Wild and Free

Best Buy rechecked the issue this a.m. and found the RAM was bad also, not sure why they didn't catch it during diagnostic and why they sent it out not working, they refunded me everything no questions asked including diagnostic fee for not catching the issue and the hassle it caused. So off to other stores for a brand new PC.

They had all of the backup and start up discs in hand for the hard drive swap from when we bought it there new, they did this as part of the initial sale and setup of the computer,Still didn't help any, they claim they clean out all of the unneeded stuff that comes preloaded on the computer to speed it up, it was trouble free for 3 years until this. . Just gonna scrap it and go with new after we get a refund tomorrow. They are getting their hard drive back and we are getting a refund for the service contract they sold us as well. They will get to keep the original diagnostic fee and thats it. We have a few custom computer shops here as well but everyone I talk to says they are almost twice the price for a computer from them as from a retail store.

Well Best Buy is oficcially on my $#** list. 10 day since dropping it off and yesterday I call and they say it will be ready. I have melt down and let them know I have not been happy with chain of events. Wife went got it after another whole story about that I won't get into, we are going to have a sit down with store manager tomorrow and have a come to jesus speech. Get it home and it doesn't even boot up now, starts to boot and goes to a blank black screen every time. Going to get a refund from service contract and have them return the new hard drive and go and buy a brand new PC tomorrow somewhere else, most likely Staples, they have a pretty good rep her in town and better customer service. Any advice on a good brand of home PC and what options to get? Primary web browsing and soon to e used for streaming video for tv as we do not have satelite or cable, looking at getting ROKU through our local phone IT provider. Also simple word and basic program use, nothing spectacular.

The trick is to mix the powder soap in a bucket of warm water before pouring it into the cooling system. It works really good, have used this method on many heavy duty diesels over the years. Have tried other products and they don't work as well. Just remember to stay away from citrus cleaners inside the engine, I have been involved in repairing all the leaks that formed after coolant systems were flushed with soaps with citrus in them. Cat did a study that showed this to be the cause of seals leaking afterwards.

I think they need to find someone who actually wants to work period. I went in and checked on it in person today which makes a week since taking it in, 3 geeks just sitting on their back sides looking bored and one goes back and checks, comes back and says it is on the repair bench for repair but couldn't tell me when it would be done, all depended on how busy they are at the counter. They were all very busy alright............ keeping the chairs warm with their fat back sides and picking their noses when I walked out in disgust.

The best overall product for flushing oil sludge from a cooling system and the only one recommended by most diesel engine manufacturers is Cascade dish washer soap, but NOT the LEMON or any Citrus soap as the citrus degrades rubber seals in the system. As posted above it will take several flushes, fill with soap and water nd get it hot to operating temp then drop and repeat 2-3 times at minimum.

Stock gasket, Scheid under rates their injector quite a bit too, hx 40 may not be enough tubo long term for any competion use. I ran those injectors for a bit before selling my 02, they burn raw at idle versus the 155 bd injectors had before them but they did run smooth overall.

Dang geek squad still doesn, t have my pc done yet........grrrrr!!!!!

Actually my wife isn, t one to lay blame so much loke that. I am lucky that way.

When the track bar end link goes bad I have on every ocassion had a clunk at the drver side floor board never a vibration.

What you are feeling in the floorboard is classic track bar end link slop, time for a 3rd gen conversion.

Wife and I left our house west of Bismarck ND and drove straight thrrough to Phoenix AZ a few years ago and not knowing the GPS setting took us on the shortest route past denver where my wife took over and wife didn't wake me until 3 am lost on narrow 2 lane mountain roads in sw colorado, took us a bit longer to get on track after that rather than fastest and heading straight south of Denver on the interstate. But it was scenic once we figured out where we were and where we were headed. Made it there in 23 hours with a breakfast stop in a small town in the mountains in colo.

Rebuilding transmissions isn't that expensice except when buying expensive aftermarket parts, you are in part paying for a warranty period built in to the price. For a basic tranny rebuild parts only cost a few hundred bucks unless you have shaft or planetary gear issues then the price explodes fast. His engine is being done at a machine shop which labor rates can be cheaper than normal shop rates plus he didn't mention any crankshaft work either which saves a lot of money overall too. When it comes down to just boring and sleeving the cylinder bores it is pretty reasonable when added to a basic rebuild kit minus main and rod bearings, If the main and rod bearings looked good then they can be reused and save a bunch of money too.

The best converter in the world is no better than a stock one without added pressure from a modded VB. A stock converter would last a lot longer even with a modded VB, on a near stock engine a stock converter with bumped internal line pressures from a VB would be near bullet proof if driven with common sense.

No problem, I do the same thing when describing mechanical issues to people, it goes right over peoples head just like computer stuff does for me. We all have our weak areas and this is mine along with carpentry.

This is all a language I do not speak, just want to point and click my way through the net and store pics and a few simple files and pics and stream.

Called the geek squad and will have windows8 and linux installed and partitioned even though I have no clue what I am looking at or doing. Guess I have more learning to do, I have no clue what I am seeing in your screen shot of your partitioned drive either?

After talking to the Geek squad they could partition the hard drive and have both Linux and the newest windows 8 both loaded but am thinking I will wait and do Linux when this one dies for good. It doesn't cost anymore to do right now though.............Thoughts, I don't know what a partitioned hard drive is or how it would affect how I use it.

Repair shop "Geek squad at best buy" called and the hard drive is failing, going to buy the one year service contract for 199 which covers 3 seperate devices which we have and replace the hard drive with a 1 terra byte drive for 80 bucks. all for about 300 bucks, should have it back in a day or two.

Its at the repair shop right now. using my wifes tablet which is a pita! Sent

Jumping up just 1-2 years will not change the amount of cash and work you could be sticking into a rig, you are still taking a chance when buying a 10 year old rig. If you want to get away from this buy a used one with factory warranty remaining yet. I buy all of my vehicles with at least a years worth of factory warranty left or usually under 25K miles so I can nit pick the heck out of it. Overall it doesn't cost anymore money to pay the bit extra up front when you save the money pit and constant worrying going forward.

I blow my PC out with shop air a couple times a year and the last time was just a few weeks ago. I still hear the fan run like normal. It is really hit and miss, works perfect for a long time and then just locks up out of the blue, restart it a couple of times and then the same again. I did do the safe start and did a recover two times to before this happened and I keep getting a message that the recovery process has failed for redundancy reasons

Pretty much your choice. I do not think there is much difference on tranny filters, all they do is strain out the chunks.

My wood working tools consist of a chain saw log splitter and wood stove..................and a wrecking bar and hammer. If I want something actually built I pick up the phone. I was never blessed with the patience or skills or the desire for actually working with wood in a constructive manner. I have skills nobody can match, I can cut perfect circles with a skill saw and every thing is always angled and too short when I am done. :banghead: I tended bees in high school for an FFA project for a few years and liked it very much, I think I ran about a dozen hives with supers, we raised a lot of Canola, sunflowers, flax and alfalfa and had lots of clover all over the country side here. I have thought of getting back into it as well on a small scale. Have fun with it. ND has been the united states leader in honey production for many years.