Welcome to Hell.. I mean The Geek Squad Desk

Bullitt · 10-01-2005, 09:57 PM

So, I just learned the lesson of the year: never EVER EVER take your computer into the new-fangled Best Buy Geek Squad.

I took my baby in after Windows decided to freeze up at the login screen after booting up. So I decided upon convenience and took it into Best Buy to have the Geeks take a once over and fix it. Mistake #1

Mistake #2: I didn't have them back up all my movies, music, and irreplacable pictures first. Being the idiot I was, I decided to take their word for it that they wouldn't have to back anything up, all would be well after they fixed the problem.

I took it in Friday afternoon, got it back today, came back to school, plugged everything back in, booted up, everything was looking fine until uh oh.. there's not alot of stuff on my desktop.. hmm. Upon closer examination, I find that the folder I kept all my install files for various updates and programs and whatnot, plus about 40 gigs of movies and video files.. was gone. Completely gone, a quick search of the hard drive found absolutely nothing. I say a little prayer and check my My Music folder and my My Pictures folder and my My Documents for all my school work. Same exact thing... which was nothing. I ran another search on the hard drive, this time for just .mp3, and another for just .jpg.

Nothing.

And then it froze. I tried to boot it back up again, all is well for about 30 seconds, then it freezes again. Almost exactly the same problem as before, except they just got rid of the whole Windows login screen.

So, I am taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow, telling them A.) I want you to get my files back, B.) back them all up onto a 120 gig external hard drive I bought the day I took it in so I could back everything up when I got it back, and C.) And I am not paying a f*cking cent. And if they can't get any of it back, I am going to as politely as my body will allow to ask for the manager, and tell him that I would VERY much like a refund because all they did was erase the things they said would be fine. And if they don't I am never setting foot in the store again. And I will strongly encourage none of my friends to either.

I was having a great weekend, paid $20 for $45 seats at an Oasis and Jet concert friday, box seats at the Indians game today, and made plans to go to the Foo Fighters and Weezer concert next friday.. and now this

I am about to shit a brick

Beestie · 10-02-2005, 12:25 AM

There's a good chance the files are still on the computer. Did you check the recycle bin? Even if they were deleted, the files are still there unless there was some serious overwriting of the disk space they occupied.

Take the computer back to Best Buy and tell the manager that if he doesn't pay a data recovery specialist to recover the files, you will exercise every legal remedy available to you.

I think the very first thing you should do is have someone take a full disk image of your hard drive. A backup at this point won't help.

elSicomoro · 10-02-2005, 12:32 AM

My recent experience with Geek Squad

Bullitt · 10-02-2005, 12:59 AM

It freezes up before I can even double click on the recycle bin.. grr, and the bin icon is the empty one, so i doubt I'll have much luck there. I'm halfway confident the files can be found, but seeing how much of idiots they are there already, I doubt they'll find anythiong and I'll end up taking it somewhere else anyway.

I am taking it back tomorrow and am demanding that they fix the origional problem for free, and that they have someone search for those files. And I am going to demand that I watch the entire process. Which leads me to this question: Can I take an image of the hard drive and store that on my 120 gig ext. hard drive I just bought? Please say yes. I wouyld def. have room to do that, plus copy over all 60 some gigs of movies, music, and pics.

frickin best buy...

Beestie · 10-02-2005, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bullitt

Can I take an image of the hard drive and store that on my 120 gig ext. hard drive I just bought?

Not without special software designed to scan the entire HD and copy each sector.

At this point, I'm not sure I'd mess with it - I'd treat it like forensic evidence and let the pro s handle it. That data is sitting on disk space your computer thinks is not spoken for. For all I know, Windoze could think that same space would make a juicy swap space and casually overwrite everything you are trying to save.

wolf · 10-02-2005, 01:41 AM

You sure they didn't just reformat the hard drive and reinstall windoze?

There are no actual Geeks on the Geek Squad, I tell you!

(Just like there ain't no Aunt Jemima makin' pancakes)

Undertoad · 10-02-2005, 07:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamore

My recent experience with Geek Squad

Geez, Syc, did I buy that power supply?

