Missing Memory

Agent_99

Don't know if this should be posting here or in consumer issues,


Chipset : Intel® 945GSE Express
Memory2 : 1024MB DDR2 SDRAM (1 × 1024MB)
1 DDR2 slot total, 0 DDR2 slots available
Hard Drive3 : 160GB SATA

When I check the computer there is 139GB actual, I know you can lose a few GB but 21 GB is a bit much
Have I any recourse?

AlmightyCushion

You're not missing anything. The difference is down to the hard drive manufacturers reporting hard drive capacity one way and the operating system reporting it another way. After that there may be some taken up by a recovery partition.

Joneser

How long have you had the computer? If your using vista then it is probably because it creates backups of your hard drive which causes you to lose memory space without you knowing, this would only happen if you have automatic backups turned on though. If you go to administrative tools -> computer management -> disk management, then you can see exactly what all the memory is being used for, good luck

Agent_99

Joneser wrote: »

How long have you had the computer?

Just today, Santa prezzie for the kids

No big deal, basically used for surfing and a bit of online gaming

Webmonkey

File system? and hidden partitions etc etc...

Standard Toaster

Right click My Computer and choose Manage
Under Disk Management check for a hidden partition (drive will show with no drive letter)

Agent_99

The_Edge wrote: »

Right click My Computer and choose Manage
Under Disk Management check for a hidden partition (drive will show with no drive letter)

Will do, thanks, Bought an other new one today 320GB only showing 280GB...
But this one if for me No kids allowed HDMI cable and drilling through the wall to stream it directly to the big tv in the living room.

cardol

Hi
My hard drive was partitioned into C and D, and D dissappeared last week. C was still OK, but I called in someone who formatted the whole thing and said I needed new parts.
He took out what was in my computer and replaced it with what he said was better and faster parts and memory. He charged me €150 and while he said I now have less memory, I had a faster processor so would not notice any difference in speed. But I notice I can't play some online games and I really needed the 1GB when I had it. The speed is also not noticeably faster.

I used to have:
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2100+
1.74 GHz 1.00 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2
Service Pack 3

and now I have:
Intel Pentium III Processor
747MHz 512MB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2
Service Pack 3

It just doesn't sem right to me. Should I go back and ask for my 1GB? Any help / opinions greatly appreciated.

Webmonkey

That is absolutely disgraceful. You are ripped off my friend. I would go back to him and get him to explain himself. Alternatively find a non cow boy guy that can go and have a chat with him.

More than likely your (probably newer DDR) ram does not work with this more than likely SD RAM (Ancient / slower ram) that you now have. He gave you a new motherboard, processor and ram which are all ancient and now he's using yours for himself or sold it off.

People like this make my blood boil :mad:

PogMoThoin

cardol wrote: »

Hi
My hard drive was partitioned into C and D, and D dissappeared last week. C was still OK, but I called in someone who formatted the whole thing and said I needed new parts.
He took out what was in my computer and replaced it with what he said was better and faster parts and memory. He charged me €150 and while he said I now have less memory, I had a faster processor so would not notice any difference in speed. But I notice I can't play some online games and I really needed the 1GB when I had it. The speed is also not noticeably faster.

I used to have:
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2100+
1.74 GHz 1.00 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2
Service Pack 3

and now I have:
Intel Pentium III Processor
747MHz 512MB RAM
Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2
Service Pack 3

It just doesn't sem right to me. Should I go back and ask for my 1GB? Any help / opinions greatly appreciated.

I'm afraid to say You have been done, badly

cardol

OK, so do I actually try to get both my old processor and RAM back, or will one or the other do?

Webmonkey

You'll need your Processor + Mainboard + RAM back. They all dependent on each other so I doubt any one will work in your current setup.

PogMoThoin

cardol wrote: »

OK, so do I actually try to get both my old processor and RAM back, or will one or the other do?

And the motherboard and Your money. In fact I'd go to the Gardai. This is fraud of the highest order. This person has stolen Your parts and given You much older slower ones

Webmonkey

PogMoThoin wrote: »

And the motherboard and Your money. In fact I'd go to the Gardai. This is fraud of the highest order. This person has stolen Your parts and given You much older slower ones

I agree

cardol

He said my drive had crashed because the motherboard was so old. I did wonder why he took the installation CD that came with it away too, but he said there was no point in trying to fix my computer without first installing another motherboard. I knew the parts he replaced weren't new because I asked, but he said in order to save me money, he was giving me parts that other people had traded in when they upgraded.
Apparently, my new motherboard is top of the range. Are you saying it's not?

