Frontpage Story #49

I bought a Presario 5240 in Feb of '99. If I had known the lengths to which Compaq "customizes" their systems, I would have bought something else. I can't change a goddamn thing without trouble.

#1 - the goddamn "restore" disk. You either use it EXACTLY the way the system comes, or spend decades trying to figure what files is missing from what.

#2 - I tried to add a CD-RW. Mistake. Compaq ships this system with "custom" drivers for the hard drive that won't function with any CD-RW at all. It took three hours to figure it out and get it working.

#3 - The original CD burned out. But no, it couldn't just die, it had to intermittently draw down power for several days, causing the system to lock up.

#4 - Goddamn driver for the "built-in" LAN card. It cleverly says "10/100Mhz" on it, but the actual hardware only supports 10Mhz ( which is barely documented *anywhere* ) which of course won't work with my other 100Mhz laptop card and 100Mhz hub. Had to buy a new card and override the existing one. Three more hours wasted.

You know, it's not that it's a *bad* system. It's just that I wish it had come with a warning label -

"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHANGE ANYTHING, EVER, ON THIS SYSTEM"