Does Geek Squad suck? I think so, too

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2007-07-19 08:31pm

I've been having problems with my computer freezing at random times constantly, as well as just generally running slow as hell. It runs so slow that my windows default icons are displayed before my real ones! I've done every virus/malware scan you can imagine, Panda, AVG antivirus, AVG anti spyware, Ad-aware, spybot, windows defender and stop sign.

My knowledge is limited, I had Geek Squad do a remote diagnostic on my machine.

The first time the tech ran his own malware scanner then told me I was simply running too many programs after finding no malware, and that my programs were using too much memory. I tallied up the memory usage of my processes in my task list and it came to around 100 megs of RAM. And I have a gig of ram! So, I knew this wasn't the problem, and called back.

The second tech had me go into safe mode, then he told me that since I was seeing the default icons load there, that the only thing I could do was format and reinstall XP on my hard drive, I did so. I cloned my entire hard drive to an external one, Formatted the internal and reinstalled XP home edition.

I transferred over a few things, so few that I can actually name them all. My outlook express mail inbox mail, my firefox bookmarks and Aha Password manager, and some downloaded songs from the external hard drive.

Then these exact problems started to reappear......................I think it late to ask for a refund, it's a 5 warranty, I think from the time you get your first diagnosis.

I'm not sure how tech savvy people are here, but for those of you who do pay for some kind of outside help when you just can't diagnose or fix what's wrong, know of any ACTUAL good places? What do you think makes a genunine good technician? I was studying to be one once, and it seems all they would have me do in the 6 month program is a take a few classes, then take the A+

But, that doesn't seem nearly enough. It appears they sort of throw you out of the nest, after you learn the terminology, you must shadow and assist someone else before you are even competent, that experience is what matters, not the A+.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-07-19 08:39pm

If reinstalling the OS didn't solve the issue then it may very well be a hardware problem. Which could mean anything from damaged ram, hard disk, motherboard, or heatsinks not fixed to the chips properly.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-07-19 08:41pm

Then these exact problems started to reappear

What kind of timeframe are you talking, here?

reappear......................I think

Please don't do this. Abusing periods like that just looks awful.

It appears they sort of throw you out of the nest, after you learn the terminology, you must shadow and assist someone else before you are even competent, that experience is what matters, not the A+.

Pretty much. From what I've seen and heard, the vast majority of IT jobs a person lands generally fall into one of three categories:

1) Entry-level helpdesk position

2) Job acquired thanks to experience at previous job(s), including #1

3) A guy you know got you in where he works.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2007-07-19 08:59pm

What kind of timeframe are you talking, here?

my first freeze (crash) happened about 3 days after I reinstalled XP, and the default icons.

It appears they sort of throw you out of the nest, after you learn the terminology, you must shadow and assist someone else before you are even competent, that experience is what matters, not the A+.

Pretty much. From what I've seen and heard, the vast majority of IT jobs a person lands generally fall into one of three categories:

1) Entry-level helpdesk position

2) Job acquired thanks to experience at previous job(s), including #1

3) A guy you know got you in where he works.[/quote]

Didn't they in old days of IT, which I don't think is a bad idea even now, purposely mess up systems, (say- corrupt it's video drivers for example) and have you solve the problem, I think that's a better test, or a compliation of problems people have had and how they solved them that you study for the test when you try to fix the computers.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-07-19 09:04pm

Didn't they in old days of IT, which I don't think is a bad idea even now, purposely mess up systems, (say- corrupt it's video drivers for example) and have you solve the problem, I think that's a better test, or a compliation of problems people have had and how they solved them that you study for the test when you try to fix the computers.

I've heard of that sort of thing being done before. Indeed, I think that's what Cisco does in order to attain some (all?) of their certifications; I think one of their certifications basically gives you a whole bunch of components and tells you to build a network from scratch. But that test costs well over a thousand dollars.

But it's much, much easier to pump out A+ certificates if you can just sit the person down at a computer to take a multiple-choice test for a half-hour; then you can pack in a whole classroom full of people to take the test at once.

A+ doesn't really mean a whole lot.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2007-07-19 09:18pm

You can probably nab an itinerant college/high school student around this time that knows more about computers than anybody at Geek Squad ever will and will help you for less money (I've sold my help for a good meal before)
They will probably steal all your porn unless you encrpyt it, seperate it physically from your computer. But Geek Squad will do that and load crap onto your computer you don't need (Do they still put spyware on computers they service? I heard they finally got called on that but Don't know whether it stopped them.)

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2007-07-19 11:59pm

Take this or leave this, but I've heard many "old" Geek Squad techs and new ones who got fed up say essentially the same thing: Geek Squad has essentially become the same group of half-wits that Best Buy's old tech support was. This isn't always the fault of the "techs," who are apparently given rather bare training and thrown up against a variety of unpleasant situations.

You're better off looking to small business computer stores, who actually have to demonstrate a mediocum of skill to stay in business.

Ariphaos · Post by **Ariphaos** » 2007-07-20 09:08am

You might want to pick up a benchmarking program and check say, your HD speed. One way to seriously slow a system down is if it is forced, either through user setting or hardware, to use a low PIO mode. You can check this last in your BIOS.

