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From: ssircar@ecs.umass.edu (Good writers re-write -- not write!)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Computer Land's faulty Equity 2+ system.  Need info.
Message-ID: <8657.25786d0a@ecs.umass.edu>
Date: 3 Dec 89 00:47:05 GMT
Lines: 40

Recently, I bought an Epson Equity 2+ with a 40 meg drive from Computer Land.
I got a computer and a drive, but here's the specs on the drive:
	250R 42.3meg RLL drive
	ST11R RLL controller

The controller is an 8-bit XT controller.  When I ran Norton's SI, the relative
drive speed was 0.3 compared to a XT.  Most 286/386 systems have this speed at
least 2.7.  I was unable to run all program flawlessly because the AT's CMOS
RAM didn't know that I had a drive.  The controller did all the work.

When I talked to an authorized Epson technician (EPSON gave me the number), I
was told that the 250R's are generally for an XT.  The problem I was having run-
ning programs, such as, Norton's Speed Disk, was that the AT didn't know about
the drive.  He also told me that, in general, the Equity 2+ normally have a
ST251-1 or something similar.  A technician at another Computer Land store told
me the same thing.  The Epson technician told me that to fix the problem, I
would have to install a 16-bit card.  Since Computer Land would exchange the
card, I had to buy one. After installing the drive, I had only 32 meg available.
The technician told me only 4 meg would be lost not 10 megs!

Currently, SI states the relative speed to be 2.1 -- thank god!  Now, SpinRite
tells me that the random access speed is about 75 msecs.  This is a friend's
copy, so I don't know anything about SprinRite.  On a ST251-1 system, would the
random access speed be about 28 msecs?

First of all, has anyone else had problems similar to this from Computer Land.
Second, do I have a legal cause for a formal complaint?  I paid $1300 for a
40-meg system and I only have 32-meg!

-- 

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 Santanu Sircar                                BITNET:   ssircar@umaecs.bitnet
 University of Massachusetts/Amherst           INTERNET: ssircar@ecs.umass.edu
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 "A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root
   around the tree.  A crow remarked, `You should not do this.  If you lay bare
   the roots, the tree will wither and die.' `Let it die,' said the pig.  `Who
   cares so long as there are acorns?'"
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