Errrr, well, technically, they could be telling you the truth. Of course, the reason they can't find it might be that they aren't looking in the right spots... or their software isn't, anyway. I can't find all the snails in my backyard -- doesn't mean they aren't there. Just means the b#$%#@s are small and hide well.

My comment doesn't help, of course. Darn that technology stuff anyway.

Well, last time it was in being fixed (i.e. until Thursday when I demanded it back then and there due to needing to keep in touch with the non-flooded parts of the office) it had been in for ten days and as far as I could tell it hadn't even been started up in all that time...

Ah. They definitely won't find the problem if they don't look for it!

Wow. Were you really mean to a computer in another life?

Never mind another life: I'm planning on being seriously mean to my computer in this life. Once it gets fixed (and the missing hard drive found - it's in there somewhere, explorer just can't find it) I'm going to try to load Linux on said missing hard drive (which was my old main drive until the new one got put in six months ago).

Unfortunately they are the closest thing to tame geeks locally (most of the techies I actually know live up in Dunedin, which might be only two and a bit hours away but in a country with European style fuel taxes and American style public transport, driving up there every time I have a computer problem isn't really practical). Also, it's the shop I just got some expensive work done - new fairly much everything except the motherboard which had only a short while earlier been replaced anyway - on the computer at in the last six months so I'm trying to get it fixed as a warranty job.

There have definitely been intermittent problems - two or three times a week over the last three months the computer has been shutting down and restarting spontaneously - very much in the same way it happened today, except today it didn't restart at all. In the past when that happened the only thing that got lost were email folders (and I was able to restore most of them from backups).

... yeah, there aren't really much in the way of options when it comes to getting computers fixed locally... the place is short enough of computer expertise that I work in I.T. (which never fails to scare people who know me...)

Good gods, the frequency with which you have computer problems, and completely arcane and incomprehensible ones at that, just astounds me.

I would love to take a crack at your machine, but... ;)

Believe me, if driving to Vermouth was an option I'd be tempted to take you up on that (and rummage through your collection between when you start and when you finally give up on the POS...)

Still it's probably easier fixed than my work machine...

Now that your computer won't restart, I hope they can find the problem. At least they shouldn't try to tell you there isn't one when you can't turn it on. {half-smile}

I had my computer re-start itself yesterday, but I hope it just needed dusting. That's worked before. {cross fingers} It sounds like that isn't your problem. {sympathetic look}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin