civileme wrote: > > I knew that extra phone listing might be handy someday. Fussing with a > download that wouldn't md5sum and needing it very badly, I was only too happy > for the break when the phone rang and I picked it up, saying "Mandrakesoft". > > "Errr, I have a REAL problem. " > > "Is it with one of our systems?" > > "No," he replied, "but I'll buy the most expensive boxed set if your system > can help me." > > In the course of a few minutes I learned that this fellow hadf a Dell > Dimension P-II 400 with STB Velocity card and Turtle Beach Montego II Sound > card, and he had been running Win98 successfully. He had a Microsoft-badged > optical mouse and Microsoft-badged USB keyboard. > > When WinXP came out, his father was the first person in line at CompUSA to > buy it at 12:01 am October 25th. > > So he installed the update. > > Keyboard and mouse promptly stopped working. > > His plan was to install linux, copy his vital data over to it, then format > the winpartition and reinstall XP cleanly as Microsoft Support (Two hours on > hold long distance to Redmond ) assured him if he did that that his keyboard > and mouse would work. > > I told him where to pick up the download edition of 8.1 and he took them. An > hour later I had a call, "It won't resize Windows small enough." > > By now it was 7 pm. I went to his computer and brough along a spare 10G > disk. I added it temporarily on the spare connector and let him install ML > 8.1 to the second disk, making sure he chose GRUB to boot with. > > Everything worked, and his cable modem connected out of the box--only the > advisory popped up to visit sourceforge about the sound card. Transferring > his 2.2G of files was a snap, then diskdrake was called to clean up the messy > hda, partitioning 3/4 of it for windows and leaving the rest for his "rescue > system". > > WinXP balked and insisted on seeing the win98 CD, then it installed, taking > out the boot record entry for linux (but we had a boot disk). The mouse and > keyboard worked fine until the final reboot then communication ceased. > > Now out with the win98 disk but it refuses to install over XP. Back to Linux > and diskdrake from a terminal su'ed too root to wipe clean again. > > Win98 now loads after an old installer trick of copying the win98 directory > to the hard drive and installing from there. > > And linux restores the 2.2 G of files it had saved. Now the extra Hdd is > removed and win98 is running using mouse and keyboard. > > Back to CompUSA goes the XP even though one mouse worked long enough to send > Redmond the info for the activation Code. Into CompUSA is placed an Order > for ProSuite. He already has the Aureal drivers from sourceforge. > > I know sometimes our system has trouble with a wheelmouse, and a lot of > trouble if someone sets the wrong mouse type (3-button emulation kills > wheelmice), but this is something I don't think we have ever done. Certified > Hardware not running on a new system is a serious flaw, and even a billion > dollar advertising campaiggn and midnight starting sales will not correct > that sort of flaw. > > Civileme > Civileme: Exactly which support option covers house calls? -- Carroll
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
