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I've lost more than one hard drive on Dell computers

Posted By: IDMT on 2009-03-03
In Reply to: Help with "no operating system found" message sm - Gemini

That's the message you get normally if the hard drive if fried.  I just called Dell and they diagnosed the problem and sent me a new hard drive and I returned the bad one. Is yours still under warranty?


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Escription users: I have a question. I've about had it with Dell junk computers.
and their Indian call centers..nothing like getting help from someone whom you cant understand. Even if they hear you, they have NO comprehension skills. Anyway, I have like 3 Dell computers which goes from bad to worse. For Christmas, I got my husband an Mac IBook ...wow..what a difference, now that's a computer. Anyhoo, they now have Microsoft office programs for Macs..anyone know if this computer would be compatible at all with the Escription platform since it's so picky. If not, any laptop computers suggestions that are not a piece of junk.
Dell Computers
What helped me most was buying a Dell flat panel monitor AND the stereo sound bar - 14 watts, great sound and plugs for headphones.
Dell computers


Are the Dell computers advertized in Sunday circulars pretty cheap any good?  I'm happy with what I have and have always had an HP, but hubby says it's old and he's afraid it's going to give up the ghost any day and wants to get me one of the cheap Dells?  Any advice?


EARPHONES AND DELL COMPUTERS

I just started a job using voice files and not a dictaphone as before.  I tried every set of earphones in the tower part of the computer that has a space for earphones next to the space for the footpedal.  I only out of one ear.  Is there another place to plug them in or what earphones do you use.   These earphones are made for this. 


I've had two dell laptops and 5 Dell PCs. Here's the thing...

Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.


My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old.  Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard.  He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place. 


One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.


Overall, I have been happy with Dell products.  The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell.  No generic accessories will work.  My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house.  Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.


Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet.  I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.


If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.


When buying a new computer would you use a company locally that builds new computers or go with Dell
or a large outfit like that. This local company has been around awhile. Not sure what to do about buying a new computer that is going to be compatible with just about all MT jobs.
where is the hard drive sm
I never unscrewed the tower case. Where will I find the "hard drive?" I know it sounds like a dumb question, but I really don't know squat about the guts of the hardware.
Hard drive out, now what?
So now you have the hard drive out, what do you do with the hard drive?  TIA
I also lost my sex drive the minute I got pregnant the first time....never got it back....that was 8
x
Photo of a hard drive
So you can see what you're looking for:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/PopupProductDetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=04&sku=341-2828&price=750

How large is your hard drive, and
how much free space do you have. Remove unnecessary programs that you do not use. Download CCleaner from the Internet. It is a great program and free. It cleans out the temp files, cookies, etc. when you log off the Internet. See how much RAM you have and check your motherboard manual for the maximum RAM allowed. More RAM will speed up your computer. Also, if you have more than 1 stick of RAM, some of them may be dead, and this could slow down the computer too. A lot of variables come into play. Try one thing at a time. There are plenty of things you can do. Good luck!
Also as I just blew my hard drive
Take the sideoff and get some compressed air and clean out the inside of your computer..I noticed mine was getting slower and slower..Forgot to clean the inside and here I am replacing a hard drive...All it takes is a spec of dust on the hard drive to make things haywire
You need to get somebody to partition your hard drive. sm
Your computer can have both Vista and XP on it, your tech guy or somebody who is up on this stuff partitions off your hard drive so you can boot up with either one. My computer is partitioned so when XP is no longer supported, my Vista will be like an upgrade. I also read, on here I think, that you could even use a second hard drive.
Hard Drive Twilight Zone...

Hi,


Last night I had a file and folder open and left them there.  This afternoon I sat down to try to get some work done on it.  I decided to clean up the bottom tray and closed out the file, folder, and other www pages I left open (Yahoo., local library, etc.) to re-open items in the order I usually like them only to discover that the drive that I work on is totally missing. 


I've done searches for names of files on that drive, searched for the drive itself, checked the trash bin in case of some fluke it might be there.  Nada, zip, zilch, ___you fill in the blank, the system says I used a bad word. 


What else can I/should I do besides shoot myself?


Thanks. 


OOPS my hard drive crashed

Either charge him an astranomical amount or say "oops computer crashed and lost them" or snce you no longer have his account you erased them.  They are your property and you are entitled to be compensated if he wants them and give them to him.   They are yours and not his. 


 


Download the file from FTP to your hard drive.
Then hit Load button, find where you saved the file on your hard drive and Load. Now, you're in business.
Part was cut off. Deleted it from the hard drive. I would
like to get this working so I can test with other places.  If not, I dont know what to do.  I have an Infinity foot pedal and it works fine on DQS so I dont want to go out and buy foot pedals not knowing what to buy and if it will work.  Hopefully this tech guy will have an answer since he works for the company I am testing for. 
How much room do you need on your hard drive if you work for 2 companies at once. I know this is a
stupid question but I am ready to buy a computer and I am thinking of going part time with 2 companies and each one has their own platform but I dont want to pay for some hugh unnecessary computer. Can someone tell me what has worked for them if you work for 2 separate companies.
Do a search to see where the file is located on your hard drive.

