My brother in law got several members of the family new computers for Xmas. Pretty nice machines.
So a husband and wife (my brother in law’s sister and brother and law – if you follow me) were one of the lucky recipients. They don’t know a whole lot about computers, so I offer to help them with their setup and configuration of the new machine. I spend about 4 hours on Saturday down there (45 minute drive each way) and get the machine all setup, get their AOL account switched over, get some games installed for him, find a printer driver online and get his printer working, and get his webcam up and working. All is well, he tries everything out and we’re good to go.
He calls me the next morning and tells me that his machine won’t boot at all. He turns on the power and the light comes on but, no HD reading and no monitor response.
GODDAMMIT.
I didn’t do anything that could have done this, but I’m not so sure that they know/believe that.
Some newer machines (Some IBM’s, Compaqs and HPs come to mind) have on-off button that if pressed once (vs being held down for 8 secs or longer) function as “sleep mode” button. Alternatively on some/most new machines the BIOS is set to power into DEEP sleep mode and depending on the machine state when this happens the machine can sometimes get locked into this mode and a full power on-off cycle is the thing that will wake it up again.
1: While the PC power light is “on” have him hold down the on-off button for at least 10 secs. This will effectively power down the machine if it is locked in some sort of deep sleep mode.
2: Failing that have him disconnect the PC power plug and plug it back in.
3: The machine is broke. With modern electronics if it’s going to go, it typically happens within the first few days of use so statistically you’re right in the groove.
I’ll second Astro’s opinion on the “infant death” syndrome. If an electronics component is going to fail, it usually fails in the first couple of days. This is really a Good Thing, as the PC is still under warranty and the manufacturer is usually quick to replace it when it dies right away like this.
handy, he had his neighbor (who is apparently somewhat knowledgeable) come over and check that all his connections were good. No Dice.
The box has been packed up and sent back to Compaq. I guess the “infant death” is better, since the warranty will cover it, but I would have liked for him to have been able to boot up successfully at least one time after I touched it. Oh well…