Need Advice about second dead PC from Falcon Northwest

I just got a call from them, which was a relief to get today after waiting so long. Turns out the tech was on what I guess was about a 3-week vacation, and he said he's only been in the office a few days total since our last talk December 22nd or so. I personally like the guy a lot, and the CEO told me he's gotten a lot of praise for him specifically. Nice guy, overall, seems to work really hard.

I have to say, as usual, they were more than polite and say all the right things.

So, no refund, that ends that, and I can move on without them.

I ordered two 500GB drives from New Egg today, $310.00 shipped. I'll have to replace the motherboard, likely, to resolve the lock-up issues, and might look into replacing the video cards to resolve some of the artifacting, etc. Might be able to do the whole repair for under $1,000 (or even less) if I shop around for a while first.

Can anyone suggest a decent motherboard, based on the specs?
 
mket said:
Couple other alternatives:

1 - If you get to the point of tossing it, consider donating it to a charity and take a tax write off. Since its brand new, its almost full value. Give it to a school for them to learn from by fixing it, or at least they can use it like a cadaver and salvage the parts.

2 - I don’t know the protocol here, but perhaps there is a [h] enthusiast in your area that might be able to fix it up for you or at least diagnosis down to exactly what part it is so you can RMA just that. Once its working, eBay it, donate or use it. If you suffer a loss, write that off too.
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Great suggestions! Do you know of someone who warranties PC's like this? With a car, for example, you can get an "aftermarket" warranty. Obviously, that won't fix the problems I have *now*, but it'll give me a non-Falcon route to get things fixed in the future, if I can't sell it, etc.
 
Sent them this e-mail, to close out our relationship and wash my hands of the company:

Sorry, the offer on 12/18/06 was to replace the drive, which wasn't the sum of the problems with the system. If this "comprehensive" repair was what we were talking about at the time, then you're exactly right -- I'd have a working system right now. Now, it's easy to offer -- I mean, sheesh, you KNOW that I've already spent a ton of money ordering the parts myself from New Egg. It's a shame it took so long to get here, or I'd be happy to take you up on it. I'm not implying you're spinning the issue, I'm just pointing out that my conversation with you and Ayhan was about how I felt that the fan not spinning, random reboots, video issues, etc, was a bigger issue than the hard drive, and just replacing the hard drive was something that I could do for $79, and thus not particularly valuable as a long-term fix. The system has too many specific failures to be useful with just a new drive.

If you're saying that December 23rd - January 9th (when *I* initiated contact, not the other way around) was a reasonable timeframe to leave me hanging on an answer to whether Falcon would make good on a FULL repair, not just the drive (or provide a refund), I'd disagree on that.

I'm sorry, but no amount of posturing to look good in a potential adversarial process is going to make up for the costs I've already incurred. I made a huge mistake going with Falcon, and there isn't much left to say, and sending emails for the sake of sending emails is (no offense) fairly transparent at this point. You guys had a chance to fix it, you didn't even BOTHER to reply, it's a closed issue.


Thanks for all of your help while I was a Falcon customer, and I wish you the best of luck in the future! Happy New Year, again.
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Once again, they are some of the nicest people in the industry I've met, and I wish them nothing but the BEST of luck in the future.
 
Get a good high flow fan at least if you are going to start changing components. You may find that some problems, like the sound and video, go away once the parts are at a good temp. For that matter, I am not familiar with your case, but if it only has one case fan I'd say get a new case.
 
We've been considering buying a few higher-end gaming rigs from a boutiqe outfit like this and needless to say after reading these threads that follow this experience it's enough to completely turn me away from Falcon Northwest.

A real shame since they do have a very attractive line-up. :(

Edgeprod, I find it amazing that you can still sit there and compliment the people at the company you've been dealing with while they're essentially walking away with your money and leaving you effectively empty handed.

