Marc's Search for a New Motherboard

Jul 9 00:39 UTC 1992

Well, it all started out innocently enough.  I decided that I'd like to
upgrade to a 486DX/33 motherboard from my current 386SX/20.  So, I got
a copy of Computer Shopper, and called all the places who advertised
motherboards, asking a bunch of questions about their offerings.  There
were several requirements for my purchase, foremost among which were:
1) The motherboard had to support at least 64MB of RAM *on the
motherboard*, without adding 32-bit memory cards or things like that;
and 2) The motherboard had to work with Unix.  So, after calling what
had to be 50 or 75 different motherboard vendors, I narrowed the list
down to eight vendors: CCSI, BSI, MicroLine, Essence, Wedge Technologies,
Motherboard Warehouse, MileHI, and A.I.M.  After doing some more comparisons,
I decided to get a motherboard from MicroLine.  Price: $644, plus shipping
and credit card surcharge.  So, I called MicroLine and after verifying
that they had the board in stock, I ordered it and charged it to my
MasterCard.

The problems started as soon as I got the board and unpacked it.  They
had shipped the wrong part -- I had specifically requested a motherboard
that could take up to 64MB of memory, but this board was limited to 32MB.
Somewhat annoyed, I called up the RMA department, who apologized for the
mixup.  It turns out that they didn't have any of the 64MB boards in
stock, and would have to order one from their vendor.  Would the cost
be any higher?  They didn't know -- the guy from the RMA department
said he'd have to check on it with their vendor.  This was last
Friday.  On Monday, I called again, and the guy was still checking.  On
Tuesday, I called three times, and was unable to get a hold of somebody
in RMAs -- the first time I was half an hour too early, the second time
was during their lunch break, and the third time he still didn't have
any information.  Finally, he called back late Tuesday night and told
me sorry, but their vendor no longer carries the 64MB boards.  Why did
the salesman claim that MicroLine still carried them, and even said he
had one in stock?  The RMA guy didn't know, so I just asked for a full
refund, and he was happy to give me one.  Well, I was a bit annoyed,
but I hadn't lost yet anything but time, so I wasn't too mad.

So, the next day I look at my list of motherboard vendors again, and
decide to try A.I.M. this time.  Things looked good -- they had salespeople
who actually spoke English well, they had a 30-day money-back guarantee
with no restocking fee, and they had an 800 number for tech support.
The board was going to be about $100 more than the MicroLine one, but
oh well, I guess that's what you pay for quality.  So, this time I call
up A.I.M. ensure they have the board.  No problem, says the guy, they
have the boards in stock and ready to ship.  He quoted me a price of
$169 for the board, $499 for the CPU, and another $70 for the cache
memory upgrade.  Fine and dandy, so I ordered it and charged it (again)
to my MasterCard.

Today at work, I get a call from A.I.M.  It seems that the person I talked
to on the phone last night was misinformed on A.I.M.'s product line; the
$169 motherboard he had quoted me only took 32MB of memory.  She explained
that A.I.M. manufactured its own motherboards, and had recently phased
out the 64MB motherboard for a 32MB motherboard.  I had two choices: I
could take the 32MB board for $169, or she could special-order a 64MB
board for "only" $70 more, or $239.  This sounded a bit fishy to me,
since the guy who took my order last night identified himself as the
president of A.I.M., and I would hope that the president of the company
knows what his company is selling.  I tried to explain to the woman
what the phrases "dishonest business practices" and "bait and switch"
meant, but the most she would concede was to throw in overnight shipping
on the motherboard for free.  Big deal.  Finally, I just decided to
cancel the order -- I may have been on the more legally solid ground,
but I don't think I want to give my money to a company that engages
in practices such as these.  Too bad, too, since they looked so
promising...

Meanwhile, in preparation for the new motherboard, I had ordered four
4MBx9 70ns SIMMs, to upgrade the computer to 16MB of RAM.  The salesman
at Pro Components claimed that the SIMMs they had in stock were Oki's,
and I agreed that that brand was satisfactory.  So, he charged my
MasterCard and sent the SIMMs out UPS Ground from Southfield.  Unfortunately,
when the SIMMs showed up on my doorstep today, they were Eagle's, not Oki's.
And they had the rather ominous words on the back, "Personal Computer
Value Series Module.  EAGLE Memories is the sole warrantor of this product.
Not for use in Medical, Military, or Mission Critical Applications."  However,
I decided to try them anyway -- unfortunately, they failed the POST memory
test in both PCs I tried them in.  Calling Pro Components again, the
salesman very quickly agreed that it was a compatibility problem, and
that he would swap the Eagle's for Oki's ASAP.  So quickly, in fact,
that I almost got the feeling that they had this batch of Eagle chips
around they were having trouble unloading, so they sent them out to
every customer who hadn't yet gotten Eagle SIMMs, with the knowledge
that there was a good chance they might not work.  Hmm.

