Monday, July 27, 2009

Nokia renages.

Despite spending almost two hours on the phone Friday and having Nokia tell me that it would waive the 15% restocking charge, when I called today Monday to get a return authorization (RA) number Nokia acted like it had never heard of me and charged the 15%. I just took the RA and ended the call. You can't fight city hall or customer service.

Verzion Wireless, save me from all this! Get some good devices.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Nokia N810

I tried using it. Advertised softaware is not loaded but lised. The user can decide to load it. I had the N810 load Rhapsody.

Then I tried to have it load Skype. Error message indicated that I needed to upgrade the Nokia N810 software. More evidence that Nokia sent me an old device. I downloaded the required program but received another error message indicating that the N810 could not recognize the file type.

That was it. I removed the battery and packed it into its box. Monday I will call Nokia the get a return Authorization (RA) number.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Nokia N810 arrived: used, NOT new!

It is clearly used. Packaging makes that obvious. I paid for new and got used!

I am on hold with Nokia, which wants ME to pay to return it for a new device plus 15% restocking! Apple only hit me for 10% restocking when I returned the iPod Touch.

I asked Nokia to check its inventory system and determine whether the device had already been sold and returned. I'm waiting for the answer.

This sucks.

These companies do not deal with customers well at all.

Forty minutes on this call to Nokia and WAITING!

What will Nokia decide? The tension mounts. Plus, stupid Verizon Wireless cannot handle my switch to paperless billing. I called and its systems are down!

What the heck?

Nokia group to provide a return authorization (RA) number have all gone home. They are in Indiana.

I am on hold for the group that MAY be able to tell me if this device had been sold and returned before it was shipped to me.

Apple is starting to look good.

On hold with person looking up my Nokia device. One hour, three minutes. Thank goodness I'm using Skype.

74 minutes. I grow weak.

80 minutes.

90 minutes. Nokia will wave the 15% but charge me for shipping. I said no. They are checking again.

95 minutes.

100 minutes. They are sending me back to sales, which dumped onto some semi techie group. Nokia could not tell me whether I had to pay for shipping, the reason I was placed on hold.

I played with it while I was on hold. I think I will return it no matter what. It sucks.

Verizon Wireless, get something: Palm Prem G1, G2, even the damn iPhone! Something!

112 minutes. It's over. Nothing resolved. I must call back Monday.

Oh, the humanity!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Linux Ubuntu returns!

Yes and it is actually installed and working on my trusty four year old Dell eight pound laptop. I received the version 9.04 CD from The Netherlands in record time.

Initially, I ran it from the CD. Then in a bold move I had it create its own partition on my 40 gig hard drive and install. At start up I have the option to boot either Ubuntu or WindowsXP. It's working well.

However, it limited the size of the partition and there appears to be almost no free space. It presented me with a long list of program updates that cannot be installed because they need almost 400 meg of disk space and I seem to have less than 100 meg free. I tried removing some programs such as Open Office but that did not free nearly enough space.

Both the Update Manager and Add/Remove apps seem to have been created by some being from a nearby galaxy, not too far from our own but not too close either.

Hey, at least it's working.

Nokia N810 back ordered.

I ordered it directly from Nokia. Let's see if they produce and ship it. Price is $229, same as the iPod Touch from the hated and deservedly so Apple Computers.

Nokia has a real slide out keyboard. It's an Internet tablet, not a phone. This is the WiFi only version, no WiMax.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Acer supprt: still dense.

Response (Arun_GWSI663) - 07/20/2009 06:42 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue.

As per your Serial number we verified that your product is in Warranty.

I understand that you are unable to do recovery using the recovery partition, and also find out that there is no eRecovery program installed in the PC.

Could you please understand that you can install it from the recovery CD.
So could you please go though this link for purchase the recovery the recovery CD: https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer.

_________________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 8:37 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

How about letting me download it? If it fits on a CD, it must be no larger than about 650 meg, right?

The Acer eRecovery program is supposed to already be on my PC. Why should I pay for something that I am supposed to have?

