New Computer update

Well, I had the new computer for about three weeks when, one day, I shut it down to do a hard reboot for some reason, and, when I when to turn it back on by pressing the on/off switch on the front, I found it would not turn back on. So, I called the people who sold me the machine, and they immediately gave me an RMA to send it back. Which I did at my own expense (grumble). In due course they send me a replacement which arrived at my doorstep last week.

I plugged all the various cables into the box and hit the power supply switch in the back and then the on/off button in front. Nothing. Not a peep. Zip! Zero! I was not at all happy.The next day after work, I called the retailer and got a very nice woman on the phone who said that she would be happy to give me another RMA, but perhaps I might like to talk to tech support first. After a moment's consideration, I accepted that offer, and was promptly transferred to tech support. One of the reasons I hadn't opened the first computer to see if there was anything user fixable inside is that Asus has a seal on the case that states that the warranty is void if the seal is broken. I told this to the nice young (I assume) man who answered the tech line. He told me not to worry: he would take care of that.

With that assurance, I popped the case and the first thing that I noticed was that the power lead from the power supply to the motherboard was not connected. I mentioned this to my "mentor" who allowed as how it might be good to plug it in. When that was done, a little green light went on at the bottom of the motherboard. I was excited! However, my hopes were dashed almost immediately when pressing the on/off switch still produced no results. After poking around a bit, my guy has me pop the front panel. Well, this is something I wouldn't have thought about. Seems that the on/off button actually wasn't the actual switch. That was a little white plastic piece seated in the computer's frame. When I pressed the switch with a screwdriver, it worked...the computer turned on. For some reason the button was not activating the switch. Well, from here on it looked like I was going to have to come up with a unit specific work around, so I thanked my tech support guy for all his help, and settled in to figure out how to make the power button work.

In the course of my poking and prodding, I pushed on the switch one more time...and it popped right out of its seat. Turns out the problem was that the switch had not been fully inserted in its seat. Either that or it had somehow been popped loose. In any event, after I figured out how I could get my fingers in to where they needed to be, it only took a firm push to pop the switch into place, where it seated with a satisfying "click". Since then, it has been working just fine. It is fast and reasonably powerful, but I added something from CNN to my browser the other day when I was watching the House vote on Health Care reform that they say impoves the streaming video experience. However, since loading that plug-in, my display has been slow. I'll have to work on that next. Also, I really don't like Vista. It is just awkward and cludgy.

Life continues....