Sure you can part the machine out or try and sell it as-is / non-working, but your average everyday consumer wouldn't necessarily have the knowledge or skills to do that much. I'd hate to be the poor fool that this happens to next time. :(

Many kudos to you for the way you've been patient with this. I know for damn sure I would have... well... as we say in Texas "I woulda' torn some ass right about now". :)
 
Mo_BurLy said:
Get a good high flow fan at least if you are going to start changing components. You may find that some problems, like the sound and video, go away once the parts are at a good temp. For that matter, I am not familiar with your case, but if it only has one case fan I'd say get a new case.
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I found the problem.

Last night, I opened the system for the second time since I got it (the first was on the phone with Falcon to check that the CPU fan was spinning). I took out the drive carriage in anticipation of replacing the drives when UPS gets here with what I ordered from New Egg. I saw a bundle of wires (meticulously and lovingly run through the case, cable-tied, etc typical top-notch Falcon quality) sitting under the carriage. I also saw the front-fan on the case. I powered the system up out of curiosity, and guess what? The front fan didn't spin either. Crap!

I called Falcon, and they walked me through connecting the fans to the case, being polite and helpful as always. They said that even though the fans weren't connection, and haven't been running, it shouldn't have gotten hot enough inside of my case to cause any real damage, so there's no need to "preventatively" replace any of the components. I guess the only fan that has ever spun in that box is the CPU fan. Weird. I didn't think that's something I'd have to CHECK when I got a new system (my case-fan died on my first Falcon box, as did my CPU fan, but that's a separate story), but damned if I won't from now on!

The cables were situated in such a way (one tucked up underneath the floppy carriage, the other underneath the hard drive carriage, a good 6 inches apart) that I can't image they were ONCE connected and then became "disconnected."

Because I spent over $300 already on new drives to replace the ones that died, I hope the now-spinning fans will help me protect that investment.

So, I guess that means I won't need the Mac Pro after all. To eBay it goes.
 
Blue Falcon said:
We've been considering buying a few higher-end gaming rigs from a boutiqe outfit like this and needless to say after reading these threads that follow this experience it's enough to completely turn me away from Falcon Northwest.

A real shame since they do have a very attractive line-up. :(

Edgeprod, I find it amazing that you can still sit there and compliment the people at the company you've been dealing with while they're essentially walking away with your money and leaving you effectively empty handed.

Sure you can part the machine out or try and sell it as-is / non-working, but your average everyday consumer wouldn't necessarily have the knowledge or skills to do that much. I'd hate to be the poor fool that this happens to next time. :(

Many kudos to you for the way you've been patient with this. I know for damn sure I would have... well... as we say in Texas "I woulda' torn some ass right about now". :)
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Well, I'd encourage you to still give Falcon a good look, as they DID build me two fast systems, even though they had their stability/hardware issues.

I compliment them on what they deserve to be complimented on: their professionalism, helpfulness on the phone and in e-mail, and how polite they are. I believe the problem is at the top of the organization, not in the middle. Now, my company is likely larger than Falcon Northwest, so I guess we play by different rules, but I'd give ANY customer a refund if they went through what I did. Maybe we can just afford it more easily, because of the high margins on software.

It seemed that the techs definitely wanted to do the right thing, but were simply hamstrung by orders from the top. Matthew and Ayhan *are* some of the best support reps in the industry, and if I ever get out of the software business and into the hardware business, they'd going to see a pretty fat compensation package layed out in front of them to jump ship. ;)

Thanks for the kudos! In regards to the "next" fool this happens to, I doubt ANYONE will ever experience such a "perfect storm" of failures, delays, annoyances, etc. as I have with this particular system. If they had offered me ANY fair price as a refund to take it back, I would have HAPPILY jumped on it, and still recommended them to ALL of my friends. I'll never really understand why it had to happen this way.
 
You are too nice I think. YOU are the customer. The reason you buy from these guys is mainly for the support which you are not recieving. If it doesn't work then they need to fix it for you.

You can always contact your credit card company about options as well.

