Return it. It sounds like there's a hairline crack, bad connector, or cold solder joint on the board that's causing intermittent faults. Moving the cables around could be flexing the board or connectors just enough to temporarily get things working again. But the minute the components heat up (after they've been running for a while) or get cold (because the system has been switched off for a few hours) you'll be back to square one.
Life is too short.
My rule:
any component failure or repeated system anomaly within the return period - send it back.
Two big PC manufacturers hate us because we always advise our clients to do that. Even for the slightest hardware glitch if it's within the return grace period. Our attitude is that the manufacturer's warranty on parts and labor should only be invoked once you can't get a new machine or your money back.
Note: Sometimes you have to push a little to get them to honor their return policy. They'll often try to stall you with a promise in order to get you to slip the return deadline. Don't fall for it.
We had a client take delivery on a shipment of something like 20 desktops where two were obviously defective. After a few phone calls to "Peggy" it was pretty obvious they were running a stalling play on the client. First they wanted to send two replacement hard drives. (We had already run full diagnostics and positively identified the problem was on the mainboard.) Then, after a heated 45-minute argument with a series of techs as the case got "escalated," they finally offered to send two replacement motherboards
we could install for for our client. When we said "no" to that, they then offered to send one of
their techs to install them. I have a pretty dim view of the wisdom of replacing mainboards in the field so I asked for an RMA to ship the two machines back for replacement per the warranty terms. They declined.
When I pointed out what I wanted was within the terms of their warranty, Dale (the "senior customer service manager") informed me it was solely at
his discretion whether or not to do an RMA - and since he felt he was "being reasonable" in offering to send out parts and a technician - it was now a case of "take it or leave it."
When I pointed out we were still within the return period and that I would be contacting sales to arrange for a return and credit, his attitude changed dramatically. Dale offered to cut an RMA, but he insisted our client would have to pay for the return shipping (which is not what the warranty or sales terms said). Further, he refused to cross-ship replacement machines without first charging them to our client's credit card - with an actual refund credit amount to be determined once the defective machines had been received and "evaluated."
At that point I thanked him, told him "no thanks," and said we would be contacting our sales rep to cancel and arrange for the return of the
entire order. I also said I'd be sure sales was given
his name in case they had any follow-up questions about what just went down...
We received two replacement PCs the following morning via overnight express - along with two prepaid pickup tags for the defective machines.
I hate to be an SOB - but sometimes you just have to push.
Luck.