Plus, my Acer netbook does NOT have a CD drive. You should know that, plus I have informed Acer support about that in this thread alone, MANY times.

Acer support: still crazy after all these years.

Response (Shelly_GWSI408) - 07/20/2009 12:42 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you.

I understand that you are unable to do recovery using the recovery partition. As per our records your computer is in warranty.

We would recommend you to purchase the recovery CD and do the recovery with the help of an external optical drive.

To order replacement recovery discs/media, please refer to Acer's online order form located at:

https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer.

This can also be found under the eRecovery CD Purchase link at:

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/webpage.cfm?siteid=7293&areaid=7&website=AcerPanAm.com/us.
__________________________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Mon, Jul 20, 2009 at 6:12 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

Why?

Why would I pay any more money to Acer for something that is supposed to work but does not?

Go back and read the exchange of messages between Acer and me. You will find a consistent pattern of silly suggestions from Acer, which show that Acer support people do not use common sense.

Are you trying to make me hate Acer? Your eRecovery program is apparently not installed on my Acer PC and you do not want to admit
it.

I would not recommend Acer. This would not happen with Dell or HP.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Acer support: you cannot make up stuff like this.

Response (Hashim_GWSI667) - 07/19/2009 04:52 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you.

I am glad to inform you that as per our record your product is in warranty.

Having reviewed your email, I understand that your Netbook is having some issues with its performance and you need to know how to do recovery using eRecovery.

You could get complete eRecovery steps from the following link :-

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/portal20.cfm?recordid=1156&formid=3390&website=acerpanam.com&siteid=7117&words=all&keywords=&areaid=2

___________________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sun, Jul 19, 2009 at 9:45 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

"Immediately, press ALT on the keyboard and start tapping F10.
Continue holding ALT and tapping F10 as the unit boots up."

Screen stating "Starting Acer Erecovery" does NOT appear.

I tried it a couple of times. It does NOT work!

Acer support: the beat goes on.

Response (Akash PRamesh) - 07/18/2009 01:17 PM

Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue. I am glad to inform you that as per our record your product is in warranty.

Having reviewed your email, I understand that your netbook is having some issues with its performance and you need to know how to do recovery using partition.

Aaa, in order to do recovery using the recovery partition I would recommend you to click on start, click on all programs and select empowering technology.
_________________________________________
fromKenneth Matinale <matinale@gmail.com>toAcer Technical Support <acer1@mailwc.custhelp.com>
dateSun, Jul 19, 2009 at 3:37 PMsubjectRe: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

"click on start, click on all programs and select empowering technology."

There is nothing like "empowering technology". Please provide more info. Thanks.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Apple iPod Touch returned ... ten percent charge.

I arrived at the mall about 9:45AM. The Apple store opens at 10AM and about half a dozen people were already waiting outside. This was odd because customers were already inside and an Apple employee (Applista) was coming out to see if any of us had early appointments.

At 10AM I entered and indicated that I was returning an Apple iPod Touch. There was some grumbling among Apple employees, apparently bracing for the day's onslaught. I was asked why I was returning it and stated that it did not function as a stand alone product, that when I turned it on I saw an image that wanted me to use iTunes. An Applista suggested that iTunes would enable it and I said that iTunes on my PC presented me with an agreement and that I would not declare my allegiance to iTunes.

OK, we were ready for the actual return:

Applista: There is a ten percent re-stocking charge.

Ken: I was not told that.

Applista: It's on the receipt.

Ken: The receipt was sent to me by e-mail.

Applista: Then you received it.

Ken: Not while I was in the store and could do something about it.

Applista: Well, there's nothing that I can do about it.

That cost me $23. I took the hit and left, never to return again. Apple has alienated me.

Acer support: the final insult, declaring the unsolved problem solved

Classic case of a company ignoring what the customer tells it.

**********************************

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

Just tell me how "to do system recovery ... using the recovery
partition". Instructions in the pfd file have not worked.
_________________________________________

Response (Akash PRamesh) - 07/18/2009 08:10 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue.

I am glad to inform you that as per our record your product is in warranty.