Also they are not adhereing to their Warrenty which says that during the warrent yperido if they cannot fix your problem over the phone they will have a courier come and pick up the system fix it and then overnight it back to you. You could always sue them for the price of the PC, the pcost of these shipments, and the legal costs incurred, and any other damages caused by this (loss of business etc) If what you say is true then you have a strong legal case.
 
stabilep said:
Also they are not adhereing to their Warrenty which says that during the warrent yperido if they cannot fix your problem over the phone they will have a courier come and pick up the system fix it and then overnight it back to you. You could always sue them for the price of the PC, the pcost of these shipments, and the legal costs incurred, and any other damages caused by this (loss of business etc) If what you say is true then you have a strong legal case.
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That's what Alienware does, and it's AWESOME.

However, when I originally bought my (first) system from Falcon, I asked about the differences between the Talon and the Mach V. We decided to go with the Talon for noise reasons (it's supposed to be quieter, even though it's VERY loud). The Mach V and the Talon were almost identical in price for what I wanted.

When it came time to repair it, I realized the REAL difference -- the Talon don't have the warranty the Mach V does. :(
 
"They said that even though the fans weren't connection, and haven't been running, it shouldn't have gotten hot enough inside of my case to cause any real damage."

Bullshit. A plastic cup melted onto the top of your case. I said before that with all of those components you had an oven on your hands. You could probably have fried an egg on your computer! lol They are simply trying to pass the buck to something else because now they know they really screwed up by not connecting one fan and telling you not to worry about the one that died. You now have evidence of incompetence, if you wished to use it. Molex connectors do not fall apart.

But they are right in saying you should not simply throw money at it and start replacing components. I've done it and it's a waste. Replace the motherboard and test, if it doesn't work try with the new hard drives, etc. I imagine the vid and sound cards and the optical drives are okay. When you have it running install Everest and watch for large voltage fluctuations, indicating the PSU might be going bad. Return everything you can.
 
edgeprod said:
That's what Alienware does, and it's AWESOME.

However, when I originally bought my (first) system from Falcon, I asked about the differences between the Talon and the Mach V. We decided to go with the Talon for noise reasons (it's supposed to be quieter, even though it's VERY loud). The Mach V and the Talon were almost identical in price for what I wanted.

When it came time to repair it, I realized the REAL difference -- the Talon don't have the warranty the Mach V does. :(
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so would you recommend then going with mach V for their improved customer care?
I am interested in purchasing falcon NW system fairly soon but now i feel a little scared. grant you that i have not been able to find bad experiences on the internet like you can with alienware.
 
Mo_BurLy said:
"They said that even though the fans weren't connection, and haven't been running, it shouldn't have gotten hot enough inside of my case to cause any real damage."

Bullshit. A plastic cup melted onto the top of your case. I said before that with all of those components you had an oven on your hands. You could probably have fried an egg on your computer! lol They are simply trying to pass the buck to something else because now they know they really screwed up by not connecting one fan and telling you not to worry about the one that died. You now have evidence of incompetence, if you wished to use it. Molex connectors do not fall apart.

But they are right in saying you should not simply throw money at it and start replacing components. I've done it and it's a waste. Replace the motherboard and test, if it doesn't work try with the new hard drives, etc. I imagine the vid and sound cards and the optical drives are okay. When you have it running install Everest and watch for large voltage fluctuations, indicating the PSU might be going bad. Return everything you can.
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Well, there isn't much I can do, either way. They won't honor a refund.

They told me it's all tested before it leaves (fans, etc), so I don't know why it was disconnected. The only thing I know is *I* didn't disconnect it, so it either came this way, or it happened in shipping, which seems highly unlikely.
 
cleve said:
so would you recommend then going with mach V for their improved customer care?
I am interested in purchasing falcon NW system fairly soon but now i feel a little scared. grant you that i have not been able to find bad experiences on the internet like you can with alienware.
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If you want the overnight service, then definitely go with a Mach V. The warranties are vastly different.

I hope my experience with Falcon doesn't shade your decision to purchase. I can virtually assure you that you will not have anywhere CLOSE to the number of hardware failures I've had with their equipment.

