synaesthesia Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 I think at this point I'd be inclined to return the lot as unfit for purpose!
kidpressingbuttons Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 Changed mine to legacy boot and now wont boot to bios let alone windows...
Fazza Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 I think at this point I'd be inclined to return the lot as unfit for purpose! If we had paid for them ourselves then that's what I'd be doing now - what would happen if we returned these 60+ laptops we've still got in the unopened boxes? I suspect they wouldn't be replaced.
synaesthesia Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 If we had paid for them ourselves then that's what I'd be doing now - what would happen if we returned these 60+ laptops we've still got in the unopened boxes? I suspect they wouldn't be replaced. A good question, I can't imagine the DfE would be particularly helpful either unless they'd supply chromebooks in their stead.
dmj Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 A good question, I can't imagine the DfE would be particularly helpful either unless they'd supply chromebooks in their stead. Has anyone tried neverware or another linux on these, it might just make them usable?
synaesthesia Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 @Fazza if you'd like rescuing, I can send over a couple of these monsters for you? Service pack 3, 512MB of ram and a stunning Pentium M 1.73GHz processor. Guaranteed more reliable than those Geobooks - in fact this picture was taken just a few minutes ago and has only recently been retired from constant service running a laser cutter Battery still works too!
Fazza Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) Has anyone tried neverware or another linux on these, it might just make them usable? Do you think the USB issues are software related and not hardware related then? @Fazza if you'd like rescuing, I can send over a couple of these monsters for you? [ATTACH=CONFIG]59543[/ATTACH] Service pack 3, 512MB of ram and a stunning Pentium M 1.73GHz processor. Guaranteed more reliable than those Geobooks - in fact this picture was taken just a few minutes ago and has only recently been retired from constant service running a laser cutter Battery still works too! LOL - I actually collect Retro laptops and have some similar spec machines at home so know how good those are! Edited October 23, 2020 by Fazza
dmj Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 (edited) Do you think the USB issues are software related and not hardware related then? I was thinking about the slowness, with regards to eMMC, that the majority of chromebooks run on eMMC and are a bit more efficient than windows with slower hardware. edit: if the problem is just with the USB, just mount the files over a network share Edited October 23, 2020 by dmj
Fazza Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 I was thinking about the slowness, with regards to eMMC, that the majority of chromebooks run on eMMC and are a bit more efficient than windows with slower hardware. The only positive thing I can say about these things is that they boot up and load the desktop pretty fast and once you manage to get Office installed Word opens up pretty fast too.
dmj Posted October 23, 2020 Posted October 23, 2020 The only positive thing I can say about these things is that they boot up and load the desktop pretty fast and once you manage to get Office installed Word opens up pretty fast too. ah ok, I misunderstood the issue and added an edit to my previous comment
Fazza Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 *Problem Solved* A member of the SLT has solved all the hardware and build quality issues for us - they've going to find a technical support number for us to call!! To save time I wonder if I should just put the unopened boxes in the WEEE?! 2
Fazza Posted October 23, 2020 Author Posted October 23, 2020 I was thinking about the slowness, with regards to eMMC, that the majority of chromebooks run on eMMC and are a bit more efficient than windows with slower hardware. edit: if the problem is just with the USB, just mount the files over a network share If these were old laptops we had hanging around in a cupboard that were out of warranty then that's exactly what I'd do - I could even PXE boot an image on to them to bypass faulty hardware, but these are brand new laptops with random issues from missing screws to dodgy USB ports that are going to go out to over 60 pupils/students and it's beyond embarassing to say to them not to use the USB ports as they might be faulty and watch out in case any more screws fall out!
Andrew_C Posted October 24, 2020 Posted October 24, 2020 This is a £130 Ali Express laptop at best. I recon at this qty they cost around £88 each. How the heck do they get away with such a poor procurement process.Have you not seen the news for the last 6 months? 1
Wubbalubbadub Posted October 25, 2020 Posted October 25, 2020 They are disgustingly low spec. I don't understand how the procurement process would be so crap! Even the HP ones are pretty crap! I've had two fail on me already. Anyone know how to make a warranty claim? Is it just direct with HP? 1
wintech1 Posted October 26, 2020 Posted October 26, 2020 We've now had a mixture of Surface Go 2's, HP 255 G7's and now landed with 140 of these..... with a set of BIOS and Windows passwords that don't work! 1
Andrew_C Posted October 26, 2020 Posted October 26, 2020 You might wonder who was given the contract... Wonder no more - https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/schoolsweek.co.uk/96m-laptop-contracts-went-to-tory-donors-firm/amp/ 1
3s-gtech Posted October 26, 2020 Posted October 26, 2020 So many FOIs are going to be bouncing around about this. At least I’ll know to never, ever deal with this company, as if that’s how they deal with customers and public money I would not expect good value. 1
Ironside Posted October 26, 2020 Posted October 26, 2020 Unless someone can see any other news articles saying otherwise, then £96,000,000 was the contract and 230,000 was the number procured! It's NUTS. It's not the craziest thing about them as I was just about to enable TPM so inserted a USB drive to save the key on to, I left the room to get a drink and when I returned it had an error saying it was no longer recognised, I clicked on OK and it blue screened on me and now says the USB drive is an unregognisable device!! Works on other computers fine though as I've just tested it! Not sure if I'm allowed to post a YouTube video (so Admins please edit and remove if not allowed), but one of the laptops was flashing a Windows Update message at me! Some very strange things keep happening to these laptops and I've only got 4 of them out of the boxes so far! My god, it sounds like a bloody jet engine! Did they get their cooling solutions out the back of a original model Playstation 4 or something?
Wubbalubbadub Posted October 27, 2020 Posted October 27, 2020 My god, it sounds like a bloody jet engine! Did they get their cooling solutions out the back of a original model Playstation 4 or something? Surely that isn't the laptop! I think he is in a server room!? If that is the laptop then wow! 1
sonofsanta Posted October 27, 2020 Posted October 27, 2020 You might wonder who was given the contract... Wonder no more - https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/schoolsweek.co.uk/96m-laptop-contracts-went-to-tory-donors-firm/amp/ From the article: In August the DfE announced it would be providing an additional 150,000 free laptops to pupils who cannot attend school due to coronavirus, with Computacenter receiving a £27m contract to deliver this. So it sounds like that's the contract for these heaps of , which works out around £180 each. Which is still paying at least twice what they're worth, but at least it's not quite £400 bad! The £96m was the total cost of these, the HPs for disadvantaged Yr10s (£60m for 230,000 = £260 each; not a brilliant price considering their spec, but at least believeable) and the 4G routers.
Fazza Posted October 27, 2020 Author Posted October 27, 2020 Surely that isn't the laptop! I think he is in a server room!? If that is the laptop then wow! LOL - that's misleading as I was in the server room at the time!! 1
Fazza Posted November 3, 2020 Author Posted November 3, 2020 Setting up some more of these GeoBooks and USB drives suddently disappearing so having to unplug and plug them back in again - only one dead one so far today (power LED comes on when you try to turn on but there's no display).
kidpressingbuttons Posted November 6, 2020 Posted November 6, 2020 they are awful- had the same. Official advice from Geo was to drain the battery as this resets the bios!
Fazza Posted November 6, 2020 Author Posted November 6, 2020 they are awful- had the same. Official advice from Geo was to drain the battery as this resets the bios! What problem(s) did you have that resetting the BIOS fixed?
Norphy Posted November 8, 2020 Posted November 8, 2020 they are awful- had the same. Official advice from Geo was to drain the battery as this resets the bios! Draining the battery resets the BIOS? Whelp, that’s some quality engineering there boys... 1
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now