Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!mms00786
From: mms00786@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Gateway
Message-ID: <111700127@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 18 Jul 89 17:27:00 GMT
References: <182851@<89191>
Lines: 38
Nf-ID: #R:<89191:182851:uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:111700127:000:1890
Nf-From: uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!mms00786    Jul 18 12:27:00 1989


k,Ok, I'll clarify. The Gateway 2000 machine I bought was a 20MHz 386 with  
4 Meg of memory. The motherboard was called GENE II. 

Now I am really ticked off that they sell other motherboards that run Windows/
386 etc. Here's what transpired.

I bought the 386 mainly to do some software developement for Windows, and 
wanted to use Windows/386 multitasking etc. So I confirmed with the Sales rep
that machine would run the same. I got the machine, and it wouldn't. Ok, talk
to tech support, they and I are very polite until the time they come right out
and tell me that they too have had problems with windows/386! I asked them
why, and they said it was something to do with the motherboard design. I asked
them for solution, and they said that I should return the machine and buy a 
pricier one. At no point did they offer to swap my motherboard for a different
brand. The end result : the better part of my summer was spent in opening and
closing their machine.

I will not deny that I went hunting for the cheapest machine. But I think they
were dead wrong when they :

 a) misinformed me about their machine's ability to run Windows/386 when I
    SPECIFICALLY asked them before placing my order.
 b) spent a precious month (correction, 29 days), in sending me all kinds of
    different harddisks, video cards, etc, when they knew ahead of time that
    it was a all a shot in the dark.
                                                                        
I subsequently bought a machine with a Mylex 386-20 motherboard with 4 Megs. 
Though this system cost me $800 more than Gateway, I have not had to open it
once. 

I hope that clarifies why I feel so cheated by Gateway. All I know is that I
planned to bid on some programming jobs on the side this summer, and thanks to
them, I have spent two months just installing the d--- software! 

Milan
mms00786@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
.