One thing that comes to mind, if you're not using much, is if you have a Pentium going into thermal throttling.

http://www.panopsys.com/Downloads.html <- see throttlewatch.

Another, odder possibility is that your machine isn't using your full RAM - 100 MB seems rather small considering how hungry Firefox gets after a fair amount of browsing. What's your commit charge at?

As for reputable places, individual people should be able provide references. Most smaller shops have a pretty good crew, in general.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2007-07-20 09:59am

Intermittent freezing after a format and reinstall is most often caused by a faulty HDD. Try running a chkdsk or manufacturer's diagnostic program on it.

White Haven · Post by **White Haven** » 2007-07-20 11:12am

Find a small shop that's been around for a long time, if you can. Places like that live or die on word-of-mouth advertising, and if they've been there a long time, that means they've lived off of it.

TheFeniX · Post by **TheFeniX** » 2007-07-20 03:03pm

Vendetta wrote:Intermittent freezing after a format and reinstall is most often caused by a faulty HDD. Try running a chkdsk or manufacturer's diagnostic program on it.

Seconded, and if that passes you should run a memtest program for your RAM.

After that, it may be your board or CPU. I had this same issue trying to run games (primarily Jedi-Outcast and Natural Selection). The game would freeze randomly. After numerous tests and reformats, I had determined that my board was damaged (I noticed a blown capacitor).

I DID have one instance of a PC locking up when more than one internet browser window was open at a time. For some reason, the chicken-shit $20 video cards my boss had bought literally could not handle the load. I have no idea WHY, but hey, I don't make the damn things.

A+ is basically bullshit. It's a "foot-in-the-door" cert. It was the first one I got and it really taught me nothing about how to fix PC problems (it DID make sure to hammer RAID types into my head though, not that it's really important). IT really boils down to your ability to learn on the fly and google well.

The last time my mom called Best Buy's tech support, the guy who came out formatted her computer (she had no sound on her computer) and didn't tell her. She lost everything and there was STILL no sound. After five seconds of looking at it, I determined that her speaker connection was only half-way inserted.

You can't teach common sense, unfortunately.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2007-07-21 02:34am

White Haven wrote:Find a small shop that's been around for a long time, if you can. Places like that live or die on word-of-mouth advertising, and if they've been there a long time, that means they've lived off of it.

I heard fry's is pretty good, there's isn't one in anywhere within a 1000 mile radius of me however. There is a mom and pop shop near me I could try, though we've gotten things back from them that hadn't really been fixed.

I remember a magazine I read that did purposely mess up computers then send them to various PC support centers, best buy, circuit city, comp usa etc. Still it's hard to guage the skill level of the technicians.

Even worse, if you don't have at least the knowledge to know some about your computer, it's possible for them to claim they've fixed it, then when you take it back say it requires a more expensive procedure to fix, that you can be putty in thier hands if you're not careful.

I remember I saw a news report where they unplugged an internal plug, brought it to a tech and they said they had an entirely different problem, charged them a lot of money replugged it and screwed them over real bad obviously. I'm not sure how common this practice still is, I would think it's declined.

Some lawyers make a fortune "hunting" these kinds of swindlers. Though would it be entrapment if they messed up thier computer, took a picture say of the unplugged plug, gave it to a tech, then when they tried to screw them report them for it?

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2007-07-21 10:20am

If you've been torrenting lots of big files, it may have angered your hard drive profusely and started files getting corrupted and lost all over the show. As vendetta says, if it's not sleek after a fresh install, it's likely a hard drive on its way out, you can buy a new one for pretty cheap nowadays.

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2007-07-21 07:16pm

Though would it be entrapment if they messed up thier computer, took a picture say of the unplugged plug, gave it to a tech, then when they tried to screw them report them for it?

I can't see how that would be entrapment. Entrapment, as I've understood it, is coercing someone into committing an illegal act and then busting them for it. Your example simply sounds like "catching a fucking moron in their own lie," which, as far as I know, is still legal.

Shrykull · Post by **Shrykull** » 2007-07-22 04:57am

Rye wrote:If you've been torrenting lots of big files, it may have angered your hard drive profusely and started files getting corrupted and lost all over the show. As vendetta says, if it's not sleek after a fresh install, it's likely a hard drive on its way out, you can buy a new one for pretty cheap nowadays.

I have recently started torrenting, but this began long before that. I just want to find out which part/parts it is, then I'll gladly drop them into the abyss and get new ones, just don't want to get rid of the good ones.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » 2007-07-22 02:03pm

you sound like you've got more tech savvy then the average geeksquad employee.

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2007-07-24 03:05am

Open up your computer, clean it, and reseat stuff.

Get a can of air and blow all the dust out of it. Unplug and replug all your drive connectors, cards, and RAM. I've encountered plenty of issues at work with dusty RAM and graphics cards causing glitches, freezes, and restarts. While you're in there, make sure none of the capacitors are leaking. Bad caps can cause all sorts of problems.

Download the drive tester for your particular hard drive. I know Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital all have testers you can download that will make you boot disks or boot CDs so you can run a proper scan of your drives.

Also, download the memory tester from either memtest.org or http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp and run it.

If neither the HDD nor memory testers report any problems, things will get more difficult.