Getting that sinking feeling .... returning & exchanging OEM components??

[Fatboy]

Well, after a major overhaul of my system (MOBO, CPU, RAM, HDD), I decided to go for a new case and PSU aswell

I had major problems getting XP onto my Raptor, which was eventually sorted on Friday, so all was well with my world - got everything running, got a new rank on BF2, all was good.

New case and PSU? No problem, 30 minute job to transfer everything into the new case, connect up the PSU and I'll be back up and running within the hour.....

....That was what was meant to happen....

After checking, checking again, and doing another check I knew I'd connected everything up fine.

Connected the PSU to another computer - no problems there.
Put my RAM in another computer - worked fine, so no problems there.
HDD isn't needed to get the computer to POST - no problems there.

A couple of e-mails confirmed, either the CPU or the motherboard is screwed.

It's at a local IT shop for a free problem isolation type thing, basically they're going to swap in another CPU, and check my CPU on another system - so one way or the other I'll know what the problem is.

Exchanging the MOBO shouldn't be a problem, I received it on the 6th, but where do I stand if the CPU borked given that I bought it OEM?

[Dougal]

Depends where you bought it.

From a shop, like Scan, fine standard warranty.

From ebay.

Errm. Don't think you'll have any luck

[Fatboy]

The CPU came from Lowestonweb, it hasn't been overclocked at all but obviously as it is OEM I've stuck it under a "proper" cooler - Thermalright XP-90C.

I'm going to look on the lowestonweb site, to check their returns policy.

[Pealy]

Best advice is to stand your ground. As far as the law goes there's nothing special about a CPU so make sure you get a replacement, even if you have to just keep repeating yourself until they give in.

If you paid by credit card and they refuse then it would be worth taking it up wit the bank.

[Fatboy]

Hopefully I shouldn't have to return anything, from further testing I know my CPU is fine, what I think it might be is that (I've routed a lot of cables under the motherboard to make it nice and tidy) a "pin" on the underside of the MOBO has pierced the sleeving on one of the cables and consequently is shorting something. I should know whether the MOBO is okay by the end of the day, if not it's no problem, just return it for another one given that it's under 2 weeks old, if it is fine, I should be bakc on BF2 this evening

[junglejim]

Motherboards are v sensitive to grounding issues. If any of metallic part of the board (apart from around the screw holes) is touching the case it will not boot (it tends not to blow the board). So moving said cable (which one.. front panel, usb, ide, power) should make life okay. If it is the usb or power cable then you may be in trouble as these carry enough juice to fry various mb components but hopefully you've just earthed the board.

Cheers,

JB

[rajindergill]

Never route any cables under a motherboard, with them being 6 layer PCB's they are very sensative items. As junglejim says, try re-routing your cabling. If that does not work its RMA time or buying a new motherboard

[Fatboy]

It's all sorted, shame about the problems, coz my case was looking v tidy! Anyway, it's up and running again...

[Pealy]

Nice to see a happy resolution to a thread! How come my posts just end up with me even more confused!

[Simon1987]

Hopefully I shouldn't have to return anything, from further testing I know my CPU is fine, what I think it might be is that (I've routed a lot of cables under the motherboard to make it nice and tidy) a "pin" on the underside of the MOBO has pierced the sleeving on one of the cables and consequently is shorting something. I should know whether the MOBO is okay by the end of the day, if not it's no problem, just return it for another one given that it's under 2 weeks old, if it is fine, I should be bakc on BF2 this evening

Thats good, Simaller thing happend to me with my lanparty, I routed the fpi connectors under the board (god knows why) And it caused a short.

Nothing was damaged though

[Fatboy]

Got to laugh, was updating some drivers last night, the system hung up when installing one of them .... so I rebooted, and that was the last I saw on Windows until I reinstalled it! Last known good config didn't work, safe mode didn't work....bit of a nightmare. Gonna leave it till my 200GB HDD turns up and then transfer all the docs etc to that, then reformat the Raptor and reinstall Windows (yet again).

[herulach]

Got to laugh, was updating some drivers last night, the system hung up when installing one of them .... so I rebooted, and that was the last I saw on Windows until I reinstalled it! Last known good config didn't work, safe mode didn't work....bit of a nightmare. Gonna leave it till my 200GB HDD turns up and then transfer all the docs etc to that, then reformat the Raptor and reinstall Windows (yet again).

Wasnt the NVidia IDE drivers was it? They are awful

[sawyen]

You've been having it hard ever since your A64 purchase... Hope you get everything sorted out for good this time. If you still need anything just ask yea? I'll be still in my coffin (she found out the photos for our trip to peak district last month were also in that hard drive I formatted)

[Fatboy]

Ouch, the amount of pictures I've got on my hard drive are the reson I'll pick up a DVDRW in the not too distant future. The end is in sight (deja vu anyone?!?!?!), the other HDD should be here Monday (how much of a dumb-ass am I - still didn't order it through Scan!) and then its a couple of hours of reloading everything, and no doubt phoning Microsoft again as the number of licences has been esceeded yada yada yada ....

The driver in question was for my Saitek Cyborg Evo joystick - I was hoping it'd sort out the overly sensitive rudder - makes LOMAC a pain in the arse to fly. Won't be doing that again....