Anybody have problems with motherboards from Microbarn esp Abit KT7

[cedman]

I was wondering if anybody else is having problems with motherboards from Microbarn. I placed an order for the Abit KT7 and it arrived 1.5 weeks later. After placing a call with customer support they claimed that it was shipped Monday September 18 but after checking with UPS the board was picked up 4 days later and shipped on Friday. Granted I live in LA and it takes awhile for the board to reach me all the way from North Carolina, but UPS got it to me on Monday. Once I opened the box I noticed a few things

1) The Abit box was not shrink wrapped.
2) Fingerprints all over the board itself.
3) Paper envelope for the Drivers CD had tears in the envelope and creases
on it from being opened numerous times.
4) Drivers CD had dirt and fingerprints on it.

Since I believed that I was getting a good deal since Microbarn was the cheapest on Pricewatch. I decided to go ahead and install the board. I decided to install my board in an approved AMD case with a 300 watt powersupply that was running an AMD k6-2 550 with no problems which I built myself. I installed my retail AMD Duron 600 and an IBM 20 gig HD which I bought from Onvia and 3dfx Voodoo 3 which was on my original k6-2.

To my suprise after I installed all the components, I fired it up and nothing happened. Now this is not my first system that I have built. I tried everything checked the powersupply connector, reseated the CPU and even installed the old board back to check the power supply again. Absolutely nothing. It won't POST.

I decided to send the defective board back to Microbarn at my own expense and ask them to exchange it. This was email I received from Tech Support:

The motherboard you sent in has been tested, and was working fine for me. I
was able to boot this board straight into Win98, and it passed all the
diagnostics I ran on it. We're going to go ahead and swap this board out
anyway. Normally I test these boards before we send them to the customer,
but if you don't want any fingerprints on it, I can certainly send it
straight out to you without testing.

Microbarn Tech Support"

Has anybody heard of a retailer that "TESTS" the boards first before it sends it to its customers or is it Microbarn covering their ass? In the meantime I guess I have to wait another 1.5 weeks before this replacement arrives. I can't wait to see this one.
:disgust:

 

[sabrownfl]

I received my KT7 (non raid) three days after I ordered. It was completely clean, has been installed, and is running rock stable at default settings with a T-bird 800. The box was not shrink wrapped, but no mobo I have ever purchased through retail channels ever has been...

You may have gotten a previous customers return. Personally I had a great experience with Microbarn and would refer others to purchase through them.

Hope it all works out for you...

 

[jonnyGURU]

The condition of your Abit is not unusual at all. Especially from an Abit.

I'm sorry it didn't fire up for you. There's obviously a problem somewhere or it would've fired right up, right? Got any friends with socket A machines? RAM? CPU?

 

[celery550]

I got my KT7 from microbarn, took like 4 days, I was very happy with my experience.

There was no sign of any fingerprints or anything too suggest that it had ever been installed or even touched by anyone.

I have never gotten any motherboard (I've had about 10 different brand new Abit mobo's)with shrinkwrap on the retail box

 

[Compellor]

The board was probably defective, but ALWAYS check the video card (especially if it's and AGP card) to make sure it's properly seated. I assume you did this, but some people sometimes make that mistake (myself included). If you want a good place to buy computer parts, try Multiwave Direct. They send it out without messing with anything. They sell both OEM and retail parts, and their prices are great!

Multiwave Direct

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< The board was probably defective >>



Compellor; you missed the part where they wrote back and said &quot;The motherboard you sent in has been tested, and was working fine for me.&quot;

Now, I don't know who Microbarn is, but I have the same position as the guy who sent the email and I've learned after umpteen years that there is nothing to gain by lying to the customer AFTER the board is in your possesion AND you're offering up a replacement board anyway. Nothing to gain. Zip.

Any hoo... I do see that the P/S is on the list and it was working on the K6 system, so if I were to guess I'd say a RAM problem (compatibility, not bad). Of course, you could've received a DOA processor. It happens.

Guess you'll find out when you get board number two.

 

[DaddyG]

If Microbarn is testing the mobo , I'd say that you are lucky !! ABIT probably didn't

Did you try the mobo OUT of the case. Shorted traces on the back of the mobo will get ya every time.

 

[cedman]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess I was getting frustrated with the whole damm thing. It's already Oct 4 and I placed the order on Sept 18. I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for the replacement board.

I know its not the video card since the board won't even POST. No beep, P\S fans whirling not moving , cpu fan not whirling, even the ABit fan on the board wasn't moving. I'm thinnking its a bad ATX power supply connector.

