Computer repair guys

[Forrestandjen07]

hey, im an A+ tech

and just finished my first paying job

my only problem is i do not know what a fair charge is of price

here is what i did

it took me 4hrs yes 4hrs, thats how big of an A-hole this computer was being

it needed an Xp re-install on it, after many hicups and numours complaints from the machine it got it on there

i am also installing a legal version of Office 2007

so

1.Xp pro install with valid key
2.Office 2007 install with Valid key
3.4hrs of work for the OS install, plus additional hour or so of Office install/Xp Updates

what would be a fair charge?

[InnerSycosis]

I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything but, there's no way it should have taken you 4 hours to install XP. Especially if you're A+ certified.

[JasonR]

^^^You ever reformatted a 400MHz machine with 128mb of RAM?

[InnerSycosis]

Originally Posted by JasonR

^^^You ever reformatted a 400MHz machine with 128mb of RAM?

Well, you're not going to be installing XP onto a system with those specs anyway.

Originally Posted by Forrestandjen07

well when you dont have the proper Xp disc for that machine

and a computer that wants to crash every chance it gets, Installing Xp is not that easy

If it's crashing every chance it gets, I wouldn't be installing XP onto it either. Sounds like the hard drive is faulty or another internal hardware component is on the fritz.

[crackinhedz]

...can you tell me how to get Vista 64 and Nero 9 to play nice?!!

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

...can you tell me how to get Vista 64 and Nero 9 to play nice?!!

Did you try changing the default install directory? Some programs don't like the (x86) directory with 64 bit.

[redboxcar]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

...can you tell me how to get Vista 64 and Nero 9 to play nice?!!

Vista and Nero in general have trouble playing nice quite often, I find... I see a lot of problems at work with customers who have trouble with Vista and Nero.

[JasonR]

Originally Posted by briking

Well, you're not going to be installing XP onto a system with those specs anyway.

Well, I did.

[joeorc]

Originally Posted by JasonR

^^^You ever reformatted a 400MHz machine with 128mb of RAM?

I think I got you beat...I did with a P100 with 4 GB HD , 145MB ram worth of 72pin-(12 slots)....D@MN 72 PIN sims....

[Forrestandjen07]

Originally Posted by briking

I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything but, there's no way it should have taken you 4 hours to install XP. Especially if you're A+ certified.

well when you dont have the proper Xp disc for that machine

and a computer that wants to crash every chance it gets, Installing Xp is not that easy

[redboxcar]

if it was giving you that much trouble, you might have done some hardware testing first... it definitely shouldn't take four hours, and with that many problems, might be an indication of a dying hard drive as well.

but to answer your question, i usually would charge HALF of what it costs for it to be done "professionally" (aka not a side job).

[Papi4baby]

I think the rate is about 70 or so around my area i think. But it should not have taken you that long. Make sure you explain to the party why is so much i guess. Good luck. Check out www.broadbandreports.com or the anandtech forums, some smart geeks there.

[Forrestandjen07]

now its up and working really well,appearntly this was qutie an old version of windows xp , no SP2 haha

plus the computer only had a 30 gig hdd, 512mbps of ram and like a 1.6 cpu

[b0bby]

Originally Posted by briking

I don't want to sound like a jerk or anything but, there's no way it should have taken you 4 hours to install XP. Especially if you're A+ certified.

agreed. i hope the install didn't take 4 hours. did you mess around before that? did the xp disk not properly start setup when you turned on the computer with the disk in the drive or something? if it was a faulty system that kept shutting off and popping up with error msgs did you check hardware. you didn't even mention data backup. ok i'll stop with the semi bashing just seems like 4 hours is VERY long to do a fresh install. even with the system specs you listed it shouldn't take longer than an hour and thats just xp setup and entering profile settings and configurations.

[Forrestandjen07]

yea 4hrs was a bit of an exageration

i was quite tired when doing it, the xp part didnt take aslong as the rest of the stuff did

[camper]

If you have a shop, $125. If it's under the table cash-money, $80.

camper

[Forrestandjen07]

yea i only charged $50

i was just glad to have something to do haha