New computer help

[ajames942]

Must've been within warranty. My friend said it was literally one day over the warranty period. The kick is, you can make the restore discs, if you know how.

If the computer is newer than 2003, press F10 at startup when you first see the HP/Compaq logo. It should bring up the Recovery menu. Press Alt-D to get a prompt, and depending if you have a Card reader or not, you'll go to a partition (D: if you don't, H: if you do), enter a directory, and type a command. Then it's just click a button on the screen and follow instructions.

At least, that's according to HP's site.

Personally, I'm a huge fan of Norton Ghost coupled with a USB2.0 hard drive. That utility has saved my digital bacon more times than I care to think of.

Yeah, the computer was only a couple days old and he runined 3 or 4 brand new discs trying to make them. So it was under warranty.

 

[HeartBreak]

Sounds like cheap media more than anything. Could have also been a defective optical drive, but unlikely on a new machine.

 

[sweetdiesel]

Here is an update on what I ended up ordering.

Dell Inspiron 530 Intel Core2 processor Q6600 (2.40Ghz 1066FSB) w/Quad Core and 8MB cache
3GB DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive(7200RPM)
Microsoft Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium Edition
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
$500

Geforce 8500GT 512MB Video Card $50

Planar PX2611W 26" H-IPS Panel $750

It all gets here next Tuesday. Looking forward to getting back on VRC when the wife isn't on it.

 

[flm_savage]

excellent choice. I think you will be very happy with it.

 

[HeartBreak]

Good choice. I have an older "mutt" I assembled myself. It has an nvidia 6800, and it runs pretty much anything I want.

My sister also has 3 dells in her house, and they're all rock solid. Aside from wearing out the keyboard on her laptop, she's had zero issues.

The only blah on the list is Vista, but otherwise, definitely a great price for the specs.