If I did, it was probably a Sparkle, fairly well-reviewed, but of course it's hard to review a power supply well. People try, but the criteria that are really important are pretty much hidden from regular folks like us.

My Antec True-480 died after a year and a half and it cost like $100 and you couldn't find a better-reviewed power supply. LJ has a Dell that sits in my front room because the Dell supply totally died and Dell told him to replace the mother board.

Apparently Dell service has hit an all-time low and they are coming out with a new, more pricey product line with real service. But if people have to pay more to get service, might as well buy Apple.

richlevy · 10-02-2005, 09:33 AM

I bought Search and Recover by Iolo last month from Compusa. I picked up version 2.0 with a rebate and got a free upgrade to 2.5. They are at version 3.0 now.

The good news is, it does appear to work on a lot of files, provided they have not been overwritten. It actually ranks files based on the possibility of recovery.

My one complaint is that I did not see anything in the 'My Documents' folder. I'm not sure if that is because there wasn't anything or that it doesn't know how to restore to a 'System' folder.

With rebates, I got the 2.0 version pretty cheap, although I might actually break loose the $20 for 3.0.

That and my USB external drive constitutes my backup plan. Even with a DVD-burner, full backups are hard to do when you're 'stuff' is in the tens of gigabytes.

BTW, the program can also create a Disk Image for recovery, which can be compressed. My issue is that if you want to back up a 30 gig drive to a 20 gig partition with compression, the program still will not make the attempt, insisting that you have a full 30 gig of space available. I'm hoping version 3.0 will at least try and fail instead of not even making the attempt.

BTW, I'm not too sure about their support. The site shows 3.0 and upgrades but does not have any easy to find links to version 2.0 and upgrades. I'm hoping it isn't one of those operations that scraps support for the last version as soon as the new one comes out.

Bullitt · 10-02-2005, 10:46 AM

Yeah I'm def. going to let people who know what they're doin handle the hard drive image. And I'm sure they didn't reinstall windows because some of my game software is still on there that I had installed from before, but some of my other programs are just gone like my file downloading software, AIM, etc. Its almost like all they did was erase the stuff that took up the most room and then programs they just didn't like or something.

Tried booting it again this morning, still just starts to my deskrop and then freezes about 15-30 seconds later. Its wierd though, the way it freezes. If I try to type something in right as it freezes, the little text box blinking thing still blinks, the time still changes on the computer, but I can't move the mouse or use the keyboard. I've tried using my old wired keyboard and my buddy's wire mouse, same thing.

Ideas?

elSicomoro · 10-02-2005, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Geez, Syc, did I buy that power supply?

If I did, it was probably a Sparkle, fairly well-reviewed, but of course it's hard to review a power supply well. People try, but the criteria that are really important are pretty much hidden from regular folks like us.

Yeah...that was the second one that you put in. It's all good...I'm just glad it was the power supply and not my HD. I replaced it with an Antec Smartpower 2.0 (350 W).

To be fair, I had a great first experience with Geek Squad. April's sister started having problems with her Gateway in the spring--no spyware protection, virus protection was not updated and Win XP was apparently not installed properly over Win ME. The system was so fucked up that it quit booting up after I tried to remove the bad stuff. I took it to Geek Squad in July, and they found it to be a lost cause. Originally, I had asked them to do the full diagnostic...they only charged me half-price for it. And the guy I dealt with was totally professional and sounded like he knew what he was doing.

wolf · 10-02-2005, 10:49 AM

Pray.

Bullitt · 10-02-2005, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sycamore

To be fair, I had a great first experience with Geek Squad.

Yeah I'm not trying to blast the Geek Squad overall, my parents' had a great experience with them cleaning out their buggy computer, guy was very knowledgable and thorough. But I just find it completely rediculous and unacceptable for them to take my computer, delete a bunch of stuff, and hand it back and say its fixed, when it is no better off than before.
That's what really gets my temper goin.

richlevy · 10-02-2005, 02:42 PM

The Search and Recover software has a 30 day free trial. Pull it down and see what you can recover. If you have multiple drives, install it on a different drive to keep it from overlaying any more data.