PogMoThoin

cardol wrote: »

He said my drive had crashed because the motherboard was so old. I did wonder why he took the installation CD that came with it away too, but he said there was no point in trying to fix my computer without first installing another motherboard. I knew the parts he replaced weren't new because I asked, but he said in order to save me money, he was giving me parts that other people had traded in when they upgraded.
Apparently, my new motherboard is top of the range. Are you saying it's not?

Bet he removed the Windows licence sticker from the pc as this is a valid key tied to that motherboard, hence why he asked for the disk

The Pentium 3 is 10 years old and boards that support it stopped being made about 8 years ago

Honestly, contact the Gardai, this is serious fraud and they shouldn't get away with it

Webmonkey

cardol wrote: »

He said my drive had crashed because the motherboard was so old. I did wonder why he took the installation CD that came with it away too, but he said there was no point in trying to fix my computer without first installing another motherboard. I knew the parts he replaced weren't new because I asked, but he said in order to save me money, he was giving me parts that other people had traded in when they upgraded.
Apparently, my new motherboard is top of the range. Are you saying it's not?

What a ****er. I can't believe this. A PIII board is not new, it's years and years old!

The D partition only disappeared. Might only have being a file system error! - If the mainboard hard drive controllers were broken, then your whole drive would not be operational. He just used this as an excuse to rip you off!

game4it70

cardol wrote: »

Apparently, my new motherboard is top of the range. Are you saying it's not?

On a scale of 1 to 10 i'd give the mobo a 1.
As posted above go to the Gardai or at least demand your system put back the way it was before this c*nt got his grubby little hands on it plus your money back.If he refuses then i'd let him know you will be reporting him to the Gardai for fraud.

Jesus,

That is terrible cardol, you were taken for there.
I would definitely get back on to him.

The difference in the processor is about a decade.

The parts he put in, you wouldn't even buy in this age.

cardol

OK, thanks everyone, I'll print this out and show it to him, and if he doesn't put things back the way they were, I'll go to the Gardai.

PogMoThoin

Get Your pc and money back and then report them. Disgraceful thing for them to do. Print this too

Standard Toaster

Unbelievable cardol, just unbelievable. Keep use posted will you?

cardol

Will be back on here tomorrow with an update....thanks everyone:)

cardol

cardol wrote: »

Will be back on here tomorrow with an update....thanks everyone:)

On a final note tonight, I believe now that this is one and the same person. He's Palastinian not Indian. Feeling very foolish....:o

I PM'd Dave1982 who PM'd me back saying:
Wow thank you for your pm.Yeah i got the computer back from him went to his shop in Clonmel and said it's in his solisitor's so after a week or so i got it returned working fine.Even though i'm not 100% sure it was the laptop i handed him in same make/model but has missing screws and mark's it did not have before it went in.Computer did work however.Thank's for your interest

Standard Toaster

Snipped

Is that him?
I feel like a drive to Clonmel is in order! :mad:

cardol

Yes, this is the guy I think was in Co Cork and left suddenly. People here tell me he's foreign but has a Cork accent. They find it amusing! They mention Cobh. Not much to go on I admit, but maybe relevant. Why do you think a trip to Clonmel is in order? And if it's relevant to this story, can you PM me.:)

cardol

cardol wrote: »

Yes, this is the guy I think was in Co Cork and left suddenly. People here tell me he's foreign but has a Cork accent. They find it amusing! They mention Cobh. Not much to go on I admit, but maybe relevant. Why do you think a trip to Clonmel is in order? And if it's relevant to this story, can you PM me.:)

Sorry; footnote
Don't want any libel actions against me...

cardol

His shop is closed today. I rang the landline and got no answer, so then rang the mobile andd left a voicemail asking him to contact me. That was at about 4.30pm and have not heard anything from him.
Will try again tomorrow.:)

RoyalMarine

cardol wrote: »

His shop is closed today. I rang the landline and got no answer, so then rang the mobile andd left a voicemail asking him to contact me. That was at about 4.30pm and have not heard anything from him.
Will try again tomorrow.:)

hi cardol, i too live in clonmel, and if you want someone techincal minded who knows enough about pc's to ensure u dont get ripped off to go with you, id gladly go.
he tried it to a friend of mine about 4 months ago, and when i went in with my friend, we had a small argument.
it ended with my friend getting his old hardware back, a full refund, and an apology.

ill then have a look and see if i can fix it for you.
for free of course!

so if you need a hand, pm me and ill send you my mobile no.

cardol

For those of you following this story, the computer guy in question came round to my home today because I contacted him (successfully this time) to fix the on/off button on this PC he replaced mine with.
I had arranged with my new pal, RoyalMarineComm, to be here too to listen to what the PC guy told me. I'm not very technical but PC guy dug a hole for himself when confronted my RoyalMarine Comm and stormed out. He sent me a text later "explaining what he did with my computer" all of which is very longwinded, but basically standing by his story of fixing my broken PC. However, he has agreed to put my PC back the way it was before he got his hands on it. But he wants me to pay a further €150!
RoyalMarineComm and myself are going back into the shop tomorrow morning to get my old computer back, and hopefully a refund.

