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Thread ID: 15558	2002-02-10 04:07:00	PC Company	Guest (0)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
35147	2002-02-10 10:12:00	Hello Craig, Go to the following link and see when the PC Company was taken to task over a similar problem (inadequate power supplies) and see the managing director Colin browns response, you will see he defends the company with typical gobbledygook, saying things like AMD are very happy for his company to use 200watt PSUs etc ( the truth is actually AMD recommend 250watt plus 300watt preferred, with the proviso that OEMs eg the PC Company can do as they wish, this is because they will be meeting the warranty claims and not AMD) He also makes no mention of the dreaful AMR modems his company was routinely fitting to their machines until 12 months or so ago. www.computerchat.co.nz Alan	Guest (0)
35148	2002-02-10 11:06:00	Isn't it funny, how there is always someone with a story about the PC Company. The latest one I heard was how the PC Company pop-rivetted their cases closed. I don't think so! Any idiot (even presumably including the PC Company) know that you would have to drill the rivetts out, to open the case, and I don't think even the PC Company would want to risk shards of metal falling on the Motherboard. I don't think so LOL	Guest (0)
35149	2002-02-10 12:10:00	Craig, You are a god, whenever I try to criticise the PC Company people always come rushing to it's aid... I have tinkered with over 15 PC Company PCs now... So many people buy them becasue they are cheap (and nasty...) What Craig says about the Hot Glue, Bits of string etc is 150% correct... I have found exactly the same problems and worse in several PC's Here are some examples... 1.)A Piece of stray hotglue got stuck in the Fan of the Graphics board (used to be a lovely Geforce 3)... Temp went through the roof, melted, and dripped onto the Modem, destroying it also. The modem was tied in place with string, and was not properly inserted in it's socket anyway... 2.)Hotglue again, this time in the CPU HSF, not completely restricting movement, but enough to get the temp up to 103 immediately after boot. I shut it down, and took the hotglue out... The temp went back down into the high 70's... that is totally unnaceptable... I build PCs myself, and I'd never ship anything that's run over 55 degrees C for extended periods... I prefer to keep things around the high forties for a fast athlon. But wait, I haven't got to the worst yet... 3.)19' Monitors... Oh dear oh dear oh dear... Only one I know of ever blew up, but I've never seen one that displayed text so that it didn't go around the corner... They look like someone stuck a Tesla research station next to one. And there are (VERY) visible lines that run around the edges making a series of curves like bananas. 4.)Windows ME, a total lost cause, one of my friends had his computer replaced 3 times before getting a refund, all three times we were only able to get the OS installed after a weekend of trying, and then the best we managed was to have it running for a maximum of 7 minutes before it crashed and had to be re-installed... Windows ME is a diabolically atrocious OS, but normally you can expect more like 7 months before it wont boot, not 7 mins. 5.)String!! the assembler seemed to think that leaving it straying around in the case would be fine, it got sucked into the PSU, and was getting tied up in the fan... 6.)The same problems as 5, but with Hotglue... 7.)If you order a PC with 256MB Ram, you get 2x 128MB dimms filling both of the slots in the horrible Chaintech board... 512 = 2x 256, 128 and you get two 64's... 8.)Once I booted one up and it smoked... turned out to be nothing serious (by PC Company Standards), just a little bit of hot glue getting close the the CPU surface... 9.)HSF not properly latched onto the CPU die, and rattled around in the case... 10.)Spelling mistakes on Driver CDs... 11.)Voltage selector on back of PSU set to 110V...KAABOOOOMMMM 12.)Dead fly in case... 13.)Forgot to include printer. 14.)Broken pins on AGP slot. 15.)Hmmm, that might be all I think...yeah If you want my advice, get your PC from someone who knows what they are doing! I swear to oath that all of what I have listed is true, the only slight exaggeration is that the exploding 19' monitor realy only sparked heaps and smoke came out folowed by a burnt plastic smell... Lots of people I know ask me to come round and help them set up... I always advise getting a PC from elsewhere, but they are always lured by lucrative pricing and a few sexy models leaning on PC cases... I don't believe the PC Company is still in business... There is so much crap floating around in their cases that the likelyhood of having more than one fan rotating is very low... :( :( :( the FAT man	Guest (0)
