Wednesday, April 13, 2011

D O A

As I walked up to the large automatic doors, they silently opened for me to walk through the entry way and into the huge building, where I was met by the security guard.  He asked where I needed to go, and when I explained, he pointed off the the right.  "The doctors are at the long desk down there.  They are in the white shirts.  They can help you," he said.  I turned and walked towards the area he had indicated, and was greeted by a young man in the white shirt.

"When did the symptoms begin," he asked.  I answered that it was just 2 days ago.  He then asked what the symptoms were, and he wrote down my answers as we visited.  He then tried revival, but after a few minutes, he pulled the plug.  I watched as he entered the verdict on the appropriate line of the form.  DOA, he wrote.  DOA.

"DOA?" I exclaimed.  "DOA?  It can't be true!   I've only had this computer for 18 months!" 

But sadly, it seems to be true.  The geeky guy in the white shirt thinks it may be the actual jack on the computer where the power cord plugs in.  But he says they seldom blow out, but it could happen.  His other thought was much more serious, a mother board blow out of some sort.  The only way to find out is to send the computer in to the speciality hospital, where they will run tests to determine the diagnosis.  If it's the lesser of the two evils, $150 or so, then they will fix it.  If it's a more complicated issue which would mean $300 to $400 to begin with, then they have orders to return it to me and I will just buy a new computer.  I didn't pay much more than $500 for it in December of 09 so I certainly won't put that much money into it.

Meanwhile, I'm back on the teeny tiny Acer.  It works pretty well, but the keyboard is so small that my fingers really get cramped up while typing. 

Two to four weeks of hospitalization, he said.  I guess it will be worth it if they can cure the DOA diagnosis.

7 comments:

TonjiaT said...

he lied.. I had a HP laptop once that had the ac power cord port break THREE times!! 2 of them were under warranty, thank goodness and one I had to pay for, then I got rid of it.

What kind of computer do you have? I learned from working with IT people that these days computer companies actually make "throw away" computers. The ones with the oh so tempting prices are usually built to last approximately 8 months!!

good luck with the repair job, what did we do before computers? LOL

riky said...

We had it happen with our computor also and they told us to take the batteries out and leave them out for a couple of minutes and put them back in and Voila it works. We have had to do it a couple of times and it has worked each time.
Good to hear you made it home safe and sound. We will be heading home in May. Taking our time and be home the end of May.
Riky

L'Adelaide said...

oh poor you....i hope you have good news soon for your poor little friend :) ....hate it when this happens to mine. mine goes to spa da la manzana which i think means apple. lol..xox

AKBrady said...

Bummer. It is amazing how naked we feel without our computers. Hope it gets resolved soon.

Debbie said...

Who knew we'd become so addicted to this? I had to spring for one last year. Two years does seem ridiculous, though and I hope you get it fixed cheaply. Lucky you have a backup!

Lena . . . said...

My deepest sympathies to you on your loss. Where should we send the memorials? I'm so lucky to have my big brother as my computer guru. He can fix just about anything.

Lena . . . said...

And P.S. He told me the same thing - about the throw away computer models that are put out by some companies.