Gah, my Maingear Prelude from 2007 seems done :( What to do.

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spincut

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 19, 2005
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I really did like the machine, but it has developed an issue that no one, whether it's maingear phone support, myself or the tech guy at the office can solve.

Really, at this point, I feel like I either need to incur an unecessary expense to get it repaired (or further not repaired) or just buy a new computer.

Only problem is the machine was lasting me just fine and I wasn't planning on getting a new computer for at least another year and a half maybe, once the 2011 pin sockets came out perhaps.

Now I not only feel like I need to buy a new computer at perhaps not the best time as far as hardware evolutions go, but I really don't know where else to go.

It's not so much that I'd mind buying from Maingear again, but it's severely messed up to buy another computer from them due to the unsolvable issue I'm having. Sure I could ship it to them to get it looked at, but that would cost 100 bucks minimum just to find out what the problem is, plus at least a couple weeks to get it back so I can have it fixed (which will cost more money). So basically, I just on principle don't feel very good about getting another Maingear due to this issue.

I reached the end of useful phone tech support with one of the top techs at Maingear, and even gave it to the the IT guy at work and even he's stumped. Even whiping my hard drive clean and doing a reinstall of windows (on various hard drives with various windows discs) has not fixed it, it feels like most everything sensible has been ruled out. It's like it has cancer or something.

The bit issue is that I got a Maingear to avoid a headache like this ever, plus the difficulty of being with out a computer for at least 3 days and counting now, so I am basically not happy. The machine was always very good, but I was hoping for a little more out of tech support (even though this problem is quite the mysterious doozy). I just feel like if Ihave to be forced into updating my computer now, sooner than intended, I would like to make sure I buy it from someone who could have maybe done a little more for me if it ever happens again, since that is pretty much the point of me doing this rather than going through the trouble of making it myself in the first place.
 
Are you comfortable doing any of the work yourself? (ex: if we ask you to take apart the machine)
 
yeah whats it doing? what hardware is in the system? some info would be helpful
 
I thought I was relatively clear that I am not asking any of you to diagnose what is wrong with it. I was told by the top tech at Maingear support that all that could be done via the phone was seemingly done and even he was stumped at that point, so really, you don't need to interpret my post as a tech call, because it wasn't.

What I was inquiring was what to do now that I have a busted machine that, after all the very expected things I did, plus following any and all advice maingear had, and even brining it into the tech guy at work, the problem could not be identified.

I needed to get a new computer and I wasn't sure what to do about THAT and where to look into getting it, since obviously I would not exactly be happy about using Maingear again after how my experience with this one has ended, but am not sure who else out there I like for my purposes. That was what my post was about.
 
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The bit issue is that I got a Maingear to avoid a headache like this ever...

you paid someone in a remote location to build your system to avoid the headache of having to send your computer away for service?


I would like to make sure I buy it from someone who could have maybe done a little more for me if it ever happens again...

what else could they do for you, send a new computer while yours is being taken apart, diagnosed, and repaired?

your logic is dripping with failsauce.
 
you paid someone in a remote location to build your system to avoid the headache of having to send your computer away for service?




what else could they do for you, send a new computer while yours is being taken apart, diagnosed, and repaired?

your logic is dripping with failsauce.

All the options I had were non-local, I paid someone to build it and SUPPORT it to avoid the headache. I could have gotten a dell and gotten some local geek squad tech support option, but Dells are awful computers.

The fact is that I am not happy buying from the same company when my computer has some kind of mystery HIV type issue, and dont want to spend a noteable amount of money getting it diagnosed in repaired if the problem is not a simple one.

HENCE me making the post about where else to get a new computer if I have to get one. Really, YOUR logic is failsauce because you, like everyone else so far are avoiding the point of the topic and trying to debate me or answer different questions than the one I'm actually asking. Either pay attention and respond to the subject or just dont post, I'd like to keep the topic ass-free.
 
Spincut,

Sorry to hear about the issues with your Prelude. I'm the CEO for MAINGEAR and I would like to offer you my assistance. I will PM you my info so we can talk.

Best
Wallace
 
ok, you got your response from the CEO. I don't see how Maingear failed to support their product if you were asked to ship the computer to them and refused.
 
ok, you got your response from the CEO. I don't see how Maingear failed to support their product if you were asked to ship the computer to them and refused.

This wasnt a complaint thread about Maingear, I was overall very happy with the machine. It's just not a logical feasibility in my head that if I have to buy a new machine due to this issue that it would be another Maingear right now (and it's old enough that I am not interested in spending time and shipping costs to simply diagnose the computer, fix it maybe, but at this point it's not a feasible expenditure. Not to mention aside from many logical steps taken on my own I've had it looked at by someone local who's a computer repair guy and even he was stumped so this is not a simple problem whatever it is/was), so I was seeking alternative reccomendations for my replacement (since it's been a while since I compared my options and I'm sure much has changed). So far none have been offered and people have been overall antagonistic and trying to answer "other" questions seemingly from the actual one I was posing.

Thank you Wallace for reaching out though, I will try and follow up with you soon.
 
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well if you would tell us what the computer is doing we could help you diagnose the computer and let you know what it will cost to fix it then possibly help you fix it yourself. It seems you prefer just whining and being indecisive instead.
 
I guess I am confused as to why you called them and why you don't want to send a machine that was probably expensive back to them to fix it under warranty. I am assuming it's under warranty since they offered to fix it.

I guess that if your computer is under warranty and you need a part replaced, they will replace it with that or something new and similar. If the CEO is on Hard Forums and responds to your pm, then there is really nothing to be worried about.

Just spend the 100 or less to ship it back to them or build your own computer this time.

Either way, I bet that ASUS, eVGA, and MSI's CEOs are not on these forums offering you personal help with this issue.

You should feel privileged.

Good Luck!
 
This wasnt a complaint thread about Maingear, I was overall very happy with the machine. It's just not a logical feasibility in my head that if I have to buy a new machine due to this issue that it would be another Maingear right now (and it's old enough that I am not interested in spending time and shipping costs to simply diagnose the computer, fix it maybe, but at this point it's not a feasible expenditure. Not to mention aside from many logical steps taken on my own I've had it looked at by someone local who's a computer repair guy and even he was stumped so this is not a simple problem whatever it is/was), so I was seeking alternative reccomendations for my replacement (since it's been a while since I compared my options and I'm sure much has changed). So far none have been offered and people have been overall antagonistic and trying to answer "other" questions seemingly from the actual one I was posing.

Thank you Wallace for reaching out though, I will try and follow up with you soon.
We're all curious what this mystery issue is. It's what we do on these forums, we fix people up. :)

You could potentially have an issue like this from any manufacturer, where you have to send your PC away to have them look at it, so I'm not sure what you expect from us. If you don't want to ship your PC off, your only option is to go with a local builder so you don't have shipping fees to worry about. There's no way to completely avoid any problems with a machine, no matter how good the builder may be. Parts go bad and you can't always diagnose over the phone. The reason you go with a boutique builder over a company like HP/Dell is that you when you have to call in for support or send your PC off, their techs are more knowledgeable and should be able to resolve the issue better than one of the bigger companies with outsourced tech support. A boutique builder can't ensure you won't have any problems ever, that's just unrealistic. I'm sorry if this sounds antagonistic too. This is why you're not getting the answer you want though. We can't give you what you want, so we're giving you alternate options, which you aren't interested in.
 
well if you would tell us what the computer is doing we could help you diagnose the computer and let you know what it will cost to fix it then possibly help you fix it yourself. It seems you prefer just whining and being indecisive instead.

Or maybe you and others are missing the whole damn point of the thread, I only mentioned the problem to frame the answer I really wanted and that was alternative builder reccomendations. So instead of insisting you want to diagnose it, which I was NOT asking about, and whining about that incessantly, you could have been the first person to actually address the actual question.

I guess I am confused as to why you called them and why you don't want to send a machine that was probably expensive back to them to fix it under warranty. I am assuming it's under warranty since they offered to fix it.

I guess that if your computer is under warranty and you need a part replaced, they will replace it with that or something new and similar. If the CEO is on Hard Forums and responds to your pm, then there is really nothing to be worried about.

Just spend the 100 or less to ship it back to them or build your own computer this time.

Either way, I bet that ASUS, eVGA, and MSI's CEOs are not on these forums offering you personal help with this issue.

You should feel privileged.

Good Luck!

It's not under hardware warranty, it's a 4 year old computer. It "was" expensive, but it's deprciated to the point where I dotn want to spend exhorbitant costs to diagnose and fix.

We're all curious what this mystery issue is. It's what we do on these forums, we fix people up. :)

You could potentially have an issue like this from any manufacturer, where you have to send your PC away to have them look at it, so I'm not sure what you expect from us. If you don't want to ship your PC off, your only option is to go with a local builder so you don't have shipping fees to worry about. There's no way to completely avoid any problems with a machine, no matter how good the builder may be. Parts go bad and you can't always diagnose over the phone. The reason you go with a boutique builder over a company like HP/Dell is that you when you have to call in for support or send your PC off, their techs are more knowledgeable and should be able to resolve the issue better than one of the bigger companies with outsourced tech support. A boutique builder can't ensure you won't have any problems ever, that's just unrealistic. I'm sorry if this sounds antagonistic too. This is why you're not getting the answer you want though. We can't give you what you want, so we're giving you alternate options, which you aren't interested in.

Yes, it can happen with anyone, but I still on principle dont want to buy from the very same brand that I just had if I have to do it earlier than I planned and that is why.

I guess people are really curious what is wrong with it, but I am just too busy to write out the issue, suffice it to say it has stumped a lot of people thus far and it isn't a simple problem whatever it is.

But again that's not what this is about, I only said that so there'd be some background to my situation, clearly people can't catch onto the main question, and that's tell me who else is out there worth looking into for computers other than Maingear, as I am not really Jazzed about buying from cyperpower.
 
Spincut,

We only use premium parts in our systems. Parts can fail, it's how we support you that makes the difference. I think it's pretty unfair to discard us as an option due to a part going bad with your 4 year old PC. I know your warranty is up and my offer to help still stands. How's that for support? Call me and I'll hook you up :).

Best
Wallace
 
Plus I have a special place in my heart for [H] forum members, because this is one of the few places that gave us a chance when we were a start-up :D
 
Or maybe you and others are missing the whole damn point of the thread, I only mentioned the problem to frame the answer I really wanted and that was alternative builder reccomendations. So instead of insisting you want to diagnose it, which I was NOT asking about, and whining about that incessantly, you could have been the first person to actually address the actual question.

Maybe you should have made it more clear?

We all build our own computers. We dont buy pre-built ones. 90% of the answers you will get is build it yourself.

Origin is the only shop that can build a computer that is on the level of the computers people build on here.
 
Maingear is awesome, give them a chance on your new PC. I bought a very high-end PC from Maingear a few years back and it was a killer gaming PC. I only recently got rid of it. I built my own this time (see sig), basically because I wanted to build my own for the experience. But if I hadn't built it, I would have only considered Maingear.
 
Or maybe you and others are missing the whole damn point of the thread, I only mentioned the problem to frame the answer I really wanted and that was alternative builder reccomendations. So instead of insisting you want to diagnose it, which I was NOT asking about, and whining about that incessantly, you could have been the first person to actually address the actual question.

