When you know more than the it guy about computers....

[manikyath]

so.. he didnt troubleshoot before replacing the whole party?

 

i mean.. didnt check for dust?

didnt check if the thing was actually experiencing abnormal load?

didnt check for abnormal temperatures?

[yathis]

Thats today society, if something breaks no matter how minor they throw it out.

[WindirBear]

I  remember letting geek buddy remote access my computer for fun. This shit was bundled with comodo firewall, and it kept telling me i had a "problem" and i could let a professional tech take a look for free.

 

He tried doing some "convoluted" tricks to make it seem legit, like opening my command prompt and typing tree T_T

[Teddy07]

7 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

All the pcs here are f12, and so have the ones in the past.

Laptops have different keys to enter the bios depending on the model and manufacturer. My HP laptop uses for example ESC to enter it.

[Aphala]

You won't be saying that when he asks you to press F12 for a PXE re-image...If all else fails, remote rebuild.

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

8 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

So I assume you're talking about an experience that happened at work, on work computers, and dealing with an IT tech employed by your company.

 

In terms him wanting to "replace" the computer: Was this a case of he simply wanted to swap yours out, give you a different one, so that they can look into the issue back at the IT office? We do that all the time at my work.

 

If he straight up wanted to throw out/decommission the computer, then he needs to learn more.

 

Most recent Dell computers have an "intelligent" fan control mode (on by default) that basically just follows a temperature fan curve. We had an issue with 2 different computers at work where the Chassis Fan decided to go full 100% all the time. The Dell technicians were unable to troubleshoot the issue (Computers were under warranty, so we let Dell take a crack first generally).

 

Turns out, that Intelligent fan control got disabled somehow, so it just defaulted fan speeds to 100%.

 

In terms of F2 for BIOS, that is a very common BIOS key for other brands - perhaps he's a new hire?

 

Wait... what? F2 IS the default key for Dell BIOS...

 

F2 for BIOS, F12 for boot menu. Perhaps you meant boot menu? Some very old Dell computers might use Del instead of F2, but I have multiple generations worth of Dell PC's at work (From KabyLake going back to Core2Duo days) and they all use F2 for BIOS.

The dell's here use f12 for bios. But yeah, he wanted to take that pc, decommission it, and put in the exact same one because he didn't know how to fix the fan (F12-power-fan override)

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

6 hours ago, manikyath said:

so.. he didnt troubleshoot before replacing the whole party?

 

i mean.. didnt check for dust?

didnt check if the thing was actually experiencing abnormal load?

didnt check for abnormal temperatures?

Yup

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

Yup

so.. the person that does the bills at the company i work brainfarts when we go beyond words like "laptop", "desktop", or "server"... and she's more capable than that.

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

Just now, manikyath said:

so.. the person that does the bills at the company i work brainfarts when we go beyond words like "laptop", "desktop", or "server"... and she's more capable than that.

Wow. Honestly none of my fellows like him either. He keeps replacing one guys laptop because he's too stupid to realize that the laptop is supposed to sound like that....

[Chaoix]

14 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

This isn't a company m8, this is a school campus operated by a billion dollar group.

Is the computer old? I have worked in IT at a University and sometimes you use excuses like this to justify replacing hardware before it fails to bosses that know nothing about IT. Also if you work for uneducated bosses, you usually have a line you don't cross in your work so you aren't constantly expected to be a miracle worker keeping all of the systems you maintain on life support because someone is too cheap to replace them.

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

5 minutes ago, Chaoix said:

Is the computer old? I have worked in IT at a University and sometimes you use excuses like this to justify replacing hardware before it fails to bosses that know nothing about IT. Also if you work for uneducated bosses, you usually have a line you don't cross in your work so you aren't constantly expected to be a miracle worker keeping all of the systems you maintain on life support because someone is too cheap to replace them.

1 year old

[Teddy07]

Maybe he doesn't care about the job and does it only for the money?

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

The dell's here use f12 for bios. But yeah, he wanted to take that pc, decommission it, and put in the exact same one because he didn't know how to fix the fan (F12-power-fan override)

Have you actually ever tried hitting F2? I've literally not seen a Dell computer that accesses the BIOS without F2 in years. Including computers we've already decommissioned, I'm talking 300+ Dell PC's, over a 10+ year generational span, that I've personally seen.

 

F12 does get you into the Boot Menu, which has an option to load the BIOS. But it's one extra unnecessary step, when you can go directly into the BIOS via F2.

 

Maybe it's a regional thing? Do you live in Europe or Asia? With that in mind, even Googling online, everything says F2 for BIOS for Dell PC's, and doesn't make any exceptions for other regions.

[dalekphalm]

3 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

I worked at a computer shop and basically got told to leave because I was too honest.

 

I'd see there was a simple issue that would cost the customer like... $5 say, but ohh nooo we have to use some complicated jargon and run a bunch of irrelevant tests and push some other product that they clearly don't know what is, but will take because 'we're the experts' and then charge them $50 and the work sheet looks really impressive, but when in reality we did something to it for 2 seconds and it sat on the workbench the rest of the day.

 

I could never work in a computer shop. I bet they're all pretty much like that though. I much prefer supporting a company like I am now where you can't pull the wool over peoples eyes because you're on a salary and if stuff is not fixed then other more important things can't happen.