Having reviewed your email, I understand that your netbook is having some issues with its performance and you need to know how to do recovery using partition.

Aaa, please go through the link for doing recovery using empowering technology http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/data/7117/documents/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management.pdf

There would be a data loss if you are using RCD. So please take back up of your data before you do a recovery. To take a back up, you can contact Answers by Acer which is a paid support or else you can take the system to any local store nearby.

Your service request has been updated, please make a note of the SR number:1-524JJQ for future references.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/webpage.cfm?website=acerpanam.com&siteid=7117&areaid=2

Thank you for contacting Acer,
Have a great day!

Respectfully,
Acer America
Online Technical Support

Customer (Aaa Ken) - 07/18/2009 07:25 AM
- Show quoted text ---

Last Updated: 07/18/2009 08:10 AM
Status: Solved
_________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 12:41 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

http://techthoughtsmatinale.blogspot.com/

Hey, clown, check the blog above. The entire world knows how lousy Acer support is. I just wrote to Acer (again) that the Acer recovery pdf file did not have good info and you tell me to read it, then declare the problem SOLVED!?

That is terrible support.

Apple, the evil empire, adds a touch of evil.

Yesterday I bought an Apple iPod Touch. I will return it today.

When it is powered on it does not start up. It shows an image of a USB cable with an arrow pointing to an iTunes icon. It is crippled. When I attach it to my Windows PC an iTunes service agreement appears on my PC. I must agree to continue. I declined.

I bought it to access the web and run Skype. However, Apple will not let me do those things without buying into its insidious all encompassing iTunes world. No thanks.

Plus, where does it say that I must have a PC to use an iPod Touch?

What if my PC runs a non-iTunes OS: Linux, ChromeOS (future), whatever?

Acer support ... MORONIC!

Here are the messages exchanged between me and Acer support over six days regarding the very SLOW performance of my Acer netbook running WindowsXP. There are some common themes:

1. Acer does not respond directly to what a customer writes.
2. Acer does not know what PC I have.
3. Acer does not know whether my model PC is made by Acer or by one of its acquisitions such as Gateway.
4. Acer cannot provide solutions to its own problems, specifically, system recovery.

____________________________________

Customer (aaa Ken) - 07/11/2009 07:25 PM
Processors [Incident: 090709-000123]

Acer: Come on, come on! I sent this screen shot to you a day ago. It clearly shows TWO processors, both in device manager and in task manager.

Please explain the TWO processors.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ken
Date: Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 9:08 AM
To: matinale@gmail.com


You are invited to view a photo from Ken's photo album: Tech View Photo
Message from Ken:

View the TWO processors in my Acer netbook. If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=matinale&target=PHOTO&id=5356816930879671810

&aid=5356816224913769969&authkey=Gv1sRgCIXasL-0sPrGuQE&invite=CLSdjMsD&feat=email

To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

____________________________________


Response (Rajesh P) - 07/11/2009 11:00 PM
Dear aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America.This is Rajesh. I’ll be happy to assist you in this issue.

It is extremely hard to determine the exact cause from the information you have provided.
With this in mind, could you please give more detailed information about the issue/error message if any or any other information that you think may help us to help you.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://Acer.com/

Have a great day!

__________________________________


from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support

date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 9:16 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

See attached file. It is a screen shot that clearly shows TWO processors in BOTH:

- device manager
- task manager.

Please explain why there are TWO processors and how TWO processors impact performance.

Thank you.
__________________________________

Response (Shefin) - 07/12/2009 08:54 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you.

I understand that you can see two processors in device manger and task manager.

Please note that, if you are using Hyperthreading processor with your computer, it will shows two processors in device manager. That means there is one physical processor and two logical processors, it works like two but there is only one processor.

We are sorry that we'll not be able to pull up your computer records without the serial number. In order to assist you better we would like to have the Serial number of your system. We would recommend you to verify the correct Serial Number which is 22 or 13 character alphanumeric or 11 digit SNID number before sending the same to us.

You could locate the serial number:

On the bottom of a notebook
On the back or side of a desktop
Under the front sliding door on a desktop
On the original computer box

We would also recommend you to confirm whether you bought the system from US or Canada.

