Greetings my fellow crazy RW members,
You may have noticed I've been absent for quite a while, and I guess this post is just to let everyone know what's going on with me, and where I've gone.
For all those of you playing WOW, I apologize but I persued other avenues when the commotion started a while back, and switched over to EQII where I got myself into a Role Playing Guild. I did come back to WOW a few times but whenever I logged it it was usually just me and Feeble on-line so I'd chat a lil then go right back to EQII. I am planning on coming back into WOW but due to other circumstances 'am forced to not be able to play much of anything right now.
Other Circumstances:
Well, I won't go into big detail about my numerous large financial hits to my pocket book lately, just tell you about the one most relevant to my absences :)
In short I fried the processor two weekends ago and sent my computer up to Doc Mel to have new parts put in ('cause if he breaks it it's his fault ;)). Sent the computer through our good pals Purolator who managed to put something pretty heavy on it, even though the box was labeled Fragile, and my brand new aluminum computer case collapsed inside the packaging pretty much wrecking all of my current computer components. It didn't help that the computer had a water cooling system installed, and the resevoir broke when the case collapsed spilling water/antifreeze like solution all over the inside of the case. Purolator is doing an inspection to see if they will pay out the insurance I had on the system, but the verdict isn't out on that yet. Either way I'm out a decent computer until the end of July.
Other financial bubbles are causing me to crunch down on my spending and I may have to close both my EQ2 and WOW accounts for a while, but I'm going to avoid that if I can. In the mean-time I appologize for me taking off on y'all in WOW it's nobodies fault really we all run on different schedules and it was a lil lonely being the guild of one, I can't help it if I have no life.....tehee.
Wow that really sucks, maybe some of us can donate parts for Fraga?
I could donate a 30G drive and maybe a sound card?
I'm still awaiting the diagnosis on the parts, but I was having Mel put in a new mobo, proc and ram....and the mobo has on-board sound and nic so that part's covered at least.
I'll keep you posted once I know what parts are for sure toast and maybe put in a mercy plee to borrow some components for frag :) and take you up on your offer Mr. A!
I've always got parts around too. I'm sure we'll have a computer for ya sis.
Well you want to see the damage? Here is a play by play of my experience with this situation:
Monday:
Receieve Package and everything
seems ok. I turn the box and
notice that the box isn't quite
right. So I
open the box and remove the computer. Looks ok enough inside.
First I take a look at the
front of the case. This is where I begin to think life is not so good for my sister anymore. I take a look at the
top of the case and notice that the mounts are pushing through the roof of the tower. That's when I opened the case:
WOW!!!So basically I take a
closer look down the run of the tower. Yep definately something heavy on the case caused a buckle.
Here are some close ups of the damage:
Radator for WatercoolingWhere the water came from, cracked tankPump and Video Card CollideSo as of right now I am still trying to get Purolator out to take a look at this thing. So I don't know what works and what doesn't.
Looking at t eh outer case and inner damage it looks more like it was dropped from a significant hight. If it had something on top of it the out case would be distorted and those plastic feet would have probably broken.
Sucks big time.
HO-LEE @%&#! I will never ever ship via Purolator again, they just made the list...
Holy Crap,
I don't think that vid's going to be any good. Something would have had to have jostled it real hard for that pump to come loose, those suction cups work like an SOB.
Definately got hit hard to knock the floppy drive loose, it's hooked in with a spring lock mechanism which is hard to get the drive out to begin with. Lazy should know it's the same case he bought.
that's insane, I'm even more upset now that I've seen the damage, and only a week left until Frag! and Purolator is still playing the run-around game, haven't even hooked up with Mel to look at it yet, wouldn't come when he was available and then stopped by the next day when he had told them he wouldn't be there.
Just as an afterthought which way was it in the case? Front down or Front up? I can't remember.
*edited* NM looked closer at the empty box photo it was Front up.
Quote from: "Shaeleam"Definately got hit hard to knock the floppy drive loose, it's hooked in with a spring lock mechanism which is hard to get the drive out to begin with. Lazy should know it's the same case he bought.