Because Falcon is such a small company, it has a very family-like feel. I know people by name, and they know me by name. You aren't a customer number, as I feel like with Alienware. That being said, I've certainly had better LUCK with Alienware, even if they don't treat me as nicely. The end result is an Alienware box that's been running flawlessly, and two dead Falcon boxes, no matter what sort of niceties surrounds the situation.

Either way, while I won't recommend Falcon directly to anyone without them giving me my refund (which they will NOT), I won't say that MY experience should necessarily make YOU not buy from them. It would be a certain level of justice, I guess, if they lost the amount of business equal to what it would have cost to simply refund my purchase after this virtual nightmare. I'm not endorsing something of that nature, mind you.
 
cleve said:
so would you recommend then going with mach V for their improved customer care?
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Just to be PERFECTLY clear, Falcon Northwest makes BOTH the Mach V and the Talon machine. It was a choice between two different MODELS, not two different COMPANIES.

I'm sure you know that, I just want to make absolutely sure. :)
 
Edgeprod,

I'm genuinely sorry for the pain & suffering you've experienced with this rig. Worse than the hardware issues, is the fact that FalconNW (a company that is posturing for the highest-of-high end business) continually failed to make things right for you.

As others have noted, you have been extremely patient with these folks (perhaps overly so, but that is water under the bridge now). Kudos to you for not losing your cool over of this fiasco! Don't think the average bear would have been as even-handed.

For what its worth, your experience has been instrumental in my upcoming purchase decision. Due to a lack of time to build a rig myself, I'm about to turn a portion of the year-end bonus into a sweet machine. Falcon had been on the very very short list ... no longer though.

Thanks again for your perspective and good luck recovering what value you can from that rig.
 
edgeprod said:
Well, there isn't much I can do, either way. They won't honor a refund.

They told me it's all tested before it leaves (fans, etc), so I don't know why it was disconnected. The only thing I know is *I* didn't disconnect it, so it either came this way, or it happened in shipping, which seems highly unlikely.
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It may sound a little obscure, but ask for a copy of the Quality Assurance trail covering these tests on with your pc as it was built.

If your having problems, something like that should give a good trail of who did what - and that would be one of the first documents to be called up if you had ever taken them to court.
 
i HATE reading threads like this.

Falcon repeatedly dicked you over and gave you not one, but two substandard machines. and to top it all off, you ended up spending even more money trying to fix their f-ups.

and what gets me the most is that you didnt do anything about it and are recommending them for another purchase because they were able to sweet talk their way out of fixing your machine.

hell, they fucking had your system in their shop, and they couldnt see that the case fans werent spinning!! they didnt check the case temp while in the diagnostics! amazing. you got screwed by them, but somehow you turned yourself into the "bad customer" who is inconveniencing a large company.

i'm sorry for the rant, but this is just wrong. i dont know who to be pissed at more, Falcon or you. my apologies.
 
Blackburn said:
For what its worth, your experience has been instrumental in my upcoming purchase decision. Due to a lack of time to build a rig myself, I'm about to turn a portion of the year-end bonus into a sweet machine. Falcon had been on the very very short list ... no longer though.
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Thank you for the kind words (which I didn't quote). I'm sorry to hear that this will dissaude you from Falcon -- that isn't my intention at ALL. Good luck with your new system!
 
Wolfsbane2k said:
It may sound a little obscure, but ask for a copy of the Quality Assurance trail covering these tests on with your pc as it was built.

If your having problems, something like that should give a good trail of who did what - and that would be one of the first documents to be called up if you had ever taken them to court.
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They sent it with the system, so I have a copy. They do a really nice job of documenting things, etc, and the system comes in a sort of shrink-wrap, etc. It's all very professional.
 
ASUDevil83 said:
i HATE reading threads like this.

