About the corrupt mouse driver...

[bytebuster]

Somebody mentioned this, and I feel it made me look bad so I want to explain.

Edit by Bryce: This is the post made by someone else that bytebuster is referring to, and bytebuster wants to clear some things up:

What happened to learning your craft *before* you go into business practicing it? I may be out of line here (and I expect that the powers that be will tell me so) but in recent weeks I have seen quite a few posts from so called technicians asking questions that even a hobbyist should have under his/her belt. How to mark a partition active? Even the "Guide to repairing and upgrading PC's" covers that. Needing a N&P because of a "corrupt mouse driver?"

I get calls from people who not only don't know what's wrong with their PCs, but can't explain anything to me in any rational way. For example, I get a call asking why Windows won't load. I go out there and the person tried to boot off a driver install CD (non-bootable) because somebody told them that drivers make the computer run. We all saw that pyramid diagram in school where "device drivers" are below "operating system", well this person had seen it too.

Another client called saying the mouse isn't working. I have no clue what could be causing something like that, and the customer can't explain it to me in any way that makes sense. Usually in this case I recommend a N&P because I don't know what's wrong, and I don't want to get in an argument in somebody's house with the "you said it was X but it's really B, you're an idiot!" thing, when it is really a PEBCAK issue, because the user couldn't explain what his computer was doing. This client had essentially said I was an idiot for not diagnosing his problem in 3 seconds from his incomplete description, so I was treading carefully.

I got to his house and found it was a virus issue. I was unable to boot into a RAM loaded shell because the boot menu seemed to be corrupted, with a messed up screen. I could have used F8 or F12, but I'm not sure it would have worked. (The RAM shell is necessary to run the AV off, since usually the OS shell on the PC is locked by the infection.) At this point I should have just done a N&P, but I'm not sure what's wrong with the guy's BIOS, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea. So I told the guy to just buy a new PC.

I hope this clarified some things. I've never worked on a help desk, so I don't really know how to cut through phone crap like that. Add to that the fact that I'm autistic, so my communication skills are a little off anyway.

I'm frustrated by the number of really experienced IT guys now trying to do repair jobs for food money, that's sort of like the designer of a McDonald's fryer trying to work the fryer as an employee, sort of clumsy. I can't charge very much money because everybody is driving down the price. Sacramento has TONS of highly skilled IT people who are out of work, out of options, and have bills to pay and kids to feed. They are desperate, they are willing to work for peanuts just to buy food. Every job opening has 10,000 applicants, people are so desperate it's not funny. Everybody is trying to survive.

It's common practice here for a person with a PC problem to call people until he gets the answer he likes. The guy with the "bad mouse" had called about 3 or 4 people before I showed up. If you don't charge peanuts, the client will call around until he finds somebody who does. Even at my low price-$50-people want to pay less. One guy called me and hung up on hearing the $50 price. He called me back in a panic two days later. The guy he hired had decided to do a manual cleanse of his system (he had the Total Security fake AV) and now nothing was working. I cleaned Total Security off and charged him for that, but I had no idea what else to do since deleting DLL's off a Windows PC at random is not a great idea.

Some sort of certification regime would be nice. California licenses electronics and appliance repairmen, but it's just a way for the state to extract fees out of people-I applied in person, and all they did was take my check and app, run a copy of my A+ cert, and thank me. The A+ itself is treated like the runt of the litter by CompTIA, the test I took was a joke and could have been passed by cramming. CompTIA seems more focused on the Security+ cert, a much more involved test. The school I went to considered the A+ a throwaway cert, a steppingstone to the Microsoft certs (they also offered Security+). The whole idea of certifying computer techs seems to be treated like the FCC treats amateur radio-an annoyance, a legacy issue from the old days that is there because of the law but that really isn't worth the time of the regulator.