Didn't install a floppy drive in mine, really have no use for them any more. Well other than installing RAID drivers during windows installs but I don't have my system in a RAID.
The full water block and loose pump where probably big factors in the damage. The still would have had to put some heavy G force on it but the heavy water tank probably bent the cage and the pumps suction cups probably didn't last through temperature changes while shipping.
Well, I asked my brother, who's back in Ottawa now, and he said it'd be ok to lend Shae his old machine (he left his tower behind and is using a laptop in Ottawa) for Frag if hers can't be fixed in time. Its pretty old, however, so I'm not sure how much it can run. It has a Geforce4 TI4200 vid card (won't run BF2), a 1.333 Athlon Thunderbird, 512 meg of SDRAM (had DDR slots on board) , an 80 gig hard drive, and the choice of onboard ECS K7S5A sound or a Soundblaster Ensoniq.
Man, that's just some XTRA nasty damage. It defenitely looks like more than just a heavy weight was placed on top of the case to cause the damage. It looks like it was bashed right against the corner of something at the centre of the box with considerable force. I know the Tsunami Dream is a lighter case because of the aluminium build, but it's no slouch for sturdiness despite its weight class (I have the same case myself now so I can tell)! If anything can be salvaged from that mess I'll be amazed.
And I know you shouldn't shoot the messenger bearing bad tidings, but man! A good solid kick to the nads wouldn't be too unacceptable I think...
If you need a computer case I'm sure Mr. A wouldn't mind lending out Frakenserver's box. Now that I've got my stuff transferred out of the frankenserver box it's just sitting there waiting for someone to wuv it. I can also lend ya a DVD ROM drive if you need it.
No, Frankenserver rests silent in the Apartment of Doom waiting for whomever is foolish enough to install a PII power supply in it and once more unleash the 30 lbs of obsolete computing terror upon the world.
The case you have is my old file server, an AOPEN server tower that's roomy, easy to work with and devilishly mundane...
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"HO-LEE @%&#! I will never ever ship via Purolator again, they just made the list...
After FedEx managed to get my motherboard, chip and RAM from Austin, Texas to my front door in about 9 hours (shipped at 7:00am, had it in my hands at 4:30pm), i will never use anybody else. Sure, it probably hit the flights and trucks at the right time, but still impressive
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"devilishly mundane...
I won't deny it. It is to the creative and chaotic as
this room is to a modern goth chick. It's a bit heavy too, but darn it if it's not got that olde-tymey General Electric-esque sturdiness where if you drop it from three stories up it works
better. When a computer is running in the frankenserver case it doesn't so much push and pop the stack as it bludgeons and uppercuts it.
Well now that I'm completely offtopic: PC COMBAT! Dun dun dun dun da dun da dun dun dah!
CASE-ALITY!
Well e'res an update,
Still no word from purolator but they did finaly manage to get the damage inspection done so Mel could pull apart the pieces of my computer and finally determine how useless each part was.
The front of my water resevoir which was clear plexiglass and glued with special sealant stuff from the manufacturer popped right off the resevoir causing the water damage as there was no longer anything to hold the water in, and Mel found the missing face plates from my CD ROM somewhere inside the case with a ton of loose screws and other nice things floating around.
As for the parts, well I still have no response from Purolator and my computer is kind of a necessity so I ended up buying the new parts for Mel to put together for me figuring even if Purolator doesn't pay I'd have to foot out the cash anyway.
Here's what I got:
Already purchased b4 purolator incident:
Asus A7V8X-E Deluxe mobo (stuck with the socket A cause of my waterblock)
Sempron 3000+ w/512MB cache (don't make the Barton's anymore)
2x 512MB Kingston PC3200
New Stuff:
Same Case (memoryExpress didn't have any others I liked with 120mm fans)
OCZ 520W Modstream power supply
Maxtor DiamondMax 300GB SATA drive
Pioneer 16X DVD RW
ATI Radeon All in Wonder X800 XT AGP
Now I've got a question for those of you with experience with water cooling. Can you use a section of tubing as a resevoir instead of a seperate tank? I'm thinking that in a closed circuit there is very little evaporation happening so running an 'overflow' section of tubing and using that as your resevoir might work just as well, the only thing you'd have to watch would be to insure that your water levels are high at all times. Also, from experience what's the best way to drain and refil the system, with minimal risk of getting water all over your components?
