Of goods and bads....

Finally I have reinstalled gnome and am back on my laptop. As mentioned in the last post I had some problems with the installation of OpenSuSE 10.2. I had tried to update gnome. But the version that I updated to did not have any other common package contents in the repository. So the things went bad. And I ended up with a system with the front-end of gnome 2.18 and the common packages of 2.16.

So, when I booted back into SuSE, I was greeted by a new look that did not have any menu items, it did not recognize any other gnome components. So, the system was in a state where I was not able to do anything in gnome. I mean.. not even the gnome terminal was accessible.

I tried using FFWM, TWM and even CLI, but was not able to restore the system to the initial stage, before the upgrade. So, I used the final option and restored the entire gnome system right off the installation DVD.

Now I have to spend hours again on system upgrade. But I have a better option. Wait for the stable release of OpenSuSE 10.3. That is scheduled to release on the 4th of October this year. And I think that would be better. So, no updates, just wait for some 15 days + the time required to D/L the DVD on this so called crap broadband connection.... Time off....

Aditya Shevade

One more post on "HP SUCKS"

I am cutting all the crap and coming straight to the point. HP sucks. I lost my 9th DVD this month on the second drive HP provided. They really suck don't they....

Gotta run, got exams in about 45 minutes.....

Aditya Shevade
(Pissed Off)

GOD HP sucks or what.....

I have had enough. This is nuts. CRAZY. It's been only 4 days and the new DVD drive that HP gave me is giving more problems. I have been using the emergency open butten (the small hole and pin thingy) to open the drive. It does not recognize DVDs, it does not burn them at full speed. It does not open as I already mentioned. And it even cannot spin the disks as it seems.

So now I am going to shout,

HP SUCKS.... BIG TIME LOOSERS......

PS.... I could not make it bigger

Aditya Shevade

HP really sucks.... But their service is good....

This is getting riddiculous.... I finnaly got my laptop back from HP, but this is bad. Now my laptop has had.....

3 DVD drive replacements.
3 Hard Drive replacements.
1 Mother Board replacement.
1 Bluetooth dongle replacement.

And god knows what esle till the end of the warranty period (which is about 19 more months). So right now, all the tuning and tweaking is under progress.....

Aditya Shevade

Another problem with my laptop.......

Shit man. I am sick and tired of this now. This time it is again the DVD drive that is out of order. I wasted 8 sony DVD+Rs with it. Sick. I tried writing the DVDs from 5 differant apps on 3 different OSs. All failed.

So now, the laptop is in HPs service centre. And this old PC of mine is not much of a help either. 500MHz, 96MB RAM. It sucks also. And the keyboard is ancient. (7 years old). The keys are hard and they stick. (Not sick. I don't use the same word more than required :-)).

So, I am not posting much right now, though there is a lot to write. I will just skip it for now, and maybe continue when I gewt my laptop back. It took me 8 minutes to write this, where in I would have done the same in 3 minutes.

Aditya Shevade

I got a 3rd PC (Nothing to get excited about though)...

I just got my 3rd PC. Bu the fact is that, it's a Pentium-S, 75 MHz, 8 MB RAM. Moreover, it's HDD is just 850 MBs and now that PC cannot detect that HDD. It asks for a Floppy to boot.

I do not have a Floppy drive on my other 2 PCs with net connection. One is a laptop, so, I cannot connect the FDD of this new (?) PC to that. And the other Desktop does not have any BUSes for the connection.

In short, I am confused about what my options are with this PC.

Gotta go.

Aditya Shevade

Making your own Linux..... It's hard, but working on it is a wonderful experience....

Regarding this post, first let me tell you that this time, it was my mistake that caused the trouble. I will start from the beginning, or shall I say scratch?

When I was stumbling on the net using stumble upon... I came across a site where all the information about building your own linux distribution from scratch is available. (click here for more info).

I read the information, then proceeded with the download. Read the first introductory chapters in the book and then thought that I might be able to get it working. So I downloaded all the necessary packages and then proceeded with building. At the first time it did not work, but then second time, it looked like I might get it working (for the second time on this day).

First thing was to create a dedicated partition and install the OS there, so that it does not interfere with the existing system. I did all that was described. I succesfully installed 4-5 softwares as well. But as soon as I came to the place, where I had to install gcc for the second time, all the problems started.

It did not pas the make test. I waited for 1 hour for the whole process to get executed, but I just could not do it. Then my parents began to remind me of my upcoming exams. And eventually I had to give it up, so as to study a bit.

But it really was a great feeling. I mean, I am not an old wise owl of linux. It's only been about 3-4 months that I am using it. And after that much of knowledge, I feel quite satisfied, still it hurts deep down inside that I was not able to finish it in the first go. But I guess that is life after all.....

And as I said above, this time it was my fault that things went wrong. Now I have decided that I should better get my hand on a good guide to learn linux shell scripting. And then, as soon as my exams are over, I am going to have another go at this.....

