What should I have done??

[master]

This is a very old thing, but I wanna know what I should've done.

About 2 years ago, I bought a brand new computer, all sepertely, of course from TigerDirect.com...

Here were the specs:
Shuttle motherboard 478 socket
P4 1.1 ghtz CPU (with a fan, of course)
GeForce 32mb video card
A simple case with a 320v power supply (I think, somewhere around there)

I already had a 40gig drive, 256mb of ram, floppy, and CD ready for it beforehand

gere's what happened:

I put the CPU, memory, and everything else together, all except the hdd, and CD-ROM

Looks like it worked fine... until it froze right in the middle of lookng through the bios settings. restarted, same thing, again, it won't start up.... finally I got it back up... same thing happens... grrr...

Then I thought it was the video card, so I switched the AGP one with a PCI one. didnt work at all. put the AGP back in....

Worked fine... until I smelled SMOKE... Shut it down, tore it apart, it was the motherboard... I can see that along the side it was burned. A wire connecting to the power supply and to the little green slot (cant remember what that was used for, it's not ISA, PCI, or AGP, someting else..)

Anyway, after that, I checked the memory, and it was still good, so I put that aside.

I e-mailed both TigerDirect and Shuttle what my problem was, got responses back from them. Here's a brief discription of what they said:

Tiger-

We only accept returns up to 30 days for exchanges, for warranty, go to the manufacture of your product

Shuttle-

Talk to your reseller who sold you the product.

Little repetitive, huh?

I fought back and forth almost forever.... finally I just said, the hell with it.... and bought me a new barebone kit (mobo and case) never again will I ever buy a motherboard and case/power supply seperate.....

Now, any hints on what I should.ve done, In case this ever comes up again?
The warranty is expired for about a year, so I won't have any chance, or want to get it fixed

[Vivi]

Wow i would have been extremely pissed! I think you made the right choice really. cause i am kinda worried that might happen when i build my comp.

[johnny blaze]

You might have needed to adjust with the switch on the power supply. When I put my PC together, it would run for a few seconds, then turn off. After I messed around with the switch, it worked fine. I could be totally wrong though, there's a good chance of that. =)

[Deach]

Don't give it beer next time.

[Dark Neighbour]

[ForeverZero], theres a problem with your theory.

When I did computer studies in Year 9, we were told to put a bunch of computer back together, but were instructed NOT to touch the little switches on the back. One blonde (she was blonde!) flipped the switch from 230V to 115V.

The sound that the computer made after it was turned on can only be described as smacking a ruler on an desk so hard that the desk falls apart before you. It was loud. FUCKING loud.

It might be different when you are changing the PSU from 115V to 230V, but I think it would have the same effect. I'm pretty sure something would explode if the PSU was trying to change the incorrect voltage.

I could be wrong.

Now then. What should Master have done?
I would have sent the letters that were given to you from Shuttle and Tigerdirect, and send them to each other (Shuttle's response to Tigerdirect, and vise versa). If that fails, then you can start the abusive e-mails. It does work, I'm serious. When I built my gaming machine, the motherboard had been cracked. I rang up the reseller, who told me to contact the manufacturer, who, in turn, told me to contact the reseller. I eventually told them that they were leading me on a wild goose chase, and began to send abusive e-mails, explaining their incompetence. Eventually, the reseller gave up and replaced the mainboard at no charge.

It might not work, who knows. All I know is that it worked for me, so you might have the same luck I had...

[Borman]

It could have been anything really, it doesnt neccessarily mean it was the PS just because it was around that area.

[polobunny]

Indeed it could be anything.
The little point on the processor goes with the little arrow on the socket btw.

I would have started abusive e-mails since month if I was you. As lack Wolf says, it really works to be abusive.
I've been abusive a couple of time now, for stupid things like buying a new computer with a DVD-rom (that was what the seller said) and going back to my home and seeing no DVD.........

[master]

too bad your bunny can't use the middle finger, then it wuld really be evil... thanks all...

[Nipedley]

[ForeverZero], theres a problem with your theory.

When I did computer studies in Year 9, we were told to put a bunch of computer back together, but were instructed NOT to touch the little switches on the back. One blonde (she was blonde!) flipped the switch from 230V to 115V.

The sound that the computer made after it was turned on can only be described as smacking a ruler on an desk so hard that the desk falls apart before you. It was loud. FUCKING loud.

It might be different when you are changing the PSU from 115V to 230V, but I think it would have the same effect. I'm pretty sure something would explode if the PSU was trying to change the incorrect voltage.

indeed, would have overvolted the PSU I expect, accepting 115v and getting 230... set that to your region's amount and leave it be, always . And as for these motherboards, its the manufacturer of the motherboards fault and they should have replaced it, I would have argued it out with them until they did.. going through the Reseller would have only meant them sending it back to the Manufacturer anyway, and if anything else was damaged with the motherboard you could have claimed that back against them as well, I saw this happen before with an MSI motherboard... Killed off some pretty expensive equipment, and MSI claimed it was because the user put in the USB bracket cable the wrong way, when it only fits one way They're full of excuses. And from the sound of it i would say it was something power related, power supply, (brackets in the wrong way could cause problems like that too, if its possible for them to be in the wrong way).