My understanding of water cooling (limited) is that the tank is where the cooling occurs, it has a large surface area made of a conductive material (lucite, copper, etc). I would think that the larger the tank the faster the heat dissipates, since the heat has to be spread among more water molocules.
I haven't really seen a whole lot of different cooling tank types but why don't they make more that have more fins to radiate the heat better?
Wouldnt the radiator do like the cooling as it like does the cooling in a car and stuff...and the water passes through it ... and a fan blows on it...and its like a radiator for like radiating heat?
I think Cova had a cooling system that only used a section of tube for the resevoir, its the radiator that does all of the cooling..
Melbosa can probably contact Cova about that.
As for the case I love that modle, the only other one I was considering was the
Thermaltake VA8000SWA Armor Super Tower, Silver Aluminum but its much more expensive.
lol Shayne
I think what Mr. A is refering too are the kits he's probably seen where the rad and tank are combined into one (the watercooling for dummies kits I call em). You know the ones where all you have to do is run the hoses to the water blocks and plug it in and your done cause the rad, resevoir, fans, pump and controllers are all located in one bay.
The one that I have for clarification has a seperate radiator which mounts to a 120mm fan, for the cooling of the water, the resevoir is just a tank full of water (overflow), water pump, waterblocks (for on cpu and chipset) and of course the tubing all seperate. It takes up more room that the 'kit' version but tends to cool better because of the large rad and pump with a higher flow rate.
QuoteAs for the case I love that modle, the only other one I was considering was the Thermaltake VA8000SWA Armor Super Tower, Silver Aluminum but its much more expensive.
That was my very first choice for case other than the Dream (when I started looking 3 months ago), but it widdled down to price in the end.
Quote from: "Lazybones"As for the case I love that modle, the only other one I was considering was the Thermaltake VA8000SWA Armor Super Tower, Silver Aluminum but its much more expensive.
Ahh, nothing beats this
case...
I'm pretty sure the amount of water in the system is important and that the resovoir is a major part of the heat dispersion process, then again I'm just thinking from a sciencey perspective only...
Whats the need for a huge case? Nice to have the drives, but a 300GB drive and a 40GB drive take up the same amount of space.
Quote from: "Shayne"Whats the need for a huge case? Nice to have the drives, but a 300GB drive and a 40GB drive take up the same amount of space.
!?!
- Easy to work with
- Room for large RAID array
- Less cable cramping
- More airflow
Quote from: "Mr. Analog"!?!- Easy to work with
- Room for large RAID array
- Less cable cramping
- More airflow
All of which can be solved with SATA. I have 4 drives in my PC, all SATA, and i have basically no wires visiable. (beyond the lames ass rounded cable for the dvd burner).
meh. i'll take a well built small aluminum anyday.
For now I'll still need a large server tower for my RAID 7 (well, one day, one day...)
This
RAID 7? Wow you gots money. Me I'll just stick with my RAID 5 for now, which fights nicely into my Antec Soho 21" hehe.
Quote from: "Melbosa"This RAID 7? Wow you gots money. Me I'll just stick with my RAID 5 for now, which fights nicely into my Antec Soho 21" hehe.
A buddy of mine tried RAID5 but it was always rebuilding itself. Like ALWAYS. Probably an issue with one of the drives though.
I run RAID 0 for OS and Games, and the 2 other for storage.
Quote from: "Shayne"Quote from: "Melbosa"This RAID 7? Wow you gots money. Me I'll just stick with my RAID 5 for now, which fights nicely into my Antec Soho 21" hehe.