Aditya Shevade

And I wasted half an hour in my life......

Actually it should be..."And my old computer wasted half an hour in my life". Let me start from the beginning. As you would have read in the first post here, that my new computer, the laptop has been busted and so I am back to using the old 'box' of mine.

It is working great as I said, but the fact is that, it is celeron, 500MHz, 96MB RAM, and I have installed XP on it. I think you got the idea there. It takes almost 12-13 minutes to start working since the start button has been pushed. I mean, just now, some 2 hours ago, I had begun writing my last post about my worst day in February 2007, and suddenly there was a power cut. And the UPS gave away before the computer could shut down. I mean, that is ridiculous.

Then, I again started it on inverter supply. And again, after some 15 minutes, as I was about to begin the post again, someone switched the TV downstairs and again, the computer crashed. And so, another 15 minutes gone.

And now, finally I am writing this post. And now I am getting tired of this. There is only one way that can stop this, and that is my laptop. And finally I got a good news on that point. The HP people have replaced the motherboard, optical drive and HDD. But they are not sure yet. (Think that something else is in bad condition). So I am yet to receive it.

Aditya Shevade

And I decided never to buy an HP product again.....

It was a fine day. 4th of June 2006. I received my first laptop and second computer that day. I was very happy. It was HP's nx6110 model. I was in love with it the moment I saw it.

I began my work with the computer very enthusiastically. I was liking it more day by day, and then came the day, when I was watching a movie on it, and as I moved the laptop, the playback suddenly stopped, and the laptop hanged. I thought that it must be some problem with the software. (You must have guessed which software I am talking about). So I did the same thing again, and laptop hanged for second time in succession.

I filled the complaint, the month was Jully. No notice was taken by HP personnel. Then eventually the problem disappeared. So I was happy again, but then in the month of September, the hard disk started behaving like a lunatic. And before I could have done anything, the whole system came down crashing. It was in October that the hard disk and optical drive was replaced by HP for the first time. And guess what, they gave "Toshiba" hard disk and "Matshita" DVD Writer as a replacement.

I was angry the moment I knew about this, first thing was that the HDD did not come with the preloaded S/W and OS. Second thing, it was from Toshiba not HP and third thing, the DVD drive had problems. I will come to that later. First the Hard Disk. I had payed extra for the preloaded S/W. And as the first HDD was replaced due to manufacturing defect, it was HP's responsibility to give the new HDD with the S/W. But they did not. And no sooner than I had installed all the S/W and OS, the replaced HDD, the 'Toshiba' one, came down crashing. I was mad. I wanted to hit those people. I had complained on the very first day, but no, they said 'Toshiba' is better. So they replaced the HDD for the second time.

Meanwhile the DVD-Writer. The one that came with the system originally could write DVD-RAM disks. But this replaced one could not. It also had problems with the writing speed. With a speed of 11800KB/S, it takes some 15 minutes to write a DVD-5. Which is almost 5 minutes more than the first one took. And again the DVD-RAM problem was always there.

I contacted the HP customer care online chatting. First, I did not get any reply at all. The second time I complained about this, again, the person was not chatting well. First he took a lot of time to reply, secondly when I told him about the problem, he started saying, that I should use the bundled S/W with the laptop for best results. Hello, the bundled S/W sucks. I told him that. He said, try writing a DVD with that. I said OK. And again, the drive took 8 minutes to write 700MBs and moreover, the DVD was not created a multisession one as I had directed. So I told him for one more time that the bundled S/W sucks. Then I made a statement, "You say, use bundled S/W for best results, I want to edit photos, why don't you give me Photoshop CS2 preloaded?" He did not reply.

I then asked him about the fact that this drive could not write DVD-RAM. But he did not reply t that as well. I was so mad at him, that I logged off. This happened in the month of November-December.

Then, again as soon as everything seemed to have settled down, and only after some 15 days that I had installed opensuse 10.2 on my laptop, the 3rd HDD crashed. On the 7th of February 2007. I want to go and hit the people at HP on head with the laptop now. This is really bizarre. I mean, how many times more? I used to think that this was a good company, but not anymore. I have been using an old desktop for 6.5 years. It's HDD was replaced for the first time after 5 years and CD drive after 4 years. Maybe, it worked well because it is not made by HP. The only thing I want to say is that, it is not user's fault, or I would have had faced all the problems with the desktop as well.

What problems are there are with the laptop. Right from month one. I have never heard anything like this before. 3 HDD and 2 Optical Drive replacements in 8 months? And that too because of companies fault? I have been asking for entire piece replacement from the first month itself. But the company is reluctant. I still say, that as a goodwill, HP should look into the matter. This is all theirs fault, and it's me who is suffering from it. Not the company. I am going to try for the last time to see what do they do, but one thing for sure, I am never buying an HP product again.........

Aditya Shevade