I will do the needful after getting the required information. For further clarifications

please feel free to visit our web site http://Acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!

__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 12:54 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

I sent all that info. I am away from the Acer netbook now.

I did not install hyperthreading. I never heard of it. Acer must have done it. Could that slow down my Acer pc?

__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 3:20 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

nvoice# 553430140
SSCC# (00)047182358002188744
LoadID: U21868-005,113


MFSG.DATE:0811 AOA 110-1588

S/N: LUS030B0438482A2972536

SNID: 84817269525

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 9:54 AM, Acer Technical

__________________________________

Response (Shefin) - 07/12/2009 02:40 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you.

I understand that the computer shows two processors in device manger and task manager. I have verified the serial number and found that the computer is in warranty.

Please note that Hyperthreading is an advanced technology for the Processors. If the computer is having a Processor with Hyperthreading, it will shows two processors in device manager. That means there is one physical processor and two logical processors, it works like two but there is only one processor. It will increase the ability of the Processor. There is nothing to worry about it.

I sincerely hope the above information will help you with the issue. Please make a note

of the service request number, 1-51GV7G for further assistance.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://Acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!

__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 4:05 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

1-51GV7G

OK, if two processors is not the problem, then why is it so slow? I added only a few new programs:

- google Chrome, Updater, Desktop
- Skype
- Norton Internet Security (turned off everything)
- VZ Manager (for mobile broadband) - not used

Removed MS Office
Deleted MS Works (would not uninstall)

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Acer Technical
__________________________________

Response (Shefin) - 07/12/2009 04:27 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with the system performance issue.

Please go to the link given below and follow the instructions to resolve the performance issue with your computer.

http://support.gateway.com/s/Checklists/Q42006/ck2006110918.shtml

I sincerely hope the above information will help you with the issue. Please make a note

of the service request number, 1-51GV7G for further assistance.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://Acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 5:45 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

1. It's an ACER, not a Gateway!

2. Don't you know how much RAM is installed? It's YOUR PC! One gig.

3. I do the rest. It's boiler plate junk.

This PC stinks. How do I return it?

RSVP

On Sun, Jul 12, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Acer Technical
__________________________________

Response (Praveen_GWSI407) - 07/12/2009 07:42 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I will be happy to assist you with the system performance issue.

After verifying your information, we found that your product is in warranty.

Please go through the provided the link to resolve the system performance issue.

Would you please provide us with more detailed information about the issue/error message if any or any other information that may you think would help us would be a welcome.

Your service request id is:- 1-51GV7G

It's been a pleasure assisting you.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our website:- http://Acerpanam.com

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 6:42 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

Refund!

I'm sick of this Acer!

How do I get my money back?
__________________________________

Response (Anoop_GWSI352) - 07/14/2009 08:44 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with the system performance issue .

As per our records, your computer is in warranty .

I am really sorry for the inconvenience that you have experienced .

Please go to uninstall the Norton anti-virus and then check whether the issue is resolved or not. You could uninstall the Norton software by going into control panel- add or remove programs-click on Norton anti-virus and then click on remove .

Please do reply with the result .

The service request number for this issue is 1-51GV7G .

For further clarifications, please feel free to visit our web site http://acerpanam.com/

Have a great day !
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 10:01 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

I turned off Norton. I want a refund!

REFUND!
__________________________________

Response (Chaithra) - 07/15/2009 01:03 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you.

For resolving the issue you may please perform a system recovery.

For performing the issue you may go through the following link:

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/data/7117/documents/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management.pdf

Note: Please note System recovery completely erases the C partition and reinstalls factory-shipped files from the recovery partition. All your personal data files and applications will be lost. Be sure that you have your data files backed up before performing this option.

Service Request: 1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 6:38 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

1-524JJQ

How can I set it up for dual boot with two partitions:

1. WindowsXP
2. Linux Ubuntu?
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 7:50 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

Service Request: 1-524JJQ

"burn the factory image (from the hidden partition) to an optical disk."

