Upgrading:
I have 3 main computers, 2 desktops and a laptop. Tried the W10 technical previews on the laptop and my 'lounge' machine, and all went well. The updates came and installed properly and everything was Hunky-Dory.Few things I didn't like as compared with the the Windows 8.1 edition included the presentation of the 'all apps' list as a single vertical list rather than a whole page view, and the inability to personalise icon fonts on the desktop although this was not a big problem on the test computers as these were shadowed and showed up fine.
I therefore decided after testing my important software on the lounge machine to take the plunge and upgrade my Games machine, this being the main machine for my Ham Radio operations. Update was good although my white font on a white wallpaper gets lost and no way to change this (it seems).
All went well until my LOUNGE machine developed a motherboard fault.
My plan as has been for many years is to transfer the motherboard from my games desktop to the lounge desktop and get a more up to date motherboard for the games unit.
THIS IS WHERE THE ISSUES STARTED
24th October (Sat) - ordered new motherboard bundle from ebuyer
25th October (Sun) - despatched from ebuyer
26th October (Mon) - received goods via YODEL early evening. That day I had stripped out the 'games' motherboard and fitted into the 'Lounge' computer.
Contacted ebuyer who suspected a motherboard issue but advised I download the motherboard drivers from the Gigabyte website and install individually. This I did and all seemed well.
28th October (Wed) Switched on the machine from cold and it started rebooting without even getting to the BIOS splash screen. By this time I had added in all my peripherals which had all worked properly the night before. Gradually removed each 'extra' until I was down to the very basic this being the system drive, video output from the M/B, mouse and keyboard. Still wouldn't stop rebooting.
Then I removed the keyboard and mouse to try bog standard ones. Mouse only was OK although still didn't boot, but as soon as I connected the keyboard it went haywire again.
Contacted ebuyer and they agreed to accept a return. Received a link to a courier booking system from them and booked for the following day, anytime between 8am and 9pm. this was confirmed by email. Ebuyer said that their turnround for returns was 3-5 days.
29th October (Thu) - waited in ALL DAY and no collection made. Contacted ebuyer by email.
30th October (Fri) - Waited for a response so again contacted ebuyer. Was advised that YODEL could not find the house (Been here 40 years, on an estate and found my many hundreds of other couriers on a regular basis). Ebuyer to rearrange at earliest opportunity.
31st October / 1st November - Nothing heard
2nd November (Mon)- Wanting to find out what has been arranged on my behalf I checked the RMA notice I had received. Collection date not changed, so contacted ebuyer. Advised it was to be collected that day which it was.
3rd/4th/5th November - Nothing
6th November (Fri) - email from ebuyer saying they had now received my parcel, and it would be 3 - 5 days to process. Contacted ebuyer (what else) and was advised by the guy dealing with this that he would ask then to process this quickly.
9th November.(Mon)- email from ebuyer saying 'no fault found' and product was being returned. This was queried as to what 'extensive testing' had been done.
10th November (Tue) received motherboard back so decided to give it another go. Setup with basic configuration and it worked OK. About 1 hour later received an explanation of the tests done. 'This is a known issue which was corrected by updating the BIOS from version 6 to version 8' . So much for no fault found!
today 11th November (Wed) - Full configuration completed and all is working well . Windows 10 was not however reactivated as happened automatically after the lounge computer rebuild. Activation dialogue screen locked so contacted Microsoft by published phone number, fed through to a moronic AI which looped asking me for a number I do not have and which isn't shown where they tell me. Two separate phone numbers led me to the same messages.
Found a 'chat' feature so used that. The agent after about 10 minutes exchanging information took control of my PC and fiddled about a bit, finding a 71 character Installation ID which was being asked for on the automated system. Had to reboot so she gave me a link to get back to her chat.50 mins elapsed at this point
Rebooted but link didn't connect back to her and windows still not activated.
Started another chat session, and initially same information provided. She also took control of the computer, ran a couple of system commands from the 'run' dialogue, input the windows 8.0 product key which the first agent said that although valid would not work, and WINDOWS WAS ACTIVATED.
The first person told me I would have to reinstall windows 8.0 and my applications if the phone activation failed.
Considering ebuyer state 3-5 days to process a return, and took 12, and the phone based help from Microsoft it';s not been a good couple of weeks. At least the lady I spoke to the second time around knew what she was doing and sorted me out. 2 more hours lost though.
MOAN OVER.
