This has certainly been a painful day. 1. because I'm starting with a lovely cough, cold and headache, and 2. because I just bought a new laptop to replace my Toshiba. There's nothing quite so difficult as having to part with more than half of your first month's wages on a laptop that you shouldn't really be buying but due to international incompetency is deemed necessary!

On returning to the computer technician to get a quote for a change of the mother board, I was promptly told that the shop neither stocks nor orders parts for Toshiba. Then I found out that no one in Göttingen stocks or sells anything for Toshiba... the nearest place is the european toshiba centre in Neuss or possibly Hamburg...way too far away.

Then followed an afternoon of being passed from one person to another on the phone. PC World wanted nothing to do with me but put me through to toshiba, then toshiba passed me to the 'tech guys', who said that 'I could just take it into any Currys or PC World store and have it repaired'. hmmm we all know what the problem is there! I could possibly get my parents to take it back with them after they visit in November, but then I'd be without a laptop until christmas, meaning I'd spend more money on phone calls etc and just not be able to access my emails. Not really a viable option.
So finally I was put back through to Toshiba in the UK who gave me the number for Germany... dialled that...cue automated voice menu and a choice of either paying extra to speak to a technician (bearing in mind I already know what the problem is) or visit the website. So... yeah. I looked on the website on my housemate's laptop and again met the same problem, only this time it was even more amusing as it seems that my make of laptop is only sold in the UK and Ireland! Wonderful.

So kurz und bündig, it was either somehow get it picked up by Toshiba even though the german hotline number and website are just naff and don't give you any proper information as to how to do that. Plus it's also expensive because the laptop is out of warranty so I'd have to pay to get it picked up on top of whatever repairs they do.... result= hefty bill for a laptop that might not last me until the end of my degree. Or, simply do away with the hassle and buy a new one. Guess which one I went for. Though I must admit, I still did it rather begrudgingly!

Ah the fun of having to learn words like 'Arbeitsspeicher' and 'Betriebssystem'... There's some use at least to having your laptop go kaputt.