Sometimes You Just Catch A Break…
Sometimes you just catch a break. Two weeks ago I turned off my computer and the way it closed sent a little chill up my spine. Uh oh! I restarted it and all I could hear was the fan. It didn’t boot and I didn’t hear the usual noises the computer makes. It was a fairly new Gateway computer, not even a year old. So I called GeeksAKnockin and Dave came out, took off the cover, tried to reboot and nothing happened. He noticed that my memory sticks were loose and possibly placed in there upside down. He theorized that the memory had blown the motherboard.
He gave me some options; replace the motherboard ($400) or buy a new Dell computer, faster and better for about $1,000 and another $200 or so to set it all up, plus $149.00 for the house call. Gee, I was right in the middle of a web redesign costing $1,700 plus maintenance and my income is down from the bus, because I’m now getting health care instead of our business paying at almost $1,000 a month. I went online with Dell to see if I could save some money with a coupon I had and investigated their leasing progam. I even got approved to lease the computer. I like my HP laptop so I investigated an HP desktop. I was still looking at $800 plus setup for a new computer.
I had been having trouble with my LAN and my Internet was getting disconnected, losing the signal, so I called Comcast. They sent out John Szabo. He tightened all the connections, made some adjustments and I’ve had no problems since. We got to talking about my computer problem and he suggested I call Jeff Badgett, his computer guy, so I did.
I caught Jeff on his cell phone in his car and I told him my story and went over the HP list with him. He said that was a good system, but I might have some problems with a 64 bit processor and my printer. Bottom line, he could build me a computer even cheaper than the HP. We talked about how to get the data from the old computer to the new one and he said he’d be by to pick it up. While he was here, he looked inside and saw it was fairly new and suggested he test it and see if there was a simple fix. He gave me the option of fixing it or a new computer. This morning Jeff Badgett, owner of Arkangelgaming.com called. He said I needed a new motherboard, a cap blew, and a new power supply. He said It wasn’t my fault. That gets me off the hook with Bev. My total out of pocket will be $335.00!
My greatest need from time to time is a professional computer guy. My guy is now Jeff Badgett and he builds computers that last at Arkangelgaming.com. He’s in Camas, WA and his phone is 714-369-3866.
I had to take my desk top unit in a couple of weeks ago and worked out a barter deal with them; I repaired a door lock on their company van which some would be thief had destroyed. They thought they got the better end of the deal while I thought I came out ahead; win win if you think about it.
Maybe, that’s our future. No money just trade services.
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