ideas/advice....on what happened?

[songoku]

I think I met the person with the worst luck in the world……

I built a pc in November for a client. In December the onboard sound stopped working, so I sent the mb back to asus to get it rma’ed. I didn’t get the mb back until January, a full 32 days later. (Oh and by the way their 5-10 day turn around is only a hint or a guide line, not fact.) Over the month of December I let him use anther one of my machines and his video card died (surge), so I sent it back and rma’ed it. I got it in 3 days!

Now were up to January. I sent back his mb again (!) because it was dead on arrival after getting it from asus. Received a new one in 2 weeks. Then in February this LCD stared to have rolling lines in it so I sent it back. The company said it was a common problem with the model.

Now its march. His onboard sound died AGAIN and so I just had him buy a sound card in stead of sending it back. He however is not happy with the ordeal he had been through and wants me to give him is money back.

Now I personally understand this. I personally have send over $200 on his computer myself, and made nothing. He however spent $1400.

I have tested all of his components in several over computers, and have had no problems. It seems to be consistent, that every 2-3 months something will break. I have zeroed his drive replace every component in his computer, But with the same model (this could be the problem), and still these problems. Any ideas?

The components are the following –

AMD Anthon XP 2800+
Asus A7V8X
Kinston Hyperx 512 ddr2700
ATI Radeon 9500
Sound blaster 16
Intel v.92 modem
WDC 80GB 7200rpm ata100 - don’t remember model
Optorite dd0201
Toshiba DVD-ROM -*
Megavison 17” LCD -*
Logitech MX duo
500 watt 2.1 Speakers

Running Windows XP Home with all the updates and current drivers.


Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

 

[coolsquirtle]

electric problems with his house maybe? or is he a anti-computerist.......

RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
never tried to go crazy when it comes to o/cing.
THGC's resident Asian and Graphics Forum's resident nVboy

 

[Cybercraig]

There is absolutely no excuse for spending that kind of money on a PC and NOT having a good UPS! I run two APC 700SU's that I bought on E-Bay for 50 bucks. They take the common 12v-7amp/hr batteries you can buy anywhere. The big power outage on the East Coast last year killed lots of them and they are cheaper than dirt to refurbish and inexpensive to run. I keep the cable modem and the 54G along with my monitor on one and everything else on the other. I also ran a cold water ground to the outlet they use. A fast clamp is no good on a bad ground. We have UPS on every workstation at the office. It just makes good sense. His problems all point to a bad ground, a bad surge protector, or horrible dirty power with no surge protection at all. It could kill his TV, stereo, or any other electronics in the house.

 

[songoku]

well i checked it at my shop and at his house. But its consistant, so i dont think its power poblems.

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

 

[coolsquirtle]

well no offence or anything

A7V8X.....*cough* shitty board *cough*
Megavision? *cough* no name brand *cough*

RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
never tried to go crazy when it comes to o/cing.
THGC's resident Asian and Graphics Forum's resident nVboy

 

[Mr_Nuke]

Borrow him or make him buy a UPS with AVR(Automatic Voltage Regulation),use it for about 2-3 months and see if anything breakes again. If it doesn't it's definitely his electrical installation.

 

[songoku]

i have built other comptuers for this person before and they work just fine. its just this one that is cursed. So should i just dumb it (considering i have already rma'ed everything twice) or what?

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

 

[ChipDeath]

<b>You used a VIA board. be grateful that the good lord decided to just smite the PC and not you...</b>[/Crashman]

seriously though, you do never hear such a tale of woe involving an nforce2 mobo.

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744

 

[DCB_AU]

Fix it, then sell/trade.

<font color=red>DCB</font color=red><font color=white>_</font color=white><font color=blue>AU</font color=blue>

 

[songoku]

what do you mean fix it? change the mb? I have always used va/asus mbs. In fact the one in my main gaming computer is almost exactly the same. Mine just has gigabit lan and his has t100. Our revisions are even the same!

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

 

[endyen]

I would look first to the speakers, then to the psu.

 

[songoku]

I have tested the speakers and they are fine and i own a pair of them my self.

The psu is antec true 330 watt.

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.

 

[endyen]

Have you checked his place for dark matter? This is commonly associated with pre-teens and club footed naives.

 

[Mr_Nuke]

Is he using his audio to record sounds? Because he might be inputing too high signals, yep!
Is he overclocking?
Is he messing with the jumpers on the mobo.
Pay attention to this meanless details, they mean a lot.

 

[GIPNOR]

What kind of warranty did this guy buy from you? Hell, I think I might give you a call the next time I want a new PC!!!

You might want to check his power source. I had an outlet that burned up 3 wireless telephones at my old house.

It sounds to me like:

1. Maybe there's something going on with his speaker setup
2. Your experience returning motherboards has sucked...
3. Monitor = known problem, not necessarily related

I'm sure the guy is frustrated but it sounds to me like you have gone out of your way to be accomodating. In fact, it sounds like he's received a LOT more than he would have had he bought a PC at Best Buy, Dell, or anywhere else!! If he had purchased a PC with those kinds of problems from a big chain, he'd have been without a PC for a loooooooooooong time.

A co-worker of mine bought a brand new Dell laptop and had problems with the display. It took them FOUR attempts to get everything working and many missed appointments by their technicians. This laptop was/is top of the line. He asked for a replacement and Dell declined.

I don't think you owe him his money back. I think you both have suffered and hopefully he'll recognize the time/effort you've spent trying to make everything work.

 

[songoku]

I give a 3 month unconditional warranty. The place where I buy my parts from are usually pretty good about returned products. Of course I also buy thousands from them on a weekly bases, so I don’t think they really care that much.

He is not over clocking or doing any sort of media recording. Just plain net surfing and play need for speed. (Literally!)

As far as I can see my only other option is just to completely replace his computer with brand new stuff. Maybe Intel. I do have a p4 2g that I don’t want, of course he would be loosing 8x agp, and 800mbz of theoretical performance, but I think that he’ll get over it. Thanks guys for you advice.

Laterz

Supporting AMD with your breakable stuff.