hello, i just signed up because i've taken this problem to a few other forums and nobody really understands or has anything else to say but "ACK".
i've built, for hardly any profit, a few shuttle XPC's for some people in my town. this isnt a business, but rather people seeing my own computer wanting one of their own. i started out with average pc building experiance, and now i can work my way through just about anything. i've been very happy with shuttle, and have bought most of this stuff from newegg.com
which brings me to my latest creation, for my best friend's mother.
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.
i had owned a jetway cheapo motherboard (with a k7? cant remember) and had no negative memories, so i went into this deal unbiased. since i was taking pictures and writing a how-to and review as i went, i had to assemble everything only using the included instructions and such.
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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