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| bradx:
i helped my friend set up a mame rig and his buddy used to come over every saturday and play. he is a smart guy and familiar with mame, he would try to show how smart by tabbing into the menu and changing stuff around and somehow he messed things up, so what did he do? reset everything to default!!! wow was i angry, and its hard to write this without curse words, but it didnt take long for me to explain to him that the miracle of the cabinet isnt mame itself, but interfacing all the controls/monitor etc with mame, and that by resetting to default he had just erased all the work i did configuring everything. luckily i was smart enough to have a couple backups installed so i could just roll it back, but when i did i also mapped the tab key to nothing so its impossible to open a menu in game and took the keyboard home with me. no problems since then, hahaha. |
| bradx:
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on December 16, 2013, 07:24:06 am ---I've had similar a few times, when confronted the perp stated that I had left off some awesome feature or awesome game that really needed to be on there - which of course was left off because the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- system he insisted on using to save money couldn't run it anywhere near playable. But Time Crisis is my FAV game@!!@1211! Me: So how's it running? Perp: It doesn't work, I think you messed up something when you changed all the settings to hide windows and go right to the old gaming menu Me: Yep, that must have been it, those PIIIs are finicky. well see ya! --- End quote --- i hear that. i helped another guy build a cab and he complained, i told him the $30 he wanted to spend on a PC wasnt going to work perfectly, and that even for $45 i could offer a significant upgrade but he had to go cheap, so now and forever any complaint gets the same response "you get what you paid for". i mean, why spend hundreds on a cab and art, controls, etc and then cheap out on the brain? the guy literally spent as much on a marquee as he did on the PC that runs the whole thing... |
| bradx:
--- Quote from: Le Chuck on December 16, 2013, 02:08:08 pm ---I think a lot of my issue comes from the fact that I'm building for friends when I do, so I try and save them as much scratch as I can. Hey, I've got this stupidly ancient laptop from college, can we use that? Well I suppose, but it'll give you issues after a year I bet. No problem (I'll just call you *snicker*). So basically, it's my fault anyway for building with subpar components. I'm not bitching so much as sharing my amusement at how the calls always seem to go down. They're embarrassed to be calling for help so they try and chat around it until I break down and offer to provide help. --- End quote --- my first mame cab used a laptop (compaq armada) from over a dozen years ago running windows 98, i sold it years ago to a close friend and its still working running an ancient version of mame and is vastly superior to one of those lousy multicade boards. |
| Xiaou2:
When people pay in excess of $300 for something... let alone +$1000, they expect the thing to last for years without issues. They only see the bottom line price... and do not figure in labor, delivery, setup...and future problems. They do not want to pay a heavy price.. so better components are often not opted. The 'Brain' (Motherboard & CPU) rarely goes bad. Maybe in 8 to 15 yrs, a Cap will bubble up. Power Supplies, possible failure.. but easy as pie to replace. A CPU fan will probably get clogged up and stop.. causing Slow performance and possible CPU damages. Recommend a periodic service checkup and or show them how to do it. The biggest problem is the Hard Drive, for corruption, data changes, and failure. Its also the most work to deal with. Take an example from our controlling elite.. and use Fear, to get people to chump up the extra $150 for a backup HD with finalized disc Image. Just start saying.. well, you know the thing could literally die in 2hrs from now.. right? And that it would take me a good +3 weeks to be able to getting it back up and running? If they do not want to put in another HD, at very minimum.. pop a flashdrive image of the OS & Mame install + config files. They are dirt cheap these days. Tape it somewhere in the cab, where it wont be found.. until they call... As for the Backup HD: It stays In the system, but the power cable is disconnected. Label Both HD power cables with different colored & different named stickers. Should there be a problem... tell them to open the case, disconnect the "Groovy Green" connector... and plug in the "Code Red" connector. Once the Code-Red is initiated.. get the Fear mongering out again.. and charge for a new HD replacement + reimage. (collect money in advance) Now, Ive not done this.. But working on enough PCs, Ive played the game long enough to understand the consequences of having to reload, hunt obsolete drivers, deal with bad driver quirks, windows updates, reinstallation of customized software. Slow-as-Paint-drying data transfer speeds to old pc hardware... and other such related issues. I also recommend a 2nd backup image somewhere in Your house. At minimum.. copy of all their needed drivers, windows key, software keys, hardware listing, software list. EDIT: If this is for friends / family that you know you cant refuse... just put the 2nd HD in there anyways, and bump up the costs of the rest of the materials. And or take the hit on the labor cost... because eventually, your going to get the call. Better to be fine with that call (easy fix -vs- entire weekend gone).. or should I say... many calls... than the minimum profit that your gona lose out on anyways. |
| brihyn:
I stopped agreeing to any text support at all for friends when a coworker took me to her aunt's house. I didn't realize when agreeing who the support was for. Really? You want to take a coworker you barely know, other than the fact that he's in IT, to your aunt's for computer support? I'm now at the point where the only family that gets PC support is my parents and my FiL's. And I've vowed to stop giving tech gifts to the MiL's house as well. This year I did agree to a chromecast for them, as that one seems all but impossible to screw up. |
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