After a long frustrating ride with my desktop computer and its numerous error problems, the day came when I knew the only thing to do was to do a factory reinstall. I lived with the errors and frustration for a long time, since I knew I didn't have all of my data backed up although I did keep up with all the updates and precautions one normally takes when dealing with the "Internet World." On making a backup, my start off point would be to backup all the data that I wanted to hang onto, including my vast music collection and tidbits of information that I have picked up over the years. One of the wonderful points of owning a computer today is that the cost and feasibility of backing up your data is so much easier than 10 years ago. Back then, one had to utilize recording media (floppies, tape and such) that couldn't always be depended upon to keep the data safe. In addition, you had to allot a large block of time for completing the backup. Today, with the availability of large capacity DVD disks or external hard drives, backing up is easier and faster. Case in point, I backed up my 250 gigabyte hard drive in a little over an hour to my external 300 gigabyte hard drive, while tidying up my computer area. So on with the story.
After performing everything I could think of to prepare for the big event, I got out my restore CDs and settled in for the battle. After putting CD number one in the drive, I received a message that the reinstall could not be performed from the desktop and that I needed to shut the computer down and reboot from the CD-Rom drive. So I exit Windows and reboot with the CD in the CD-Rom drive, and the program starts to do its thing. I'm thinking I could be done with this by mid-afternoon and then things start going wrong. An error message stating that the hard drive partition is not big enough to handle the operating system is found so that process will be halted. Well, so much for a simple chore.
I try once more with the same results and then realize that I'm going to have to find a solution to the problem so I take the Restore CD out of the drive then boot up the computer and head to the Sony website to see if they have an answer to my problem. After searching the online database for over an hour with no results, I realize I'm going to have to pay for human tech support, so the next chore is to find a phone number that I can call for tech support. After a little searching, I finally locate the number and get ready for another wait to talk to someone who can help me out. After a short period of time (15 minutes or so) and a credit card charge of $19.95 (my computer is out of warranty), I finally get to talk to Todd. I explain the problem to Todd and he says the first thing we need to do is to get to the bios menu, so we go into reboot mode and before the screen changes I start tapping the F2 key and the system goes to the bios menu. Todd then instructs me to go to the exit section and arrow down to the "restore system defaults" line and select that. I do so and then "save changes and exit." The system boots up and Windows starts it usual routine. Todd then says to put my system restore CD back in the drive and reboot. While following Todd's able instructions, I watch as the factory restore program starts up and allows me to complete my original objective. Thanks Todd, $20 well spent. So, with the system restored, I head on to reinstalling all of the programs that I need to do the things I like to do.
After getting the factory restore project completed, I next wanted to upgrade to Windows XP Professional as I need the extra power that program gives with networking. This part went very smoothly, and now it was time to start reinstalling all of the additional programs that I use on a daily basis. My first step was to re-install Microsoft Office 2003, and it actually went smoother this time than the first time I installed it. After installation, I always make it a habit to reboot the computer even if the system doesn't ask me to. After the reboot, I started checking out the Office applications, and to my satisfaction everything worked smashingly. Once again, I rebooted and, to my dismay, I got a closing error message that I was all too familiar with from my previous installation. Starting to get that sinking feeling, I rebooted again and again to see if the error was a fluke or what. To my disappointment, it wasn't a fluke and so I was faced with trying to fix the problem. After a moment or two of thought, I realized that the problem occurred after installing Office 2003 so I set off to the Microsoft website to see if anyone else may have had the same problem and to see how they fixed it. Just my luck, no one else in the world had the problem so I began thinking about contacting tech support and paying them to help me solve the problem. After a long drawn out search, I finally found the number for tech support and, of course, all of the times were busy; the wait time was over an hour and they suggested that I try emailing my problem to tech support. I thought that this last suggestion was probably the least expensive and prepared in my mind what I needed to say.
After sending my email to tech support, I prepared for a long weekend wait to hear back from Microsoft. The next morning, Saturday, I received a phone call from Microsoft, not an unusual occurrence since I became a Microsoft Partner but I was surprised when the gentlemen on the other end started asking me questions concerning the error message I had questioned. After I described the error message in a little more detail, the gentlemen asked if I was going to be home in an hour. I said I was, and he assured me that a real live tech support person would call back and try to help me solve the error. I was shocked that someone would take that much interest in my problem, and warily waited for the phone to ring. Within 45 minutes the phone rang and a gentlemen named Amit Singh helped me walk my way through the problem. It turned out to be a conflict between a Sony Viao program and Microsoft. After about two hours of trial and error, my computer was back to being the error-free system that I enjoyed using. My conclusion is that the big guys do listen -- you just have to learn where to yell.