I Actually Have Something to Talk About
Back in September, I bought a new computer.
I'd been to a couple of local shops about building one for me and the only place that actually did that kind of work never called me back, so I said screw 'em and asked around on a forum I frequent. One company (name intentionally withheld) came highly recommended and they were having a Labor Day sale with a ridiculous price break on a certain Core i7 processor with free overclocking. Ended up being a pretty nice deal for a specialty kind of build.
I finally got the computer about mid-way through October and it worked great. For a week or so. Then, I started having a lot of serious blue-screen problems. I'd have to restart three or four times before the computer would finally settle down and actually stay on, and that gradually turned into it not booting up at all, not even into safe mode.
So, I called up tech support, told them what was up, and they diagnosed the problem as a memory issue. I downloaded MemTest86 and ran it on each DIMM individually. I found one that was iffy, so I went ahead and sent it back, thinking my problems would soon be over. First time I tried to boot after pulling the bad stick, I had the same problem. So, I ran MemTest again on the two remaining sticks at the same time. It got to 47% on the first pass and the machine rebooted; I let this happen two or three times, and it consistently would get to 47% and reboot. So, I tested the two remaining DIMMs one at a time and both checked out fine.
My motherboard is triple-channel, the memory is clustered like this: 2 1 4 3 6 5. The manual says to slot memory in 1, 3, and 5 if you have three DIMMs, but having memory in 1 & 3 resulted in the reboot problem. I called tech support up again and the technician stayed on the phone with me while I tested each DIMM again individually, tested them together, and then tested them in 1 & 3, 1 & 5, and 3 & 5. 1 & 3 always had the same result, but the other two configurations worked just fine. So, the technician diagnosed it as a faulty motherboard and said to send the whole shebang back and they'd swap out the motherboard.
I did, and eagerly awaited getting it back. When it finally showed up, I took it back upstairs, plugged it in, and was greeted with the exact same behavior I had before. Nothing had changed. In looking at the invoice, they apparently didn't even replace the motherboard, just the bad DIMM. Super-good. So, I called tech support and sent it back again.
They called me when they'd run some tests on it, and said that reinstalling Windows fixed the problem. I was, needless to say, doubtful, but they'd already sent the thing out when they called me, so nothing I could do.
Got it back the second time and I actually managed to install Windows on it, run Windows Update once, and install some crucial system drivers before I got my first blue-screen. I kept at it and had finished installing some optional components before bed, so I shut it down. The next morning, it wouldn't boot completely. It'd get to the login screen before blue-screening with one of the numerous errors I'd been seeing a lot of: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, BAD_POOL_HEADER, BAD_POOL_CALLER, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, all those gems. So, I restarted in safe mode and was almost able to do something before it blue-screened again.
I thought "Maybe the ISO I downloaded from Microsoft was bad. I'll re-download it." Did just that, burned it to a new DVD, and I couldn't even get past the "Extracting" stage in the Windows install without a blue-screen. So, I thought "Maybe it's these ISOs. Maybe I should use a pressed disc I got in a box." I just happened to have one, so I gave that a shot. It didn't blue-screen immediately, but it threw an error code and wouldn't let me progress. Something about something essential being missing. Sounded bad.
At this point, I was about ready to throw the box off the roof, vacuum up all the pieces, douse them in lighter fluid, set them on fire, pee on them to put them out, and back over whatever remained with my car. I spent a bunch of my money, money I don't exactly have a lot of, and I want this computer to work. So, I called up the tech support people and told them all of this and they've sent me yet a third RMA number.
The tech support people I talk to have all been very helpful and knowledgeable, but it's apparent that the people who actually do the work on the systems don't read their notes, or they would have seen the thorough steps we went through to isolate the problem. And how I said that the problem isn't immediately apparent and sometimes takes days to show up, based on however memory gets allocated and whatever.
So, as soon as I send off the computer on Monday (UPS doesn't pick up on Saturdays), I'm going to call up the customer service people and explain to them exactly how bad they've screwed up and see what they can do to make that right. Other than actually fix my damned computer, that is.