Webmonkey

cardol wrote: »

For those of you following this story, the computer guy in question came round to my home today because I contacted him (successfully this time) to fix the on/off button on this PC he replaced mine with.
I had arranged with my new pal, RoyalMarineComm, to be here too to listen to what the PC guy told me. I'm not very technical but PC guy dug a hole for himself when confronted my RoyalMarine Comm and stormed out. He sent me a text later "explaining what he did with my computer" all of which is very longwinded, but basically standing by his story of fixing my broken PC. However, he has agreed to put my PC back the way it was before he got his hands on it. But he wants me to pay a further €150!
RoyalMarineComm and myself are going back into the shop tomorrow morning to get my old computer back, and hopefully a refund.

Thanks for the update.

What a chancer, asking for another 150 euro to "fix". So 300 euro just handed to him for nothing! That's bloody insane.

I would be looking for him to pay you 300 euro when you get your PC back. 150 euro compensation for your troubles. He is very lucky the guards aren't going to be contacting him.

Best of luck with it.

cardol

It hasn't actually been decided yet if the Gardai will be contacted, but it won't be the first time they've come to him.

Overheal

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

You're not missing anything. The difference is down to the hard drive manufacturers reporting hard drive capacity one way and the operating system reporting it another way. After that there may be some taken up by a recovery partition.

Base 10 (Decimal) versus Base 2 (Binary) I believe.

Webmonkey

No, the hard drive manufacturers report that a kilobyte is 1000 bytes instead of 1024.

cardol

RoyalMarineComm came to my house at 5.30pm Wednesday 23 Dec, and he listened while I got PCGuy around to fix the broken PC he'd lent me. He then asked PCGuy to explain his actions, PCGuy got very angry, said my PC was still in his shop and he would be there from 10am to 5pm the next day. He said I could have my PC back. He then stormed out of my house and sent a garbled text saying exactly what he had done, including formatting the hard drive and reinstalling WinXP and MS Office. He said he had done more than €150 worth of work.
The next morning we dropped off the broken PC he lent me and as he wasn't actually in the shop at 10am like he said he'd be, we waited approx 30 minutes. His colleague couldn't contact him via mobile and I also rang and he wasn't picking up. In the end, his colleague said we should go get a coffee and he'd let us know when PCGuy came in. At 12.16pm, PCGuy rang me and said he was now in the shop. We went back there and were told I'd have to pay €150 to collect my PC and also take away the broken one he lent me. I had to come into town twice for this and each time parked in Mary Street carpark, opposite the PCGuy's shop.
We went to the Gardai, who rang him and he began talking about taking us to court and still insisting I could take both PC's home with me if I gave him another €150. The Gardai said they couldn't get involved as it was his word against mine and it was now a civil matter. They recommended a civil law solicitor, but everywhere was closed until 4 January.
I went home and rang every solicitor in town and finally got someone who agreed to call PCGuy and put pressure on him. But PCGuy told him my hard drive was intact and he was entitled to €150 for the 2 PC's. When I then contacted him, it turns out he was talking about the uploaded software he'd re-installed last week, while letting the solicitor believe he was talking about my original hard drive.
I am typing this in an Internet Cafe as I now have no computer and the District Court's next sitting is in February.
I can't believe this is allowed to happen and that I have to wait a month or more to get my PC back, even though he hasn't even fixed it. He wants to sell it and build me a new PC on the money he makes, but all I wanted wa my PC fixed.

game4it70

Omfg thats just unbelievable.:mad:

I cant believe the Gardai said it was a civil matter when this ***t obviously was trying to con you!
Best of luck with this and i hope somebody on here comes up with some good advice for you.




PS.
Fair play RoyalMarinecomm,its nice to see that there still are decent people out there.:)

RoyalMarine

personally, in 25 years ive never met a business man who has 100% no idea how to deal with customer's.

he claimed he was going to sue me for 12,000 for defermation, and he had previously sue'd someone for 12k who challeneged his technical abilities.

not once had i mentioned anything about him, his business, or anything the likes. i simply said we want a full return of all hardware, and thats it.

the man's got some serious problems and need's to learn some business and people skills.

