Strike three . . . and it's out.

A couple of days ago we turned the new computer on only to have it freeze while 'checking NVRAM'. I searched on the internet and found that this was solvable, but required removing the motherboard battery and also flipping switches or something. So, that was it. A good, solid, third issue with this machine. Too much. Systemax would send me a new one, and renew the 1 year warranty, but wouldn't restart the 30 return policy, so I said no. I am returning it for a refund.
I also changed courses on the operating system. Rather than trying to find a machine with a Windows 7 32-bit OS, I decided to stick with Vista (which I know will run Media Center, since I have a TV tuner card, and other older applications and hardware that we have). I also decided to buy a new hard drive and see if I can restage the PC that is failing.
What a pain.

Strike Two!

The replacement hard drive arrived yesterday. Took just a minute to install. Fired it up . . . . no go. The hard drive is still not being recognized. Major bummer. More wind out of the sails.
Luckily, again, tech support was there after normal hours. This guy, however, had a good idea, to swap the SATA cable from the CDRom (which is being recognized) to the hard drive to see if it's the cable. And it was. So, now I wait another 3 days for a replacement cable to arrive.
If that doesn't work, do I return the whole thing?
Keep going until we find and resolve the problem?
Does this foreshadow more trouble down the road?
Were the 10 reviews I read accurate or written by Systemax employees?
Will winter come early?
Will there be a Robin Hood part 2?
Brother!  Aaaaahhhhhhh!

New Computer???

Don't you hate it when you buy something new and it doesn't work, right out of the box? My new PC showed up on Wednesday. I was excited to get it out and fire it up . . . .until all I saw was white writing on a black background. No windows coming up. Not good. Tried 2 or 3 things. No good.
Luckily, at 9:00 pm, Tech support answered. Phew. After about 40 mins of trying this and that, conclusion: the Hard drive is not working. Not being recognized. So, they have to send me a new one . . . which won't arrive for another 4 days. Brother. Not off to a good start.
This machine had 10 reviews, all 4s or 5s out of 5. Good comments. I had to get the one lemon.
Oh, well, what are you gonna do?

Hey, I bought a computer!

Why is buying a computer becoming so hard? It used to be that you only had a few features to look for . . but now there are so many. I first tried to understand a little about the speed of the unit so I figured I could find a website which benchmarks CPU units. I found one . . . but it had benchmarked over 200,000 units!! Holy cow! That many exist? And, and, I learned that some of the numbers on the unit you're eyeing to purchase might not be on the list, so you can't make a comparison. For example, on the benchmark page you will find a Intel Core2 Duo T5670 @ 1.80 Ghz . . . well that T5670 isn't provided on the spec sheet the manufactorer gives you (or the web seller, which gives you even less). So, you can't compare apples to apples, or PCs to PCs. . . (I know . . . had to though)
Anyway, that is one frustrating aspect of buying a computer now-a-days.