Hi Rick, sounds like you may have a lemon or a "dropped in the warehouse"
system on your hands. I've reviewed NewEgg's RMA policy. Personally I think
a 10% restocking fee is outrageous, but that's their policy. But do note
that the 10% fee is for refund only. If you were to request a replacement
system you would not have that fee, or at least that's the way I read it. I
looked at the specs and it's not a bad little system, but if you look at the
published specs it states that you have 1 each PS/2 mouse and PS/2 keyboard
ports.
However if you want to, check out Jetway's website for detailed information
http://www.jetway.com.tw/evisn/index.html, it states you must use an octopus
cable or two PS/2 "Y" cables to connect your two keyboards and two PS/2 mice
(mouses?).
If you plugged the two keyboards into the two available PS/2 slots on this
system then in all probability you either blew an internal fuse or fried the
motherboard. You should look at the motherboard and see if there is a buss
type fuse (little glass thing) on it anywhere.
You may want to drop PC World an E-mail and tell them about your experience,
they have a good track record of getting companies like Jetway to pony up.
Do you have a power supply you could swap into it to see if there is maybe
one side of the output that has blown?
My advice is to try to get a replacement system and throw away the 2-user
software.
William Pike
[log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Rick Dempsey #3
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 4:32 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Oh, poor me.
.
they wanted something different, and i directed them to do a little browsing
and they came up with this thing:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=56-107-009&depa=0
the jetway MiniQ 765Twin. touted very vaguely as a "2 user computer" it had
only ONE picture of the packing box when i ordered it. i was skeptical from
the get-go, but since there was NO information elsewhere on the web i
decided i could take some pictures and create my own review/guide in the
process.
<SNIP>
the thing came to me feeling "used" . huge, tarry fingerprints smudged all
over that ugly black front panel. the floppy cover was floating around the
case, as well as the USB hinge and the heatsink box. the whole thing was
open and my stomach sank when i layed everything out. 2 manuals were
included, for the motherboard and the "magic twin" software. the pages to
these looked like they had never been glued in and at first i thought they
were lining the box for shipping protection!!!
i only took one pic of the bent floppy cover, because it really didnt dawn
on me anything was *too* wrong. musta been jumbled during shipping, right?
it doesnt matter what i put in here unless you take into account that the
video card and sound card are now both completely dead.
specs:
AMD athlon XP 1800+ AGOGA
512MB mushkin PC2100 value
MSI 128mb GeforceFX 5200
Soundblaster Live! platinum 5.1
samsung 32/24/48x cdrw
maxtor 30gb 7200RPM
the PSU scared me at first, being so low. assembly was a pain, the case
kinda seemed "lopsided" as in it took a great deal of effort to fit the
cards and the cd drive. i booted first with just the CPU, fine, RAM, fine,
and as i added power to things i didnt see any problems in the voltage
monitor. no problems powering all that stuff in the BIOS, and then during a
memtest, then during partition magic. all of the components were thoroughly
tested in my test rig, an old FIC AN11 raid mobo and 450W psu, and i
carefully benchmarked the video card as another of the same model had came
to be defective before (smudged thermal paste during manufacturing, the
lottery of RMA's let me tell you)
i got a great deal on all this stuff except the case. newegg is my friend.
i was able to install windows XP home, no problems, and had began installing
the stuff my friend wanted on it. so since it was whatever "magic twin"
meant, i decided to try and make it happen. software started installing,
loose page of manual said to plug in 2nd keyboard, mouse and monitor. cool,
lets reach around here and
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAPP
at this time i have no idea what is going on. when i was 17 i was working
for a home repair/placement crew, and had been digging out a foundation for
a demolition when i struck a power line with my shovel. bumping my arm
against the aluminum back panel of this case as i plugged in the monitor, i
had hospital flashbacks of that faithful day i was pretty much struck by
lightning. i rolled back, fell on the couch that was luckily behind me, and
just stared at this machine.
it chugged along fine, after i regained my composure, i smelled no burning
(from me or the computer) and windows eventually reported it was done
installing something and needed to be restarted.
scared to death of even looking at this thing wrong, i cut the power and
tried to find just what on earth HAPPENED.
i've assembled 50 or so PC's for other people, not including the dozens or
so of my own. i have never been electrocuted by one, much less shocked to
crap by a tiny 230W.
i couldnt find anything wrong other than the overall "bent feeling" of the
case. suffice to say, the motherboard is most likely dead, as i cannot POST
and the speaker makes this horrible ambulance siren noise when i try to
power on. i've removed everything but CPU and ram and tested various
combinations of the two but i'm pretty sure its dead.
so i can RMA refund from newegg. and drop 10% of this thing to a restock
fee. i havent touched this thing in a week, if you've been *seriously*
electrocuted you'll know what i mean.
since i bought it, newegg has convieniently added a bunch of pictures of
this machine, which were *NOT* there when i bought it (only 1 remember)
jetway has changed the look of their main page THREE TIMES and their tech
support email has also changed THREE TIMES.
so yeah i dont get any replies from them.
i could send this back to newegg but i feel a refund simply isnt enough. if
i try to really poke around and find out whats wrong i'm afraid i'll end up
fixing this mistake, but not until i take pictures and narrow it down. i
dont even CARE about my money anymore. i want someone from either jetway or
newegg to stand up and take a little dang notice. why should i have to pay
10% when this thing knocked me on my back like cheap kick to the groin?
so i'm pleading to anyone here who might have an idea for me, i can get my
story published on overclockers.com, but i would hate my entry into
reviewing products be such a negative experiance. this thing came to me
after about 3000$ spent on newegg, and is my first transaction that wasnt
100% satisfactory.
maybe i just need to be held or something :) if anyone has the time, maybe
throw me a few ideas, experiances, or thoughts on my story. thanks for
reading this, i appreciate it!
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