After I graduated in March 2006, CompTIA overhauled the A+ to focus on "soft skills". That made the whole idea a bad joke, and led people to think that anybody could be a tech. So you have 15 year olds doing repairs on neighborhood computers and companies hiring gamer d00dz to do tech work. The real problem is that nobody takes the technician seriously. Maybe we're headed towards a future where every tech is just a placeholder, and the real work is done remotely by engineers in India a la GS's Agent Jonny Utah. That's another discussion.

Well, that's my opinion on the whole issue. I may seem dumb, but that's only because the computer field here is populated by absolute morons. I'm thinking of going into the refurbished laptop business.

 

[trapped]

I think you need to raise your prices. I have a number of customers that will pay $60+ per hour with no complaints. If they don't like your prices you don't need their business.

Even with all the out of work IT guys and Pizza Techs there are still plenty of customers in the area who are willing to pay for quality service. I just make sure to do the best job that I can in the shortest amount of time and charge a fair price. You will find that you get a lot of referral business this way. I also joined a local BNI group and found a community forum for the city I live in and have had great success with these. The time and money I have invested has been returned many times over.

 

[red12049]

Somebody mentioned this, and I feel it made me look bad so I want to explain.




I get calls from people who not only don't know what's wrong with their PCs, but can't explain anything to me in any rational way. For example, I get a call asking why Windows won't load. I go out there and the person tried to boot off a driver install CD (non-bootable) because somebody told them that drivers make the computer run. We all saw that pyramid diagram in school where "device drivers" are below "operating system", well this person had seen it too.

Another client called saying the mouse isn't working. I have no clue what could be causing something like that, and the customer can't explain it to me in any way that makes sense. Usually in this case I recommend a N&P because I don't know what's wrong, and I don't want to get in an argument in somebody's house with the "you said it was X but it's really B, you're an idiot!" thing, when it is really a PEBCAK issue, because the user couldn't explain what his computer was doing. This client had essentially said I was an idiot for not diagnosing his problem in 3 seconds from his incomplete description, so I was treading carefully.

I got to his house and found it was a virus issue. I was unable to boot into a RAM loaded shell because the boot menu seemed to be corrupted, with a messed up screen. I could have used F8 or F12, but I'm not sure it would have worked. (The RAM shell is necessary to run the AV off, since usually the OS shell on the PC is locked by the infection.) At this point I should have just done a N&P, but I'm not sure what's wrong with the guy's BIOS, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea. So I told the guy to just buy a new PC.

I hope this clarified some things. I've never worked on a help desk, so I don't really know how to cut through phone crap like that. Add to that the fact that I'm autistic, so my communication skills are a little off anyway.

I'm frustrated by the number of really experienced IT guys now trying to do repair jobs for food money, that's sort of like the designer of a McDonald's fryer trying to work the fryer as an employee, sort of clumsy. I can't charge very much money because everybody is driving down the price. Sacramento has TONS of highly skilled IT people who are out of work, out of options, and have bills to pay and kids to feed. They are desperate, they are willing to work for peanuts just to buy food. Every job opening has 10,000 applicants, people are so desperate it's not funny. Everybody is trying to survive.

It's common practice here for a person with a PC problem to call people until he gets the answer he likes. The guy with the "bad mouse" had called about 3 or 4 people before I showed up. If you don't charge peanuts, the client will call around until he finds somebody who does. Even at my low price-$50-people want to pay less. One guy called me and hung up on hearing the $50 price. He called me back in a panic two days later. The guy he hired had decided to do a manual cleanse of his system (he had the Total Security fake AV) and now nothing was working. I cleaned Total Security off and charged him for that, but I had no idea what else to do since deleting DLL's off a Windows PC at random is not a great idea.

Some sort of certification regime would be nice. California licenses electronics and appliance repairmen, but it's just a way for the state to extract fees out of people-I applied in person, and all they did was take my check and app, run a copy of my A+ cert, and thank me. The A+ itself is treated like the runt of the litter by CompTIA, the test I took was a joke and could have been passed by cramming. CompTIA seems more focused on the Security+ cert, a much more involved test. The school I went to considered the A+ a throwaway cert, a steppingstone to the Microsoft certs (they also offered Security+). The whole idea of certifying computer techs seems to be treated like the FCC treats amateur radio-an annoyance, a legacy issue from the old days that is there because of the law but that really isn't worth the time of the regulator.

