About to throw myself off a very tall building

[Allen]

Personally, no matter what company, no matter how good everyone else says they are, I wouldn't buy 2nd hand or returns from them, no matter how cheap. Hopefully, from now, you will do the same and not have any more problems and live a happy and enjoyable PC building life.

[Allen]

Heh, yeah, as Rave says, it's full of hurdles... But you get experience from building each and every one. Myself, I've built 3 machines for personal use. The first two had problems getting them to start up, but thankfully didn't take too long. The 3rd, rig 1 in my sig below, booted up first attempt and I haven't had many problems with it since.

[arete80]

Well Rich, you've just put my little hair -tearing episode in a little more perspective!
Funny how I always thought, with an industry built around precision and tiny detail, that when time came to putting one together myself it'd all fit together like a piece of electronic clockwork and happily whirr away under my desk as I listen to music/game/surf etc

And Allen (good name by the by, but the number of time people spell me (Alan) like you... do you get it too?) I have certainly learnt that first-hand means one hell of a lot more certainty and peace. This thing may well not be over, but I think I've got over the worst of the shock/anger, and I've certainly learnt a lot this afternoon....just cross me fingers for a perfect ending ("We're sorry about the awful stress this has caused you and as a valued customer, please accept our apologies and this free NF7-S with special chrome bits")

[Allen]

And Allen (good name by the by, but the number of time people spell me (Alan) like you... do you get it too?)

Really? But Alan is so much more common than Allen! When telling someone my name, I always spell it for them as they normally write Alan, so that doesn't bother me. What does bother me though is people replying to my emails calling me Alan, or Allan. Can't they flipping read???

[Rave]

("We're sorry about the awful stress this has caused you and as a valued customer, please accept our apologies and this free NF7-S with special chrome bits")

You've still got a lot to learn, I'm afraid. When it comes to computers, black ones are fastest, not chrome ones.





Rich :¬)

[starside]

Agreed ... black computers are fastest.

[Allen]

Mine's silver...

My motherboard is black though!

[arete80]

I think my patience is going to be black and blue by the time this is over!! Got home today to discover a lovely packet from CityLink. Aria have sent back the original board, obviously the dispatch warehouse wasn't informed of the problem quickly enough and so I'm facing another set of pastage charges, more delays and more frustration. I've sent Aria a polite email stating that I want a refund/credit note, and I'll pay the extra for a brand new NF7-S, and that as they've said themselves that a broken DIMM clip is sufficient grounds for a return, and as I sent the board back within the warranty (though for a different reason), I don't think I should have to wait around whilst they test it. Still not holding my breath, though I think I'm well within my rights. The whole thing has just gone so Pete Tong at every stage I wouldn't be suprised if they turned round and asked for proof that I didn't break the clip. Hiho, building a computer certainly does increase your reserve of philosophical patience. Think the guy who wrote 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' called these sort of situations gumption traps, hope my gumption is enough to sort this out!

[pre]

Putting the damaged dimm slot aside - does the 300w have a 12v p4 aux connector? Bartons need the connector plugged in otherwise they generally fail to POST.

[Allen]

Putting the damaged dimm slot aside - does the 300w have a 12v p4 aux connector? Bartons need the connector plugged in otherwise they generally fail to POST.

Not on all motherboards. My Asus A7N8X-E doesn't have a socket on board for the 12v line. Dunno about this Abit though. My DFI has.

[bmh.01]

The abit has the 12v connector but I think the manual says that its not required but as i've never tried to boot any nf7s without the connector i'm not 100% on this.

[arete80]

Hi there, yup the Abit does indeed have the 12v connector (one of the reasons it's so good at overclocking and part of my choice to buy it, though it looks like it's still gonna be a while before I get the chance to let my 2500+ Barton rip) and the 300W power supply unit also came with the extra connector so that was powering the board as well. I fins it hard to believe that even a generic psu couldn't provide the power to get the board with only a cpu and ram on it to post.