Falcon repeatedly dicked you over and gave you not one, but two substandard machines. and to top it all off, you ended up spending even more money trying to fix their f-ups.

and what gets me the most is that you didnt do anything about it and are recommending them for another purchase because they were able to sweet talk their way out of fixing your machine.

hell, they fucking had your system in their shop, and they couldnt see that the case fans werent spinning!! they didnt check the case temp while in the diagnostics! amazing. you got screwed by them, but somehow you turned yourself into the "bad customer" who is inconveniencing a large company.

i'm sorry for the rant, but this is just wrong. i dont know who to be pissed at more, Falcon or you. my apologies.
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I understand your frustration, and only wish you could have seen SOME of mine. Falcon has made me feel so bad about this whole process -- made ME feel like the bad guy, I don't even know what to believe myself. They've now offered to do a FULL warrantied repair (the drive, the fan), but I already ordered the parts because they hadn't gotten back to me after almost 3 weeks since our last email, and a LOT longer without a system.

They're saying it's my fault for not taking them up on it now ... sigh.
 
FNW is now forever removed from my list of companies I would buy from. Thanks for posting your story.

If it makes you feel better, hopefully you have cost them thousands is possible sales.
 
edgeprod said:
Falcon has made me feel so bad about this whole process -- made ME feel like the bad guy, I don't even know what to believe myself.
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I have to side with ASUDevil on this one. I can understand your difficulty with the situation--I'm sure I'd be frustrated in your place. The difference? I wouldn't take that kind of shit. I don't think anyone should.

Believe me, I'm a nice guy most of the time. But in situations like these, you can't play the role of the accomoding gentile. It doesn't work. Example: know those annoying telemarketers? The ones that call and have the greatest credit card offer in the world for you? I get those periodically and my response is typically, "I'm not interested, thank you." And I hang up as they start to protest and tell me how truly wonderful an offer it is. And you know what? They kept calling.

...until one night, after a stressful day, I got another call. The telemarketer rolled right past my refusal and before I could hang up ontinued with "Well, sir, let me take a moment to explain--" and I cut her off. In a moderately raised voice I said simply, "Get me your manager."

You'd be surprised how quickly they decided to cooperate. There was no argument, no discussion. "Just a moment" was all she said. And when I got her supervisor, I heard the words "I apologize" and "I'm very sorry" several times before and after I demanded to be put on a no-call list.

What I mean to say is that there's credence to the old addage "nice guys finish last." You have let Falcon NorthWest walk all over you. They've purposely stepped on your face and you've allowed it. You can't win a battle if you don't bother to fight it.

If all else fails (which I doubt it will, you certainly seem to have a case), you could take the machine to a local repair shop. If they're anywhere near competent they can tell you what's wrong with it. Then you're free to get it fixed or pull the bad part(s) and sell the rest. But others have suggested several courses of action--from being more direct and forceful on the phone to taking Falcon to small claims court--and these are all valid options. My advice, quite simply, is to do all of them.

Call them again. Demand to speak to a supervisor or manager. Demand they back their product and provide you a complete, fully functional machine. I don't care how nice they are, be an asshole if you have to (easy for me, since overly nice people annoy me). Explain to them that if they fail to follow through this time, you're going to take the matter up with small claims court.

edgeprod said:
However, the COST for them to come out here would be equal (or close) to the maximum amount I could file for, which is $3,500 (plus expenses). I felt that it was kind of slimy to go that route, only because I'd feel like I'd backed them into a corner.
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No disrespect intended, but fuck that. This company has failed in its responsibilities. It's not your job to fix their product. If they're refusing to do their job, hand the matter over to someone who can hold their feet to the fire. If they won't do the job willingly, make them.

edgeprod said:
It's been a little over a month since my PC broke, and coming up on 3 weeks since I last heard from them, so it hasn't been THAT long, I guess.
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I have a friend who's a therapist and I'm sure she'd know the medical term for whatever it is you suffer from, but I don't really care what it's called. You're avoiding the issue, trying to justify their incompetence and lack of cooperation. "It's only been three weeks, it's not really that long"? Are you serious? FFS, get your ass in gear and shove a boot up theirs.

I'm not trying to be a dick (I guess it just comes naturally nowadays), but you should have gotten a lot more out of this company--something resembling responsibility, perhaps. That you haven't gotten it is a failure on their part and yours.