And finally, after discovering that the Eagle SIMMs didn't work, I set
to work finding yet another motherboard vendor.  While I was looking
for my motherboard-vendor summary sheet, I happened to stumble across
some flyers that I had picked up at the JCC sale, and decided to call
the two companies: Competitive Computer Systems and Columbus Computer
Center.  Ironically enough, Columbus Computer Center had an acceptable
motherboard in stock, for less than the original MicroLine price!
So, I charged yet another motherboard (this makes three) on my
MasterCard, and it will ship from Columbus tomorrow morning.  I
never thought you could have this much trouble trying to spend this
much money.

And so the saga continues.  I'll update this item when my new SIMMs
and motherboard arrive.  Hopefully, they will be the correct parts
and work properly...

response 2 of 47:

Jul 9 02:14 UTC 1992

You should have heard him on the phone with AIM today, with me and jep as 
his cheering section.  

(Pssst... I *told* you we had to RMA the only thing we ever bought from
ProComponents....  nobody ever listens to me)

response 4 of 47:

Jul 9 05:28 UTC 1992

We'll pray for you.

response 6 of 47:

Jul 9 15:06 UTC 1992

i'm very surprised that you've had all this trouble, honestly.  after all,
the trend seems to be towards more and more r.a.m.--i recetly read an ad
for a computer that would take 128 mb on board. wow. why any company would
be building boards that take half as much ram as their predecessors really
eludes me.

response 8 of 47:

Jul 9 16:06 UTC 1992

All of 16MB?  Yes, I will be.  I'd like to play around with X11R5, and
according to some reports I've heard, it uses around 15MB of memory.
The GCC optimizer can take up over 1MB of memory.  And, of course,
X clients are memory-hungry as well.

The reason so many places sell 32MB boards is that they can make
baby-size boards much more easily that way.  It's fairly difficult
to find the board real estate on a baby-size motherboard to fit
16 SIMM slots, which is what you need for 64MB.  And after all, those
DOS weenies think 8MB is a lot, so why bother spending extra design
time on a feature that maybe 15%-20% of your customers will use?
Personally, I don't really care if the board is baby-size or full-size,
since I have a fullsize case.  So I'd be happy to buy a fullsize
motherboard, as long as it could take up to 64MB of RAM.  But alas,
those boards have a much more limited market than the baby-size
32MB boards, so the prices are higher.

response 10 of 47:

Jul 9 22:48 UTC 1992

(Heh, if this company were smart they'd have Tony Randall in all the
trades hawking these "Eagle Brand Chips")

response 12 of 47:

Jul 10 18:50 UTC 1992

If you get past the first hurtle, you can count on many more.  My 
experience with '486 motherboards is that none of them (so far)
work entirely.  I've tried motherboards from A.I.R, Pioneer, Young
Microsystems, and DTK.  So far the DTK has worked the best.

response 14 of 47:

Jul 11 07:07 UTC 1992

Interestingly enough, the only comment I have on DTK motherboards
from the net is that they are, quote, "dogshit".  They apparently
cause lots of spurious interrupts that DOS ignores, but that positively
drive Unix up the wall.

I got the motherboard from Columbus Computer Center today, and it
works fine.  I think I may be satisfied yet...

response 16 of 47:

Jul 12 03:52 UTC 1992

NOW you tell me.  Well, it still works great with DOS.  I'll remember that if I
ever use it for anything more sophisticated (NOT!).

response 18 of 47:

Jul 15 23:52 UTC 1992

After reading comp.dcom.modems for the last couple of months, I've
pretty much written off Supras.  I'm thinking Zoom or USR.

response 20 of 47:

Jul 16 02:19 UTC 1992

Well, the third motherboard (from Columbus Computer Center) doesn't work.
It has an annoying tendency to lock up the keyboard after you've been
using it for 30-45 minutes.  Oddly enough, the rest of the machine is
still running -- I can flip on my terminal next to the computer,
log in, and continue what I was doing.  But nothing I do seems to get
the keyboard back.  So, this motherboard is going back, and I'm going
to get a Wedge Technologies motherboard.  Sigh.

My memory *did* come, though, and *it* works fine...

response 22 of 47:

Jul 18 19:22 UTC 1992

Back to Pro Components, they are no longer our memory supplier as of last
week. They insisted on sending us 70ns 1Mx9 SIMMS when after three
phone conversations we thought we had it pretty clear that we needed
100ns SIMMS. This was also not the first time of screw ups like this.

response 24 of 47:

Jul 18 20:50 UTC 1992

yea, it sounds like you got a break - keep em!