35150	2002-02-10 12:30:00	Me again! Just remembered another one... Take a look in the Feb PCWorld... Go to the PC Company catalogue, and see what they have to say about DDR 333.... GOOD LORD!! tweak'e, this'd be right up your street, I've already alerted them to it, but they are absolutely sick of me, I have left hundreds of messages with them (normally between 5-15 per PC) so they don't take me very seriously anymore, they always apologise again when they realise that the monitor did actually blow up, and they offer to give us a 15' instead... Anyway, as I was saying, those of you who know about DDR 33 should take a look at that, go to the toilet first though, you're gonna laugh a lot! :) the FAT man	Guest (0)
35151	2002-02-10 20:43:00	Just to clarify some things. The five different people who's pc company systems I have looked in are all friends of mine, or my family, and as I am a student I only charge $10/hr to fix their systems, and not even that sometimes, so it is far cheaper than a professional, and taking the systems back to the pc company office is a no go, because of the brush offs they use, and the fact that the system is often worse when it comes back, than when it went in.	Guest (0)
35152	2002-02-10 23:57:00	Here's some more wood to add to the fire: I recently had the opportunity to work with someone who's previous job was a pc assembler at the pc company, without going into specifics as to branch location or dates, i was informed that the practices craig mentions are used 'on every pc they ship' and hot glue, string and hardware of quality you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. No surprise that this pc company employee quickly became an ex-employee when he found this out. Also: from reading these comments and others it seems there are two types of pc company customers - those who hate pc company and those who don't hate pc company (yet).	Guest (0)
35153	2002-02-11 04:01:00	Folks, may I suggest that you do the following. Send a letter to the editor of PC World. It must be precise, outlining a specific case. You must we able to back it up with evidence (the PC/PCs in question) and where the issue is advice about allowable heat levels from a PC Company rep, the person's name and the date of the conversation would be good. An email or letter confirming what they said even better. Do it this way and PC World will then sned the lot to the PC Company requesting a reply. At the very least, even if they don't reply, you have a good chance of the issue being aired in the letters to the editor section. Alternatively (and perhaps this is a better idea) you could send the letter and relevant correspondance to Geoff Palmer in his capacity as the Consumer Watch columnist. Geoff loves getting his teeth into things like this. if there s a case to be answered he'll see that it is. If not, then PC Company is given the fair opportunity to answer the accusation. Bruce Buckman Web Dev Manager IDG Communications	Guest (0)
35154	2002-02-12 08:35:00	Oh and by the way - the customer is always right is rubbish. The fact is that as a customer I am NOT ALWAYS right - particularly where Technology is concerned (and I have worked in the IT Industry for 7 years here folks, so I know what I'm talking about). Imagine this scenario - A buy's a petrol car and put diesel in it, and then claims shoddy workmanship was the reason the car broke down. Give me a break. IT companies get this sort of thing all the time, or worse, then in the aforementioned example A decides that as an amateur mechanic to try to fix the car themself, and in doing so damages the alternator. That said as the customer you do have the right, through the act of exchanging monies, to a product that fairly represents what you have paid for, and to prompt, fair and courteous service, should there be a problem. And in my experiences with the PC Company to date they have always delivered. Righto 'nuff said - I have more important things to do with my time!!	Guest (0)
35155	2002-02-12 10:32:00	Well this is my story of a PC Company PC. On return from the UK I needed to get a PC in my hands so I looked in the PC World mag and saw the add for PC Company saw the pc for me and nice new AMD 1.2 ghz and went to Whangerei the next day and ordered my pc with some more ram added. 3 days later is shows up. Not to bad I thought but was a bit miffed that they never kept them in store but never mind. Set the PC up all was good in the world. I started to put some of my stuff onto the PC and went and put a floppy into the drive and went to move some files over but all I got was a rather alarming grinding noise from the drive. Well not being too happy I got on the phone and had a word with the bloke from the shop. He told me to drop it over and let them have a look at it. > of an hours drive later I drop it off and get told I have to leave it with them, not too happy but ok I leave it there. Four days later I ring and are finally told that it is all go again. After ringing every day to see what is going on and when it will be ready. I picked up my PC and set it up again and all was good in the world again machine went well and it really moved too. (had a PIII 450 before that). The problem was the drive wasn't installed properly and when the disk