Your best buys are ALWAYS at...

If you think it's Fry's... You're sadly mistaken!

Aarrgghh!

I FINALLY got my notebook back. Das Behr had tried to burn a disc- let's call it a "back-up" disc. I bought a stack of CD+/-RW blank discs. Popped on in the optical drive and opened my burn app. I then get a dialog box pop-up that basically stated that there was no burn capability on the optical drive.

Huh?

I looked at the bezel on the side of DasBehr Notebook and re-read the info that prompted me to buy the notebook in the first place: Multi-disc, DVD-RW

Obviously, something must be wrong with the application, I surmised. So I closed all my apps, did a re-boot, re-opened the burn app. Same result! Naturally being the geek I am, I verified the hardware profiles....

STANDARD DVD ROM

WHAT THE FUCK??!!??

Those silly people at Fry's didn't verify the optical drive to "see" if it actually burned discs as stated on the bezel. Which, by-the-by, is "an easy snap-on, snap-off bezel" according to Intel's "How To Replace An Optical Drive" (and why Intel would even have such a manual, is beyond me- but I digress)

I pack up my notebook and head to Fry's...

First I speak with the "Manager of The Day" Mr. Tran. A slim man nicely dressed in a suit and a nice tie that his wife must have chosen for him. Mr Tran was wearing a scowl on his face. I know this scowl, it comes from being the only sane person amongst a bunch of fuck-ups.

I explain to him my concern. I even powered-up the notebook to demonstrate my claim.
The only words out of his face was "Why did you wait six months to bring this to our attention?" I looked at him kinda dumb-founded and replied "This was the first time that I had the NEED to perform a system back-up, THAT'S WHY."

I immediately get shuffled over to the SERVICE DESK, where a cute Indian-American boy
"assisted" me further. Again, I explained my concern regarding the optical drive. Next he hands me a five page "Service Authorization Form" and instructs me as where I needed to put my signature and where to initial. I began reading the packet, but the boy grew a bit impatient and said that it's just a standard authorization. I stated that I READ things before I sign-off on them. Luckily, I had because one of the line items that needed an initial, stated that "in the event of a bad Operating System, Fry's will REFORMAT the hard-drive".

Oh No I Don't THINK So!

So in the box for my initials- I wrote that "I DO NOT AUTHORIZE A HDD REFORMAT".
The service boy then says to me that it's standard procedure. To which I countered that the sole purpose of my visit was for a burning optical drive and that there was no need to fuck with the operating system.

"But, sir, in the event of a bad driver, a reformat is necessary"
"WHAT?!, Dude- I've been using computers since you were in grade school. My first computer was a Tandy 4k for which I wrote programs in machine language (simple little programs, actually but hey I was on a roll). Correct me if I'm wrong- but a driver is a small string of code that tells the OS how to work a device, right?"
"Well, yeah."
"Okay, then, please don't insult my intelligence. Tell me- would YOU reformat a HDD based solely on a bad driver?"
"Well, uh, no. I wouldn't" The "tech" stammered. I look at the banner located behind him that proudly stated that all Fry's technician's are A+ certified.
"Then, why the hell would I?"

Nothing, no comment. Off went my notebook for a five week stay at Fry's waiting for an optical drive from HP. So here is my story of woe. If I can do anything to help those folks I know, all I will say is this...

IF YOU MUST GO FRYs, SAVE YOURSELF ALOT OF FRUSTRATION- GET SOFTWARE ONLY, YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID

So Sayeth Das Behr