Why won't you let us try and fix the issue? You have some of the best minds in the hobby and industry here waiting to help. Why not make use of that talent pool? Sure you will get a lot of stupid recommendations but then again you might just get your answer and it may not even cost that much to fix the problem. If you want to hold onto your system a bit longer then why not take the time to type out the problem for us? Sounds like you are hell bent on buying a new system. That's fine. We can help with that too. Personally though, I like a good challenge. I don't think you've got anything to loose by telling us what's wrong.

Maingear, Puget or AVA Direct are really your best choices at this point. Admittedly, I don't look at pre-built machines often, but last time I checked, those were some of the best you could buy. I've seen recent examples of Dellienware's machines and they've got down hill. (To be fair, they went down hill before Dell bought them.)
 
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Spincut,

We only use premium parts in our systems. Parts can fail, it's how we support you that makes the difference. I think it's pretty unfair to discard us as an option due to a part going bad with your 4 year old PC. I know your warranty is up and my offer to help still stands. How's that for support? Call me and I'll hook you up :).

Best
Wallace

Plus I have a special place in my heart for [H] forum members, because this is one of the few places that gave us a chance when we were a start-up :D

And you have just earned your company a spot in my recommended PC Boutiques :)
 
Maybe you should have made it more clear?

We all build our own computers. We dont buy pre-built ones. 90% of the answers you will get is build it yourself.

Origin is the only shop that can build a computer that is on the level of the computers people build on here.

Are you telling me that places like Puget, Maingear, Max PC or even overpriced Falcon Northwest can't build a PC like you or Origin?

Hyperbole is the word of the day...

Also, you generalize a wee bit much by saying we all build our own computers and 90% of the people in this SUB forum will tell him to build his own. T

This is NOT the place(sub forum) to be telling someone to build their own. As a matter of fact this is where people come to purposely ask for recommendations on custom built machines.

You can read the rules at the top if you don't believe me...

@ the OP.

Puget - a little pricey but one of the best reputations in the biz
Max Force PC - new company with good builds, great customer service and good prices
AVA Direct - read the Max entry and apply...had some customer support issues a while back
Maingear - sounds like they have great customer support but have limited choices on builds and I think you pay extra for the three year warranty which the other companies have as standard...still a good company
Digital Storm - people have had good results with these guys but I haven't looked into them in years.

stay away from Cyberpower PC and iBuyPower...low quality builds and less than good customer support.

I gotta say, if Maingear is offering to help you out, as he has indicated above, I would definitely see what he has in mind. And anyone CEO willing to come in here and try and help you out, well, good on them because they certainly don't have to.

Take that list and go to ResellerRatings.com for info straight from the customers.
Research is your friend and this is a good place to start.
 
Maybe you should have made it more clear?

We all build our own computers. We dont buy pre-built ones. 90% of the answers you will get is build it yourself.

Origin is the only shop that can build a computer that is on the level of the computers people build on here.

Not everyone on here builds their own machines and I've seen some pretty ghetto and sloppy work as well as mismatched parts, or low quality garbage I'd never use in any of mine. There are people who don't use all the screws they are supposed to or high quality, fans, or even decent quality cases. To say that all these machines belonging to all the forum members are better than professionally built machines from reputable shops like AVA Direct, Maingear, Puget Systems and others is insane. You pay less to build it yourself and of course you've got a few more choices, but that doesn't make them better.

Are you telling me that places like Puget, Maingear, Max PC or even overpriced Falcon Northwest can't build a PC like you or Origin?

Hyperbole is the word of the day...

Also, you generalize a wee bit much by saying we all build our own computers and 90% of the people in this SUB forum will tell him to build his own. T

This is NOT the place(sub forum) to be telling someone to build their own. As a matter of fact this is where people come to purposely ask for recommendations on custom built machines.

You can read the rules at the top if you don't believe me...

@ the OP.

