An inexplicable problem with one of the Zip drives that came with my Dell last year has WIPED the 2nd 250 MB disc in about 6 weeks. BASTARD. I had a back-up-- but the stuff I put on there over this weekend (an entire DAY of tedious back-up work) may be gone... unless it was also backed up on a CD some months ago. We'll see.

I've so far had NO problem with the 750 MB zip drive I bought by mail-order and had installed for me by MGM Computers in Woodbury. But the 2 drives Dell sold me-- the 250 internal & the 750 external, have both been acting up. Does this mean Dell, in addition to hiring tech support overseas, ALSO may be selling inferior hardware???

I've hit on the idea of doing ADDITIONAL back-ups. I have 2 computers sitting side-by-side, and the Gateway isn't being used for much. I can easily make extra back-ups and leave them on the hard drive, and doing so will not get in the way of work I'm doing on my "main" computer, the Dell. We'll see how this works out.

Meanwhile, I have been thinking of getting rid of the 250 internal on the Dell, as it seems to be having trouble lately reading any 250 discs-- only 100's. If I get another 750 internal (NOT from Dell), it'll mean having to copy all files from 100 MB discs onto 750's. Which is what I should have done 2 years ago in the first place.


I just keep finding things to hate about Dell computers...

Yep can't say too many good things about them after seeing a bunch of them in our classroom setting.

If you have to buy them make sure you get the Business Line, Optiplex and Latitudes versus the Dimensions and Inspirons.

With the price premium you get tech support in Texas as opposed to Bangalore. They moved it back for these machines under pressure from their corporate clients. Also these machines somewhat sturdier and extremely easy to swap parts for when components do break. (tooless chassis design)

Too little too late... Yep, I have a Dimension. My comics-shop owner SWEARS by Dell, highly reccomends Dell, says he'd never get anything BUT Dell. But he's nuts (not merely crazy) so I should have known better.

What hurt the most late last year was when I was at my local repair shop (a place where my college Autocad teacher both has HIS fixed, and teaches at), and one of the techs said, "You could have had an MGM Custom!" It really got me pissed when he said that... because by then, I'd gone thru months of confusion and hell, and IF ONLY I'd thought to ask my teacher what to buy, he could have reccomended I get one from these guys, custom-made to fit exactly what I needed, and with a sensible design.


This does not quite explain the problems with the Iomega Zip Drives... unless, of course, someone at Dell is manufacturing inferior bootleg versions of them (out of Bangalore). I recall a Michael Douglas movie where such a thing was going on. Some tech company had come up with a very advanced microchip, BUT, someone at the corporate level was pulling a fast one and cutting costs while raking in big bonuses for having them manufactured under sub-par conditions.

2 Iomegas I've bought via mail order-- no problem. 2 bought thru Dell-- both problems. Grrrrrrrr.

Nah Dell doesn't do any manufacturing of componentry.

I know that OEM equipment drives and such can be inferior to retail "branded" equipment. It's because if you buy retail, the company itself (Iomega) handles the warranty, OEM it's your system integrator (ie Dell). So manufacturers like Iomega generally push the B-stock to OEMs, especially an OEM like Dell that pushes so hard on cost.

Dell is a process-improvement company not a hitech company. They are world leaders in lean manufacturing. Their suppliers are actually forced to warehouse goods inside the Dell factory. They rent space from Dell, and the raw materials inventory are not transfered from the supplier to Dell until minutes before the parts for final assembly are "kitted". This allows Dell to turn inventory like crazy (almost 20 times a year I think).

Sometimes Dell actually buys via a tendering process where several suppliers are in the factory at once and bid against each other on parts like memory that have fluctuating market prices.

"So manufacturers like Iomega generally push the B-stock to OEMs"

Fascinating... so I may not be imagining this! The drives Dell sells may not be EXACTLY the same quality as those I buy from Micro Warehouse (or the outfit that bought them out last year).

You're not imagining things. There's a reason OEM parts have distinct part numbers in the ERP systems of hardware makers.

I noticed what you describe with CD drives and hard drives a few years back.

MORE tech problems... this time with my Epson printer.

Having replaced the black ink cartridge, my printer STILL failed to print any black at all. About $10 charge for phone tech support with no results, except it now seems it's almost definitely a "mechanical" problem. Tomorrow I'll be taking it to a "care center" in Cherry Hill (surprisingly convenient for me, more-or-less). But it's sure to run me at least $80. Geez. My first printer went bad after almost 5 years, this one's only a year-and-a-half. Comments & jokes about "throwaway society" are NOT FUNNY. Am I the only one alive today who fears the entire world may simply COLLAPSE because things are MADE to fall apart?

It's like over-population... NOBODY even wants to think about facing such a problem. they just shrug and figure, that's the way it goes...

"You're not imagining things. There's a reason OEM parts have distinct part numbers in the ERP systems of hardware makers."

This makes me really glad for what i did with my "back-up" computer. I bought the cheapest thing Gateway made... and made a point of getting it WITHOUT a zip drive, because I had a brand-new one bought via mail-order. First thing when I got the computer in, I installed the zip drive from my old computer. Haven't had any trouble with it yet.


What's OEM stand for?