jmbj@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (james.m.bittman) (03/16/89)
I recently purchased the 16 Mhz '286 from GateWay 2000 The machine is for my father so I wanted one that would arrive ready to plug in and go. This, of course did not happen for 2 reasons: 1) The config RAM backup was not secured so it dislodged during shipping. beep-beep "Invalid setup please run setup program" "<F1> - Setup <F2> - Continue" 2) The video board did not work in Turbo (16 mhz) mode - either characters were repeated or missing - or the machine locked up Their repair/tech support has been wonderful. They took the computer back FEDERAL EXPRESS at THEIR expense Monday night identified and corrected the problem on Tuesday and are shipping it back Federal Express on Wednesday (today). They said that the problem was with the Video 7 16 mhz boards. They apparently tried 5 different boards in the machine and they all failed. The first Paradise board worked, so theywill be shipping the computer back with the Paradise. Video 7 20/25 Mhz ok and MS windows compatible Video 7 16 Mhz - Locks machine up Paradise 20/25 Mhz runs ok but NOT MS Windows compatible Paradise 16 Mhz runs OK and MS windows compatible I don't know how this machine made it through QC - the technician provided a lame excuse of "Well maybe the machine didn't warm up enough [during a 48 hour burn-in period????] We noticed the problem 5 MINUTES after the machine was on! I am still planning on purchasing my '386 from GateWay, but with slightly less enthusiasm. Jim Bittman
davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (Wm. E. Davidsen) (03/17/89)
In article <266@cbnewsl.ATT.COM> jmbj@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (james.m.bittman) writes: | I recently purchased the 16 Mhz '286 from GateWay 2000 [ ... ] | Their repair/tech support has been wonderful. They took the computer | back FEDERAL EXPRESS at THEIR expense Monday night identified and | corrected the problem on Tuesday and are shipping it back Federal | Express on Wednesday (today). That's fantastic! Not as nice as Dell's on site service, but really nice. | I don't know how this machine made it through QC - the technician | provided a lame excuse of "Well maybe the machine didn't warm up | enough [during a 48 hour burn-in period????] | We noticed the problem 5 MINUTES after the machine was on! After burn-in the system was probably checked to see if it was still running. If the clock was set to low speed it probably looked fine. Remember the burn-in is looking for infant mortality. When I used to build systems The last six hours the power got cycled quite a few times, but no one seems to do that mass production. | I am still planning on purchasing my '386 from GateWay, but with | slightly less enthusiasm. With service like that you seem to lose your enthusiam fast. Everybody ships machines which die early (yes, even IBM and Compaq) and what counts is how well they stand behind it. Hope you get a lot of good use from it. ================================================================ New mailing address: wedu@crd.ge.com We are no longer ge-crd.arpa and mail will stop working to that address in the *very* near future. Note: flames and hate mail may still use the old address ;-{ ================================================================ We now return you to our regularly scheduled signature... -- bill davidsen (wedu@crd.GE.COM) {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen "Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me