dprince

Okay so about 2 years ago I bought a PC from eCollegePC.com. It was custom built, and it worked fine for about a year and a half. One day the motherboard fried so I sent it back to them to get the motherboard replaced. It came back with the same model motherboard, just new. They didn't finish plugging in the cables so I had to figure out what needed to be plugged in inside the case to get it running.

Great, fast forward 20 days later. The motherboard fries again. So I sent it back and they put in a different model motherboard. I get it in the mail finally after a month of waiting. After turning on the power supply switch in the back, the power supply explodes, there's brief flames and smoke. So I send it back for the 3rd time demanding an entirely new PC.

They hooked me up with a better CPU and better graphics card. So I get it in the mail today (after 4 monthes of not having a PC), and the CD drives, 2 of the 7 USB ports, and Ethernet port all don't work. The machine is running it's just those things do not work.

They said they were unable to install the drivers and whatnot because my Windows XP account is password protected (and they couldn't just email me and ask for it?). So I have probably sent a good 200 emails back and forth (that is not an exageration, I still have all of them saved), and they don't know why I can't get the ethernet port to work so they are mailing me a new one (should be here in 4 days).

They don't have a phone number listed, so I am stuck waiting for their email replys. Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get these PC parts working?

eCollegePC.com is a discrace to humanity.

JStrider

right click on my computer and go to properties
then click on the hardware tab
then click on the hardware explorer(or something like that)

then if there are any devices with yellow question marks on them, right click on them and click update driver and it should try to autodetect the driver and install it from files or the internet.


edit: went to their site and its not working... only having an email address seems a bit shady to me...

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Dilbert1234567

works great... unless its your NIC driver...

what make and model is your network card?

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dprince

I can't tell what the make or model is. It looks to me like it's onboard though. It's just on a little silver rectangle directly attached to the ASUS PC Chips motherboard.

Also, I found a few cables that must have fallen out of place during transit, so now I've got the CD drives working. I guess I will just wait on the new ethernet card and I should be alright.

New problem however, I accidently spilled a little soda on my laptop keyboard, and now the Backspace key tends to stick. It was sticking a lot worse until I tried pulling up on it in frustration. Now it's not so bad at all, but I know sugar and salt can sometimes corrode PC parts so it might still be a good idea to clean under the key somehow. Does anyone have experience with this? It's an Acer Aspire 5670 if that helps.

shakran

phew. Sure you don't want a nice abacus?

OK for the computer, you're right -they're dumb. If the mobo fries the first thing you do is either thoroughly test or replace the power supply.

As for the ethernet card. Try this. take the card out - start the computer. Now put it back in, preferably in a different slot from the original one if the motherboard has more slots to use. That should prompt windows to try and reinstall the card.

With the laptop, that's gonna involve disassembly. I mean no offense, but based on the knowledge level I'm seeing in your posts, it's not something you want to attempt - - laptops are bizarre things on the inside and it takes some doing to get them taken apart while still being able to put them back together.

dprince

I don't know if you read my last post, but I think the ethernet port is an onboard thing. It's a little silver box and it seems directly attached to the mobo. Can this still be taken off?

Jinn

Sounds integrated. If you can, get the exact make/model/serial number of your motherboard. With that, you (or someone here) should be able to find an Ethernet driver on the manufacturer's website.

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shakran

oh, sorry - you said they were sending you a new one so I figured they just used a PCI card.

dprince

Oh my effing Jesus. I asked what the mobo was and what he said was, "All I know is it's a P4P800-E." This is the exact mobo that fried the last two times. He said he would put in some PC Chips board after those two died. I think I just had a brain aneurism.

eCollegePC must grow marijuana with all the money they rip off people and then smoke it while building these PCs.

shakran

It wasn't the mobo's fault that it fried. You said yourself the power supply was bad. It probably fried the motherboard. In all this, btw, have you checked the surge protector? How about the outlet? If they're outputting shoddy power then that's what's breaking your computer. I'm not sure why you'd want a PC Chips motherboard in there - those things aren't all that great. I'll put the Asus up against a PC Chips any day of the week.

dprince

Well, the surge protector is fine. I had the speakers and a laptop hooked up to it when the power supply exploded. The outlet no longer works though (in the wall) because the power supply shorted it. I'm not running it on the same surge strip, but plugged into a different wall outlet.

shakran

Let me see if I have this right. You plugged your speakers into the surge protector and they didn't blow, so you know the surge protector is OK. Good so far.

But your computer was plugged directly into a different outlet, not through a surge protector, and that outlet is fried.

Why are you blaming the computer company here? Unless you were unclear in what really happened, you plugged a delicate electronic device into an unprotected wall outlet (that may or may not have itself had problems) and then got surprised when bad things happened.

dprince

I guess I didn't explain that well enough. The laptop, speakers, AND my desktop were plugged into the surge protector. I'm not stupid.

Okay well here's the latest: I gave the computer a fresh install of Windows. Now all the USB ports are operational. However, Windows still isn't detecting any sort of ethernet port on the motherboard. I have Onboard LAN Enabled in the BIOS too. In the Device Manager there isn't a "Network adapters" option still. I put in the ASUS mobo drivers CD, and it said it only needed to install the drivers for the AC 97 Sound.

When I went to Network Connections, there is nothing listed. I tried "Adding an Internet Connection" but a popup comes up saying to make sure my Ethernet, modem, etc. hardware is installed properly and then try again.

So I am at a loss. I guess I will just wait until the new 10/100 ethernet card arrives in the mail, unless anyone has some suggestions. I know I am not the only one who has had this problem before.