The Great Computer Crash of '08

I will preface this by saying that my computer at the time of the crash was 10 months old. And it was only used to store photos and browse the internets. So nothing straining for the computer at all. Except for the fact that said computer came with Windows Vista, which is from the devil.

So I go to bed one night and everything is fine with my computer. (An HP Media Center one if you're curious) I wake up the next morning. . .and find my computer attempting to reboot itself over and over. Pressing the power button does nothing, it is stuck in this loop. We try unplugging it and plugging it back in, and without even pressing anything it starts itself up and is back in the loop. What was happening is Windows couldn't start. When it would get to the part where Vista loads, it would just shut itself off, turn itself back on and then go through the whole thing again. There was an option for a "Startup Repair" which we attempted, but it seems it's just there to look pretty. So to stop the insanity we just unplugged it and let it be.

We had purchased the extended service plan where we had bought it, so husband attempts to contact them about getting it fixed. He gets the run around some what before someone finally tells him that since the computer is less than a year old, it's still under warranty from HP, so they can't help us. Sigh.

So we call HP. Who apparently outsources their calls to India. Rock. Husband talks to India Call Center Guy who not only has a thick accent, but treats us like neanderthals who have never operated a computer before. He actually did do something useful though. He got us to the point where the computer can run in safe mode. To do that involved (I kid you not) unplugging the computer, holding the power button down for thirty seconds, plugging it back in, holding the power button down for two seconds, and then pushing F8 repeatedly until the safe mode option comes up. That alone about made me scream.

So India Call Center Guy then basically tells us we have to back up every single file we want to keep and then wipe the whole system and put it back in the state it was from the factory. And then is a little annoyed we can't back up everything RIGHT THEN. He gives us a case number so we can call him back afterwards and he can walk us through the rest. And then he ices the cake by trying to sell us an extended warranty for *only* two hundred dollars! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

So we get everything backed up, but what he wanted us to do afterwards was pretty self explanatory so we did it ourselves. It's just a program you run, so there's no way we screwed it up or anything.

Well, it didn't work. I now have a computer that does the same bootup loop, only now with an extra screen thrown in telling me it can't even install Windows. Because you know, it sucks.

So I am still without a computer, I am typing my posts from husband's laptop. Husband called back today to tell them that their lovely "system recovery" hosed us even more. I wasn't home to hear what went on, but when it was all said and done, we had to pay them to send us this disc that is supposed to fix things. So even under warranty, we are having to pay them to fix it. Nice HP, really.

I have vowed that my next computer will be a Mac, I am officially over PC's and Windows.

And just because it bears reposting (warning not for little ears, but freaking hilarious): http://youtube.com/watch?v=fPl8lAEGZA4