BEWARE of PC Microworks .... Do NOT send in your systems for repair

no I have not Kevin. and to answer your PM to me, Yes, I am looking into legal action. I am waiting to hear back from the Alameda County Sheriffs Office, and the Public Inquiry Unit at the Office of the California Attorney General. I sent them packets with 48 pages of documents each. However I am less and less hopeful every day......

 

Can someone tell me why when I go to pcmicroworks.com, and not www.pcmicroworks.com, I am able to view the site without warning of malware. Could this simply be because my browser is recognizing this as a different zone, thus lower security?

 

true, i don't get a warning for pcmicroworks.com either. however, when i click on any link, the warning pops up.

 

right, thats because the links are absolute, using the entire URL, not relative to the site. So they all refer to www.pcmicroworks.com/whatever, not just /whatever

 

I don't know what's going on, but both www.pcmicroworks.com and pcmicroworks.com resolve to the same IP address - 74.208.125.102 - and the whois records both show the same (correct) data.

 

The source code is a messy collage of relative urls and absolute urls - the source wasn't very well written.

 

Typing in the URL 'pcmicroworks.com' omitting the HTTP and/or WWW prefixes, I still get the "Reported Attack Site!" warning from Google.

I just read through this entire thread over the past hour...jeeze, you guys are really fighting the good fight. I have no personal experience with this company, but at the very minimum, what you're going through qualifies as theft on the part of PC Microworks/Matthew Thomas O'Byrne.

I wish all of you who are dealing with getting your systems back from PC Microworks the best of luck. BMonk, I hope your attempts at legal action go well for you.

I'll be lurking in this thread and keeping my eye on it. I'm very curious to see how this all turns out.

Godspeed!

 

PCMW probably is keeping tabs on this thread. Seeing that we had found a way out of their website scam, they updated the pcmicroworks.com url also.

 

PCMW website is already fixed.

 

on a side note: the email address provided for getting in contact about the NSTX thingy is dead - my email bounced. this whole thing is getting shadier by the minute.

 

Yes my email also bounced.

 

wow this matthew o'bryne sounds likea real ... someone should beat the crap outa em.

 

Times nearly up. Whats the update on this?

 

Just tried calling them yesterday and still the same result (no one answered). I tried calling again Today and a NEW voice mail came up saying that they are discontinuing their phone support for a short time until they release their new online ticket support and phone support hotline. It also says that to better support their customers in a timely manner, emailing them at [email protected] is an option currently.

I tried emailing them at that address and guess what, it bounced.

 

Hey, so I searched the forums for this topic, because I recieved a private message about a concerned user relating to this issue(kevinddblahblah). My concern isnt about this topic though. My concern is about the private message I recieved.



How in the hell and why did you private message me? I didnt read over this thread,but is this guy(kevin) legit? I'm only asking cause of the random messsage I recieved.Thanks.

 

Shyster, sorry for the private message. I've mistaken you for Shyster1 which is a member also here in NBR. Again, my apologies.

 

Ahh ok, I was wondering why I got the message. Anyways, good luck,and I hope things work out for you.

 

lol, that is funny.

 

What's the progress of PCMW?

 

Sorry I just LOL'ed.

 

soooo, what's the latest on the PCMW story?

 

Well, I won't be able to call at all next week. But I'm sure some of the other forumites can find out.

 

So get this. A week ago I recieved confirmation from mediawavepc that they did in fact have my machine, and it was fixed. I was so happy to hear this, and emailed pcmw asking them/him to give them permission to send it to me. Anyway, 4 days later, I get a fedex notice saying it will be shipped. So it showed up yesterday, while I was out of town, but I made sure someone would be here to receive it. Two hours ago I get back and find the machine on my bed. I quickly notice that the fan over the memory slots is gone. But wait, so is my ram. in place of my 4bg of memory, which had yellow heat sink sleeves on them, is a generic stick of 2gb. Oh and get this, instead of my screen, which had the orange and blue MW logo, it has a black and silver version. It is actually a better looking logo, but why the fuzz!!! is the screen different. So it went in for a motherboard replacement, almost 4 months ago, and comes back missing my ram, and ram fan, and has a different screen. I am however still happy to have it back, but I also have a sick feeling in my stomach thinking about what else has gone wrong. OH YEAH, its also missing the 2 rear rubber feet....

