techno-pop irrelevance. Let's see..

There's a sequential list of exact steps in the process tried, with (I believe) descriptions at least as intelligible as your X-Man666.JPG monologues. YOU are gonna lecture ME on 'clear prose'?

Offhand I can't think of any omitted info that is relevant: This is a Dell Dimension 8100, ordered in early 2001 (and shipped a month late of promised delivery). It is a deal made in Hell - which she could not get a RMA to return - and she ain't no dummy. (Delivery too late - to merely cancel CC payment) Of Course she was not Aware! at the time, of what a viper's nest of unconscionable mercantile Bastards she had gotten in with - HTF Would a civilian know all the crap you guys have heads infested with ??

This is a person who spends a Lot of time rescuing animals abused by Yuppie households who like to give puppies to the Logo-clad kiddies, never train the animal (or the kid.. about responsibility for same miserable creature) -- then drop it off at the local 'Shelter' for asassination as er, it's Too Big Now and the kid's into SoccerBalletTaeKwan-D'Oh and Nintendo Gorillas Eat Virgins after Flamethrowers Rot Their Flesh.

So THAT's why I am involved - she has been screwed out of an operational machine, flaky from Day One; purchased from an alleged reputable Peddler of what now seems to be sabotaged Crap - mangled to assure that only Dell$ BillyWare will function on the POS. This total purchase included a notebook (fortunately w/ 98 and not MErde installed). Total with other stuff was >$4 K IIRC. Her records of interactions with the DellDroid purveyors of delay - is a (likely soon) court-ready dossier of nasty obstructive behavior.

Probably it is as A-Scott suggests - somewhere there's a flag for Non-Dell purchased ordinary s/ware, a la Compaq's same dance in the early days, using hardware with special mechanical shapes. The mobo is Special, and an attached L-shaped panel is a part of the rear of the case. So much, I think for - freeing of Dell BIOS / sabotage.

Maybe she will choose Apple, write this off - invoke Song-Beverly CA consumer protection Act and go after Dell, win, then try to collect. yada yada. That takes more money, and most of her activities do not generate money.

If you haven't a techno insight into getting around this likely scenario, then Fuck Off. She hasn't $$ to waste for the immediate satisfaction of crushing this POS. And if you can't understand my prose - you didn't get this far.


Ashton

No, just my reply to quips. I know about catching more bears with honey, when dealing with Corp droids (who may know better but must follow exact scripts - I never judge them stupid until an answer reveals such; have to deal with them in any case.) Please see my reply to Greg re recap.

Thus far it appears there's a BIOS upgrade to be done and, the M$-site instructions failed to list correct? expected directory for the I386 compressed files as, C:\\Windows\\Options\\I386. This may be the final glitch - and the remedy just may work next. WHY? the need for remedy with Dell - may or may not emerge.

Actually, from the first - the machine was plagued with instabilities - various kernel32 and other errors (she wrote down) and then.. the oft-reported Win-ME extreme slowdowns. There were errors made re other things she ordered. I omitted what seemed irrelevant to present situation, now using a new HD (and exchanged mobo). Among ongoing complaints: frequent crashes of an indispensable billing program; insufficient info to see a pattern in crash messages (where there were any, before lockup).

When I arrived on the scene, it was issuing a self-diagnostic on the HD, "I'm about to die" - somewhere I noted exact wording. That was enough for Dell to send a new one. Various other reports induced the Dell tech to send a new (refurb) motherboard too. Events with the W2K install attempts followed the sequence I described. My listing may be bare enough for you to grok, in the version after Greg's suggestion.


Thanks,

Ashton