I'd been to a couple of local shops about building one for me and the only place that actually did that kind of work never called me back, so I said screw 'em and asked around on a forum I frequent. One company (name intentionally withheld) came highly recommended and they were having a Labor Day sale with a ridiculous price break on a certain Core i7 processor with free overclocking. Ended up being a pretty nice deal for a specialty kind of build.
I finally got the computer about mid-way through October and it worked great. For a week or so. Then, I started having a lot of serious blue-screen problems. I'd have to restart three or four times before the computer would finally settle down and actually stay on, and that gradually turned into it not booting up at all, not even into safe mode.
So, I called up tech support, told them what was up, and they diagnosed the problem as a memory issue. I downloaded MemTest86 and ran it on each DIMM individually. I found one that was iffy, so I went ahead and sent it back, thinking my problems would soon be over. First time I tried to boot after pulling the bad stick, I had the same problem. So, I ran MemTest again on the two remaining sticks at the same time. It got to 47% on the first pass and the machine rebooted; I let this happen two or three times, and it consistently would get to 47% and reboot. So, I tested the two remaining DIMMs one at a time and both checked out fine.
My motherboard is triple-channel, the memory is clustered like this: 2 1 4 3 6 5. The manual says to slot memory in 1, 3, and 5 if you have three DIMMs, but having memory in 1 & 3 resulted in the reboot problem. I called tech support up again and the technician stayed on the phone with me while I tested each DIMM again individually, tested them together, and then tested them in 1 & 3, 1 & 5, and 3 & 5. 1 & 3 always had the same result, but the other two configurations worked just fine. So, the technician diagnosed it as a faulty motherboard and said to send the whole shebang back and they'd swap out the motherboard.
I did, and eagerly awaited getting it back. When it finally showed up, I took it back upstairs, plugged it in, and was greeted with the exact same behavior I had before. Nothing had changed. In looking at the invoice, they apparently didn't even replace the motherboard, just the bad DIMM. Super-good. So, I called tech support and sent it back again.
They called me when they'd run some tests on it, and said that reinstalling Windows fixed the problem. I was, needless to say, doubtful, but they'd already sent the thing out when they called me, so nothing I could do.
Got it back the second time and I actually managed to install Windows on it, run Windows Update once, and install some crucial system drivers before I got my first blue-screen. I kept at it and had finished installing some optional components before bed, so I shut it down. The next morning, it wouldn't boot completely. It'd get to the login screen before blue-screening with one of the numerous errors I'd been seeing a lot of: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT, BAD_POOL_HEADER, BAD_POOL_CALLER, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, all those gems. So, I restarted in safe mode and was almost able to do something before it blue-screened again.
I thought "Maybe the ISO I downloaded from Microsoft was bad. I'll re-download it." Did just that, burned it to a new DVD, and I couldn't even get past the "Extracting" stage in the Windows install without a blue-screen. So, I thought "Maybe it's these ISOs. Maybe I should use a pressed disc I got in a box." I just happened to have one, so I gave that a shot. It didn't blue-screen immediately, but it threw an error code and wouldn't let me progress. Something about something essential being missing. Sounded bad.
At this point, I was about ready to throw the box off the roof, vacuum up all the pieces, douse them in lighter fluid, set them on fire, pee on them to put them out, and back over whatever remained with my car. I spent a bunch of my money, money I don't exactly have a lot of, and I want this computer to work. So, I called up the tech support people and told them all of this and they've sent me yet a third RMA number.
The tech support people I talk to have all been very helpful and knowledgeable, but it's apparent that the people who actually do the work on the systems don't read their notes, or they would have seen the thorough steps we went through to isolate the problem. And how I said that the problem isn't immediately apparent and sometimes takes days to show up, based on however memory gets allocated and whatever.
So, as soon as I send off the computer on Monday (UPS doesn't pick up on Saturdays), I'm going to call up the customer service people and explain to them exactly how bad they've screwed up and see what they can do to make that right. Other than actually fix my damned computer, that is.