Thursday, June 27, 2013

Computer Waaaaahhhsss advice please if interested

Waaaah, I'm having computer issues!!

WARNING LONG POST ON MY COMPUTER ISSUES & DOWNLOADS!
If you are tecchie & have advice for me, please comment.

If you find this boring, then just ignore. :0)

Today's post is about crashing, bad drivers, bad wifi, bad air card, bad download, my new netbook which has turned bad.

Ordered my new Acer Aspire One Netbook computer on June 9th.
http://texcynlife.blogspot.com/2013/06/new-netbook-on-order.html

Received my new netbook on June 13th. Yay, got it home set it up.

Had connectivity issues.

The wifi connection in the house keeps going down.

Don't have my aircard set up with the netbook yet. Need to go get a few items first.

June 15th, leave a post about having network issues.
http://texcynlife.blogspot.com/2013/06/having-network-issues.html

June 16th, I blog about the cool things I get for the netbook:
http://texcynlife.blogspot.com/2013/06/best-buys-best-deal-my-netbook-just-got.html

Wifi in the house is still spotty.

I am able to install my Sprint air card with going to their website & downloading the driver for it.

I got numerous messages before it took that it wasn't compatable with windows8 but finally, I guess I hit the right portal in the universe for it to take.

OK, cool, now I can get online & actually finish something!

Not.

Apparently, the Acer has possible driver connectivity issues.

Grrrrr. So now, lets combine that with a bad wifi connection from my friends router or when using the sprint aircard, it all still shows I'm connected when I'm using either one (not both at the same time, that's not possible), but the web tells me I'm not connected when the connections drop temporarily. So it's gotten frustrating trying to do anything.

I go to Acer's website. It tells me there's no service for my netbook! ARGH!!! (ha, just got dumped right now on my friends wifi)



OK, more.

Last night, I decided to download Open Office. I go directly to their site rather than through Cnet, which I usually use Cnet. I start the download. I watch it as I don't want added things like Chrome or Bing or Yahoo or, you make your choice.

******Oh just freakin' great. I just crashed! Just lost a whole bunch of what I was typing! ARGH!!!


 
The crashing thing has happened a few times since I've gotten this netbook too :-( 
 
OK, back to my issues, waaahhhh, I want to cry now.
 
I think I'm downloading Open Office from their webpage. I click on download, the computer glitches a little, but I'm still on the green download button. It starts downloading. It asks if I want it added to my task bar, I say no. Well, click no.
Download takes awhile due to slow internet, but it finally finishes.
 
Then all of a sudden, it asks me if I want to update my drivers? What? Open Office is an office program, not a driver update program. What just downloaded??
 
Oh goodie, I just downloaded LiveUpdate! What the heck!!! So when the computer glitched, it jumped to a different download instead. :-(   And that also brought with it, two other weird downloads, which I was able to uninstall. I was so peeved. I tried to uninstall LiveUpdate, but it won't uninstall because in my infinite wisdom, I told it NOT to add to my task bar! Apparently, you have to install it there too in order to uninstall it. Grrrrrr.
 
So I go to Microsoft's webpage, they actually support the LiveUpdate program. I don't care. I'm not happy, I don't want it. I try to uninstall from there. Nope, ain't gonna happen. Their link doesn't work!!!
 
I can uninstall from LiveUpdates webpage, but haven't even tried yet. I'm too angry right now that it all happened to begin with.
 
Now, as it turns out, I probably AM dealing with driver issues!
 
So now Acer says there's no service available for my computer. Grrrr
 
I gave up trying because I'm losing my patience. And my wifi. And I lose service with the aircard too. Not on the aircard, but in the computer because IE tells me I'm no longer connected, although the aircard shows I am.
 
I'm blogging about this so I have a reference page on all this crappage!
 
I am not happy.
 
My Compaq computer is now dead, so my hard drive needs to be pulled out of it so I can save stuff from it. This has not been a good month so far. In the past, my HP laptop & my Compaq laptops have all updated & downloaded the proper drivers. Is this something new? Or an Acer thing? Or what?
 
OH And get this! McAfee was supposed to be free for ONE year from the time of purchase with the netbook! I register it when I first get online & it's all installed & working. I then get a thank you email that I have something like a 60 or 90 day free trial. Then I get another email stating that my 30day free trial is about up. Today, I get a reminder email to renew.
 
I set it up on June 13, 2013. Today is June 27, 2013. Perhaps I should send them a calendar? That's only 15 days. I'm guessing a calendar without pictures would be best as the pics would be too much of a distraction for them....
 
I'm not keeping McAfee anyhow. I'm switching over to Avast. It's what I've used in the past few years & have been happy with it. Besides, Avast talks to me. ;)
 
 
Soooo, now I'm wondering if I need a driver update program to update my drivers & if that will fix my issues???  I don't know. I know I've invested a small fortune already into this little netbook & don't want to return it unless I really have to. I can't get my money back on the 8 gigs of memory I've added as it is.

