Ebuyer ,dead motherboards

alric

following a recommendation to get a socket A motherboard while they are still available, I ordered the PCchips M848 from Special Reserve, about 20 quid.
Of course, it was dead on arrival. I had it checked by a PC shop. I phoned, they said post it back, but couldn't return it to the shop in person. But as i was going past I went in, talked them into swapping for another which they swore had been tested. I wouldn't leave without the guaranteeGot home, DOA again.
This time they said I had to bring it in, not send it. 6 weeks later, I still haven't been near the shop, but the website shows them to be in liquidation.

In the meantime, I bought one from Ebuyer,thinking that I'd read the bad press, but it would be OK.
1st motherboard was DOA. I went through all their returns procedure, which is quite lengthy, but my PC doesn't allow me to log on to Ebuyer, so I had to go to town 10 miles away to use the library PC. 2nd motherboard was DOA, I sent it back again, 3rd also DOA, now I've been waiting a month for them to complete their returns procedure.
Have you ever tried to phone Ebuyer? it is impossible
So what do I do now?

I'm struggling on a 750 duron till I get a new mobo

Johntea

You may be missing the obvious - Some of the PCChips motherboards have the CMOS reset pin in the "1" position so every time you try to power up it won't boot because you are trying to reset the BIOS settings! Something to check out as you will kick yourself if it is the case...

P.S. PCChips is bad moneysaving. Saved money in the short run, but in a few years realize how many replacements you have had to buy because of the cheap nature of these motherboards

herbert_goon

You may be missing the obvious - Some of the PCChips motherboards have the CMOS reset pin in the "1" position so every time you try to power up it won't boot because you are trying to reset the BIOS settings! Something to check out as you will kick yourself if it is the case...

Please check this! Also PCChips mem controllers can be fussy about the ram you use, often only standard SPD works (3-4-4-8 for ddr).

When you say DOA, can you explain the symptoms?

HTH

alric

IIRC I checked/cleared the bios jumper everytime.
DOA I mean it wouldn't boot, no bios screen,nothing on screen atall
I tried the mobos with just video card, memory +CPU
also had 2 of them tested at the PC shop
The Pcchips M848 was recommended on OCworkbench.

Any suggestion for a reliable 400mhz fsb socket A with USB2,PC3200,and that socket for a router?at a good price? the rest of the system is just waiting for the mobo!

herbert_goon

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=605129

NForce 2 Utlra 400, Asrock are the budget brand of Asus. If you can pick up an abit AN7 they are favourites but I couldn't find you one.

<sigh> my Lanparty2 Rev B would bench at 260fsb with some bh-5 and the old xp-m....

executiverocker

yeah having 3 mobos DOA is very strange, maybe a fault with other parts or an incompatibility somewhere, or you could be very very unlucky lol Are you making sure the board isnt being shorted out?