The ball's in your court and your opponent's stopped playing. What are you going to do?

/rant
 
Acutally, I was tempted to offer to contact them on your behalf...

Could be fun.
 
edgeprod said:
Thank you for the kind words (which I didn't quote). I'm sorry to hear that this will dissaude you from Falcon -- that isn't my intention at ALL. Good luck with your new system!
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Yep, I fully realize that it wasn't your attention to turn anyone off to FNW. But as I noted, most of us simply don't have the patience that you have. Seeing what they'll do the the nice guys in the herd is all I need to know. A 50% price premium should entail extra service...above and beyond a working rig. You got the "nice" customer service, just not the actual working product. Hell, I can DIY and screw it up myself...no need to give FNW an couple grand to do that for me!

As others recently articulated, perhaps your patience has, in fact, worked against you. I'm not a psychologist, (but did work in retail early in my career :mad: ), and have to agree with the general sentiment in this thread that 1) FNW dropped the ball, and 2) as a customer who is in for >$3500 you really shouldn't feel the need to defend them given the grief you've dealt with. Sure they say all the right things...but so what... anyone who is a halfway decent conman SOUNDS good and SAYS all the right things....that's why they succeed in suckering people. Is FNW a conman? I'm NOT saying that they are, but they've had their chances to make you whole. And I am saying that there are a lot of Ducks in Oregon.

I fully appreciate your decision not to go for their throats at FNW. It's your call. But realize that many (most?) of us here would have like tried to eviscerate them by now. In my personal case, they are in driving distance. The POS rig would have been returned in person. That would have been a "fun" conversation.:D

Best of luck in sorting this out. And most seriously, thanks for documenting this snafu.
 
Blackburn said:
And most seriously, thanks for documenting this snafu.
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I second that. This kind of experience is valuable to all of us, so thanks for sharing it. I hope that some of us (even those who might have come off a little strong :rolleyes:) contributed something useful to you.

Really, if any more happens with this, please update us.
 
edgeprod said:
I understand your frustration, and only wish you could have seen SOME of mine. Falcon has made me feel so bad about this whole process -- made ME feel like the bad guy, I don't even know what to believe myself. They've now offered to do a FULL warrantied repair (the drive, the fan), but I already ordered the parts because they hadn't gotten back to me after almost 3 weeks since our last email, and a LOT longer without a system.

They're saying it's my fault for not taking them up on it now ... sigh.
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you know what you do?

a.) return the parts you ordered
b.) send it in for a warrantee repair
c.) request every sort of diagnostic and stress test be run on the hardware in their labs, AND have them ship the results of these tests.
d.) if anything doesnt pass with flying colors, then have it replaced FOR FREE

Falcon had your computer once, and they should have found this problem or problems the first time it was in. THEY didnt do their job, and THEY should feel bad for inconveniencing you. you should NEVER feel bad about this. YOU were the one who spent $1000's of dollars on a system.

who the fuck cares if they feel inconvenienced. these guys fixing your system arent fixing it for free. they are being PAID to do their JOB. its plain and simple.

they arent making you feel bad about this ordeal.... YOU ARE. you yourself said that they've been courtious and kind in their dealings with you. you just submitted to them, and made their life easier at the expense of yourself.
 
t00thless said:
FNW is now forever removed from my list of companies I would buy from. Thanks for posting your story.

If it makes you feel better, hopefully you have cost them thousands is possible sales.
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It's not my intention to cause them any loss of sales, but it does seem like it would have been a better move, over all, for them to have been more reasonable.
 
Korrd said:
The ball's in your court and your opponent's stopped playing. What are you going to do?
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They've won, I concede to their expertise in spinning a situation. You should SEE and HEAR some of the excuses I got through the process. A few days ago, they told me that they offered to do a FULL repair in early December. I tried not to laugh, only because I think I would have ended up going from laughter to outright yelling.

