Replaced 'deffective' 8800GTS with new GTS450 - PC still not working.

[Indigo]

I think I saw your post about the motherboard, but dismissed it as I started writing my reply. It happens.

Sorry to hear that you've gotten no love from the testing. There are a few things to do from here.

Swap out your power supply. It's the fastest & easiest way to make sure there's not a power issue going on. Get a spare if you can, buying a new one at this point is a bit premature.

If the power issue is fine (i.e. same results on a different power supply) it's highly suspect that it's the motherboard at this point, which means you'd have to buy a new motherboard.

At that point you have to consider if it's worth troubleshooting the system to pieces, or just take your new video card, call it even and buy or build a new system.

Entirely up to you and how much you want to troubleshoot it.

 

[timbo1]

Hey Og,
as of today we had a very nasty altercation with the company concerned, with the talking head at the business essentially acting in the most insulting manner towards both me and my wife in separate calls - just acted like a complete jerk. Refused to acknowledge error or to simply have us bring the unit in to ascertain what was at issue, etc, etc - the kind of stuff you'd normally expect a decent business to do. As we'd been given his name through my wife's work, he undoubtedly thought word would filter back to them, so he tried launching a pre-emptive strike by phoning them and claiming I'd threatened him - arshole! I've never physically threatened anyone in my life, and at 52 years of age I'm hardly likely to start. I wrote him a lengthy email outlining his behaviour and the action I was going to take online and through court, and as of five minutes ago the tech from the firm called me and asked if he could call round to our home personally to try and resolve the situation amicably.

The things you have to go through to try and make a company show some integrity!

 

[timbo1]

Okay, update on the card situation.

The tech came round with a spare video card of his own, tried his and the 450GTS I bought as a replacement - neither would work. Bottom line? It now appears that it was a motherboard issue after all, though he still claimed the dearly departed 8800 GTS was burnt out and that he confirmed it by testing the card on another PC that became available after I left the office.

His latest opinion is that the PCI-e slot may be burnt out and that the board won't post, and has offered to either try and find a suitable AMD-compatible board to shift everything over to, or give me a comparable Intel-based unit with a dual core mounted. Either way he'll give me the board for nothing and shift over everything for free, as a means of smoothing the waters after the trouble we had with the boss. We just pay the extra for the CPU if we choose the Intel board.

I don't want to seem ungrateful, as I think he's genuinely trying to fix the situation, but I also want to be sure I'm not going to go backwards with whatever he might offer us. Even though I've always had Intel-based systems in the past I like this particular set-up, especially the motherboard, and I was thinking of upgrading the CPU in the near future to a quad or hex-based unit to give me more juice and quicker turnaround times for my video and photographic work.

It's been about 4 - 5 years since I last built a PC so I'm a little out of the loop. If he offers an Intel-based board and CPU, what should I consider comparable to my ASUS/AMD combo?

My gut feeling is to simply order the same board again, as I can transfer everything over, even though I end up paying for the board when a free one is on offer. Current prices - mainly out of Hong Kong/China - are around $80 for an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe.

Any views?

Thanks as ever to everyone for their help.

Tim


Motherboard – ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe
CPU - AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Heat sink/fan - AVC Socket AM3/AM2/939/940/754
Graphics - EVGA 450 GTS
Sound - Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS
RAM - Corsair XMS2 4GB (2 x 2GB)
DVD - Lite-on DVDRW LH-20A1L SCSI
HD - Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB
Power - Cooler Master Real Power Pro RS-750-ACAA-A1 750W
OS – Windows 7 Ultimate (64)

 

[Indigo]

If he does the AMD solution, make sure it's at least a Socket AM3+, or if Intel, a socket 1155 (LGA1155). If you get either kind of board, you'll be fine. If he can't offer anything along those lines, just be aware of it and plan accordingly. If you're getting it basically without any money out of pocket (at this point, I would get everything in writing, but that's just my paranoia now kicking in) you can go either route, as long as the new solution is better than the one you were using. It's hard to top the 6000+ in terms of dual core performance, so just be careful with it. If you need advice on if another chip is faster or not, let us know.

Also, if things continue to go south, even with the tech helping out, make sure you file a BBB complaint too so other folks know to steer clear. I hate dishonest businesses.

 

[timbo1]

Update - the tech reneged on his offer of a motherboard, claiming he didn't have anything close enough to what I'd need. This from a guy who claimed he did in fact have both an AMD and an Intel board he thought would fit the bill, and which he wanted to offer up in order to make the problem his boss created go away.

BBB here I come. Not much compensation, but at least anyone with a view to running a background check might steer clear of them.

And for anyone located in Orlando, Fl, be sure to take Computer Services/Top Computers inc. of Maitland off your list of likely candidates for tech. services. Don't walk - RUN!

Thanks again all..........Tim

A quick PS - when the tech was in our home the other day, he claimed that the CPU might need reseating and took the heat sink off to inspect the CPU, then placed the heat sink back on. I was under the impression you couldn't do that, and that once the heat sink was off you had to clean everything and put a fresh layer of Arctic Silver back on. I just want to be sure, because he turned the computer on and off a number of times afterwards, and I want to be certain he didn't do any damage with his 'inspection'.