Puget - a little pricey but one of the best reputations in the biz
Max Force PC - new company with good builds, great customer service and good prices
AVA Direct - read the Max entry and apply...had some customer support issues a while back
Maingear - sounds like they have great customer support but have limited choices on builds and I think you pay extra for the three year warranty which the other companies have as standard...still a good company
Digital Storm - people have had good results with these guys but I haven't looked into them in years.

stay away from Cyberpower PC and iBuyPower...low quality builds and less than good customer support.

I gotta say, if Maingear is offering to help you out, as he has indicated above, I would definitely see what he has in mind. And anyone CEO willing to come in here and try and help you out, well, good on them because they certainly don't have to.

Take that list and go to ResellerRatings.com for info straight from the customers.
Research is your friend and this is a good place to start.

Agreed 100%.
 
I would say that if your maingear 4 year old PC is just now shoing it's age that's pretty damn good.

You pequed my curiosity with your problem and I sure would like a crack at it.....that and I'd like to know the specs of the machine.

I agree with you that after a certain point, the law of diminishing returns kicks in, and to pay a bunch to ship your old box back in for what might be a futile repair may not be the best deal going.

Your other options would be:
redo with Maingear.
Puget Systems
Velocity Micro
++++++++ PC

AvaDirect had a bunch of problems about a year or so ago.....I don't know if they got back on track or not.

From what I read, any of the above will do you right. I build my own now and have for some time. My last prebuilt and only prebuilt was an Alienware in 2001.
 
I'll gladly vouch for Maingear as well. Fantastic company, quality, and customer support all the way. If you have a problem they WILL make it right and they WILL work with you.

I'm speaking from firsthand experience. :)
 
Not everyone on here builds their own machines and I've seen some pretty ghetto and sloppy work as well as mismatched parts, or low quality garbage I'd never use in any of mine. There are people who don't use all the screws they are supposed to or high quality, fans, or even decent quality cases. To say that all these machines belonging to all the forum members are better than professionally built machines from reputable shops like AVA Direct, Maingear, Puget Systems and others is insane. You pay less to build it yourself and of course you've got a few more choices, but that doesn't make them better.
I agree that not everyone builds their own and not everyone is capable of building a good computer.
Some of those companies ive never even heard of(Puget). Ive never heard anything bad about maingear, heard enough bad about Ava that i dont want to tell people to go with them. Im sure there are more out that that are good but i dont even look at boutique companies unless i want to see how much cheaper i am.
 
I agree that not everyone builds their own and not everyone is capable of building a good computer.
Some of those companies ive never even heard of(Puget). Ive never heard anything bad about maingear, heard enough bad about Ava that i dont want to tell people to go with them. Im sure there are more out that that are good but i dont even look at boutique companies unless i want to see how much cheaper i am.

I don't look at them much either unless I want to prove to someone how much cheaper they can do it themselves. Though I only recommend such things for people who can be taught to build on their own. Some people can barely use a machine and really do need them built for them.
 
Thank you dan and blackhole for being the only two people in the thread to really answer my question. And I really was specific in what I was asking help for, for those who were complaining, and if it wasn't clear, I made it clear several times over and over.

Anyway, I see mostly familiar brands in AVA Puget and Digital Storm, I remember choosing Maingear relatively easily over them on style points and a few other factors.

I have never heard of Origin though, might have to check them out.

Although one person mentioned them, I feel like Velocity Micro may have gotten a little "too" mainstream. Sure, they are (or maybe were?) sold and supported by Best Buy Geek Squad, which was a nice convenience, but yeah, I always was a bit unsure about them.

And Wallace, I still intend to contact you at some point, I just have been really busy and have been having some ill timed personal issues aside from the computer dying that have demanded my attention and stomach lining. As I said I have overall been very happy with the machine and it has lasted for a bit with no issues, I know even good components fail, and really if that's all it was I would be happy to fix it (like say, a failing hard drive, which is what I thought the problem was), but so far just figure out what the heck is wrong with it has been surprisingly hard, not just by me, not just by maingear tech support, but also several tech specialists at my work. A temporary fix seems to have been applied for now, but no answers were found as to why it was behaving the way it did.

