Wasn't sure where to put this, if it doesn't belong feel free to delete it.
In responding to an earlier thread about the P4T-533C I realized I had enough to say to start a new thread. Here goes.
I bought mine from Micropro. When I bought it, I bought the board, processor, and memory. When I recieved it, it was already put together and stuffed into the motherboard box even though it didn't fit, one RIMM wasn't seated, and the CPU fan was connected to the power fan plug which left the CPU fan monitor in the bios in a failed state. To top it off, there was piece of tape over the CPU fan so that I couldn't remove it without voiding their warranty (that's what the big red note inside said).
I got my A+ in 1997 and I did benchwork for years. Who are they to assemble my components and then tell me I can't change them? Anyway, I put the board in (I replaced a P4T-E) and it comes up with "wrong CPU speed" but that's common on a new board so I don't think anything of it. I reboot and all is well. XP sees everything and suprisingly, doesn't even ask me to re-activate. I ran the machine a few days occasionally rebooting and everything seemed fine until, I shut it off.
Come to find out, every time I cold boot it, it won't post then comes up with a wrong CPU error. At first I thought AHA! That's why they prebuild it, they're putting the wrong CPU in. But, I checked it with Intels CPU identity chip and it was the right processor. Apparently the board was just flakey. It would also randomly report either 54meg or 64meg of memory to windows (which made XP craaaaawwwl).
So, I hit their web page to find out about the RMA, they had a number and I called. Luckily I only had to wait 5 minutes and talk to one monkey before being sent to voicemail. I left them my invoice number, a quick description of the problem, and a request for a cross ship RMA. Later I got a voicemail back that said "please call us." I called back, got the SAME monkey and the SAME voicemail. I called back again, explained to the monkey what was happening, sat on hold longer this time, then got the same voicemail again.
So, I tried the RMA web page. I put in all my info and specifically requested a cross ship RMA. Two days later I got an RMA. Then I called to get the cross ship going and it was the wrong RMA. I had to get a new one from the customer service guy. And I had to pay shipping out of my pocket. I get the new board and wow, it works good. No CPU or memory problems. But, SOF II seems to be a little sluggish. I look closer at the CPU (Intel app) and it's the wrong one. It's a 2.4 400 chip and not a 533.
So, I call directly to customer service this time. I get the guy on the phone and tell him it's the wrong CPU. He say's I don't care you have to get a new RMA and I can't give you one it has to come from the Tech dept. He sends me over there and AGAIN I get voicemail. This time I camp on my phone waiting for them to call back. I explain the situation and ask to simply try swapping out CPUs because I hadn't sent the other board back yet (it had only been 1 day). He say's no you have sent the boards back intact AND, you have to pay for shipping AGAIN!! I didn't bother trying to explian my tech background because it wouldn't have been worth the time. I ordered the board AGAIN.
Now I'm $2500 into my credit card but I finally get a working board. Lucky me.
It's been over two weeks since I sent the first board back and about 12 days since I sent the second board back and I've still got all the charges on my card.
Moral of the story, Micropro sucks.:flame:
