Apologese - I will be offline for a while ...

[nudone]

i'd definitely stick my heels in about the point of not paying them because they didn't contact you first. if that's what they clearly state then they are def. at fault in my view.

does the motherboard actually work now? is it worth using it for a while to see how long it will run for - maybe it will work fine? or, if you can't trust it even if it appears to work - use it as a secondary backup machine or something.

[Carol Haynes]

It did occur to me to ensure the board didn't work before I returned it.

Any ideas on how to blow a chip (and not me) without it looking obvious or doing any other damage?

[nudone]

Carol, have you tried the board now since it's return? could it be that they've sent you and new board but are pretending they haven't, i.e. so they give the impression there is nothing wrong with their products. i know, i know, paranoia.

(what did you think to my personal message i sent you?)

to destroy any equipment - isn't it common to plug a 12v car batter into it? that's what they do around my way. it's not something i've needed to do myself but i know someone that did it to a standalone dvd recorder (and probaly several other things).

[Carol Haynes]

No it has the same serial number as the board I sent in.

[nudone]

i think you perhaps need to just get the new machine up and running. if it runs without trouble then your problems are over. whatever happened - if the board now works, just be happy about that.

maybe something they've done to the board has cured it without them even realising. is that possible i don't know. i've certainly had electronic equipment that worked better if you hit it hard enough.

but, the money problem, i'd still kick up a fuss about them not contacting you - shout loud enough and you may eventually get through their thick skull that you aren't to be messed around and they'll give you what you want and more, just to be rid of you.

[Lashiec]

Could it be something related to the PSU? Maybe there are some problems with the internal circuitry, causing it to not be able to deliver full power to the computer

But apart from that, I really don't know, at least in what concerns to the 'technical' part. Try to connect everything firmly, I fixed some problems with my computer during these years like this.

Glad to know you have another way to hang around here, though.

[Carol Haynes]

The PSU is, I suppose, a possibility but it is a high quality PSU (and cost a lot) and it worked fine for 3 months and is doing so again now.

The duff setup was taken apart so often and put back together again so that i am pretty sure there were no loose fitting compnents and is one reason I reduced the system down to a single graphics card, single memory module and a CPU 9and then swapped them all for working components from another machine). It's all very strange.

As I said to nudone in a PM I have ordered a new CPU, PSU and a graphics card and I will retest the old board when they arrive (I don't want to keep experimenting with my main system) so we'll see what happens.

[Carol Haynes]

Don't read if you are sensitivee to bad language

F*** F*** F*** F*** F*** BUGGER!

Set up the returned board yesterday - guess what - didn't POST.

Phone tech support - try using a screwdriver to boot it (rather than the front panel switch) .... strangely it booted.

Rebuilt system - all work fine

Ran MEMTEST 86+ all night - no memory errors this morning

Put in Windows installation disc (blank HD in there) and rebooted and guess what - won't POST AGAIN. Now doesn't matter what I do (with or without screwdrivers).

Called tech support - please send it back ...

So far this board has cost me £18 to send it back + £25 they have charged me for testing and return and now it will cost another £18 to return it again - a total of £61 !

I can buy a new board for under £100 should I cut and run on this one before I throw good money after bad ?

[nudone]

i wouldn't trust them again. what you do beyond that i can only refer to previous advice.

maybe you could give it away as a prize for something?

[Lashiec]

Looks like something difficult to find. Must be some faulty component of the motherboard giving problems out of the wazoo, maybe a capacitor, resistance or whatever. If they don't change it for a new one (something than in the shop I'm going to buy most of the components for the new computer they do), use it as a drawing board or something

[Lashiec]

It seems that the forum doesn't mark edited posts as new posts... sorry for the double post.
And this is the day of resurrecting threads on my part. So, Carol, would your PSU happens to be an Antec NeoHE?

[Carol Haynes]

Yes - no probs though since I replaced the mobo

[Lashiec]

Ah! That explains everything! Earlier models have some problems with the Asus mainboards due to the high efficiency of the PSU, which conflicted with some of the functions of the mobo (or something like that ). I learned this the other day over at Silent PC Review while reading some Antec cases reviews, in this case the PSU got together with the Antec P150.

Well, I'm glad you solved the problems

[Carol Haynes]

Bizarre - PSUs that are too good for the mobo .... weird idea