Is it Time to Call The Geek Squad?

Good thing this person doesn't work at the company the IT CROWD supported. First episode and he's already playing the recording of "Did you turn it off and on?"
Anyway, I'd suggest the LW ask their tech support family member or friend for help, and offer a home-cooked meal of the support person's choosing or some sort of food option (I always tell my friends feed me and I'll help [computers or other stuff {except any sort of painting}] them out. And the better they fed me, the more likely I'd respond the next time.
And if the support can't help for whatever reason, ask if they can recommend a local repair place.
I wish them luck.

I know of a couple of fixes I have used when my desktop went stupid.
1) Depending on your / computers environment, one cause might be a very dirty processor heat sync. The processor chip gets too hot, and can't compute very well. The fan can not keep the processor cool, due to heat sync fins blocked with dust. Remove the fan, and brush / vacuum out the dust.

Another possibility, is the bios battery on the mother board needs replacing. The round nickel size battery.

GS is never on my list for repair solutions. I have 50+ years in engineering / computers / IT and prefer to solve issues myself with online resources. (That holds for my computers as well of those of several elderly friends / clients and their businesses.) I also rebuild donated computers for a charity, which means there's never a dull moment in fixing their odd issues.

The usual BestBuy non-warranty response is to put in a new drive or at least reload everything and start fresh. I consider this to be the lazy action of someone who can't be bothered to investigate the root problems. Anyone remember Bob Pease's continual calls for "clear thinking"? I very seldom encounter a difficulty that can't be solved in a reason timeframe with some disciplined and thoughtful troubleshooting.

As for warranty work, be warned that GS will NOT guarantee that the computer you get back is the same one you turned in - just some "equivalent" model which may not have the specs (or added hardware) you really need. And their cautions to "back up the data first" won't help with the painful process of getting all the programs reinstalled and configured correctly.

Used the "geek squad" for blue screen,they did the same test I did already with same results before sending off for further testing for $80 deposit, to I suppose the "super geeks" in Atlanta and it was the motherboard gone bad on an 18 month old HP deskstop. Cost $400 to repair out of manuf. warranty but luckily had coverage through credit card extended warranty. Took about 3 weeks but was satisfied with work.

My decade+ old DELL Inpiron 15 laptop started 'clicking' and I took it to a (now out of business) place where a 'dying hard drive' was the diagnosis. A $45 solid state drive was installed and everything transferred over for $250 resulted in a faster, stable laptop that's still serving me well.

The Geek Squad (now just a profit center for Best Buy) and Staples (ditto) are my last choice. Almost any local computer repair store will be better and less expensive.

When in doubt, ask an expert. And the Geek Squad and Staples are not experts, they are just trying to earn money for their corporate overseers.

They guy with a stack of miscellaneous stuff in the window will be better than the GD or S. We had good expectations for the Circuit Center guys, but RIP. It's a tough business to be in.

I am in complete agreement with Dan and BB regarding Geek Squad and Staples. I stopped by the Geek Squad desk in one of the Best Buy stores and asked a technical question. I am very skilled in computer hardware and IT work, and I was very appalled at their answer, which was an indication that they knew little. To "mask" their lack of technical knowledge, they steered the conversation to some talk, which involved me signing up for some plan. With that, I didn't only walk out of the store - I ran out of the store. Forget about what they call customer service.They were just a bunch of clowns! I would have greater confidence with having the chickens be protected from the foxes, instead of having Geek Squad perform any work on my computers. When Windows 11 came out, I replaced the motherboard myself for my desktop. As my original questions pertained to the operating system, I upgraded to Windows 11 by consulting online resources. [I also installed Linux and configured a dual boot system.] Everything works nicely! Thank you for an informative article, which explains the various options!

A new MicroCenter store has just opened up about a half-hour away from my house. I have already had a verbal consultation with their service counter guys about the intricacies of printing from iPads to a Windows network; I appreciated their answers, and I would likely trust them for must-have repairs that I can't handle.

Sometimes the reality is that a repair just isn't worth it. It seems silly to sink two hour's worth of troubleshooting and repair plus parts into a cheap keyboard with a few dead keys.

Or sometimes there is another way around it. I diagnosed an inoperative FireWire laptop port as having been torn from the motherboard somehow. I showed the owner how badly it was damaged, and said the repair would be tedious and expensive - and that I would not guarantee I wouldn't break something else in the process. However, I showed them an ad for a USB-to-FireWire adapter and said we could work around the problem for $18 using a different working port. Customer was happy and appreciated the outside-the-box thinking.

We are fortunate to have a computer repair shop in Duncan BC. "Seaside Computer" who have helped me. First I took it into the shop. And next day it was ready. I have also been able to phone if I had a problem and they gave me a quick solution.
Whenever i have asked friends for help they have either not shown up or have misunderstood what my problem was and messed it up. Guess what was my best choice?

Scammrs often use the Geek Squad and other companies to send you a bogus company invoice which will be deducted from your PayPal account. Do not respond or call these scammers. Just send the message to phishing@paypal.com if you never signed up.

I have decent experience with the Geek Squad. I have the yearly subscription and have 5 laptops in the house. A couple of laptops would not boot up and they fixed the problem. They mostly work on my laptops by taking over them I keep an eye on what they are doing to keep them from doing anything with my data (I close all programs that access data).

I am lucky in that the local computer store is very good. I can take it in (15 min drive to get there), they will check it out and if it works at their shop and not at home...it is free and I have to sit through a 4 hour call to AT&T (my provider) to find out what is wrong. If it does not work there, they run diagnosis, virus cleaner, etc and it is working again. One time it was a part in the "box" on/off switch [built in] (this is a PC) and they moved everything into a new box and it still works!

Depending on the age and original cost you might be better off just getting a new laptop. Shopping around can often get you a good deal and an upgrade from your old one that includes future updates and security patches. It's your basic cost-benefit analysis to repair or not.The nuclear option is to reset/refresh to original out of the box condition if a new computer is not feasible. Anyone can find many affordable chrome-books (check reviews) that can handle the most common things an average person would need.

I have used the Geek Squad for many years. The price has gone from $99 to $200 + but it's more than paid for itself. I'm had many software issues and/or computer issues, and most have been resolved by them dialing into my computer and working on it remotely.