Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!nic.MR.NET!jhereg!wd0gol!newave!john
From: john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: PC Magazine's evaluation of Northgate
Keywords: northgate reliablity compatibility pc magazine
Message-ID: <405@newave.UUCP>
Date: 26 May 90 15:08:07 GMT
References: <9871@chaph.usc.edu>
Reply-To: john@newave.mn.org (John A. Weeks III)
Organization: NeWave Communications Ltd, Eden Prairie, MN
Lines: 61

In article <9871@chaph.usc.edu> dwu@alcor.usc.edu (Daniel Wu) writes:
> I've been in the market for a 386 machine, and was seriously considering 
> Northgate.

Good choice.  I have been very happy with my Northgate machine.

>	While this machine can hardly be touched for sheer performance,
>	the Elegance is usually dependable but plagued by a few hiccups when 
>	it comes to reliability and compatilibity.

>	the 600 MB hard disk doesn't have a chane ro come up to operational
>	speed and will not boot the system. The solution: don't bypass the
>	memory test.

This has never happened to me with my 330 M-byte drive.  Make sure
that you get the fastest drive and drive card that you can find--it
is a waste to couple a fast machine with a slow drive.

>	[Next paragraph about machine failing to boot until memory chips
>	were firmly re-seated...]

It is very common for chips and cards to come unseated during shipment.
I have seen this on many machines, including a PS/2-70.

>	Compatibility testing also revealed some bugaboos.  I was unable to get
>	a QMS JetScript add-in board to work. Lotus Express locked up the
>	system every time I attempted to load it.  While I was unable to
>	come up with a solution to the former problem, the latter was solved
>	by running Express in a window under Microsoft Windows/386.

Northgate has a 24 hour hotline, and they will take back everything they 
sell for some period of time after you buy it.  As readers of "Chaos Mannor"
in Byte magazine may know, adding cards to a PC is always an adventure.  You
can probably find at least one combination of cards that will not work in
any particular PC.  You can minimize these problems by purchasing popular
cards for you base machine to do the video, disk drives, and ports.  Doing
this insures that there is at least a chance that the manufactures of the
more obsure cards (like JetScript) have tested thier products with your
cards.

> Has anybody out there experienced these kinds of problems?

I found only one bug-a-boo that I didn't like: the cheaper tower case that
I ordered with my machine had a defect where the mother board mounting points
orient the mother board such that the cards do not fully seat in the mother-
board when the connectors are properly installed in the opening in the case.
It is about 1/8" off.  Northgate offered to replace the case for free, but
I declined that offer because I do not plan to change the configuration and
everything currently works.

I also took Northgate up on their "take-back" policy.  The monochrome
monitor that I purchased had a long-persistence screen, which I hate.
I exchanged it for a super-VGA screen.  No problems.

-john-

-- 
===============================================================================
John A. Weeks III               (612) 942-6969               john@newave.mn.org
NeWave Communications                ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john
===============================================================================