The problem with being "too honest" is that you're not putting enough value onto your own skills and services.

 

If it was easy, the customer would just do it themselves.

 

You need to run a business profitably, and if that means charging $50 for a quick and easy fix? So be it.

 

Alternatively, if business was really good, and you had a lot of recurring customers, you could do these little things for free. But if you do that while starting out or while business isn't amazing, you'll eventually run too low on liquid cash.

[Teddy07]

4 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

.... but will take because 'we're the experts' and then charge them $50 ..

1

Yeah I was once an uneducated dumb customer. Not anymore my friends.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

An idiot installed a program onto the pc right? Harmless program, really just an emulator. In order to get rid of it, he re-images every pc that is with the group in  10 miles to keep other pcs from getting contaminated with the emulator.

 

*slow clap*

It's more likely he did that as a result of policy. A fairly extensive policy, but it's possible. 

 

If a computer is infected with malware (in this case it wasn't) then you don't just destroy the single PC, you investigate the entire network and try and purge absolutely anything that isn't what you'd consider to be regular. 

 

It might just be that their policy for a user installing untrusted software onto a PC is to reimage all of the PCs on that network. I don't quite understand the 10 mile thing, and don't think he meant literally any PC within a 10 mile radius but rather it happened all of the PCs on that network or in his jurisdiction happened to be 10 mile

 

Or he might have been bored and wanted some work to do lmao

[Teddy07]

6 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

Its the same reason I learned I

1

Me probably too. I am highly interested in going back to University and getting a computer science degree. The only reason why I hesitate is because I am scared that I am too dumb for the math. I know the study has lots of math in it but I am not sure if I am mentally able to understand it even when I try.

 

But I think I risk it, because I am not happy with my current situation.

[Chaoix]

You don't need a CompSci degree to go into IT. I'd highly suggest an associates in MIS with a portfolio of certifications instead. Save yourself a ton of money and learn actually skills you can use in IT.

[Sors]

17 hours ago, ♠FlamieMeister♠ said:

All the pcs here are f12, and so have the ones in the past.

I usually see that F12 is used to select the boot device, F2 is frequently used for BIOS.  I don't see anything wrong with trying that.

[Teddy07]

2 minutes ago, Chaoix said:

You don't need a CompSci degree to go into IT. I'd highly suggest an associates in MIS with a portfolio of certifications instead. Save yourself a ton of money and learn actually skills you can use in IT.

 

That is surely true but I want a university informatics degree. It is one of my life goals and i want to prove myself that I am not dumb because I made some very bad decisions in the past (addiction). 

I furthermore want to leave Germany and work abroad and having a university degree will help me to get into these countries (Canada, USA, Switzerland, Australia, Norwegia...).

 

9 minutes ago, JayKay3000 said:

 I hope you achieve your goals. It'll be a hard road though. Can't deny that.

1

I am fully aware of that fact and totally committed to getting the degree because I would be totally screwed else. 

 

I start officially in 20 days but I can not do many courses until October because the 1st-semester courses start then. I have time to bring my math skill to the next level. I already bought some great math books and it makes fun to understand the topics and solve the sums after that.

 

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate them.

[Chaoix]

If a Bachelor's degree is a must, a BS in MIS is much more marketable to IT positions. CompSci is really programming and nothing else.

 

I went to school for CompSci and learned IT in the field and I really wish I would have done the opposite. Its more marketable when looking for Jobs and CompSci positions are more about what you can actually do than what your degree is in. Plus most CompSci programs lag 5 or more years behind the industry standards and best practices you'll actually need for a CompSci job.

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

3 hours ago, AUniqueName said:

It's more likely he did that as a result of policy. A fairly extensive policy, but it's possible. 

 

If a computer is infected with malware (in this case it wasn't) then you don't just destroy the single PC, you investigate the entire network and try and purge absolutely anything that isn't what you'd consider to be regular. 

 

It might just be that their policy for a user installing untrusted software onto a PC is to reimage all of the PCs on that network. I don't quite understand the 10 mile thing, and don't think he meant literally any PC within a 10 mile radius but rather it happened all of the PCs on that network or in his jurisdiction happened to be 10 mile

 

Or he might have been bored and wanted some work to do lmao

I looked into the policy. Nothing said that. I asked him and he said that all comiters within 10 miles are all contaminted and corrupt and will die within 24 hours if he didn't do it.

[samcool55]

This sounds like a story that belongs to r/tfts or r/tfr

 

[kaiju_wars]

20 hours ago, djdwosk97 said:

Now they might, but not always. A LOT of Dell systems (including the very common optiplex 760/780/990s) used F2. It's hard to break habits. Even modern T1700s are F2 iirc.

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure my Inpsiron is F2... might be wrong though.

[dalekphalm]

1 minute ago, kaiju_wars said:

Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure my Inpsiron is F2... might be wrong though.

@djdwosk97

 

I can guarantee that modern Dell's use F2 as well. We recently got in some Optiplex 7040's that use F2, as well as a bunch of E3000 series laptops that all use F2 as well.

 

I've actually never encountered a Dell within the last 10 years that uses something else.

 

I'm still convinced the OP was simply unaware that F2 was the option, and was confusing the F12 boot menu.