[ubuntu-uk] Linux mysteriously broke my computer!

[Daniel Lamb]

Yes usually do not volunteer information, and agree when they say something,
I they say to try something then take some time and then say you tried it,
usually if you keep saying it doesn't work whatever they say then they will
send out an engineer.

The only time you have problems is if they ask for error codes, most of
which can be obtained via the bios or system partition (if you didn't delete
it).

You should always play dumb, don't act like you know more than them (all
though more often than not you will) usually they will get it repaired quite
easily.

Regards,
Daniel

-----Original Message-----
From: ubuntu-uk-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com
[mailto:ubuntu-uk-bounces at lists.ubuntu.com] On Behalf Of Alan Pope
Sent: 01 November 2007 15:21
To: British Ubuntu Talk
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Linux mysteriously broke my computer!

Hi Alec
On Thu, 2007-11-01 at 14:55 +0000, Alec Wright wrote:
> I phoned Evesham tech support, and they immediately said it was a
> windows driver problem. When I told him it didn't have windows on it,
> but had Linux on it, he put me on hold for a few minutes. When he got
> back, he told me that he couldn't fix the HARDWARE problem because it
> runs Linux. He told me to reinstall windows and phone back... Well
> that's gonna be fun when it cant stay on for more than five seconds...
> 
> Just thought you guys might be interested

I had a similar issue some time ago. I have a Dell XPS laptop which
started to exhibit some screen corruption during the boot screen (the
Dell logo you see before the OS starts). 

I called Dell and the guy told me to re-install the video driver. I told
him that the problem occurred prior to the OS loading. Despite me
explaining that this problem happened before the drivers were loaded
they still had to follow their script.

I hung up and called back a while later and told them that I had tried a
"different driver" (which I had - I tried the nv driver rather than the
nvidia driver in xorg). I also took photos and made them available on my
website to show that the issue isn't a software one.

They eventually invoked maintenance and I got an engineer out to fix the
machine (which involved replacing the video card on the laptop).

I have also reported a problem with my Mesh desktop PC which were
hardware problems. They also asked me to do windowsy type things which I
either refused or lied about.

The fact is that these people are not setup to support Linux. As such
you sometimes need to be creative and very very careful what you say. 

http://popey.com/My_Sick_Dell_Inspiron_XPS_Gen_2_Laptop

Cheers,
Al.