RE: Gateway Technical Support -- PCTECH

I would say LOL if it wasn't so pathetic. And it ACTUALLY got worse ! I took
a deep breath and typed a nice reply:

Original Message Follows:
-------------------------

Tate,
No offense my friend but I think you misunderstood my problem. I only
mentioned password because I was SURPRISED to get that prompt since I 
Was expecting to get the OS Installation display. As I noted:

"... it came up prompting me for my password and started up fine." I implied
there that all was well since I said it started up fine. I should probably
have noted I entered my password but, again that was implied since it
started. Sorry for any confusion.

My concern(s) is:

(1) with the fact is said it had no OS and it did (and as noted, that went
away)

(2) It is trying to find a DHCP server when it first boots.

Any ideas on this ?

Thanks :-)

Chuck

And I get THIS back !

Hello Chuck,

Thank you for your e-mail.  I understand that your computer is trying to
find a DHCP server when it first boots.  

Unfortunately, I am unable to offer support for this type of issue.  
Please understand that Gateway technicians have not been trained on 
every possible software title or hardware component. Gateway technicians can
assist you with the removal or installation of any hardware or 
software purchased from Gateway.  Due to the magnitude of information 
that would need to be learned, Gateway technicians are not trained on 
all the advanced features of computers.

I think you will find that online newsgroups and message boards are very
useful for providing the answer for which you are looking.

For Microsoft products, you can use Newsgroups found at the following 
address to post your question and in a day or so, you should get a 
response. 

http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx

If your question pertains to a software title or hardware component that is
not from Microsoft, you might check to see if the company that made 
the product has an FAQ section, tutorials, or a message board you can 
use to find a solution for your question. 

Another option is calling Answers by Gateway at (800) 229-1103, 
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
        
If you do not have a credit card, you may also contact Answers by 
Gateway at (900) 263-4899.  The fee for this number is $2.95 per minute 
and is applied to your regular telephone bill.

Gateway offers a choice of pay per minute support services.  You may 
purchase a rechargeable pin at prices ranging from $1.08 to $1.64 per 
minute or you may pay on a per call basis for the time you spend on the 
call at a rate of $2.95 per minute.  We accept Visa, MasterCard, 
American Express and Discover. 

Option 1 allows you to setup a rechargeable pin account.  By choosing 
this option, you are given a pricing menu with the following selections:

Pin Option 1 - 120 minutes at $1.08 per minute for a total price of 
$129.00
Pin Option 2 - 60 minutes at $1.32 per minute for a total price of 
$79.00
Pin Option 3 - 30 minutes at $1.64 per minute for a total price of 
$49.00

Option 2 allows you to pay on a per minute basis for time spent on that 
call at the rate of $2.95 per minute.
 
For questions regarding billing issues with Answers by Gateway, please 
call (877) 352-2716, if you used the 800 number above.  If you used the 
900 number to contact Answers by Gateway, please call (701) 355-3910.

I sincerely hope one of the two options above provides the information 
you need.

I have documented this correspondence in Service Request Number 
2-1822334683 in our contact tracking database.  Please use this number 
in the future if you need to contact us again regarding this issue.

Please reply to this message if you require further assistance with this
issue.

Thank you.

Carrie

Unreal...

I emailed them back:

All due respect but SOMEONE there HAS to understand that there is some
problem with this thing booting and apparently not finding the hard drive at
first. It goes after the DHCP and when that fails (as it should because we
are not using it as a network station) it goes ahead and boots into Windows
just fine.

No one can comment on this ?

I can guarantee you that this is jeopardizing us ever buying anymore
equipment from Gateway.
 
Thanks :-)

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of John Brandt Sr.
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 9:11 AM
To: 'PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users'
Subject: RE: [PCTECH] Gateway Technical Support

Do the words Mumbai India mean anything to you?

John Brandt 
iStudio400.com 
(903) 523-0708 
Home of iS/ODBC - MSSQL access from iSeries and RPG. 




-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Lewis [mailto:clewis@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 8:08 AM
To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
Subject: [PCTECH] Gateway Technical Support


I was going to hold off on this, but this is too good. I have one of our top
salespersons that has been having problems with his personal Gateway
Notebook.

 

So I took a look at it and it was acting up all right. So I emailed the
following to Gateway Tech Support:

 

Computer WAS booting up and saying no OS was found. So I put the Gateway
Operating System CD in and rebooted expecting to be 

prompted for an installation but  after a while it came up prompting me for
my password and started up fine.

 

Played around with it a little bit and it seemed very "sluggish". I
downloaded, installed and ran AdAware and found and removed a bunch of 

stuff. Also loaded our antivirus software but had trouble getting that to
complete and that concerned me. I eventually got it to install and 

run OK with nothing found.

 

So I ran Windows Update and it found nothing needing updating which seems
unusual. SP2 was installed about a month ago and I KNOW there have been
critical updates since then (?). Upon rebooting it goes looking for a DHCP
server. Normally I've seen this when I disk drive is not found so I was
expecting this on this notebook. But after a while it boots up and prompts
me for a password. Weird - could this be a controller card issue ?

 

I booted up in Safe Mode with Command Prompt and am running the antivirus
software from there to be SURE.

 

Any ideas ?

 

Thanks !

 

Chuck

 

And here is what I got back:

 

Thank you for using Gateway's Online E-mail Support.  I understand that 

you have a password in your system.  I suggest you to boot in safe mode 

and delete the password.  Here are the steps to help you do this steps. 

 

Please perform the following steps to test the computer in Safe Mode:

 

1.  From the Start menu, click Turn Off Computer.

 

2.  In the Turn Off Computer dialog box, click Restart.

 

3.  Repeatedly tap the F8 key after the Gateway BIOS logo appears until 

the Windows Advanced Options Menu appears.

 

4.  In the Windows Advanced Options Menu, use the arrow keys to move to 

Safe Mode, and then press the ENTER key.

 

5.  After logging into Windows XP Safe Mode, in the Desktop dialog box, 

click Yes.

 

After booting up in safe mode, here are the steps to delete password. 

 

1. Click start button

 

2. Click control panel

 

3. Choose user accounts

 

4. Choose the account that you want to edit

 

5. Delete the password of the account. 

 

Now I admit I should probably have been more clear but I would have thought
that some assumptions would have been made here and NEVER would have thought
that "password" would have been designated as the main problem (?)

 

Chuck

 

 

 

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