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Thread: About to throw myself off a very tall building

  1. #1
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    Unhappy About to throw myself off a very tall building

    Right. I'll try keep it brief.
    Having bought an ABIT NF7-S from Aria's Bargain Basement, I spent 2 weeks trying to get it to POST without success with my Barton 2500+, a Coolermaster X Dream II, 2x256MB Corsair ValueSelect and ancient Nvidia Riva TNT2 64 video card.

    Having tried literally everything I could think/read about, I returned it. Aria took 4 WEEKS! to tell me that the board works. So, what should I do? The only thing I can think of is that the PSU (being a generic 300W one inside a cheap King Case K2-530-sl Silver Jumbo Case from eBuyer) is not sufficient. But I've tried a barebone setup, only CPU and RAM, with no result, no beeps, nuffink. Surely even a cheap 300W PSU can supply enough stable juice to fire up such a minimal setup? Should I return the case and PSU to Ebuyer as faulty/misrepresented, or just stump up for a proper PSU? Or am I missing something?

    Sorry for the long post, many thanks for any help offered for my desperate situation!

  2. #2
    Bonnet mounted gunsight megah0's Avatar
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    Firstly welcome to the forums.

    Secondly are you able to test the other components in another machine?
    Recycling consultant

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    Hi there mgh0, thanks for the welcome.
    The RAM would be tricky (only other machine runs on PC133!) but it was recently purchased and I've attempted to POST with only one stick in, trying both sticks alternately in each DIMM slot and still no go.
    I've swopped in an Athlon 1ghz CPU with fan from the same older machine which works fine, still no POST.
    I've swopped in the AGP card from the working old machine and again, no POST, as well as putting the Riva in the other machine which then works fine.
    If it was a problem with the RAM or the CPU I would have thought the board would try to tell me but as it can't even seem to get to a POST I'd assumed it was dead. However, other people around the web seem to think that the nForce2 boards require a lot of power, and that you need a good PSU to even get them going? Things is they're a bit pricy for my threadbare wallet, plus I can't believe such a minimal setup requires more power than the PSU can provide.

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Did you have the motherboard in the case? Did you try it just laid out bare on top of a bit of cardboard or something? I spent ages tearing my hair out trying to get a computer going once, bought a big new PSU for it and everything. It was only when I was pulling it out of the case to RMA it that I realised that I had an extra motherboard standoff in the case that was shorting out some contacts on the bottom of the board. I plugged it all in bare, and was in business immediately.

    If the fans don't even spin up and you don't even get any bios beeps (or post error codes if the NF7S has a display) then realistically the fault is either with the motherboard or the PSU. Try the PSU with your other computer and see if it works; if it does, check that the voltages aren't too far out of spec.

    GL,

    Rich :¬)

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    Hi Rave,
    I had the mobo out of the case the whole time, carefully resting on the cardboard box it came in. To clarify (shoulda said so to begin with) the fans on the NB and the CPU do start spinning, and 2 LEDs on the board come on (green one indicating standby power, and a red one as soon as I press the power switch) The whole thing is getting laughable really (the only other option is to go mad) and I'm beginning to wish I'd never tried to build my own computer now. I've asked Aria to provide me with the details of the tesbed which managed to get the board to POST, hoping there'll be a clue there.
    On a slightly different tangent, has anyone had trouble with Aria? I ask because the first customer service monkey I got on the phone today said the main reason itwas being sent back to me was damage to the DIMM retention clip. I blew my top as that had been present when I recieved the board (the reason for the cheap price I assumed) and the next guy said that no, the real reason it was being returned was coz it'd passed the testing. Would they be unscrupulous enough to fib to me?
    Cheers
    Alan

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    So if it is out of the case, presumably you have no internal speaker plugged in so it could be POSTing?
    To err is human. To really foul things up ... you need a computer.

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Test the PSU and graphics card in another computer if you can, to rule them out as suspects. Then, as Yamangman says, you'll have to plug in a speaker next time you test it to see what the error beep code is.

    Rich :¬)

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    At the moment, it IS the graphics card if you are you are using a TNT2. The NF7 is, presumably, an AGP 3.0 spec board, and therefore only supports 4x and 8x GPU's. The TNT2 is neither. You'll have to use a GeForce 2 MX or higher. If you plug an onboard speker in, and it beeps continually at a high rate, it's the graphics.

    However you did say 'But I've tried a barebone setup, only CPU and RAM, with no result, no beeps, nuffink'.

    So i'm at a bit of a loss, as you also said you've had the mobo out of the case the whole time.
    To err is human. To really foul things up ... you need a computer.

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    When I had it out of the case I had the speaker plugged in...long wire and a bit of a fiddle but it was definately plugged in and no beep codes.

    When I say barebone setup, I mean the entire time that I've been trying to get this to work I've had the board out of the case on cardboard, connected to the PSU and speaker. I have attempted to get this to power up first with CPU, RAM, HDD, GFX card etc connected, then went back to the most minimal setup poss in order to figure out which component broken. However, as the board doesn't give any beep codes or sign of life even when nothing but the CPU plugged in, I have to assume it is either the board or the cpu that's crook, and as the board does exactly the same thing (spinning fans, 2 LEDs but nothing else) with a cpu I know to work, it must either be the psu or the board.
    Or perhaps the speaker is broken? If I plugged headphones into the audio out, would I hear the error codes if there are any?
    Cheers for help

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    Just had a fantastic email from a tech guy at Aria. Apparently, they didn't actually test it after all, they are sending it back because one of the DIMM retention clips is broken and claim that voids the warranty. The fact is that the damage was there when I received the board, but I had assumed that was why it was in the Bargain Basement and having asked Abit directly if it would prove a problem, to which they said no, I decided that it wasn't an issue. Now it's come back to haunt me!!

