load the driver and tada, I now can connect to the internet.

So my story may not have a real point, but it does show that Dell's Award Winning Support is not so great, and that they can't even include a driver for a piece of hardware that they put in my computer.

So hopefully this may help anyone who wants to format their harddrive avoid a major pain in the ass. By the way, this problem took me two days to solve.

09-22-2004, 06:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
MageB420666 <Insert wise statement here> Location: Hell if I know	Computer story Ok, I have a nice little story to tell. I decided to format my hardrive and reinstall windows xp because I was having popup problems and I had messed around with some settings on windows. So first I try to do it the way microft wants which is by putting the software disc in the drive and letting their little automated dealy do it's thing, only to find that when I try to delete the main partition, I can't because setup files are stored on it, so I then restart the comp and have it boot straight from the disc, it works and I can now format the hardrive. So after doing this I get windows set up, only to find that my internet is not working. I connect through a LAN at school and this kinda thing should be automatically done by windows, but as I look into the problem, I find that I only have one of two drivers I need to have my nic work, so I get out the dell software/driver disc only to discover that it does not have the driver I need. So I then call dell support and patiently and calmly explain the problem to the tech support lady. She has me check a few things(which I had already checked by myself, but did it again just to be sure that I hadn't missed something). So after doing this the dell lady tells me that I need to call my ISP and get a new IP adress(keep in mind I had already said I use a LAN), so thinking she had forgotten I tell her again that I don't have an ISP and that windows should be obtaining the IP adress automatically, but she doesn't listening and just keeps on saying that I should contact my ISP, so I get tired of this and just agree and hang up. So I now go back to my comp, find out exactly what ethernet card I have and go download the ethernet driver I need(I have the 1394 adapter but not the ethernet driver), so then after trying a few times to load the driver, I finally start the comp in safe mode and go to the device manager, select the ethernet card(which has a driver loaded, but it's a bad one and the device cannot start) and load the driver and tada, I now can connect to the internet. So my story may not have a real point, but it does show that Dell's Award Winning Support is not so great, and that they can't even include a driver for a piece of hardware that they put in my computer. So hopefully this may help anyone who wants to format their harddrive avoid a major pain in the ass. By the way, this problem took me two days to solve. __________________ Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.