After I graduated in March 2006, CompTIA overhauled the A+ to focus on "soft skills". That made the whole idea a bad joke, and led people to think that anybody could be a tech. So you have 15 year olds doing repairs on neighborhood computers and companies hiring gamer d00dz to do tech work. The real problem is that nobody takes the technician seriously. Maybe we're headed towards a future where every tech is just a placeholder, and the real work is done remotely by engineers in India a la GS's Agent Jonny Utah. That's another discussion.

Well, that's my opinion on the whole issue. I may seem dumb, but that's only because the computer field here is populated by absolute morons. I'm thinking of going into the refurbished laptop business.

Let me start this by saying that I was not trying to pick on anyone in my other post.

You said it yourself: "I recommended a nuke & pave because I didn't know what was wrong." None of us knows what is wrong at first glance, every time. But we have the basics down, and so have the ability to properly troubleshoot a problem. I have no idea what may have been wrong with that computer, I wasn't there. You were there, and you had no idea either, and that is not a good place for a professional to be.

I would also ask why you worry about arguing with a customer who almost surely knows less than you? If he wishes to argue, then you probably don't need him for a customer.

My suggestion, if you wish to continue to pursue this career, would be to either apprentice yourself to someone else in order to learn, or to study like crazy on your own.

I wish you well.

Rick

 

[JosephLeo]

It seems this "General Chat" forum should be renamed into "The Theater" because it's only been seeing drama this past two months

 

[bytebuster]

Let me start this by saying that I was not trying to pick on anyone in my other post.

You said it yourself: "I recommended a nuke & pave because I didn't know what was wrong." None of us knows what is wrong at first glance, every time. But we have the basics down, and so have the ability to properly troubleshoot a problem. I have no idea what may have been wrong with that computer, I wasn't there. You were there, and you had no idea either, and that is not a good place for a professional to be.

I would also ask why you worry about arguing with a customer who almost surely knows less than you? If he wishes to argue, then you probably don't need him for a customer.

My suggestion, if you wish to continue to pursue this career, would be to either apprentice yourself to someone else in order to learn, or to study like crazy on your own.

I wish you well.

Rick

I am obviously unable to diagnose a problem over the phone in 5 seconds when the customer doesn't tell me what's wrong. Once there, I did realize that it was a virus issue. I told him I would clean his system. My CD won't boot, so I say ok, I need to switch boot prefs so that the optical drive boots first. No problem, done it before. I go into the BIOS menu and the screen is cut in two at exactly the point where the boot options would come up, so I can't read the boot options nor change them. I wasn't thinking of F12 at the time, but if I'm facing this weird screen problem I'm not sure F12 would have been of any use. The odd cut in the BIOS screen led me to believe he had a virus in his BIOS. It's rare, but I know that it does happen. Without a properly functioning BIOS, I obviously couldn't boot off the optical drive to load the RAM shell to run Avast. I hope this clears some things up. Somebody said I could have flashed his BIOS, but I'm reluctant to do so, since BIOS flashing has so much that can go wrong. I know that a guy in my classes at the tech school I went to flashed his own BIOS and ended up with a dead motherboard.

 

[GeeksInKhakis]

try some stuff on test machines first...

1. I am obviously unable to diagnose a problem over the phone in 5 seconds when the customer doesn't tell me what's wrong.

2. No problem, done it before. I go into the BIOS menu and the screen is cut in two at exactly the point where the boot options would come up, so I can't read the boot options nor change them.

3. Somebody said I could have flashed his BIOS, but I'm reluctant to do so, since BIOS flashing has so much that can go wrong. I know that a guy in my classes at the tech school I went to flashed his own BIOS and ended up with a dead motherboard.