I would like to raffirm that this forum definitely IS for prebuilds, and anyone who thinks that this houranging over my "problem' is necessary because "90% of the people on here build there own", as another user said, is largely not true, this is a sub forum specifically for the contrary, so please, deal.

However, if it means that much to the users on her, since at least a few good people have at least given me some recommendations that I had asked for (although I am surprised to see they are much of the same as when I looked four years ago). But I am not in the mood right now to type out the entire beggining to where I am now issue (because again, it's rather confusing). Maybe later.
 
(although I am surprised to see they are much of the same as when I looked four years ago).

I would venture that the names are the same because the landscape has not changed that much over the last 4 years.

Most of the people here don't buy prebuilts, so therefore are not looking at boutiques all that much.

I purchased a Velocity Micro laptop for a friends daughter's graduation gift 4 years ago and it has been nothing short of excellent, not a hiccup in the 4 years of her college.

I used VM mainly because of a young lady named Heather, who now is or was at Puget Systems as chief of customer service. She haunted this subforum alot back when [H]Consumer was doing the boutique PC reviews. She was really helpful in setting me up.

I have read about Origin, looked at their website, but that's about it. I didn't see anything that I couldn't get elsewhere.

As you well know, the proof in the company is really in customer service, and it looks like maingear has really been helpful in your case. Too bad the problem is so tough.
 
I'm glad you got the answer you were looking for, spincut.

As Dan said, we like a challenge and this "mystery issue" that no one can fix has piqued our interest. Even if this part of the board isn't General Hardware it's hard to not want to try to diagnose the issue.

We bought my brother a Maingear system a few years back and he has had a couple problems with it over the years. But they fixed him up quickly, so we can't complain.
 
Spincut,

We only use premium parts in our systems. Parts can fail, it's how we support you that makes the difference. I think it's pretty unfair to discard us as an option due to a part going bad with your 4 year old PC. I know your warranty is up and my offer to help still stands. How's that for support? Call me and I'll hook you up :).

Best
Wallace

It is so great to hear directly from a company that is obviously so dedicated to their products.

Spincut, like Wallace said, parts fail all the time and it happens to every company, not matter how well the machine was put together. Although I feel your frustration (becasue a stable system means a lot to me), IMO, equipment failure doesn't tarnish Maingear as a quality builder, it is a fact of life.

If your issues are that bad, it could be the MOBO that has failed. You could consider getting a new one installed and reusing all your other parts. I am assuming that you have done troubleshooting to rule out issues like HDD, RAM, Power supply, CPU or GPU issues. There really aren't that many parts to test.... there should be a way to pinpoint the issue.

BTW, I don't own a Maingear, but my next PC might just be one. I recommending the company to a friend and they love their PC.

I am sorry that I can't suggest any alternative companies to you as IMO, most are either overpiced (Falcon Northwest) or a total gamble (Cyberpower). There is a company that was popular on [H] a while back but the name aludes me.

One more suggestions, see if Maingear will give you a better deal on a new PC, considering your situation, that is, unless you are dead set against them...

Well, whatever you decide, best of luck to you.;)
 
Ok I had a free moment, so I figured I'd give the people what they want and indulge them on the issue I had.

I went home after a real rough night and sat down at my computer, which was already on, and it was moving at a very sluggish pace. Hard drive seemed really active. I restarted, only to find that even loading to the desktop took almost 45 minutes. The hard drive appeared to be trying to reload the same sector over and over as it made some very repetitive noises (all within regular operation sounds though, so no clicks or typical hard drive failure noises).

So my first thought was that the hard drive is likely about to fail, uh oh. For some reason I feel booting into safe mode will be helpful, at least to see if it will be easier to boot up and transfer all my data off my original HD to my new backup (a 1.5tb western digital I just installed a month or so ago).