I was using the same pc100 64 megs ram in my k6-2. Should I try 128 instead of 64. Compatability issues with RAM? I wasn't aware that there was any with Durons. If there is, will IBM ECC PC 100 128 meg have any problems with this board? I have 256megs in another Athlon system and I can easily take a stick out and try it.

As for bad CPU, I doubt it but it could be an issue. I got the CPU from Onvia.com in the retail box totally sealed. I never had any problems from Oniva before but I'll wait for the second board and give it a shot again. Hopefull all goes well this time.

Again, Thanks for all the sugestions.

cedman

 

[bonkers325]

sounds like a shorted mobo to me
in other words doa

 

[zzzz]

ok, here is my story, somewhat simillar.
I had a BP6 from microbarn which had the voltage fluctuation problem. The VTT volatge will vary from 1.35 to 1.65(around) and will cause lock-ups even in internet explorer. I rma'ed it back and told them what the problem is. The guy replies &quot;We tested this board and found to be within specs. The voltage fluctations are normal. Anyway we are sending a new motherboard with no fluctuations.&quot; So I got a stable board. But, the board I returned, was fine according to them, so they charged me some extra $15 for shipping. So the &quot;cheapest&quot; price on pricewatch didn't turn out to be so cheap after all...
so the question is, how do I know they really tested that board to be stable?

 

[cedman]

Hey ZZZZ,

We don't know if the board was tested. I guess we have to TRUST the tech guys at Microbarn. You are absolutely right it was the &quot;cheapest&quot; board at pricewatch.

$134 + $16 Shipping = $150
Sent board back via USPS $6 + $150 = $156
Microbarn sending board back to me via UPS $16 + $156 = $172.

Get this, they charge 20% restocking fee regardless if the product is defective or not. So if I returned the board $134 - 20% = $107.20. I just flushed $48 down the toilet.

This is the last time I'm going to buy anything from them again.

 

[jonnyGURU]

<< As for bad CPU, I doubt it but it could be an issue. I got the CPU from Onvia.com in the retail box totally sealed. I never had any problems from Oniva before but I'll wait for the second board and give it a shot again. >>



Just because it's never happened to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It DOES happen, and it could happen to you.

Reasons why board would not power up:

Bad Power supply. BUT it's a known good power supply that is AMD approved.
Board grounded out on chassis. So obvious, I hope to God you didn't do this.
Power switch on case not hooked up to correct two pins on motherboard. This actually happens all of the time.
Bad board. Possibility. Especially with Abit. But, the guy said it tested good. And as you said, they charge a restocking fee REGARDLESS of good or bad, so there is STILL no incentive to lie to you about whether or not it works once he has the board.
Bad CPU. With no CPU a board will power up. Pop in a DEAD CPU and it's dead as can be. No power. Of course, you never did this because you didn't know this and were in a hurry to get the board back.

As for the restocking fee: Restocking fees suck, but when they charge restocking fees, they have to charge it whether or not the product is good OR bad because if you only charged restocking fees for good product and not bad, then you end up with people INTENTIONALLY BREAKING COMPONENTS just to make sure they DON'T get charged. The reseller can't win, so the only option is to charge EVERYONE a restocking fee or have NO restocking fee (preferred, of course ).

Hope it goes well for you. See if, for the time being, you can find a board to put that CPU in and test it.

 

[DaddyG]

One last thought, try to power up the supply by connecting the green wire to any ground wire (black).

 

[cedman]

Hey johnnyGuru,

Thx for breaking it down for me. I didn't know you could power up the motherboard without the CPU. Great tip. I'll try that when I get the replacement board. All my friends have technology dyslexia . I'm kinda out of luck trying it out on a friends board.

Thxs,

cedman

 

[wizz0bang]

&quot;will IBM ECC PC 100 128 meg have any problems with this board?&quot;

The Kt7 doesn't support ECC SDRAM, this is a limitation of the KT133 chipset. I would think it should still power up though... just not past the power-on sequence (ie you should have some activity followed by error messages, whether on screen or via beep codes). I'd do what JonnyGuru suggests; good advice.

 

[slpaulson]

Make sure you don't have the ide cables plugged in backwards. I doubt it wouldn't turn on the abit fan though but its a shot. Will get you every time . Happened to me once.

 

[zzzz]

one has to be wary of stores having so high restocking fee even if the product is defective.

 

[jonnyGURU]

wizz0bang is correct.

If the RAM is bad, incompatible or not present, you should still power up and get a &quot;no RAM&quot; beep if the RAM is removed completely.