Bullitt · 10-03-2005, 12:29 PM

Ok so the second Best Buy has apparrantly found the problem: two bulging capacitors on my motherboard, which means I need to replace it. I doubt Dell will just sell me one, so this may sound like a dumb question, but would I be able to buy one from say.. newegg, and install it myself with a little guidance? Or should I let a pro do it. I installed my own sound cards and video card and dvdROM with no problem, but I've never done anything with motherboards or memory, etc.

Happy Monkey · 10-03-2005, 12:57 PM

It's not that hard - I've done it twice. The trickiest bit is making sure that your processor, RAM, power supply, and video card are compatible with the motherboard. There seem to be new standards every few months.

10-02-2005, 12:59 AM	#4
Bullitt This is a fully functional babe lair Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,324	It freezes up before I can even double click on the recycle bin.. grr, and the bin icon is the empty one, so i doubt I'll have much luck there. I'm halfway confident the files can be found, but seeing how much of idiots they are there already, I doubt they'll find anythiong and I'll end up taking it somewhere else anyway. I am taking it back tomorrow and am demanding that they fix the origional problem for free, and that they have someone search for those files. And I am going to demand that I watch the entire process. Which leads me to this question: Can I take an image of the hard drive and store that on my 120 gig ext. hard drive I just bought? Please say yes. I wouyld def. have room to do that, plus copy over all 60 some gigs of movies, music, and pics. frickin best buy... __________________ Kiss my white Irish ass.

10-02-2005, 01:41 AM	#6
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	You sure they didn't just reformat the hard drive and reinstall windoze? There are no actual Geeks on the Geek Squad, I tell you! (Just like there ain't no Aunt Jemima makin' pancakes) __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

10-02-2005, 09:33 AM	#8
richlevy King Of Wishful Thinking Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Philadelphia Suburbs Posts: 6,669	I bought Search and Recover by Iolo last month from Compusa. I picked up version 2.0 with a rebate and got a free upgrade to 2.5. They are at version 3.0 now. The good news is, it does appear to work on a lot of files, provided they have not been overwritten. It actually ranks files based on the possibility of recovery. My one complaint is that I did not see anything in the 'My Documents' folder. I'm not sure if that is because there wasn't anything or that it doesn't know how to restore to a 'System' folder. With rebates, I got the 2.0 version pretty cheap, although I might actually break loose the $20 for 3.0. That and my USB external drive constitutes my backup plan. Even with a DVD-burner, full backups are hard to do when you're 'stuff' is in the tens of gigabytes. BTW, the program can also create a Disk Image for recovery, which can be compressed. My issue is that if you want to back up a 30 gig drive to a 20 gig partition with compression, the program still will not make the attempt, insisting that you have a full 30 gig of space available. I'm hoping version 3.0 will at least try and fail instead of not even making the attempt. BTW, I'm not too sure about their support. The site shows 3.0 and upgrades but does not have any easy to find links to version 2.0 and upgrades. I'm hoping it isn't one of those operations that scraps support for the last version as soon as the new one comes out. __________________ Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE! I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama Last edited by richlevy; 10-02-2005 at 09:41 AM.

10-02-2005, 10:46 AM	#9
Bullitt This is a fully functional babe lair Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,324	Yeah I'm def. going to let people who know what they're doin handle the hard drive image. And I'm sure they didn't reinstall windows because some of my game software is still on there that I had installed from before, but some of my other programs are just gone like my file downloading software, AIM, etc. Its almost like all they did was erase the stuff that took up the most room and then programs they just didn't like or something. Tried booting it again this morning, still just starts to my deskrop and then freezes about 15-30 seconds later. Its wierd though, the way it freezes. If I try to type something in right as it freezes, the little text box blinking thing still blinks, the time still changes on the computer, but I can't move the mouse or use the keyboard. I've tried using my old wired keyboard and my buddy's wire mouse, same thing. Ideas? __________________ Kiss my white Irish ass.

