Unscrupulous Computer Salesperson/PC Problem

Yo.

Basically, I have to go see this guy tomorrow. My uncle bought a PC off him in June. The guy apparently 'fixed it'. 24 hours later my uncle goes back to the shop. He gets a replacement. A few weeks later that has problems too.

So now last Thursday the computer crashes. bsod comes up and the error is "Data Inpage Error...atapi.sys". I made a note of it. Then it rebooted but didn't load windows. The error then was 'NTLDR is missing'. Then I unplugged everything. Ten minutes later I booted it back up and it worked. Ten minutes later it crashed. Then the cycle repeated. About an hour after the initial crash I get back on and it works most of the day.

Next day it crashes and is basically useless for 7 out of the 8 hours I'm in the office. I take it home to test it, run a recovery console etc. I plug it in and windows loads first time. It was late at this point and I had work the next day so I just ran an SFC check. All went well.

Next day it crashed AGAIN. And was useless all day. Same errors. We took it home at the weekend. It crashed on Saturday and was useless all weekend with the usual errors plus 'please select another boot device'.

I have a feeling the errors are all related to INpage error. Which I gather is hardware related. I don't know if its the Intel Dual Core processor (think its P4) or the HD or maybe some bad RAM. Anyways, another thing that happened was after a boot it said WINDOWS NEEDS TO BE ACTIVATED. And we had to phone the helpline etc. Then when we log on the activation codes/serials for all the programs are lost.

Today it crashed again and my uncle called the guy he bought it off. What gets me is he said 'the error message is ...atapi.sys'. Then the guy said "atapi.sys? That's an internet problem." Even I knew the first time it came up it was a hardware problem.

Then as my uncle was explaining 'we have important files on C: drive' the guy said "C drive? What's that?"

Basically he's a prick. I made a log of all the crashes and errors. The machine is an emachines btw. Are they a good/bad brand? I'm guessing its made of some cheap/incompatible parts. Or maybe the guy is selling knock off machines. Another thing is the computer cost £500 and you'd expect it to work at least the 8 hours you're in the office.

This is what I want to know:

Any ideas what causes the error
Anyone have similar experiences with emachines?
*How can I induce the Inpage error*?

I really need to induce it when I take it to the shop otherwise he's going to say there's nothing wrong with it. It would make my point clearer. I'm not leaving the shop with the machine anyway but this guy is very avoidant and it would help if I could show him the error 'in action'.

Sorry this is so long but its really complicated/frequent. Plus we can hardly get any work done when it does go down since a lot of the stuff is on the C: drive and we can seldom get on long enough to be able to backup. Which you shouldn't have to do multiple times a day anyway.

Thanks! Really need some help since I'm going to bed soon and in the morning I'm going to the shop.

SLB - without doing some looking up I can't say for sure - 1st guess is fucked harddrive. I used to do this shit for a living and should know rather than just guessing.. sorry
search the knowledgebase maybe? Advanced Search
Thing is - if it is a corrupt harddrive then a repro is going to be flakey at best - as per what you've been seeing - it is sod's law. I'm afraid.

emachines, in my experience SUCK! Nothing but trouble...

The guy saying this is an 'internet error' is so obviously full of shit too.

Try insisting that you KNOW it is a fucked harddrive. Don't give any ground - tell him he is talking shit - because he will know that to be true - stand your ground and tell him he's a fucking criminal. Hardnose the fucker in to sorting it out for you. That's what i'd do..

Search The Knowledge Base

OK - almost certainly harddrive related then - looking at those search results

This is a Win2K machine right?

E-machines were bare bones machines here in the US years ago. designed for the at home computer user who just needed e-mail and no other higher functions. The last time I encountered this, I spent days trying to figure it out only to find it was a failed RAM card. Try that and see if that doesn't help.

Thanks. I thought you'd know MB

You intelligentee, belle fille you.

I had a feeling it was the HD, maybe the processor. Anyway I know its hardware. I also think its to do with the brand.

The guy on the phone was the OWNER too...he knows about PC's and shit but he likes to quiz you and try and make you look stupid/get around it and say there is no problem.

I really want to induce (like a baby haha) it but I guess I'll just argue with him til I get a refund or a replacement that isn't emachines. But I have a feeling he only stocks emachines. And he's going to fight not to refund hehe. Fun.

I did some forum searches briefly and gathered it was hardware. I didn't check Knowledgebase unfortunately.

Thanks peeps. MB, I shall have to reward you in some small (or big?) way you so smart.

PS its on XP...Home

Fly to France and fuck me senseless when you have a few free hours - that oughta do it...

XP? Re-doing search... I/O problem - probably harddrive, maybe bus. Xp is just win2k with bells and whistles...

You are welcome. Like I said, my experience with E-Machines in the US, they are not made to last and depending on what you are using it for, you are better off dropping money for a new core duo machine. Let me know if you need some pricing. Having friends at Dell and Microsoft comes in handy.

my initial thought was that the hardrive or cables are damaged or the windows installation is fucked ive just had a quick look and came up with this for you to have a read of

NTLDR is missing

Thanks MB. Maybe soon I'm due un vacance.

Anyways. I opened the case up and none of the cables were loose/I pushed them in.

I don't really need pricing myself. My PC is a cheap one I did up with better parts. I just need to get two sticks of RAM since in mine you have to put it in in pairs.

The plan is to get a refund tomorrow and then buy another PC. But which? Any recommendations?

You know I've had a PC, (TIME PC of all things) for 7 years (its been given to my cousin now, cos I'm generous like that) and never had any problems. Never seen a blue screen. Yes it only had 64MB RAM and an 800Mhz processor (I put a 256 stick in it after a few years) but the point is showing the difference. A PC that only works one hour out of a day is no good for home use never mind business

PS geek...I disabled the CD drive in BIOS to rule that out. So it couldn't try and boot from CD. No floppy is installed or shows up in BIOS. Could be a bad XP installation. Strange. It has happened when we put SD cards in the computer too...its just a pain basically. You can put SD cards and things in my comp all day and it won't crash.

I'm thinking its a shit brand with shit components and probably a shit install. Just shit basically.

EDIT: How many times can I say basically!? My tutelage is all for naught. It's poor form to use the same word twice! :p
Tiredness...

I've had great luck with Compaq and Dell. You can search them up cheap onlline.

I'm a big Dell fan - but they don't seem to have as good a reputation in the UK as they do in Ireland. I like Dell with MS software because Dell work so closely with MS - all their shit should just work right out of the box. HP are good for that too. If Unkie is thinking of Linux it won't be as straight forward. But he probably isn't.

MB to the rescue. HP is Compaq or vice versa. HP bought them so again, I think she is right. Dell, then HP/Compaq.

Isn't eMachines the house brand for Best Buy?

That's true - I'm not sure Compaq still sell as a brand to non-business customers in Europe, do they? I dunno - it's been a while since I looked to closely, tbh.

Yeah I've heard kind of mixed things about Dell. There is a sale on them at the moment though www.savastore.com I'm also getting a 400GB USB drive from there for £59! Bargain.

After reading that info geek sent me I am really tempted to think its a corrupt mbr or boot.ini. Its probably fixable by me if I could be arsed to fuck about with it. But I can't. My view since the first time it crashed was you pay £500. you expect it to work.

I'll just take it to him tomorrow. I don't want to fix it now and then have him be all smarmy tomorrow.

I heard Dells are made so you can't upgrade them yourself/its very hard to do so. Is that corrige?

PS MB you make me hard tous le temps! There's a party in my pants. And you're invited

But yes...back to the PC