PogMoThoin

snipped

I'm copying his details, I believe he should be named and shamed in every page on this thread.

Webmonkey

SNIPPED
Can a mod move the posts related to this out to its own thread as I believe it deserves one, preferrably with a title "SNIPPED - Stay clear!" or something similar.

Then since boards has a high PR, we can expect to see it (hopefully) the first or 2nd result similar to what happened with laptops direct:

[SNIPPED]

Khannie

I have to read through it first and I'm a bit busy atm. If one of the other mods gets to it, grand. If not, I'll try to do it tomorrow.

Tom Young

PogMoThoin wrote: »

snipped

I'm copying his details, I believe he should be named and shamed in every page on this thread.

No you won't be doing that please. This matter has been reported and I've snipped out and will continue to SNIP any matters which name anyone in relation to dealings which may or may not be true in fact or at law.

With these matters a solicitor and the Gardai are the best routes to go down.

Thanks,

Tom

cardol

16.55pm, another Internet Cafe.
I have no faith that the solicitor I am going to see tomorrow morning will do anything other than say I will have to wait for the Courts to sort it out. The Gardai proved to not be the best route.
Meanwhile, this person has my computer and I am down €150 with nothing to show for it.

noodletop

unbelievable, man i feel sorry for you on this one,
try gettin your solicitor to contact him again tellin him you do not want the pc he gave you you only want yours returned in the exact way you gave it to him.forget the repairs and let him remove any software he installed for you.if you can get it back im sure a few of the guys here will help you get it sorted but i doubt you will see any of the money you gave him you may put that down to experience

another route is to contact a local paper and tell them the story let them name and shame him as a con artist.or even tell him your going to the papers with the story unless he returns your machine bec if he has any buisness sense he will know that if he is seen in a bad light in the papers it will ruin any buisness he might have.

cardol

Thanks everyone for all your comments, really helps:)

Going home now, and will see a solicitor tomorrow morning. Will keep you posted.:)

RoyalMarine

cardol wrote: »

Thanks everyone for all your comments, really helps:)

Going home now, and will see a solicitor tomorrow morning. Will keep you posted.:)

ive got no credit to reply to you lol.

let me know how you get on tomorrow. if you do get the pc returned before tuesday evening, ill call around and we can get it back up and running.

Lab_Mouse

Christ thats harsh cardol.Would you be able to make a claim in the small claim courts?(not sure if that court could deal with your situation)It only costs 15 euro's and there is no need for a solicitor.

Personaly I would go and sit in his shop till I got it sorted.Febuary is a long way off!

Overheal

Small Claims for sure. He probably wont know you dont have a solicitor, he'll just get the letter in the mail summoning him to Small Claims. Hopefully that should be enough to entice him to change his tune.

Tom Young wrote: »

No you won't be doing that please. This matter has been reported and I've snipped out and will continue to SNIP any matters which name anyone in relation to dealings which may or may not be true in fact or at law.

With these matters a solicitor and the Gardai are the best routes to go down.

Thanks,

Tom

We name and shame multinationals on here all the time, tbph

cardol

Civil solicitors office is closed today, will try them again tomorrow. I've also got the phone number online of another solicitor and their website says they deal in civil cases. Will try them when I get home.

RoyalMarineComm, will call you later today

P.S. Would like to go to the papers on this now, but I'm afraid it might prejudice the case against me if it goes to court. But I will go to the papers after an outcome has been decided. And Gerry Ryan if I can.:mad:

game4it70

cardol wrote: »

P.S. Would like to go to the papers on this now, but I'm afraid it might prejudice the case against me if it goes to court. But I will go to the papers after an outcome has been decided. And Gerry Ryan if I can.:mad:

Good plan,bring as much bad press on this muppet as you can as he fully deserves it imo.

PogMoThoin

cardol wrote: »

And Gerry Ryan if I can.:mad:

God No, Gerry Ryan has no time for Boards.ie, and we for him

Besides being an asshole he tries too hard with technology sometimes, I've heard him spouting some shíte sometimes about tech things which were untrue didn't make sense. He's too much of a know it all.

Ray Darcy or Joe Duffy would be better IMO, they don't claim to know it all

monkeypants

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Ray Darcy or Joe Duffy would be better IMO, they don't claim to know it all

+1

I was going to suggest talking to Joe about it.

Having said that, I do find this thread unbelieveable. Bloke swaps your Athlon XP, the Pentium IV competitor, along with memory and motherboard naturally, for a Pentium III, charges you €150 for it and will only put it back if you give him another €150.

I'm not surprised that the Gardai won't get involved. It sounds like extortion and you had the evidence, but the police generally know sweet FA about computers or the internet.