was put in it wasn't going all the way in. The eject button of the drive was hitting the eject button on the front panel of the case. Now 2 months down the line I get a heap of error's (the blue screen of death). So I reboot and on boot up I get Windows Protection Error system halted reboot you machine. So I do several times and in the end it comes to life. After a week or so of this happening and a post in this forum with the said error ( no reply's ) Well I?ll try to format and reinstall the OS (ME). Wished I hadn?t done that after 4 attempts I got ME in and running only to find I still had the problem. So on the phone again and got the same reply (send it in). So I did. I get a phone call at work after 3 days saying that they are looking at my PC and there is nothing wrong with it. So I tell them what was wrong with it again. Ok he says we will have another go at it the about an hour later I get a call again to say that one of the rams sticks was faulty. As soon as they put it on the tester it showed errors. The following day I get home and still no PC hmmm I think where the hell is my PC I get on the phone to PC Company again to see where it has got to. All the man told me was that the courier had picked it up and that's all he could do. Not to happy about that but what can I do. Nothing. Well 4.30 the following day it shows up put it all together all is good again. Two and a half days to travel 70 ks (man that's a slow courier) Four months later I get the same error buy now I'm a little reluctant to send my PC back. After the time it takes for them to fix it and with the general attitude I get when on the phone. So I think to my self well I want more ram any way so just buy some more and put it in, Easy. I get some more ram put it in and is good for a day or two then OHH NOO it's back. So after some thinking on possible causes I think well pull one stick out and see what happens. Well problem solved the second stick is stuffed. To make sure I swap them over. HMMMM still going ok so must be the board. I replace the board with a board that has 3 dimm slots not just 2. I can have even more ram now yeppy. I go to put in my OS but wait OHH NOO it's a recovery disk not a REAL windows disk so now that I have replaced the mother board the disk is useless. Lay my hands on a real copy to get up and running again. Send an Email to PC Company saying I want a real copy after being told it was (it was talked about on the phone the second time I rang PC Company). And still to this day have never had any response what so ever. All was good in the world again I was happy I fixed my PC and its got even more ram now and I was done fast not 4 to 5 days. Well xmas is upon us and what do I get a nice new game cool I?ve been after that one too. I fire it up and play away and then it keeps falling over on me hmmm getting a little bit peeved at this. Possible causes hmmm drivers nope all new and up to date. Vid card nope supported with up to date drivers. CPU temp always wondered if it was meant to be that high (sat at 55deg at idle). Played game with temp monitor loaded in sys tray. When ever the game fell over looked at monitor right away to find in horror at times 65 deg but min was 62 normally when it fell over. So I put in a case fan right above CPU in the nice little holder that are in the cases and also an fan in top drive bay sucking hot air out of the top of the case. It improved it somewhat but never got the temp down much. After talking with the local shop and a couple of people in the trade I decide to get a new case. At $120 not to bad looks ok. 300 watt PSU, front USB ports and a nice lay out inside the case heaps off room. I put in one case fan under PSU, only because I had one and put it all together. I fired it up and WOW 45 deg and after playing my game happily for hours on end it was still going and was only just hitting 50 deg. I have even seen it hit 39deg at idle. Problem solved new case was the answer. Was it because the case had a 200-watt PSU or because the case is a bad design or maybe even both? Anyway that?s my story you can make of it what you like. I must say though if you have managed to read all of this post then well done. Your's sincerely a former PC Company customer. PS. the glue in my PC was not very tidy at all it was all over the place I had glue all over the boards.	Guest (0)
35156	2002-02-12 11:02:00	Tony, you have my heartfelt sympathy, you must have spent hundreds patching up what was originall only a few grand... You see AB/John, if you do buy a cheap PC you end up spending a few extra hundred to bring it up to speed, which - had you spent it in the first place - would have saved you your precious time! As for the reasons, I would almost certainly blame the PSU and a cheap fan for the temp, and the Chaintech board for rooting Dimm after dimm of RAM... I had a friend to whom a similar thing happened. I'll not go into all the rest, but people, when you buy a PC, get a REAL JOB! :) the FAT man	Guest (0)
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