10 comments:

  1. I really don't know what to tell you long distance, except I'm so sorry! I'd also wonder how old that netbook really is . . . ?? I think I'd take it in to the store geeks, if available/if possible, and get some help.

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    1. The netbook was actually built on 2/7/2013. It's stamped on the bottom along with the serial numbers. Things were rolling smoothly for a little while, then my connection was lost again. So I hooked up the aircard & the bars are all over the place. So one of my big problems may indeed be where I am & not being able to get good service. Not good enough for streaming video, which sucks.

      I'm going to do more googling to see what answers I get. There's a newer version of Win8 out already, but I'm not going to download it. I'll go visit some forums to see what I come up with too. Thanks for your reply. I'm not a fan of the local geeks here. I could not communicate with them over my old laptop :-/ Kinda like finding a good mechanic!

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  2. I had the same sort of problems with the cheaper HP laptop I got at Wal-Mart. Really one thing after another, and I figured it had something to do with the fact that it was on sale because it was built last July. Way before Windows 8 came out, so there were tons of updates and it was really slow. I finally gave up and returned it.

    Get some good thumb drives and transfer what you need from the Acer to the thumb drives and return the Acer while you still can. That's what I'd do. How in the world does Acer not have service available for a brand new computer?

    Also, don't count on being able to retrieve anything from your hard drive if you had a crash. They couldn't get anything off mine. I don't want to scare you, but they told me that might be the case, and I was glad I was prepared. Also thankful I had backups so I didn't lose anything.

    I was really glad I got my laptop at Costco because they have a 90-day return policy on computers (Wal-Mart's is 15 days) and a free warranty for two years and concierge service to help you check it out over the phone. When I went through that with them on this laptop, we were on the phone for an hour and a half. He was great. Handled everything with HP, too.

    Other than that, I can't help. I figure sometimes if things get that bad, chuck it and start over. With a refund, of course. That's what I did. And honestly the week I went without a computer was almost a rest period from all the issues I was having. A little break. Before I had to start up all over again. Things are seemingly doing well here at the moment. Fingers crossed. :)

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    1. Thanks Barbara, I really haven't put anything personal into this netbook yet. Just upgrades on it with hardware. & upgraded some programs. I'm not sure that I can really even return it, I bought it online. I might check into updating the drivers to see if that makes a difference too. But once again tonight, things were going smoothly, then I lost my internet. It's so spotty. I might eventually have to check into some kind of power booster of some sort. Right now, it would be nice to catch up with things on Youtube & such. Since I can't really go out anywhere, can't drive yet, let alone walk anywhere. Oh well, it'll all work out eventually I guess.

      I bought this as a cheaper source of getting online & playing around as I really thought my laptop could be fixed. The hard drive on it is still ok, a tecchie friend of mine has it right now & is waiting for me to tell her what to do with it.

      I was going to buy a tablet until I realized for what I wanted, the netbook served my purpose more.

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  3. Oh gheez I so wish I had a magic wand I could share as I'm no help here. And here you are recovering and problems connecting! hope you get some answers and get back up running, mostly hoping your healing and getting your strength back!!

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    1. You can't buy one on ebay??? ;-) Thanks! I am amazed how well I do feel. Had a fading spell today, but I feel better this evening. I go back on Monday & they'll take the tubes out, which I'll be glad to say bye bye to!

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  4. Boy I am the wrong person to even read this blog. I know absolutely nothing about these stupid things. But I'm hoping you get it all worked out.

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    1. Wow, did you read the entire page? I doubt I would have ;-) Thanks for dropping in with encouragement though!

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  5. If it's the drivers, then you are screwed. This happened with the start of Win 7 - not backward compatible anymore. I have a printer that still works fine but I can't use it because there are no win7 drivers for it. I hate this trend in computers (Apple is the one who started it) to not bother to make the new operating systems backward compatible. They do it to force you to buy all new peripherals. Apparently MS hasn't figured out that is a good part of the reason people haven't been jumping onto their new Win8 and the only reason Apple got away with it is because they were really good at setting up a cult mentality for their products. That star is fading now that the cult leader is gone. (ok getting off my geek soapbox, now) Have you tried Sprint for the aircard? I know you aren't all that mobile but you might have to take the computer and aircard into one of their tech shops to get it working again. Good luck.

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    1. Hi, the air card works, but it's old & I think may be lacking signal strength.

      I have to wonder about these online sources that check your drivers & claim they need updated? The drivers they said needed updated were for video, audio, blah, blah, blah. Around 8-10 drivers. Do they really need updated or is it a way for them to get us to pay them? I'm still confused as my HP & Compaq updated their own drivers when updates came available. Guess I can google more on Acer to see how they handle theirs.

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