So I boot into safe mode, and it's working just fine. I got 200GB off the hard drive without it flinching and operation is completely normal. At this point, and Maingear tech theorized this as well, perhaps the hard drive is fine and it's a virus causing this. I stopped all startup apps in MSconfig, and rebooted, problem still persisted. So perhaps where the virus is (and I had an up to date copy of avast! running) it must be in a hard to get to place. So fine, I figured to reinstall windows, but just overlay it, not clean. Figured it would rewrite whatever the problem is. This is where it gets weird. The reinstall failed according to my computer, but upon bootup it clearly was a new windows installation as a lot of stuff was reset, and the computer seemed to be working fine again. Also whenever I booted up I'd get a warning that the OS's kernel was missing....but....it booted up anyway and was working. Anyhow, things didn't seem kosher and I wasn't happy, so I decided to do a fresh install after all.

So I restart with with the windows disc, delete my partition and just install in clean from scratch, after it gets all the way to the end of the installation I get an error saying it could not install all the windows files and that the installation failed. Kept getting this error. So, maybe my hard drive IS failing after all. I try the other newer hard drive that was working just fine, same issue, albeit a slightly different error (said it was not able to reboot windows to continue the installation, and so thusly, also failed). So two different hard drives, two failed installations, and each hard drive produced a unique error.

Maingear then theorized it was a windows disc problem and I should try a different windows disc. I did that, IT guy at the office had a windows 7 disc, but it returned the same errors.

Now, I would stop right here and let you guess as to what the problem is now, probably erring towards memory (scanned and tested) hard drives (although doubtful both are broken and causing that same error because of it) or motherboard (possible, but difficult to be sure that that is whats causing this).

However, a new developement happened where the guy tried a THIRD hard drive, and the installation took, admittedly an older and slower 80GB SATA than even my original 4 year old 250GB one. Now, furthermore, both hard drives that were not accepting the windows installation are still functioning fine as backups, so they clearly were not broken.

So there you have it, I am running a temporary solution, but the problems, the solutions attempted, and the subsequent resolution has seemingly not yielded any answers about what exactly is wrong. Even if, and perhaps especially if this was a motherboard issue, it wouldnt in my mind explain why it's functioning now. I dont think any of the hard drives are broken, in fact the IT guy scanned all of them and zero errors were revealed.

So yeah, all logical steps taken, and no problem was feasibly revealed. I'm glad it's working, although on bought time with a very sluggish OS hard drive, but it still doesnt tell me what's wrong with it, and I still may want to replace it sooner than planned in case things dont last. Again, wallace, I will get a hold of you soon about this, as I would be interested in what you have to say/offer as to make my continued business more of potential option (however, I do want to point out for others reading that my motivation to not reuse maingear if I do indeed dont is more out of principle and not out of disatisfaction of their quality, I chose them in 2007 for a reason and I have had very few complaints up until now, and even now I realize this problem or even their inability to fix it especially over the phone isn't their fault. It's just, as I said, a matter of principle at the moment, at the same time, the potential of some help on wallace's end, and/or some incentives for using them as my next PC again would definitely help reason with said principles).
 
Memory, motherboard, SATA cables. These are the most likely causes of your issues. I've seen problems identical to the ones you are experiencing many times and in most cases it was either the SATA cable or the memory. Software tests like Memtest86 are never 100% infallible. Without a hardware tester you can never be 100% sure memory modules are good. Hardware testers are so expensive, you don't see them very often. In fact even a walkthrough video of Corsair's manufacturing operation revealed test PC's instead of proper hardware testing equipment if that tells you anything about their costs. They take constant firmware updates and cost many thousands of dollars. Motherboards can sometimes be the cause of this sort of thing too if the memory controller is having issues or there is some kind of memory power phase issues. I've seen this issue on 680i SLI boards with failing memory controllers or bad power circuits. I've seen a simple bad SATA cable cause problems like this with my HTPC several months ago.


