So it's been a while since I waxed nerdy about the world. I need to get on the ball. Today I'm going to start what will almost assuredly become a regular category of post, Adventures in Tech Support. Anyone who has ever had to call in to tech support could probably appreciate this.
The first entry comes from an interaction I had in a support chat session with Dell earlier today. I was attempting to get a replacement motherboard for a system that was consistently getting a BSoD and he was very unwilling to do so until this:
(Names changed to protect the FAILed)
Dell Support: "What exactly is occurring?"
Derik Smith: "On startup the system will consistently go to a Windows blue screen but there is no consistent blue screen error code."
Dell Support: "Try to boot up the system with everything removed/disconnected. All memory, expansion cards, and drives."
Derik Smith: "The system did not pass POST and returned with a memory failure since it was removed"
Dell Support: "No blue screen?"
Derik Smith: "You had me remove the hard drive. Windows cannot return a blue screen error code if there is no installation of windows on the system"
Dell Support: "I will replace the motherboard."
SUCCESS! So apparently to get what you want from Dell Support you have to make them look stupid. It's like how catching a leprechaun will net you a sweet pot of gold. But in all actuality, Dell Support is very efficient, helpful, and mostly painless. However, in this instance they made me laugh. +10 nerd points to me.