 

Sounds almost like they sent you back someone else's machine...

 

Well I can tell the casing is mine. At least the Palmrest, becasue there are a couple little marks/blemishes that I'm pretty sure are unique. It is just missing pieces. The actual screen seems the same, just the cover is different. I can see the same 1 dead pixel I have had forever.

 

Can anyone tell me who/where I might be able to get the missing fan and if possible the two rear rubber feet.

 

at least you got it back.

the rest of the missing stuff can be purchased through one of the many other Clevo vendors.
- contact Sager, Pro-Star, and Eurocom first.

 

Ok so should I not run the machine without the ram fan?

Also, what application should I use to monitor all my temps. I had the system on, and running windows updates, and it began beeping as if it were overheating. It shutdown in the middle of a boot-up-update session, then said updates were not configured correctly, reverting changes. it then started beeping again, and seemed to hang for a while, so I forced a shutdown....

 

In windows: HWMonitor

 

So it looks like I'm pretty much back to square one with my notebook. When my motherboard 1st went bad, about 6 months ago, my computer would only post with ram in one slot. Then 2 months later it stopped posting at all. So now I get a "new" motherboard and the reason PC MicroWorks didnt give me both my ram modules back, must have been because the computer doesnt post with ram in the other slot.... So I need a new motherboard. Im not joking when I say I could cry.

 

Didn't mediawavepc said it's fixed? Give them a call tomorrow. Send it directly to them next time.

 

do not send it to them! consider your warranty obsolete now. send it to sager and have them get the job done without this BS. they will give you a short warranty period for the work performed as well and make sure you tell them to replace any missing parts on the system like the fan and rubber feet. of course, you will pay for it but it's better than what you have gone through!

 

Oy vey! At least you got something recognizable back.

 

have to agree here man. i would (and i REALLY HATE TO SAY THIS) cut my losses at this point and either order the parts yourself and fix it which is really not at all hard to swap the board out or send it to sager for a repair. prob cheaper than a new system but still $$$ but they will at least give you some kind of warranty to stand by

 

Ok so I got back my computer. Yes its not working right, and yes some parts are missing, including my 4gb of ram, and the ram fan, and the rubber feet on the rear. However oddly enough it also has some "extra" parts. I removed all 3 of my hard drives before sending it in, which turned out to be a great idea. When I got it back, it had 2x 200gb 7200rpm seagates in it, that were not there when I sent it in. Also, PCMW replaced the old MW logo on the carbon fiber, with a better looking silver/black MW logo. AND I got it back with a blu ray player/ dvd burner combo, instead of the dvd burner it had when I sent it in. So I guess I can't exactly say he/they are not trying to make up for the whole situation.

I mean after all this, why add extra parts/upgrades to a system that comes back missing components and still seems to have a faulty motherboard. I was confused by this, and sent a fairly neutral toned email to PCMW and "Thomas" replied fairly quickly, explaining that they/he is under a lot of pressure and will get me my missing parts. So it seems that he/they are just overwhelmed and unorganized and not super honest, but not necessarily malicious.

 

I bet they put in those parts by mistake.

 

Or that someone else PCMW system that is in for repaire now has your parts, and you got theirs

 

I think you are being too nice here.

Good to hear you got your system back, albeit it, in completely unrepaired condition.

I would imagine at this point the fire being lit under them is enough to push them to actually make communication.

Are they sending you a new motherboard so you can do the replacement yourself?

A few HD's and a Blu-Ray are nice though.

From my point of view, it looks like they replaced the hard drives, replaced the blu ray, replaced the ram, to see if any of those were causing a problem.

Realized that none of these were the problem, but didn't want to replace the whole motherboard except as last last resort.

