BleepingComputer.com: New iBuypower gaming PC problems - please help!

Hello all,

First off I'd like to say how much I appreciate this forum and how helpful everyone is, it's saved my first desktop from certain death MANY times.

However I knew it was time to upgrade to something better, which led me to buying a gaming desktop from iBuyPower. It was very expensive so I'm really stressing out about it having some problems after two days of use.

1) It will slow down/freeze at random times, usually when I'm browsing the Internet or watching a video. Sometimes when I go to shut it down or restart, the will just hang at the "Shutting Down..." screen and won't turn off, so I have to hold in the power button myself.

2) Headphones can't be detected no matter what. I plug them in, and the little bubble pops up saying something's been plugged into the audio jack but aren't listed in the Playback Devices area. They work, but I hear a hissing noise from the headphones and it sounds like there's a slight echo. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling and disabling/enabling the sound driver but nothing works. I've got onboard Realtek HD Audio. When I look in the device manager under Sound, the "NVIDIA Audio device" also shows up listed with the Realtek. I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not.

3) Sometimes games will crash or stutter during the cutscenes. But I can live without the games as long as the first two problems are solved. All I need is something powerful/stable enough to run all of my Adobe programs for school.


I ran BitDefender, SuperAntiSpyware, and MalwareBytes and everything's clean. So I know it's not a virus that's causing the slow downs. I have all the latest drivers installed. Here's my specs:

Windows 7 x64(SP1)
Intel i5-2500K (4x 3.30GHz/6MB L3 Cache)
ASUS P8Z68-V LX mobo
8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 RAM
1 TB HDD -- 16M Cache
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 1GB
3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard
XION 700W PSU


One final question...I have the version 0401 BIOS. The most current version from the ASUS website is version 0703. Is it possible some of these problems would be fixed if I updated the BIOS? The only reason I haven't is because I've heard horror stories about incorrectly flashing the BIOS could completely brick the system. I don't know what I'd do if I messed something up. If I were to update the BIOS, how would I/what's the safest way to do it? The motherboard disc came with an Asus BIOS utility that will update the BIOS for me but I'm still scared of using it.

I think that's everything. If you need any more info please let me know.

The 30-day money-back warranty expires in a week or so, so I need to know if I can fix this myself (which I'm hoping on since the price to ship the darn thing back is insane) or if I should get my money back if it turns out to be a hardware fault. Thanks in advance!

Warranties...IMO...exist to cover items purchased which do not work properly (through no fault of the purchaser).

Louis

Problems after two days of use I'd be all over the seller not trying to fix it myself. To put it another way I agree with Louis.

Updating the BIOS could void the warranty.

This problem with shipping cost is also why I suggest buying something with Onsite repair or something Like Lenovo where they have warranty centers you can go to, all over, AT least here in the USA.

Does it have anything like a system recovery function where you can put it back to like new and then test again. You are within the period where infant mortality for electronics does happen.

IOWs in electronics manufacturing defects usually show up quickly or the electronics last a long time.

This post has been edited by rotor123: 26 November 2011 - 05:36 PM

So there's really no hope for this thing? I'd like to take advantage of the warranty but like I said before it costs a ton to send it back (from West Virginia to California). Plus I bought the OS separately, it's the OEM version I believe, so even if I were to send the thing back and get a new PC in its place, would I be able to use the same installation disc or would I have to buy Win 7 again? I want to avoid any unnecessary hassle, especially if it turns out I can fix it myself. I guess I'll keep using it, if it continues to crash or freeze any more I suppose I'll have no choice but to call them up (which is last resort because the last three times I've called iBuypower's customer service the reps acted like they didn't care/were no help at all)

Oh, OEM Windows. That should be no problem as such. I was just assuming that it came preloaded.

I hope you installed all of the drivers and are not depending on whatever ones came with windows.
Chipset, sound, video, etc.

A suggestion for the future, next time buy brand name or have one built locally or build your own with help from the appropriate section here.

Go to the hard drive makers website for drive diagnostics, Run a memory test. Stuttering could be a bad hard drive or incompatible memory. Is the memory make and model on the ASUS memory list?

You need to weigh the cost of shipping it back against the chance of being stuck with a lemon IMHO.

Visit the ASUS website and see what the Bios update is designed to fix. They have notes about what the changes are for. You say latest driver, Do you mean from the website or from the CD disc?

You have some leverage with the seller right now. Document everything on paper and after talking to them send a email to them confirming the conversation and what was told to you. The leverage you have is that they really don't want the computer back. Call right away and tell them either I get support to make this unit work or give me a Return authorization now.

Thye really won't give a hoot once you can't return it. Use that now while you can return it.

This post has been edited by rotor123: 27 November 2011 - 09:10 AM

I got drivers from both the website and the disc that came with the PC. I haven't checked/tested the memory yet so I'll do that now.

Also I just woke the computer up from sleep mode and now it keeps flashing a message saying, "Warning! CPU - 1.0 centigrade" and "Warning! CPU - 2.0 centigrade"

What's this mean and should I be worried? :/

bump

Anyone?

I'll put it this way. If it were mine it would already be back to the seller. Then My next step would have been to buy local where I could get quick support and be face to face with someone rather than holding on the phone or waiting for a e-mail.

I see this problem where I work. We sell something to someone and they have problems and they try and make it work until it is too late to return it. Then they end up trying to get warranty on something that we could have taken back easily. Now that they delayed they have to deal with slow manufacturer warranty.

It sounds to me like you have hardware problems.

Good Luck