This is a NETbook. There is no optical disk!
__________________________________

Response (Alvin_GWSI662) - 07/15/2009 07:12 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with the issue regarding your system.

While going through your system record in our database, we came to know that your system is in warranty.

You can also perform the system recovery using recovery CD.

You may use an external USB CD drive to perform the system recovery.

Below are the steps to rebuild your computer back to factory configuration. Please note that the instructions that appear on the screen when they start to reload the HDD have a small typo.

The instructions referenced Recovery CD 1.
They should have referenced Recovery CD 2.
1) Power up your system
2) Press the CD-ROM eject button and insert the System CD
3) Close the CD-ROM tray
4) Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the system.
5) Press F12 to select the boot drive option when you see the Acer splash screen
6) Select Boot from CD option
7) The system will boot from the System CD (CD 1)
8) Follow the on-screen instruction to restore your system.
9) When the restore from CD function is complete and the system is booted into Windows,

re-insert the System CD and let the CD auto-play.
10) Click the "Restore to factory default"
11) Remove the System CD and insert the "Applications CD". Re-install the desired applications from this CD.

You can restore your computer and operating system to factory settings using this recovery CD. It will install the Operating System, all the pre-installed Software and all the drivers of your system. Recovery disc configures your system to the factory defaults. There would be a data loss if you are using RCD. So please take back up of your data before you do a recovery.

Please make a note of your updated SR(Service request) No# mentioned below for further reference
SR No# : 1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site http://Acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Ken:

07/16/2009 01:18 PM
http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/data/7117/documents/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management.pdf

Using Acer eRecovery Management

"By pressing the hotkey Alt + F10 during the boot-up process, or at any time when you are running Microsoft® Windows®."

This does not work.
__________________________________

Response (Sumesh_GWSI673) - 07/16/2009 04:30 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. Ill be happy to assist you with this issue.

I understand from your mail that you have an issue with system.

In order to resolve the issue please perform system recovery using Recovery Disk. Please refer the previous mail to get steps for the same.

Below are the steps to rebuild your computer back to factory configuration. Please note that the instructions that appear on the screen when they start to reload the HDD have a small typo.

The instructions referenced Recovery CD 1.
They should have referenced Recovery CD 2.
1) Power up your system
2) Press the CD-ROM eject button and insert the System CD
3) Close the CD-ROM tray
4) Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the system.
5) Press F12 to select the boot drive option when you see the Acer splash screen
6) Select Boot from CD option
7) The system will boot from the System CD (CD 1)
8) Follow the on-screen instruction to restore your system.
9) When the restore from CD function is complete and the system is booted into Windows,
re-insert the System CD and let the CD auto-play.
10) Click the "Restore to factory default"
11) Remove the System CD and insert the "Applications CD". Re-install the desired applications from this CD.
You can restore your computer and operating system to factory settings using this recovery CD. It will install the Operating System, all the pre-installed Software and all the drivers of your system. Recovery disc configures your system to the factory defaults. There would be a data loss if you are using RCD. So please take back up of your data before you do a recovery. To take a back up, you can contact Answers by Acer which is a paid support or else you can take the system to any local store nearby.

Please make a note of the service request number:1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 5:08 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

I just told you that Alt F10 does NOT bring up recovery program. Are you sure that works on my netbook?
__________________________________

Response (Santo JohnE) - 07/17/2009 05:18 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you…

After verifying your email I came to understand that you are facing issues related to recovery.

If you dont have recovery cd please follow the steps below to purchase it.

You may restore your computer and operating system to factory settings using this recovery CD. It will install the Operating System, all the pre-installed Software and all the drivers of your system. You need to back up the entire data before using the RCD. You may either place an order for a recovery CD online or if you are interested we may send across one for you. If you need us to place an order for the CD, you will need to provide a method of payment. The Restore CD cost approximately $19.95 including shipping and handling on your Credit Card. FedEx would deliver the CD at your door steps and may take 7 - 14 business days to arrive, depending on the availability of the recovery disc. Recovery process resets your system to the factory defaults. Please be advised that there would be a data loss if you are using Recovery CD. So please take back up of your data. Acer disowns any kind liability in account of Data Loss.

