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Saturday, January 16, 2010

My Mojave Experiment is Over!

My Mojave Experiment is Over! 

I have this Gateway GT5408 that came with Windows Vista. I got it in trade for diagnosing the Problem with this Computer not Booting Up. It had been hit by a Power Spike Caused by Lightning. That Spike blew out the Modem, but with a new modem (all before I got hold of it) the computer ran fine for a month or so until one day when the decided to do a Reboot. Then the Terrible Black Screen of Death Appeared!:O While I was working on it. I could get it to Boot, sometimes, by taking the Bios Battery out and unplugging it and then trying again to Boot it up. Sometimes this would work and most times it would not. But the Computer ran Great when it Ran. I found a Bios update on the Gateway Web Site and installed it. This was supposed to fix this Black Screen Problem. It gave a message saying that the Bios Update worked, but still the same Black Screen problem persisted. It would just sit there with it's Black Screen with the Fans running, Loudly, for ever. I kept the Box around for a while. Finally, I decided to just put a new Mother Board in it, since the rest of the machine was Ok. Now it runs great! There's just one little Problem...

VISTA!!!:O Now Vista keeps Popping up a Screen saying that I need to Activate WindBlows!:( I did just as they asked and typed in the License Key from the Sticker on my Box. Then the report came back... This License Key is already in use!:O Well Ya! I already knew this...  it's in use on my Machine! After a few days I noticed that there was a message in Control Panel saying that there were 2 days left until Auto Activation. I knew that this would most likely be D-Day for this OS. MS would lock my OS and then I would be in a real mess with this PC. So, I tried calling the MS Phone number on the Pop-up and ended up getting through to an MS Rep. Well, after talking to that stupid Automated Phone System that can't understand half of what you say to it... The MS Rep started asking me all the long number on my Screen in the Pop-up. So, I stopped him there and told him my problem. And the I figured it was because of the new Mother Board that I had just put in the Machine. I had done my research and had found the cause of my Woes Online. MS Vista has some Code that snoops into your Bios and can tell when it has been changed from the Original OEM Chip. He asked if I had replaced the Mother board or if I had it done by the Manufacturer. I said, no I put it in. He promptly said... "Then I will have to inform you that you will need a new License key". I wanted to say... What!? You want me to Buy a New License Key from you, for Vista!??? The crappiest most aggravating... Operating System ever made! I hate Vista anyway... But, I refrained (he's just a low level working man like me). So, I just said... So, your are saying that I need to buy a new License Key??? I just couldn't believe what I was hearing and I could barely understand his accent anyway... I thought, hoped... that I heard him wrong. Even though I knew I was talking to Micro Soft!:O He said yes... So, I just said... That's Ok, I have been running Linux for the last four years anyway and this just confirms that I made the Right Decision. He, paused for a moment and just said, "Thank you for calling Micro Soft" and I hung up. So, if you ever wondered why so many People all Over the world, are completely fed up with Microsoft! This is my #1 Reason... Today;) I didn't want to fool with that stupid Mojave any more anyway...

Don

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