1. Stock answer: "There are several issues that could be causing the problem you are describing. In most instances it runs betweeen $x and $y to fix it (this is where experience kicks in). I can't tell for certain until I take a look at it, but I'm sure we'll be able to get your computer up and running in a reasonable amount of time."

2. My guess is that the Bios screen was 'cut in two' because the screen 'horizontal or vertical alignment' was off. Yeah, I know that doesn't happen (as much) now with LCD flat panels, but it's quite common on old CRTs and even some LCDs.

3. Don't rely on 'that guy in my class' or 'at my school' to diagnose issues. Have you ever actually flashed a BIOS yourself? Flashing a BIOS is not as risky as the MB manufacturers make it out to be. They are covering their A$$, since most likely this is being attempted by an end-user and we all know what they are capable of doing.

 

[mekon]

1. Stock answer: "There are several issues that could be causing the problem you are describing. In most instances it runs betweeen $x and $y to fix it (this is where experience kicks in). I can't tell for certain until I take a look at it, but I'm sure we'll be able to get your computer up and running in a reasonable amount of time."

2. My guess is that the Bios screen was 'cut in two' because the screen 'horizontal or vertical alignment' was off. Yeah, I know that doesn't happen (as much) now with LCD flat panels, but it's quite common on old CRTs and even some LCDs.

3. Don't rely on 'that guy in my class' or 'at my school' to diagnose issues. Have you ever actually flashed a BIOS yourself? Flashing a BIOS is not as risky as the MB manufacturers make it out to be. They are covering their A$$, since most likely this is being attempted by an end-user and we all know what they are capable of doing.

Are you sure your not telepathic? Your post is virtually word for word what I was just about to post.

 

[red12049]

I am obviously unable to diagnose a problem over the phone in 5 seconds when the customer doesn't tell me what's wrong. Once there, I did realize that it was a virus issue. I told him I would clean his system. My CD won't boot, so I say ok, I need to switch boot prefs so that the optical drive boots first. No problem, done it before. I go into the BIOS menu and the screen is cut in two at exactly the point where the boot options would come up, so I can't read the boot options nor change them. I wasn't thinking of F12 at the time, but if I'm facing this weird screen problem I'm not sure F12 would have been of any use. The odd cut in the BIOS screen led me to believe he had a virus in his BIOS. It's rare, but I know that it does happen. Without a properly functioning BIOS, I obviously couldn't boot off the optical drive to load the RAM shell to run Avast. I hope this clears some things up. Somebody said I could have flashed his BIOS, but I'm reluctant to do so, since BIOS flashing has so much that can go wrong. I know that a guy in my classes at the tech school I went to flashed his own BIOS and ended up with a dead motherboard.

Bytebuster,

After this post, I am going to take my leave of this thread.

A: If you suspected a bios virus/problem, why would you worry about a N&P? The bios would obviously have to be dealt with first.

B: If you didn't have any idea of the various keyboard combinations to force a boot device, that speaks to the amount of study and/or experience you have.

C: If you are depending on anecdotal stories from friends about procedures (bios flashing) that techs do frequently, that again speaks to the amount of study/experience you have.

D: It's not the customers' job to tell you what's wrong, that is your job. The customer, if possible, should relate the symptoms.

None of the above is insurmountable, but should be taken care of before you are out on the street charging customers' for your knowledge and experience.

Please take this in the spirit in which it was intended. I'd love to see you succeed.... by doing things the correct way.

Rick

 

[Tweak]

Along the lines of the above comment I figured the BIOS split may be as simple as hitting Auto adjust assuming it is an LCD (or some older and CRT monitors as well actually). I am reminded Joe of a shop locally that has been called Computer Drama Center as opposed to Computer Trauma Center.