Alternately, if you are skeptical on giving your credit card information, you may place an order for recovery online. Please visit the following link, which would help you purchase an RCD online.
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

Below are the steps to rebuild your computer back to factory configuration. Please note that the instructions that appear on the screen when they start to reload the HDD have a small typo.

The instructions referenced Recovery CD 1.
They should have referenced Recovery CD 2.
1) Power up your system
2) Press the CD-ROM eject button and insert the System CD
3) Close the CD-ROM tray
4) Press CTRL-ALT-DEL to reboot the system.
5) Press F12 to select the boot drive option when you see the Acer splash screen
6) Select Boot from CD option
7) The system will boot from the System CD (CD 1)
8) Follow the on-screen instruction to restore your system.
9) When the restore from CD function is complete and the system is booted into Windows, re-insert the System CD and let the CD auto-play.
10) Click the "Restore to factory default"
11) Remove the System CD and insert the "Applications CD". Re-install the desired applications from this CD.

You can restore your computer and operating system to factory settings using this recovery CD. It will install the Operating System, all the pre-installed Software and all the drivers of your system. Recovery disc configures your system to the factory defaults. There would be a data loss if you are using RCD. So please take back up of your data before you do a recovery. To take a back up, you can contact Answers by Acer which is a paid support or else you can take the system to any local store nearby.

Please make a note of the service request number:1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 11:18 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

This Acer netbook does NOT have a CD drive. Do you want me to buy that too?

The Alt and F10 keys are supposed to start the recovery program, which is supposed to be stored on Acer solid state memory but that does not work as I have written TWICE before.
__________________________________

Response (Santo JohnE) - 07/17/2009 11:45 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you…

After verifying your email I came to understand that you are facing issue related to

recovery.

Please arrange an external optical drive and do the recovery as prescribed in the previous mail.

Please make a note of the service request number:1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 2:55 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

Arrange how? What happened to the recovery program that Acer is supposed to have on my PC?
__________________________________

Response (Vinay MV) - 07/17/2009 05:13 PM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I would be happy to assist you with the eRecovery management software cannot be loaded issue.

As per our records your system is in warranty.

Have you installed any other Operating system?

Have you deleted the Recovery partition, usually D:/ partition?

Please get back to us with the relevant information regarding the above questions.

We will do the needful after getting the information.

Your SR number for this issue is: 1-524JJQ

For further clarifications, please visit our website http://www.acerpanam.com/

Thank you for contacting Acer,

Have a nice day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 6:21 PM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

No other OS installed on Acer.

D drive is the SD card. You should know that.

Is the recovery partition something that I can see? I thought it was hidden.
__________________________________

Response (Chaithra) - 07/18/2009 12:16 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue.

Please try performing system recovery using recovery disks. For that you need to purchase external CD drive.

Service Request: 1-524JJQ

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/

Have a great day!

__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 6:49 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident:

090711-000847]

You want me to "purchase external CD drive"? This is not acceptable.

What happened to the recovery program that my Acer netbook is supposed to have on it? Please address that and do not ask me to spend any more money on this Acer PC. Thank you.
__________________________________

Response (Akash PRamesh) - 07/18/2009 07:08 AM
Dear Aaa Ken,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue.

I am glad to inform you that as per our record your product is in warranty.

Having reviewed your email, I understand that your netbook is having some issues with its performance.

Aaa, the only way to improve the system performance is to do system recovery. You can do it either using the recovery partition or CD. And about how to set it up for dual boot with two partition since this issue involves third party software, we fall short of resources with which we could better diagnose and resolve it for you. However Acer technicians are bound to support its customers with the removal or installation of any hardware or software shipped across with Acer machines. But they are not trained on all the advanced features of the software or hardware Acer sells.

Because this calls up on a higher level of expertise the advance troubleshooting, we only have support over the phone on these issues and it is chargeable. You may avail this support on 1-866-621-2237 at a rate of $2.95 per minute with the slots 30 minutes ($59.99), 90 minutes ($129.99), or 15 issues ($199.99) and the validity will be 1 year which can be billed to a credit card.

