I got an email yesterday from Acer America's service depot back east telling me that they are sending back my Acer Aspire X3200, after replacing its hard-drive. This was new on August 12 and only sometimes used during the next 30 days, until it quietly self-destructed on the morning of the 31st day, as I was trying to get it booted up to use it.
So, Dear Readers, today's question is:- "How did Acer just manage to take over the number two spot in the computer manufacturers pecking order lists, behind the number one, HP?" In the past 13 months, I've bought two new Acer PCs, and have had troubles with both of them. A CPU fan in one, and the hard-drive of the other. We will skip over my stupidity for a moment, and go straight to the alternate question of the day, which is: "Are the Acer folks so busy pushing product out the front doors that they can't spare the time to make sure it will work when it gets to the end user?" I could easily be convinced that that's just what's happening. I'd love to know how many returns for warranty service they get out of the total units sold. And I have my own suspicions about that, because they seem to have a very well-oiled service organization ready to revive whatever dies prematurely.
And having my 'new' computer returned with its hard-drive replaced isn't going to help much without its Acer monitor which suddenly decided to die at the very same time that the PC it was attached to lost its hard-drive. I'm told the one thing isn't likely related to the other, but I'm not convinced that all this is just blind coincidence. The 19-inch flat screen monitor is just over two years old, and is under warranty for three, and it had been working perfectly until that X3200 hard-drive died. So what killed my monitor? So far, nobody has offered any possible explanation. Without a monitor, I can't even test this freshly-repaired X3200, because this 22-inch Acer flat screen monitor on this one I'm now using will not connect to the other PC, because this one requires two VGA connectors and the X3200 only has one of those. You have to buy a special kit and have it installed to get the second VGA terminal added to the X3200. I'm just a little reluctant to spend more on that until I find out how it is now working. If the hard-drive died of natural causes or due to a design defect (it's a new model, they say) then what's to say it won't do it again?
And all this is happening right when I'd like to have a spare I can use to try out the retail version of Windows 7 coming out in a couple of days. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate in its RC version on here, but I don't want to remove this to install the Home Premium version, because I can use this for another several months before Microsoft switches it off on us. And the Ultimate definitely beats Home Premium for features, of course.
Update:
ReplyDeleteI solved the mystery of the two sets of cords from the 22-inch monitor to its computer tower. One is the VGA connection, and the other is for the DVI (24-pin) connection. Three out of three experts tell me that just because both are supplied, it does not mean both are required. Only the VGA (blue) connection is required for normal monitor activity. I'm glad I asked. I've removed that white DVI connector and everything works just fine without it.
Maybe there was a thunderstorm around who killed your machine and monitor.
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking. I´m sure you´ve ruled out this probable cause already.
The failures can't be blamed on any electrical surges at the time, because the power system was running normally at the time. (I'm retired from the government electrical utility which keeps the lights on here, and believe me, I'd know!)
ReplyDeleteI'm not even absolutely sure that monitor really did fail - it just might be that I was being 'hustled' in an attempt to sell me another new one. And I am buying another new one - but not from the same place I got that one.
Instead, I'm getting it from the same place where I bought this 22-inch Acer flat screen, and it
is going to be another of the same. It is costing not $300 for a 19-inch, but only $229 plus tax for another 22-inch - the same price as the first 22-inch I got there last year.
This is a little computer shop set up inside a local Postal Outlet run by a Chinese couple. We don't
speak each other's language very well, but at these prices, we're managing quite nicely. I'm waiting for them to call me when my new monitor comes in from the supplier.