New PC

[Sebby]

I must admit I bought a couple of fans from Scan recently and the service was good. It just annoyed me that I was spending a lot of money with them and they didn't even contact me to tell me something was out of stock (that should have been in stock).

[Simon]

If it wasn't for the mobo issue, I wouldn't have a problem with Scan at all.  The delivery was on time, and well packed, and the overall price was significantly better than Ebuyer.  It's usually only when a problem arises, that you find out how good a company's CS actually is.  My email was a simple initial query, and in my view, should have prompted a response within the same day.

[Sebby]

I think Scan may be a victim of their own success; they seem to be so busy at times that they just can't cope.

[Simon]

Sorry, that's on excuse.  If they're that busy, they can afford more staff. 

[Sebby]

Fair point. I'd suggest you give them a call tomorrow. You can never tell with email how quickly you'll get a reply, so if you call, you'll know it's sorted there and then.

[Simon]

Well, you'll all be relieved to know, I'm writing this on the new PC!  Still transferring files and loading programs, but it's up and running.  Don't know what to do about the mobo, to be honest.  Now it's all working, I really haven't the patience to take it all to bits again.  If Scan offer me a discount on another one, I might consider it, but to remove this, have the hassle of returning it, and waiting for another one, then putting it all back together again, seems a bit too much like hard work right now, but I'll give it some further thought.

[Cookiemonster]

Got there in the end eventually then Simon, glad to hear it. 

I haven't caught up with this thread so what's up with your mobo?

[Baz]

well done Simon.

dont worry it'll not be long before you're itching to do the next build or an upgrade to this one.........honest. you've got the bug now

[Sebby]

Glad you got there in the end. You might be right about the motherboard, Simon, though if it's going to play on your mind, it's better to sort it now, even if it does cause some inconvenience in the short-term.

[BrianM]

I've dismantled my old pc but wouldn't know where to start on building one, been tracking your progress, well done Simon 

[Simon]

I've dismantled my old pc but wouldn't know where to start on building one, been tracking your progress, well done Simon 

The bits go in as they come out, Brian!   

Glad you got there in the end. You might be right about the motherboard, Simon, though if it's going to play on your mind, it's better to sort it now, even if it does cause some inconvenience in the short-term.

Still in two minds, Seb.   

well done Simon.

dont worry it'll not be long before you're itching to do the next build or an upgrade to this one.........honest. you've got the bug now

I'll need a bloody heart bypass before the next one!   

I haven't caught up with this thread so what's up with your mobo?

Three of the SATA connectors have broken away from the mobo, Steve.  The little plastic sleeves came away with the SATA plugs, despite pressing in the little metal clip, just leaving the six tiny bare pins.  I thought I had been heavy handed with the first one, but was more careful with the others (obviously), so I feel that the assembly must have been weak in the first place.  Convincing Scan of that, however, might be something of a challenge, but I am awaiting a return email from them.

[Cookiemonster]

Oh I see. Well that is unfortunate. If it just happened to one then you would think a one off but to all three!!! must be a fault somewhere.

[Simon]

They just don't seem to be secured onto the board, Steve.

[Cookiemonster]

Pain that. Especially since Abit boards have a good rep.

[Simon]

Apart from that, it's running absolutely fine, but of course, I am now limited, as I can't add any more SATA drives, should I want to in the future.

[Cookiemonster]

Yeah that's the downside isn't it. Though you can buy PCI adapters, if you have the room.

[Simon]

Oh, that's a thought.  Plenty of room for those, as no other PCI cards.   

[drummer]

Oh, that's a thought.  Plenty of room for those, as no other PCI cards.   

There's your answer then. 

I bought a new, boxed unbranded PCI SATA card at my local computer fair for £12 and it came with a mini CD for the drivers and a better quality SATA cable than the ones I bought at Maplin.

Currently has two 250GB SATA drives connected to it, powered by a generic 400W PSU's molex connectors.

The two SATA cables I bought at Maplin cost a fiver each and didn't survive more than three unplugs due to the really poor soldering and flimsy sleeves.

SATA drives are what we'll all be using soon, but it still shocks me that they can be so difficult to install when compared to the simplicity (and robustness) of IDE drives and I remain gobsmacked that I have to hit F6 on an XP SP2 install to load SATA drivers from a floppy.