 

[bytebuster]

Yes, my education was inadequate, and I have no "on the job" training. I was unable to find a job after I graduated, there were no technician jobs out there, the college kept sending me to regular call center jobs like answering a customer helpline for an insurance company. When I complained, they said any job was a good job. I noted that I didn't pay $10k to answer insurance company calls. They said I needed to broaden my search, but I don't think I was remiss in asking for a computer technician job!

So I tried several things: my mom got me a job as a teacher's aide for the school district she worked for (couldn't stand it), launched website during the financial meltdown which promptly failed because it was a luxury service. I advertised as a computer tech unaware of what people would ask me to do! If you called that dumb, I would agree, but I was out of options and being crushed by debt from the failed site. (I ultimately had to file bankruptcy.)

I've learned a lot, and I do learn quickly. There was no other way that I could see, however. By the way, I DO remember F8 from my schooling NOW, but it had been so long that I couldn't remember it at that guy's house. I think I will lay low on the technician business for a while, and refurbish laptops for now. My ad is still in the Yellow Pages, but I'm not really getting any calls. I will not advertise elsewhere. Instead, I will get some old laptops, teach myself soldering, and make money THAT way.

 

[Graystar]

I am sitting here with a fever reading this and felt I could offer some advice as to the bigger issue that needs to be dealt with.

Your "Confidence" in your self is shaken. Your customers can hear it in your voice and I can read it in your posting.

In my previous life I was a sales trainer, i have trained a few hundred successful people to go out and scratch out a living for themselves in both the best of times and the worst of times. The one thing you need to do is learn to "Act" while involved with a customer.
"Acting" confident and letting you customer know that you will not rest until you have resolved their issues and that your prices are reasonable for the "level" of service you provide. If you are not sure of your skills NEVER tell your customer that out loud.
Let your customer know that there are resources you bring to the table that other in the area cannot. And that while you may not have every answer you are really good at finding the answers to the impossible questions.

Please don't confuse acting with lying.
Never misrepresent yourself, your products or the company your represent.
as lying even about the smallest of things will trip you up and you will never keep them as a long term customer.

The first "Acting" scenario I would recommend you develop is a state of mind where you put forth the impression that are really busy right now.

If I am on the phone and the customer seems a little unsure I will point blank ask them "you don't need this done right away do you? I ask because I have a lot work currently."
What they hear is that you are a busy service person and that others are using you.
What I meant was I am working on getting better and getting paid.

While "no one" can diagnose what is wrong with a computer in a couple of minutes would it not make sense to deal with the customer differently that the 4 other people he called that he never heard of before.
If the customer has no one refered to them the person who will get the job will be the one who does what no one else will do.

If you will listen to them and stop trying to dazzle them with technical expertise, and tell them how they will enjoy having you as their service provider, then YOU will have done what no one else has done over the phone.

And you will get more business than you are now.

If you walk the streets and tell everyone you are broke and need money people will ignore you. If you walk the streets like your pockets are full people will want to be around you because they too want to be successful and the way to be successful is to hang around others who are.

I need some Nyquil.


Jim

 

[bytebuster]

You're right, I don't have a heck of a lot of confidence in myself. On another forum, somebody called me a whiner, and the thing is he's right. When the going gets tough I whine and pull back. The problem is that I was raised to depend on others for my well being, to look elsewhere for a solution to life. And even worse, because I have no money, I'm still stuck with people (my parents) who view me as a little baby needing constant care. My father always said that the poor would rise to the occasion if they were allowed to (complaining about ghettos and such) yet he never followed that advice with me. Go figure. Maybe I need therapy or sales training or god knows what. But I do need to feel more confident. Unfortunately I'm not in a very confident situation.

 

[Graystar]

The first step is the recognition that there is an issue.
I would recommend reading a Tony Robbins book called "Awaken the giant within"
Available at just about any library.

As far as sales training, I recommend reading the world's best sales training manual. I keep a copy in my bookcase and read it regularly.
Dr Seuss Green eggs and Ham.

And remember the ten most powerful 2 letter words in the world.

If it is to be, it is up to me.

Hope this helps.

Jim