Note: Items from the Acer Accessory Store are fully supported by the manufacturer of the hardware or publisher of the software that you purchased.

I sincerely hope that one of these options provides a resolution for this issue.

Your service request has been updated, please make a note of the SR number:1-524JJQ for future references.

For further clarifications please feel free to visit our web site

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/forms/webpage.cfm?website=acerpanam.com&siteid=7117&areaid=2

Thank you for contacting Acer,
Have a great day!
__________________________________

from Kenneth Matinale
to Acer Technical Support
date Sat, Jul 18, 2009 at 8:16 AM
subject Re: Invitation to view a photo from Ken's Picasa Web Album - Tech [Incident: 090711-000847]

Just tell me how "to do system recovery ... using the recovery partition". Instructions in the pfd file have not worked.
__________________________________

Monday, July 13, 2009

Linux Ubuntu: not again!

OK, I must be an idiot for even considering installing the Linux Ubuntu operating system (OS) again after all the trouble I had with it already installed on my first netbook from Dell.

After returning the Dell netbook in January I finally received my free CD with Ubuntu 8.10. I put it aside. A couple of days ago I tried to run Ubuntu on my 3.5 year old 15.4 inch Dell laptop, two gig RAM. It booted from the CD and ran pretty efficiently after loading up. I am running Ubuntu now.

So, I figured it may save that stupid Acer netbook that runs Windows slower each day. However, the Acer has no CD drive. It has an SD slot and USB ports, which could accommodate my SanDisk four gig flash drive. The objective would be to make the flash drive bootable with Ubuntu. Seems simple enough.

Argh! Fear and loathing!

I went to Ubuntu land and found that in six short months the version of Ubuntu had gone from 8.10 to 9.4! What the heck? The version I had seemed ancient. I ordered a new free 9.4 CD, which will take 6-8 weeks, I'm sure to encourage you to pay for something approaching normal delivery time. Could these clowns make it available on a flash drive? Who the heck uses CDs any more?

I downloaded two versions of Ubuntu 9.4:

1. to my Dell
2. to my Acer; this version is optimized for the small screen of netbooks.

On the Dell when I tried to run an .ISO file it fired up Nero (to make it bootable and/or burnable, who remembers?), which stated that my trial period had ended and that I needed to pay $80 to even attempt to enter the vast underworld of creating an Ubuntu boot device.

I hit on the idea of removing Nero from the Dell, figuring that maybe I could start a new trial period. Nero ran a special un-install that took an hour.

Meanwhile I downloaded the netbook version of Ubuntu onto the Acer and encountered an image file that could not be executed.

I'll read through my previous posts and maybe I'll find a clue to making this Ubuntu portable and installable. What a joke. These feel good open system freebies never seem to work. Try some of the open system Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) programs. Good luck getting them to work. There's a reason that proprietary Skype dominates VoIP: it freakin' works!

Google's Chrome OS, announced four days ago, cannot arrive fast enough.

I also stumbled onto a site that provides instructions for running MacOS on x86 PCs.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Acer netbook: screen shot of TWO processors!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=matinale&target=PHOTO&id=5356816930879671810&aid=5356816224913769969&authkey=Gv1sRgCIXasL-0sPrGuQE&invite=CLSdjMsD&feat=email

Let's see how Acer support responds to this proof.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Acer responds and so do I.

from Acer Technical Support
reply-to Acer Technical Support
to ken@matinale.net
date Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:37 AM
subject Processors [Incident: 090709-000123]
signed-by mailwc.custhelp.com

Response (Arun_GWSI663) - 07/09/2009 09:37 AM
Dear Kenneth Matinale,

Thank you for contacting Acer America. I’ll be happy to assist you with this issue.

As per your Serial number we verified that your product is in Warranty.

I understand that you are facing an issue related to the processors.

We would like to inform you that there is only one processor in the system.In the task manager it shows the Central processing unit usage history and the page file usagehistory, it is not the two processors.
As per your mail we found that your system have an issue related to the slow performance.