10-02-2005, 10:49 AM	#11
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	Pray. __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

10-01-2005, 09:57 PM	#1
Bullitt This is a fully functional babe lair Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,324	Welcome to Hell.. I mean The Geek Squad Desk So, I just learned the lesson of the year: never EVER EVER take your computer into the new-fangled Best Buy Geek Squad. I took my baby in after Windows decided to freeze up at the login screen after booting up. So I decided upon convenience and took it into Best Buy to have the Geeks take a once over and fix it. Mistake #1 Mistake #2: I didn't have them back up all my movies, music, and irreplacable pictures first. Being the idiot I was, I decided to take their word for it that they wouldn't have to back anything up, all would be well after they fixed the problem. I took it in Friday afternoon, got it back today, came back to school, plugged everything back in, booted up, everything was looking fine until uh oh.. there's not alot of stuff on my desktop.. hmm. Upon closer examination, I find that the folder I kept all my install files for various updates and programs and whatnot, plus about 40 gigs of movies and video files.. was gone. Completely gone, a quick search of the hard drive found absolutely nothing. I say a little prayer and check my My Music folder and my My Pictures folder and my My Documents for all my school work. Same exact thing... which was nothing. I ran another search on the hard drive, this time for just .mp3, and another for just .jpg. Nothing. And then it froze. I tried to boot it back up again, all is well for about 30 seconds, then it freezes again. Almost exactly the same problem as before, except they just got rid of the whole Windows login screen. So, I am taking it back to Best Buy tomorrow, telling them A.) I want you to get my files back, B.) back them all up onto a 120 gig external hard drive I bought the day I took it in so I could back everything up when I got it back, and C.) And I am not paying a f*cking cent. And if they can't get any of it back, I am going to as politely as my body will allow to ask for the manager, and tell him that I would VERY much like a refund because all they did was erase the things they said would be fine. And if they don't I am never setting foot in the store again. And I will strongly encourage none of my friends to either. I was having a great weekend, paid $20 for $45 seats at an Oasis and Jet concert friday, box seats at the Indians game today, and made plans to go to the Foo Fighters and Weezer concert next friday.. and now this I am about to shit a brick __________________ Kiss my white Irish ass.

10-02-2005, 12:25 AM	#2
Beestie -◊\|≡·∙■·∙≡\|◊- Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Parts unknown. Posts: 4,081	There's a good chance the files are still on the computer. Did you check the recycle bin? Even if they were deleted, the files are still there unless there was some serious overwriting of the disk space they occupied. Take the computer back to Best Buy and tell the manager that if he doesn't pay a data recovery specialist to recover the files, you will exercise every legal remedy available to you. I think the very first thing you should do is have someone take a full disk image of your hard drive. A backup at this point won't help. __________________ ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦

10-02-2005, 12:32 AM	#3
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	My recent experience with Geek Squad

10-02-2005, 02:42 PM	#13
richlevy King Of Wishful Thinking Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Philadelphia Suburbs Posts: 6,669	The Search and Recover software has a 30 day free trial. Pull it down and see what you can recover. If you have multiple drives, install it on a different drive to keep it from overlaying any more data. __________________ Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE! I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama

10-03-2005, 12:29 PM	#14
Bullitt This is a fully functional babe lair Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Akron, OH Posts: 2,324	Ok so the second Best Buy has apparrantly found the problem: two bulging capacitors on my motherboard, which means I need to replace it. I doubt Dell will just sell me one, so this may sound like a dumb question, but would I be able to buy one from say.. newegg, and install it myself with a little guidance? Or should I let a pro do it. I installed my own sound cards and video card and dvdROM with no problem, but I've never done anything with motherboards or memory, etc. __________________ Kiss my white Irish ass.

10-03-2005, 12:57 PM	#15
Happy Monkey I think this line's mostly filler. Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: DC Posts: 13,575	It's not that hard - I've done it twice. The trickiest bit is making sure that your processor, RAM, power supply, and video card are compatible with the motherboard. There seem to be new standards every few months. __________________ _________________ \|...............\| We live in the nick of times. \| Len 17, Wid 3 \| \|_______________\| [pics]

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