Computer Problems

cruisinbeatz · 13 Feb 2009 at 17:06

Sorry this is most likely in the wrong thread but I didnt know where to put it.

Im in abit of a pickel, I own my own computer shop, mainly for repairs in a small town. I sold a customer a computer, screen, keyboard, mouse and printer. The computer has come back 4 times with software issues. when I say this i mean windows is courupt each time, the same thing each time. Ends up getting windows reinstalled. On the 3rd time in I reinstalled windows and drivers and apps ect and used it myself for 3 days, general internet browsing, downloading a few files, using it to backup files from another computer ect. No problems what so ever. I formatted again then before I gave it back to the customer, lasted about 3-4 days then wollop, down it goes again.

I asked the customer what all they do onthe computer, they said they look up emails in hotmail from a tender (as they are contractors) as they always have before. Thats all he does, he also said that once a week they get like a builders report or something that they download and opens in adobe reader.

Anyhow, the customer has landed back now for the 4th time and is demanding their money back for everything aprox £600. Anyone know what I should do as there seems to be nothing wrong with the computer when I have it and when I try to repair the computer it ends up having to be formatted. so I cant really tell if its something they are doing and not telling me or what.

sorry for the long winded speach.

Curio · 13 Feb 2009 at 17:37

Well, have you performed the usual hard disk checks, memory checks, etc? And how long ago did you sell it to them?

Brian Stuart · 13 Feb 2009 at 19:13

What is the error message you are getting when the PC is returned? Are you able to go into safe mode and look at the event log?
As Curio says, check RAM and HDD for errors but it sounds to me as thought he customer is doing something to corrupt the OS.
Does it have AV and anti spyware software on it?

hegemon · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:38

I suspect your customer is probably being less than honest. If you get the machine back and you cannot boot into windows to investigate, connect the hard drive to another machine as an additional drive so you can examine it in detail. Carry out the the usual scans to determine the cause has not been some virus or malware, also check what applications have been installed since last format.
If you find the file system is corrupt or damaged I suspect the person may be one of those who do not shut a machine down properly and just flick the power off (yes, such people do still exist).
Given you own your own computer shop offering repairs I can only assume you have the necessary skills to carry out this work, in any event you can always report back here with further questions. At the moment any help we can give you is very limited as you have not supplied us with any detailed information from which to help you.

cruisinbeatz · 14 Feb 2009 at 11:37

I ran Memtest, no errors, running the hard drive test at the moment, (Drive fitness test for hitachi drives). Its passed the short test no problems, still doing the advanced test, Now I did get it to boot into windows once, it came up with a window in the middle of the screen:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.256.6
Locale ID: 2050 (I think, cant view it at the min, Ive it saved on the computer as a file, forgot to save it to a pen drive)

Ill get the rest when the test finishes. I did however have a snoop around when the computr did boot, nothing else was installed from what I put on the computer myself, going by the event logs the only thing that installed was the updates (windows). But its not them thats crashing it. I always updates it with the latest updates and it never had any problems with them. Im puzzeled.

GhostlyPea · 14 Feb 2009 at 11:44

I'm not being funny but...the guy is blatantly doing something wrong. If you don't find a hardware issue then by proxy it has to be software. If you have installed it in your environment fine and run it for 3 days fine then he is doing something wrong.

Unfortunately from a business point of view I wouldn't know how to handle this

- Pea0n

cruisinbeatz · 14 Feb 2009 at 12:16

Yea I know what your saying PeaOn, I think this to but I need to be able to prove it to show him there is nothing wrong with the computer its self.

Ive just finished the hard drive tests, they are all working fine as well as the ram. Anyone got any other ideas I can try?

Brian Stuart · 14 Feb 2009 at 15:12

Run Prime95 for a good time (24 hours if poss). Take a screenshot and print out. This proves there is little possibility of hardware issues.
Ask him to make a note of what software he installs after you give him the PC back.
Also ask him to make a note of what websites he visits (awkward I know)
If it comes back corrupted then take out the HDD, put it in another PC as a slave and check installed software and visited sites against the ones he took note of. Any discrepancy then you have the proof you need to get him to go away in short sharp jerky movements.(after charging for your time of course)