Acer Blows Chunks!

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So, two days ago, I received my Acer laptop back from Acer’s repair facility in Texas for the second time (third hard drive) since I purchased the machine in December of last year.  That’s right, in nine months, I’ve had to replace two hard drives on this computer.  Fortunately, I use Carbonite to back up all my stuff or I would have been screwed when it crashed the first time.

The first time it crashed, it just died.  I turned on the computer and got a blank white screen.  The boot just stopped at this point.  I had some warnings, but I just ignored them and blamed it on Vista.  Due to my ignorance, I did not have anything backed up, except by Carbonite, thank goodness.

They had a quick turnaround on the machine and I thought all was A-OK.  Nope.  The browser started to lock-up, the machine slowed way down, it would shut down for no reason and give me a message upon reboot that it had “recovered from an unexpected error.”  From my first experience, I knew what this meant and began backing up all my files to an external hard drive, in addition to Carbonite and got my “return authorization number” for a new trip to Texas.

This time, I noted the serial number on the drive.  Confirming my suspicions, the laptop came back with the same hard drive and the packing slip said the hard drive had been “re-booted,” whatever the hell that means, it clearly did not mean “replaced.”  Now, two days later, the computer shuts down for no reason with the “unexpected error” message on re-boot, browser freezing, and so on.

Acer used to be a quality machine.  I do not know what happened, whether a buy-out, new management, etc.  I can assure you, however, I will be sending the machine to the repair facility for the third time this year and make myself crystal clear when I “request” a new hard drive and whatever else it takes to fix this piece of garbage.  As my friend Sam Harrelson quickly quips, next time I will “get a Mac.” :)  Fortunately, I have my ASUS EEE for my trip to Blog World Expo this weekend.  EEE FTW!

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