Make note of the full location name. Next, in ES, choose Load and go to the above-noted location to find the file. Hit the Load button and you're in business.


Is it possible to do a system back-up (hard drive information) to a USB
zip drive?  Have you done it?  How do you figure how big of a zip drive is needed?Thanks.
I too use an external hard drive, backs up My Documents folder. sm
It only takes once to lose everything to know how important backups are.....I should know, happened to me!!
Mine works with printer and external hard drive
You just need to get the more expensive USB Hub with a power adapter if it doesn't work with your printer.
I've lost track of how many people who've asked about it to NOT
.
I've tried Dell, which is what I prefer. sm
The reps have told me that all home desktop models now come with Vista. Period. I even asked if I could purchase one with XP if I paid extra and received a negative response. :(
First, you need to remove 4 screws to replace/remove your hard drive. (sm)
Once the screws are all removed, the hard drive (4 x 4 x 2) is sitting in the bottom of the cage. This won't always be the situation, (some really cheap cages are open at the bottom, so the instant the last screw is removed the drive drops if you aren't holding on). Oddly enough, this is the most critical stage of replacing a hard drive, in the sense that removing the drive through the case where the ribbon cables are bunched up and over the CPU and heatsink is most likely to create another problem. If the cables are long enough, you can leave them attached to the hardrive as you slide it out, but don't try pulling through a mess, clear a path first. If you are discarding the entire unit, dont worry about  being gentle handed.
You know you've lost it when while typing...
you mess with their voices just to entertain yourself.  I like to make them sound like elves.    Anyone else?  I could use a good laugh.
I've heard with Dell if you tell them you're a business,
you'll get someone from the US.  I already have two HPs but tried it anyway.  I used to say home or home office but said I use it for business and still got someone from India but he spoke very, very good English compared to some I've spoken to in the past.
No, because I've never lost anyone extremely close to
me, huh? You assume so much.

I do know how it feels to lose someone before their time, traumatically, lose my world...so don't come here telling me I don't know anything of what she is feeling! How can you sit here and tell me not to judge and then judge me?

Am I harsh? Probably so, but I have good reason to feel the way I do about her. I know we all make mistakes. I've made plenty myself. That doesn't make me change my mind on some of the things she did. Call it what you want. I don't really care.

I did however say that I feel bad for her. I don't think anyone should have to go through losing a child.
I've lost my note about where to buy ear bud covers (sm)
I've seen posted here before but can't find where I made a note of it. Were can you get the ear bud covers that fit over the little rounded ear buds that companies usually supply.  Mine are so dead I finally threw them away.  I've washed them so often they are in pieces.  I saw where you could buy a set of 12 but now can't find it.  Anyone out there have a clue?  I'd truly appreciate your letting me know where.  Thanks loads and have a great productive day (if you have to work like I do). 
I've searched and not all Dell laptops have the parallel port.
So I just wanted to check to see more specifics from those who have. Thanks.
I have a desktop Dell and it has been alright so far, but I've never owned a laptop.
What brand are you currently using then?
I've worked on a Dell Inspiron 8600 for 3 years
I've heard they're not as good as they used to be, but so far (knock on wood), I haven't had any problem except last week my AC power pack died. They mailed me a new one within 3-4 days (I was under 4 years parts warranty). I use a USB keyboard and mouse and don't bother to try to use the scrunched up laptop keyboard.

I was hit by all 3 that summer, I lost power, I lost work, I lost savings...but..sm
NEVER did my employer in any way imply or threaten or dare even mention that my job was in jeopardy because I could not work immediately following a trifecta of natural disasters! My jaw agape is not at your concern about working, but at your concern that you would lose your job because of it. Companies have to have a heart in some situations. You're one MT, your company won't go under without you working for a week or 2 or 3.
I've lost a local account today that I have had for five years......

I cannot believe that this happened to me today.  I went into one of my doctor's offices this afternoon to pick up his tape for today.   I was given a tape and told that his wife, who is the office manager, wanted to see me in her office.  I thought nothing of it because she sometimes has extra things that she wants me to type up for her and we talk quite often also.  


She tells me that she just has not gotten around to talking with me yet, but  "tomorrow we will start dictating through a company over the internet".  I was blown away!  She said she wanted to give me a break and that if it does not work out she will let me know.   The whole time she was tell me this she was writing me a check as I had just turned in an invoice.   


My first inclination was to throw that #@%$ tape at her and say "do it yourself", but I knew that wasn't the "professional thing" to do.  I was thinking how could she do this to me, not even a 24 hour notice.  She handed the check to me, I snatched it and walked out. 


