Recently one of my colleagues purchased an IBM NetVista computer with 40 GB hard disk and pre-installed Windows XP. The machine came with the hard disk in a single partition. He wanted to repartition the disk and install Gnu/Linux also. Since the machine had just been delivered, he told the suppliers that he wanted the disk to be partitioned. They agreed, but the next day they called to say that partitioning the disk will result in his losing the warranty. According to them, this particular model was meant to be used as such and the purchaser has no right to change the configuration. This had not been mentioned in their quotation, and, according to them, nobody had asked for partitioning. They also said some interesting things:
(a) that there was a hidden partition of 4 GB that contained the OS
(b) that, if the disk was partitioned and the machine was connected to the Internet, then it would inform IBM about the change in configuration and the purchaser would lose the warranty.
My colleague has decided to reject the machine if they insist on denying him the right to partition the disk.
Would any of you have any information on such practices? This seems to be a serious matter that has to be taken up.
V. Sasi Kumar Centre for Earth Science Studies Thiruvananthapuram
There are complaints in other mailing lists to wich I subscribe, that doing a dual boot on a system with XP will actually result in a duel between the partitions, with non-enslaving s/w being eXPpelled from the hard disk.
You may be able to install linux on a partition. But, next time you boot into XP, the 'install new hardware' program will run and the linux partition will be formatted and converted to winXP partition, of course, *with* your permission, which you gave by clicking the 'accept' button first your system was run.
vsasi@vsnl.com wrote:
(a) that there was a hidden partition of 4 GB that contained the OS
Huh? So the HDD is actually 44GB (or more)? Or is that the system would display HDD size to be 36GB, and it would require some hacking to identify the OS partition? (Just curious)
(b) that, if the disk was partitioned and the machine was connected to the Internet, then it would inform IBM about the change in configuration and the purchaser would lose the warranty.
You are wrong there. Info goes to M$. It goes whether you partition or not; every time you (1) access the net; (2) change your hardware configureaion.
It will not ask you before installing software upgrades.
You will not be informed that all info on the MP3, WMA files and other multi media / audio files on your system is being sent to some secret location.
Would any of you have any information on such practices? This seems to be a serious matter that has to be taken up.
In US, M$ has a division for dealing with requests for refund from customers who purchased systems with M$ pre-installed. Conditions apply, the condition is that you should not hit the 'accept' button (apparently) at first start up. In your case, the system vendor or his service technicians have already done it for your friend. So, forget refund, unless you want to fignt it in court with the hardware vendors.
Regards, Mahesh T Pai.
On Sun, 2002-11-17 at 14:10, Mahesh T Pai wrote:
There are complaints in other mailing lists to wich I subscribe, that doing a dual boot on a system with XP will actually result in a duel between the partitions, with non-enslaving s/w being eXPpelled from the hard disk.
You may be able to install linux on a partition. But, next time you boot into XP, the 'install new hardware' program will run and the linux partition will be formatted and converted to winXP partition, of course, *with* your permission, which you gave by clicking the 'accept' button first your system was run.
What you say does not seem to be true, at least not for all machines. I know a few machines with both XP and Linux, and at least one with XP, W98 and Linux. They have been running without any problem.
(a) that there was a hidden partition of 4 GB that contained the OS
Huh? So the HDD is actually 44GB (or more)? Or is that the system would display HDD size to be 36GB, and it would require some hacking to identify the OS partition? (Just curious)
I have not yet seen the machine. Have to check up.
Regards Sasi
-
Mahesh T Pai -
V. Sasi Kumar -
vsasiļ¼ vsnl.com