Anyway, PCI card would appear to be a solution, should you decide to keep the mobo.

[Niall]

I've got to tell that you my experience of Scan is extremely poor. I too ordered the parts for my PC from Scan back in November. Everything showed as in stock when I placed my order. I ordered on a Sunday and chose Friday as the delivery day as I knew someone would be at home. On the Thursday night at about 8pm, I got an automated email to say that a part was out of stock. I emailed them immediately, and to be fair, they did email me back the next day. After a lot of arguing, they wouldn't give me something else at no extra cost (even though the only ones they had in stock were more expensive) so I just went with it. I was very angry that they didn't contact me earlier in the week and it could have been sorted then.

I have since emailed them and find they can take up to 2 months to reply! I'd order something small from them again, but never a whole PC.

You might be better calling them, Simon.

I've no idea why it took 2 months for them to reply! That sounds like something has gone completely wrong somewhere.

I had a NIGHTMARE with Scan about 7 years ago. I ordered a Gainward card (yes I now know NEVER to buy Gainward again, as they're a bunch of cowboys. They even bailed on supplying Jolt with cards as prizes that they promised a couple of years ago, resulting in Jolt suing them and taking over one of their sites ).

Anyway, I ordered a card and the memory was fried on the card as they (Gainward) overclock the memory on their cards. It took scan 2 months to test the card, and about 4 or 5 months (I forget which) to give me a refund. I didn't use them again for over 2 years, opting for the more expensive Komplett and OCUK. Since then Komplett seem to have gone backwards and don't seem anywhere near as good as other retailers, although are improving lately it would seem. I had a very unpleasant experience with OCUK when buying ram. The ram they sold me was defective, and they had the cheek to charge me £15 for restock fee even though they hadn't supplied me with any products at all. I spent weeks arguing with them and got nowhere. I have recently used them again (begrudgingly) to buy this Samsung 20" HD LCD TV, and it arrived with nothing wrong with it and it was cheaper than anywhere else at the time. I'm still not happy about the way I was treated with the ram, and in all honesty I wouldn't recommend OCUK to anyone really as I took a risk ordering the TV. I just hope that nothing goes wrong with the TV as my mate recently had an absolute nightmare trying to replace a HD TV with them. They messed him about for weeks.

As for Scan though, I'd say that they have gone back to being really good. I've had a few problems with the odd bits and pieces recently, and received great support. A good example is a motherboard I bought was DOA, so I sent it back to them after speaking to them on the phone, and they sent out a replacement motherboard before they'd even received my defective one back.

I have to agree about the stocking levels though. If a site says it's in stock they should have it in stock. It's not brain surgery. In all fairness I think that's either down to the software they use, not updating the front end quickly enough, or lazy stock boys not putting through the correct figures. I haven't had that problem with Scan, but I have with HMV, Komplett, OCUK, Ebuyer and one other shop I forget at the moment. This is one of the reasons I stick with Scan. They seem to know what they're doing and have good pricing.

On a completely unrelated note, my cat seems to be delighted at the buzzing noise a wasp is making that she's standing on

[Sebby]

On a completely unrelated note, my cat seems to be delighted at the buzzing noise a wasp is making that she's standing on

[Simon]

I thought that post was going to have a sting in the tail, Niall.   

[Rik]

[Niall]

Actually about five minutes ago I think the wasp got a dying sting in, as my cat jumped off the window sill backwards and is now sitting on my laptop, after walking around the room crying

[LesD]

They just don't seem to be secured onto the board, Steve.

If it wasn't a brand new board with warranty I would be getting some new stronger connectors and soldering them to the board myself. 

That said I have the kit, well a vintage solder sucker and an old Weller temperature controlled soldering iron with an isolated bit. By the time anyone without this kit had bought it a new Mobo just might seem the cheaper and possibly less stressful option although Simon may not agree about the stress element right now! 

Well done Simon from me for perseverance! 

[Simon]

Cheers, Les!  It all seems to be running fine now, so I'll probably leave well alone, and possibly get a PCI SATA card for the future.

Still loading programs and stuff.  The silly part is, by the time I've finished, it will look exactly the same as the old PC!