Are any LEDs (lights) lit on the system and do you hear the power supply fan blowing?
Have recently changed anything? Have you installed more memory, a new hard drive, downloaded or installed new software etc…?
Since when are you facing this issue?
Did your system give any error message on virus earlier?
___________________________________________

Look, the task manager shows TWO processors side by side under CPU
Usage History. There is a third box under Page File Usage History.
I'm not an idiot. Plus, task manager view has two CPU History options:

- One Graph, All CPUs
- One Graph Per CPU.

My Dell laptop, also running XP, does not have that option.

Please read what I sent previously and which you ignored in your
response. Let's count the processors then deal with performance.
Device Manager also shows two processors.

Below is info copied from its system info:

Acer Device Manager
Computer - ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Disk drives - SSDPAMM0008G1
Processors
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
WindowsXP service pack 3
Intel AtomCPU N270 @1.60GHz1.60GHz, 0.98 GB of RAM

Gianfranco alerted.

from Ken Matinale <ken@matinale.net>
to Gianfranco.Lanci@acer.com
dateThu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:38 AM
subjectAcer support
mailed-bygmail.com

Gianfranco,

http://techthoughtsmatinale.blogspot.com/

Ken

E-mail from Acer Technical Support

from Acer Technical Support <acer1@mailwc.custhelp.com>reply-toAcer Technical Support <acer1@mailwc.custhelp.com>
token@matinale.net
dateThu, Jul 9, 2009 at 7:15 AMsubjectProcessors [Incident: 090709-000123]signed-bymailwc.custhelp.com
hide details 7:15 AM (1 hour ago) Reply

Your question has been received. Messages are answered in the orderreceived.

Question Reference #090709-000123---------------------------------------------------------------
Summary: Processors
Product Level 1: Netbook
Product Level 2: Aspire One AOA110
Category Level 1: Others
Date Created: 07/09/2009 06:15 AM
Last Updated: 07/09/2009 06:15 AM
Status: New Operating System: Windows XP
Serial Number---------------------------------------------------------------
Discussion Thread---------------------------------------------------------------
Customer (Kenneth Matinale) - 07/09/2009 06:15 AM

Below is info copied from its system info:

Acer Device Manager
Computer - ACPI Multiprocessor PC
Disk drives - SSDPAMM0008G1
Processors
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
WindowsXP service pack 3
Intel AtomCPU N270 @1.60GHz1.60GHz, 0.98 GB of RAM
__________________
ACA AOA1101588 Netbook with WindowsXP.

Note the two processors from system info device manager:

Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz
Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz

Two processors are also shown in task manager. Why are there two? Doesn't that cost more than one? Are the two working at cross purposes? Are they using the operating system inefficiently. Can the OS even handle two processors? What about the apps?
System performance is SLOW!

1. How many processors are there?
2. If one, why are TWO shown?

Auto-Response - 07/09/2009 06:15 AM

Acer netbook: how many processors?

Your Question has been Submitted
The reference number for your question is '090709-000123'.
You will receive an acknowledgement Email from us within the next few hours verifying that we have received your question. The Email will come from Acer Technical Support. If you don't receive the comfirmation Email it is probably going to your Spam folder, or the Email Address that you supplied is incorrect.
Messages are answered in the order they are received.
If you need to add information to or cancel your question, you can do so by updating it from the 'My Question History' tab.

___________________________________

That's what I received when I submitted info on the two supposed processors in my SLOW Acer netbook. I asked two basic questions:

1. How many processors are there?
2. If one, why are two shown?

Let's see what Acer support does with this.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Acer netbook: more annoying stuff.

Rather than provide a two minute warning when the battery is getting low the stupid Acer netbook simply closes down. Sometimes in reviving it after it's been connected to an electrical outlet, Acer remains dormant for minutes, sometimes the cursor cannot be moved for minutes.

Hey, Gianfranco, what the heck it that!?

Acer web site slow, too.

To: Gianfranco Lanci, the chief executive of Acer

Hey, even your damn web site is SLOW! Performance on my Acer netbook 110 has become unacceptable. I'm ready to throw it out the window.