Then, got interrupted in the process, got many demands from unhappy consumers, and promptly shipped the unit back, unfinished. Or, they simply don't know how to replace the motherboard.

I may be assuming too much, just my opinion.

I don't work in the computer business, but i work in the home audio business and we get repairs all the time.

Sometimes, a tech tries for a while to fix it, and can't, then we have to give it to a different tech, but can't always get in touch with them or it has been a long time. The story to tell the customer, of course, is the truth, which they have avoided.

Get into a slippery slope, each day they avoid communication, the more they are scared to face confrontation.

Shipping it back to you, then apologizing, and trying to make it right, would give the most peace of mind.

 

Well like I said there were no hard drives in the system when I sent it in, so there would be no reason to replace them. The problem was no doubt the motherboard because it would not post with working ram modules. Unless it happened to be the CPU, but thats doubtful. I can't really tell if it is a new Motherboard, though it does have a sticker on it that says February 09, but that could have come from anything. I really don't know what to think.

The problem started almost 6 or 7 months ago when one day my D901C wouldnt post. The first thing I did was remove both sticks of ram, and re-seat them. Still wouldnt post so I removed one and left the other. That fixed it. So I tried placing the working ram module into the other slot, but this time it didnt post. So I figured that only one of the slots was functioning. A couple months later it stopped posting again, and I was unable to get any ram to fix the issue. So I figured whatever happened to the first slot must have happened to the other.

BUT, now I am wondering if what made the system stop posting the second time was not the remaining ram slot failing, but something else. So maybe they fixed/replaced something other than the motherboard which caused the computer to stop posting, and now I'm just back to where I was, with a motherboard that only posts with one DDR slot in use, oh and now a couple parts missing.

I have had a hard time finding the led blinking codes for the D901C, though I believe I have found them in the past. Can anyone point me towards them.

 

OK I think I figured something out. The month/year stickers that are on our components, they seem color coded for the year. Can anyone confirm this. Some of my components, like my 1st 8800m GTX have red Jan 08 stickers, but I think my old motherboard said Aug 07, and was green, can anyone confirm that the 07 stickers were green? I believe I just found a green Aug 07 sticker under a sticker they put on before sending it back to me. So I think I just figured out that I have the exact motherboard I sent in.

 

very wierd situation there. did they put the feb 09 sticker over the aug 07 one??

 

I hate to say it but it sure seems that way.

 

Does it matter if they replaced the mobo? The truth is, your computer hasn't been fixed and you need a new mobo, and that's all you need to concern about.

 

Well the thing is, they did send it to mediawavepc to get it "fixed" so if they did replace the mobo, then it should be under warranty. I emailed them last night when I realized it was not fixed, and got a response this morning. The lady I emailed explained that their tech Danny did the work on it, and she asked him to look at my email(s), so I sent another to him in more detail. They seem like a legit business. You can call, anytime and they pick up, so if they did install a new mobo I believe they would stand by the one year warranty. But if they didnt then yes, I need to.

 

That's good, have you asked them if you can send them the laptop directly next time?

 

I am working up to that. Still waiting to hear from Danny.

 

BMonk, the way to know for sure if it is a new motherboard or your original is to take apart the LCD screen from the frame and you will find there the Clevo serial number, and it should match the Clevo serial number on the memory socket. If it does, then it is your original motherboard. If there is no match then it is a different motherboard than the original. It could be new, or more likely refurbished since you found the two stickers there. The new sticker was most likely put there when it was refurbished.

Now, please understand that replacing the motherboard does not extend the period of your original warranty. Any repairs done while under warranty are only warranted through the end of your original warranty period.

 

Awesome thanks paladin. I will do that right now.

 

Ok so a couple questions. Would any of these numbers match the one on the bottom of the machine, cause none do. Also, each memory socket has a different number. Third, would the number in the lcd be on a sticker with a bar code at the base of the actual lcd, or somewhere on the frame behind/around it.

 

should be inside the lid on a sticker