I don't think this is a complicated problem to diagnose at all. Albeit costly depending on what's available to you for testing equipment.
 
Memory, motherboard, SATA cables. These are the most likely causes of your issues.

didnt need to get new SATA cables and it's working fine (as is the other one).

Memory was scanned and tested and it was fine (plus the errors at the end of windows installation were too consistent and matching of the respective drives). Motherboard could be the issue, but then the problem shouldnt have been fixeable this way without the motherboard being replaced.
 
I don't care what you say about your HDD "being OK because they are used now for storage".

The HDD you used for your OS is bad.
1) poor loading
2)making noise
3)failing to load windows to it's full extent
4) substitute HDD works fine.

Buy a new drive for crying outload, format it, load in windows.

I had the identical problem with my son's computer about 6 months ago.
The drive was shot. It was three years old. had a 5 year guarantee.
It happens.

RMA to Western Digital, new Caviar Black and has been fully functional since.
 
I've seen this issue on 680i SLI boards with failing memory controllers or bad power circuits. I've seen a simple bad SATA cable cause problems like this with my HTPC several months ago.

Oh man, you just gave me flashbacks.... I had a 680i board in my current PC originally, and it causes me nothing but problems. It didn't play nice with SATA and I had blue screens galore. After I got my ASUS, thing improved 100%.

Spincut, I am hopeful you can find a solution to your problem. I suggest you continue troubleshooting - what the hell, it wouldn't hurt at this point...
 
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I don't care what you say about your HDD "being OK because they are used now for storage".

The HDD you used for your OS is bad.
1) poor loading
2)making noise
3)failing to load windows to it's full extent
4) substitute HDD works fine.

Buy a new drive for crying outload, format it, load in windows.

I had the identical problem with my son's computer about 6 months ago.
The drive was shot. It was three years old. had a 5 year guarantee.
It happens.

RMA to Western Digital, new Caviar Black and has been fully functional since.

You don't care? Clearly though you havent been paying close attention. You're trying to tell me that BOTH my hard drives, both new and old are developing the same type of unique failure errors because they are both faulty in the same way? The poor loading is what started all this, but it went away, especially in safe mode. The noise is normal operation. If it was just one hard drive I may have chalked it up to hd failure (even though it was night and day operation between normal and safe mode).

However, I used a very new and perfectly functioning hard drive as a back up and it gave the same error when I tried to load windows on it. It's currently running back up again like before and is working perfectly fine, much like it did for the first several months I have had it so far. When I have the time (and I can get another SATA cable and fit it in) I may even put in the older one that may have started all this mess, and see if that works fine too as a storage drive (since it was scanned completely and had no errors).

Oh man, you just gave me flashbacks.... I had a 680i board in my current PC originally, and it causes me nothing but problems. It didn't play nice with SATA and I had blue screens galore. After I got my ASUS, thing improved 100%.

Spincut, I hopeful you can find a solution to your problem. I suggest you continue troubleshooting - what the hell, it wouldn't hurt at this point...

I have an Asus now though....and this thing has worked fine for 4 years, so I dunno. Nothing major changed or happened, I don't know once something is set and working that 4 years later it suddenly wouldn't like the same stuff.
 
Just because the HDD can store data fine, why would all of them not function as the main OS drive?
When called repetitively they won't work? right?

Sounds like a HDD, driver or maybe SATA hub to me.

I tell you, I had an EVGA Classified that ran perfectly for 2 years andd then one day.......it started throwing errors all over the place. It wouldn't report memory correctly and the thing would just blue screen for no reason.

I took each component out and tested them in a different X58 board and they were all fine.

So sure a board can belly up at any time. I'm not convinced it's your board though.....but I don't think we got the whole story....so.....:eek: good luck with your problem.
 
Yeah there really seems like there should be more to this. Hopefully we can get more info and get this fixed. :)

Also, MainGear has +1 respect in my book.
 
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