D'Ambrosio and Hinkley Dodge

Apparently, Hinkley Dodge bought out D'Ambrosio Chrysler Jeep. I've had a problem or two with D'Ambrosio, but overall, I would prefer to buy a Jeep from D'Ambrosio than someone else, when I get my next one.

Until today.

Backing up a few weeks, I went to Jiffy Lube to get my inspection done. They told me I passed emissions, but not the inspection, due to an unspecified leak in the exhaust. That was a Friday. That night, I went to Idaho with my boyfriend, and returned Saturday. Sunday, I pulled the Jeep apart to find the leak, and found that I had a cracked exhaust manifold. Monday was a holiday. Tuesday they said to bring it in the next morning, letting me know it was covered under the warranty, and assuring me the part was in. Wednesday, I brought it in, and then decided to make them check to see if the part was there. Turned out they had to order it. So, here we are 9 days later. Oh, and I had 15 days to get the problem fixed and Jiffy Lube would reinspect it for free. That's tomorrow, if you're counting. I call to find out about the part, and get told it's in, and transferred to Hinkley's side of the road, because they're handling appointments. They tell me the next appointment is the 23rd.

WTF? Last week, it was same-day. I start to argue, and get told I can do a "walk-in", and bring it in today, and then they "might" be able to get to it Monday or Tuesday. I'm leaving a lot out here. By this point, I was so mad that I ended up yelling, asking if they really expected me to leave my only mode of transportation there all weekend, knowing that they couldn't do anything with it. I'll give it to the lady, she had a smile in her voice the whole time and didn't take my frustration personally.

What it comes down to is that D'Ambrosio has always been same-day service for me, unless there was a valid reason, and this doesn't seem like one to me. After asking a bunch of questions, she said they're shutting down D'Ambrosio's shop, although 'a few' mechanics will still be over there. So, this buy-out means a bigger company that cares less. I don't think they're on the top of my list to buy the new Jeep next year.

Oh, and there doesn't exist a device driver for audio, modem or card readers for my Laptop for XP. So, I get to hope that my restore disk works. And figure out where it is. What a fun weekend!!

[Update] Who knew that manufacturer forums could be productive. Less than 2 hours after posting my driver problem, the question was answered. Turns out I have to download drivers from a different model, install them in an obtuse order and stand on my head while doing so, but hey - at least I have sound, right?

"Upgrading" to XP (Warning: Geek Speak)

This one probably won't interest anyone, except maybe a techie or two, but I have to vent!

I'm starting a new job tomorrow, and the contracting agency was going to supply me with a laptop, because the company I'll be working for will take a couple of weeks to get me set up with one. I said I could use my laptop, and then realized I'd need XP, but I had Vista installed.

I've been meaning to "upgrade" to XP since I bought the laptop, but haven't had the time. Since I took today off between the jobs, it was the perfect time!

First things first, before I began the install, I copied important files to the "restore" partition, and downloaded the wireless drivers. Everything went smoothly. Until I tried to find the video driver.

The video driver wasn't listed on HP's driver page. I went to nVidia's site, where I tried several different drivers, as well as the "discovery" feature, and it kept telling me I didn't have any hardware that worked with it. A couple hours searching through the web, and apparently, I'm the only one with this particular problem. However, someone had a similar problem with a Conexant audio driver, and they tried "updating" the driver, and telling it the location. So, I decided to give it a shot, and lo and behold: I'm finally viewing the "internets" without distortion or ugly page re-rendering! w00t!