I have an SE, love it to death, and I know there could be several different issues at work here. I would suggest that your friend search for the Viking SE Yahoo group and join that. There are so many knowledgeable people who are so helpful on that group and I'm sure she can get the help she needs from them. Good luck and I'm sure she will love that machine and since there's so many great features available on it, it does have a learning curve and the Yahoo group has tons of info in their archives also to help.