I found an issue with the motherboard now as well, and have ordered a new one. That means that I've paid fully for all of my own repairs, and they have done nothing more than send a few emails and take a few phone calls. Sounds like a "win" for them to me.
 
Korrd said:
Acutally, I was tempted to offer to contact them on your behalf...

Could be fun.
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That's okay. I appreciate it, but they aren't reasonable at all, no matter what I say or do, they haven't budged their position. Of course, after I paid for my own repairs, they said they WOULD have done it -- and that they have have EVENTUALLY contacted me, if I had just continued to wait (past the 3 weeks I waited already, I guess).
 
Blackburn said:
I fully appreciate your decision not to go for their throats at FNW. It's your call. But realize that many (most?) of us here would have like tried to eviscerate them by now. In my personal case, they are in driving distance. The POS rig would have been returned in person. That would have been a "fun" conversation.:D

Best of luck in sorting this out. And most seriously, thanks for documenting this snafu.
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Thank you for all of your comments.

I agree that someone else, in my place, would have handled it MUCH differently. I haven't ruled out going the small claims route, however.
 
Korrd said:
I second that. This kind of experience is valuable to all of us, so thanks for sharing it. I hope that some of us (even those who might have come off a little strong :rolleyes:) contributed something useful to you.

Really, if any more happens with this, please update us.
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For sure, everyone here influenced my decisions to one degree or another, and I greatly appreciate the help thus far.
 
ASUDevil83 said:
you know what you do?

a.) return the parts you ordered
b.) send it in for a warrantee repair
c.) request every sort of diagnostic and stress test be run on the hardware in their labs, AND have them ship the results of these tests.
d.) if anything doesnt pass with flying colors, then have it replaced FOR FREE
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Unfortunately, I tried that when it broke the first time. It worked for 4 months following that "repair." It took 1.5 months, and we're approaching that amount of time with THIS failure, too.

As a consultant, without my PC, I'm not making money. I got a $15,000 contract for a coding job *right* before that PC died, and had to decline the contract when I couldn't get service. Annoying, to say the LEAST, and I can't wait any longer, unfortunately. When they didn't even bother to return a call or an e-mail the almost THREE WEEKS, I knew I had to do SOMETHING about it myself.
 
Dirves are installed and working ...

... however, even though the RAID is set to "striping" it only sees 500GB in Windows, not the 1TB I expected. I used Falcon's restore-DVD, I am not sure if (because of this), it only formats the one drive? I would expect that it'd see the "array" and format the entire thing, unless it's hard-coded for a specific size .. doesn't make much sense, really.
 
I tried gPartEd to fix this, but to no avail. Partition Magic, however, did do the trick. $70 well spent, in my opinion.

The power supply failed a few days ago, but I was able to order a new one from NewEgg and get a reasonable price on overnight shipping.
 
edgeprod said:
I tried gPartEd to fix this, but to no avail. Partition Magic, however, did do the trick. $70 well spent, in my opinion.

The power supply failed a few days ago, but I was able to order a new one from NewEgg and get a reasonable price on overnight shipping.
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stop the whining and send back to falcon northwest like you should have.
and yes i have read the whole thread.:mad:
 
Well it seems to me that at least you've gained the confidence to diagnose and repair it yourself. Now you shouldn't ever have to buy a pre-built machine again.

You can blame the heat for all of the components failing.
 
Mo_BurLy said:
Well it seems to me that at least you've gained the confidence to diagnose and repair it yourself. Now you shouldn't ever have to buy a pre-built machine again.

You can blame the heat for all of the components failing.
Click to expand...

Maybe so. Everest says 120F-130F for the CPU cores, and 115F-125F for the GPU's. I assume that's normal now, so I'll just replace the components as they fail.
 
Having read the whole thread, I feel like I'm reading something written by Patty Hearst. You were screwed and you took it. And went on about how wonderful they treated you.

Ghandi would have sued these dipsticks. Non-violence <> inaction.

Shortlist for new computer: Maingear, VM, Pugent, and AVAdirect. Off the list: FalconNW. Falcon mishandled this spectacularly.
 
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