A buddy of mine tried RAID5 but it was always rebuilding itself. Like ALWAYS. Probably an issue with one of the drives though.
I run RAID 0 for OS and Games, and the 2 other for storage.
My RAID 5 seems to work fine. I would guess would be a drive issue or hardware controller issue. Its the one in my file server.
I too run RAID 0 in my workstation as well.
Quote from: "Shayne"Whats the need for a huge case? Nice to have the drives, but a 300GB drive and a 40GB drive take up the same amount of space.
Even though it is larger its lighter than the Dream..
As for harddrives if you are building in any type of large capacity RAID you need space for a minimum of 3 drives to do a RAID 5. If you are going to go raid 5 you better do it with a REAL raid controller card not software or CPU dependent halfway chipsets.
Melbosa will tell you that once you get more than 3 drives in there, air flow and temp become a problem. so the Armor is a great case, because of how the drives are spaced.
At any rate the Dream is a great case, even if it can't take a Puralator beating..
UPDATE:
So I speak with Purolator over the phone about a cryptic message saying that because I am claiming for a computer and not computer parts as I had listed on my packing slip (apparently a non-working computer is still a computer and not computer parts, as I believe) I need to send an original purchase reciept and get a repair estimate done. I naturally tell them that as this was a custom built machine I do not have one purchase reciept but many and summarily fax them over to them. They then tell me that computer printed reciepts will not be accepted, so I inform them that since I purchased the majority of my parts over the internet all I have is computer reciepts, and that because no one had told me I would need a repair estimate I had already had the machine dismantled and had all the parts tested so I could have my new machine built.
Purolator informs me that I have two options, they pay me the $1,000 but they want my computer for salvage parts. Well that's not gonna fly the machine is worth a total of $1,700 and there are about $400 of working parts, like I'm gonna do that. Or I get a repair estimate done by a computer shop. Fine I agree to get the repair estimate, and leave the phone conversation in full confidence that my reciepts will now be accepted.
So I go to Frag, arrange for the estimate while I am there and when I get home I find a letter waiting for me from Purolator.
This letter says that I still need original purchase reciepts and get this 2 repair estimates!!!! WTH
First they never tell me I need a repair estimate, then they say I do....but only one and now they're saying they need two! What total BS!
And on top of that they did not reachy my deadline of July 20th (the day I needed my new computer) and now they tell me that I have to have this information to them by Aug. 8th or they are dropping my case file!
So now I have to phone and yell, and I hate yelling!
The sad thing is, prolly was company policy, not just the unique actions of the drone on the phone. Good luck, your patience is obviously being tested here. I guess that's one company to cross of the list of potentials to consider when shipping PC hardware... :huh:
Quote from: "Darren Dirt"The sad thing is, prolly was company policy, not just the unique actions of the drone on the phone. Good luck, your patience is obviously being tested here. I guess that's one company to cross of the list of potentials to consider when shipping PC hardware... :huh:
According to the guy that came out to do the damage inspection, all the shipping companies have the same policy. They are not responsible for lost or damaged goods.
Basically what he told me and Mags (he was over at the time) is that if you want to ship stuff and have it fully covered, your best bet is to have a moving company do it, as their coverage is far superior. Shipping companies are more for over night, fast and on time delivery - just it may not be in the best shape when it shows up.
That is all fine and dandy but if your going to offer an insurance policy to cover lost and damaged goods (as their insurance policy clearly states they are liable for any coverage applied by the customer) they should have to stand behind this contract, especially if it is evident the item was damaged in transport, the damage report clearly states it appears the box was dropped.
This is directly from their claims form:
QuoteThe amount of any loss or damage for which Purolator may be liable, whether or not the loss or damage results from gross negligence, shall not exceed $4.41 per kilogram or $2.00 per pound computerd on the total weight of the shipment, UNLESS A HIGHER VALUE IS DECLARED ON THE BILL OF LADING
see the following for the full statement
Purolator Loss/Damage PDF