Arkonnos
4070
36
7
My laptop had a power failure during an update, and Windows got stuck in an update/restart loop.
Normally a simple fix, but I'm out of the country for the next 2 months, don't have my usual suite of tools and materials, and I need the use of my computer.
So I brought it to a local PC repair shop, told the guy what the problem was, and that it should only need a simple Windows repair USB to fix it.
Instead of doing that, the guy felt that because he couldn't get windows to start normally, he had to do a fresh reinstall of Windows. Without even attempting to backup any data from my computer.
No call asking if I had files I didn't want to lose, just went ahead and installed a hacked together version of windows, where now my 6 month old laptop thinks it's been upgraded from a windows 7 machine.
I've personally seen other people get fired from previous IT jobs for doing shit like this.
AlwaysAwkwardYup
Why didn’t you do it yourself then? You’re just as incompetent
Zakiamon
plug power and hold power button 10 to 30 secs
Zakiamon
windows then f2 or f5 show re fix windows i dont i hate old laptops.
heller8790
Young IT here, aka the yeti. Total understand the problem mate. Felt like this few years back binge watching inuyasha. Went to get a netbook when destop stuck in loops.
Fatefullspazoid
Any chance you emailed any of the things you want to get back or may have backed them up to your google cloud account? You get 15 free gigs of data per Google email you make, also you should demand a refund for that shoddy work or file a charge back on your payment method for unauthorized sub standard work. A highschooler with basic computing skills could have done better... Also if you need to store stuff on the cheap Amazon S3 Glacier is where I archive my data for events like this.
Arkonnos
I only set up the laptop this past February, so I hadn't gotten around to backing anything up yet, and I hate OneDrive with a passion so I don't use it. I was just in a bit of a perfect storm of not being able to fix this myself due to not being home, and absolutely needing my laptop for this weekend.
HuttSolo
There are two kinds of people - those who don’t do backups and those who do after losing everything once
HuttSolo
Sorry to hear about your situation though. Some people are just incompetent, that’s the truth
IckesTheSane
If you’re already resigned to the data being gone, and have an 8gig usb stick, download windows media creation tool, set the usb drive up with it (this will wipe the usb drive also), and redo windows on the computer. Delete all the partitions and install it to the blank unpartitioned space during install. Should at least be a much more functional windows install when it’s all done. Might need to be prepared to install some drivers, though, esp. WiFi drivers.
Arkonnos
I factory reset the laptop already. Clean install, partitions gone.
Luckily it was only a single semester's worth of material I lost
IckesTheSane
That’ll work as well.
And as much as it still sucks, that’s a fairly inexpensive lesson about the importance of backing up your data.
Arkonnos
Yeah
Generally I have most of my stuff spread out and backed up across at least 2 backup drives, and I've always been able to fall back on my own tools and materials to easily recover data from damaged or dying drives in the event of physical damage. This will probably be the final nail and force me to set up some automated backup system
OregonComputerGuy
Find a real IT person, they'll probably be able to recover the lost data for you
Arkonnos
I actually have a license for a good data recovery program, and I installed that on my laptop when I got back to my fiance's apartment and couldn't get anything. It looks like the fucker "reinstalled" windows by using a recovery file based on a different computer and making 4 hard drive partitions to do it - hence why my newish computer suddenly thinks it was originally a windows 7 machine. Overall he basically rewrote about 70gb of data and took out the majority of my data.
OregonComputerGuy
To recover data the hard drive needs to be removed, then mounted in a 'clean machine'
Arkonnos
I'm aware that's the primary means of doing so, but between the multiple new partitions, the fact I need to be able to use my computer heavily for the next several days and can't afford to lose access to it, and the sudden installation of multiple new programs like McAfee, I just accepted the lost files and reset my laptop.
If I were home, I'd have been able to remove the drive and connect it to a workstation and pull the files I needed. But I'm not home until September so I can't.
TwitchFox
Are the lost files worth a legal claim?
Arkonnos
No. It's mostly just schoolwork, notes, and personal stuff. I'm aware I'm just shit out of luck here.
TwitchFox
unfortunate.
Did you at least not have to pay for the work since they botched the job so poorly?
Arkonnos
Out $90 CAD unfortunately
TwitchFox
1 star their ass on google?
Arkonnos
On 3 different review platforms