I have had this account for five years exactly (began August 1, 2000).   I have never took a day off, never raised my rates, never asked anything of them, and my work has always been the best possible quality.  I have been the most dependable person they have could had.   I have passed up other accounts because of them, and I always put them first.   Thank goodness I have other accounts to fall back on.   In our town, there is only one other transcriptionist besides myself, and we both have more work than we can handle most of the time.


Just thought I'd remind all those other MTs out there that no matter how good we are and no matter how much we try to please everyone we are still not appreciated.  I will never be fooled again.  No one will ever receive the attention from me that I gave them.  


I've read the statement; think sheri sat on this and lost it for both of them out of spite
matches her personality.
I've tried this before but it was WAY too hard for me.
Yeah, it sounded too good to be true. I wonder if the doctor has to train the software or if a Transcriptionist can train it.
we've lost our sense of community, no more back yard fences, no more coffee klatches
It's the sense of community we miss, and there is some semblance of it here. My son has been online since age 10, and he knows the status of the marriages and pregnancies and jobs and traumas of his gameing friends, from his age on up into the 60s, male and female. They comfort each other, congratulate each other. Ranges from students to cops to medial installers to computer geeks. It's a sense of commnity that has sprung up, but that society doesn't really recognize as REAL yet, it's too new.
U guys R awesome! Thanx for the laffs. I've had a hard day!

I've got my fingers crossed; makes it hard to type!nm
//
I've owned cheaper chairs and learned the hard way.

The old saying that you get what you pay for is true when it comes to these cheap chairs! My back always hurt and I was having to buy a new chair at least yearly. You do the math; I've already had the $1000 chair five years and I quit having the backaches five years ago. This chair is no where close to wearing out and will last me at least another five years, probably more. So, if you think that spending $200 every year on a cheap chair is worth it, you go right ahead; I didn't hear anything but thanks for the OP for my suggestion.


I have both a Dell Latitude Laptop and a Dell Dimension desk top PC and bought both...
off of Ebay.  The laptop I paid $300 for had Windows XP and works great.  It wasn't wireless, but they sent me a PCI card with it and it works fine.  The desktop PC has XP on it as well and I paid $250 for it.  Both have Pentium IVs.  Both work great for work.  I have no complaints and I feel like I got a great deal both times out on Ebay.
Company provides a Dell for work, I have a Dell for personal use, too.
x
Dell customer service is overseas. I have had a Dell, a
Toshiba Satellite, and an HP.   The Dell was a piece of junk from day 1.  The HP hard drive crashed after 4 to 5 years, but otherwise no problems.   I bought a Toshiba about 6 months ago and it is okay, nothing special.  I was looking at the Sony Viao and the salesman said that some laptops are made to be portable, but that the Sony was not one of them, but the Toshiba was.   My keyboard also has a numerical pad on it, but it throws the other keys off a bit, so when I'm in a portable mode and don't have room for an external keyboard it really slows me down.  I have a Duo Core processor and notice no difference whatsoever in speed, the number of programs I can have open, etc.   I have also noticed that even when I am not on battery power that every so often the battery is charging.  I don't know if this is a defect or something that is supposed to happen, but I need to investigate it. 
I recently lost 20 pounds. That means I lost 80 sticks of butter.

I doubt your brother has won more than he's lost. To win that much he's probably lost 3 times
So he probably has more bills than money. Otherwise the casinos would go broke.
I don't like Dell. I bought a Dell laptop and it

was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell.   I'd get at least double that processor speed.  My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be.  It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff.   The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago.   You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell.   It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add.    You need to also think about tech support.  I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating.  I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer.    I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor.   They tend to be in all the lower end computers. 


 


A jump drive is the same as a USB drive. SM
It's basically a small device you plug into a USB port on your PC and you can store files on it (like the floppy disks of the old days but with WAAAAAAY more space!).  You can pick them up at Wal-Mart now for pretty cheap.  I have a 2 gig and I can back up my entire hard drive on my PC (programs and all) if I needed to.
If it rains hard, the wind blows hard and there are trees
nearby, it snows heavily it will mess up the signal.  The speed is not constant, sometimes as slow as dial-up, but at least still connected.  Many companies will not allow satellite. 
Buy a Dell!! You can't go wrong with a Dell but
I bought an Emachines and had trouble with it from day one. I returned it, as the store I bought it from a six month return policy, so I returned it after about five months. I bought a Dell two years ago and have had no problems since!! Buy a Dell, you won't be sorry!! :)
I am not a Dell lover. My Dell has been
a lemon.  I just replaced mine with a Toshiba Satellite and I have seen a few others here recommend this.  Dell's customer service is in India.   The only thing I dislike about my Toshiba is that because it also has a number keypad the shift key is in a different position than I'm used to and I end up deleting and retyping when I use the laptop keyboard.  I normally use an external keyboard, but I travel a lot and try to work on the road and just don't have space for an external keyboard.    
Where did you hear that everything you buy for a Dell has to be from Dell?

I have LOTS of peripherals on both my laptop and desktop Dells and they certainly didn't come from Dell. You've been misinformed.


I love my Dells.