    I know that they'll say that I have no proof the damage was there and that I should have returned it immediately....what the hell can I do? If I don't sort this out they'll send me back the board which doesn't work and there'll be nothing I can do about it. Arrghhh!!

  11. #11
    HEXUS.social member Allen's Avatar
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    • Allen's system
      • Motherboard:
      • ASUS Maximus VIII Gene
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core i5 6600K
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 8GB Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4-3000
      • Storage:
      • 256GB Samsung 950 PRO NVMe M.2 (OS) + 2 x 512GB Samsung 960 EVO in RAID 0 (Games)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ASUS ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC
      • PSU:
      • XFX P1-650X-NLG9 XXX 650W Modular
      • Case:
      • Fractal Design Node 804
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Home 64-bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • 27" BenQ XL2730Z + 23" Dell U2311H
      • Internet:
      • Virgin Media 200Mbps
    The thing is, the Bargain Basement is for returned, refurbished or discontinued stock. You should've really checked the board straight away and when you found out it wasn't working, sent it back.

    They only have a 30 day warranty, are you beyond that now? If so, then you're stuck with it I'm afraid.

    And on a side note, Aria are one of the best on-line companies I've dealt with and they have continuously improved their service.

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    I totally appreciate that, in hindsight, really I should have returned the board on the strength of the missing DIMM clip and not accepted that as a non-essential defect (as advised by Abit themselves) and attemped to get the board to work.

    I did send it back within the 30 day warranty, but the issue that I have now is that they have not even tested the board (if so they'd find its not working and replace it as I returned it within the 30 days) and they are sending it back because of the damage to the clip and nothing else! Surely there's something I can do? If not I'm stuck with a £50 useless piece of plastic and metal! If I point out that, being a novice at this, I interpreted the passage on the website saying that Bargain Basement items are "second user, refurbished or discontinued stock. They may be missing drivers, manuals, cables, accessories and consumables if applicable. Packaging, if supplied, may not be in 'as new' condition." as including a broken, but non-essential DIMM clip, as covered by the disclaimed and an acceptable tradeoff for a low price they may relent?

    Otherwise I'm jumping out of my office window now. Any ideas?

  13. #13
    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by arete80
    Just had a fantastic email from a tech guy at Aria. Apparently, they didn't actually test it after all, they are sending it back because one of the DIMM retention clips is broken and claim that voids the warranty. The fact is that the damage was there when I received the board, but I had assumed that was why it was in the Bargain Basement and having asked Abit directly if it would prove a problem, to which they said no, I decided that it wasn't an issue. Now it's come back to haunt me!!

    I know that they'll say that I have no proof the damage was there and that I should have returned it immediately....what the hell can I do? If I don't sort this out they'll send me back the board which doesn't work and there'll be nothing I can do about it. Arrghhh!!
    Just email them back and tell them that the damage was there when you received the board and that you assumed that was why it was in the Bargain Basement. That is a reasonable assumption as far as I'm concerned, and you're not legally obliged to send back goods the minute that you spot they are faulty, especially if you have good reason to believe that the fault will not affect the operation of the board. Forward them the email from Abit as confirmation of this. Tell them that you would like another board that is proven to work, or that you would like a refund if they are unable to provide one. Aria have probably assumed that you're a klutz who broke the board yourself and are now trying to rip them off rather than cop for the damage yourself- I would imagine that computer parts suppliers get A LOT of that, and I don't blame them for being sceptical. If you prove to them you do know what you are doing and assert that the damage was not caused by you, I would imagine that they would do the right thing rather than lose a customer for life and potentially get a lot of bad publicity.

    It sounds (to me, but this is speculation yadda yadda) like Aria received the board back from a customer (probably because of the damaged RAM clip, it's possible that this has also damaged some traces on the board or something) and then bunged it in Bargain Basement without testing it. I bought a Ti4400 from Ebuyer's bargain basement once that was fine in 2D but wouldn't run the core faster than 150MHz in 3D apps. When I looked closely all the power supply caps are bulging. I guess they just put it in a PC and checked that it displayed an image, rather than checking it could run 3D apps properly. I didn't bother sending it back in the end, I'd bought a 9500 by that point and I figured it'd be easier and cheaper to replace the caps myself rather than cop the postage charge for the return.

    Rich :¬)

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    P.S. did you pay by credit card? If so stop worrying, even if Aria refuse to accept that you didn't damage the board (which I doubt, assuming you send them a polite but forceful email on the subject), you can claim the money back from the CC company and let them fight it out with Aria.

    Rich :¬)

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    Thanks Rich, your sage advice popped up just as I was posting the previous post. I fired off an angry email to the tech chap who replied that he'll pass it to his supervisor to ensure the board is tested as usual, and copy the email to customer service so they're aware someone fibbed to me about the testing.

    I have now also composed a calm, restrained email to the tech guy explaining the reason I didn't return it with the broken clip etc. Hopefully this'll get sorted out, and I have apart from this experience been happy with Aria, so let's see, maybe I'll be looking back at this in weeks to come as I'm ordering my stuff from Aria and wondering how it all got so messy! Certainly learnt that, certainly as a first time builder, cutting corners can sometimes end up costing a lot more, in money, time and grey hairs...live and learn
    Cheers for the help guys, I'll let you know what happens.
    Al

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    Now with added sobriety Rave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by arete80
    Certainly learnt that, certainly as a first time builder, cutting corners can sometimes end up costing a lot more, in money, time and grey hairs...live and learn
    This, as a chronic tightwad, is something I learned some time ago!

    GL anyway. If it's any consolation, my first home built computer (this century anyway) took six weeks to get going (or more accurately it took the friend who was building it six weeks), and along the way it ate an Athlon 1000 and two Duron 800s.

    Rich :¬)

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