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From: sigma@pawl.rpi.edu (Kevin J Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Freezing 386
Message-ID: <`&1%B%&@rpi.edu>
Date: 17 Oct 90 18:36:30 GMT
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Lines: 54

I got a reply about my freezing 386 system from Jack Orenstein, who can't
post.  With his permission, I've posted it.

----- included article -----
 
By any chance, is this computer made by a left-coast company named
Mica? I bought a 386/33 through my cousin who is a consultant
reselling their equipment. This was the computer from hell. First, I
couldn't install turbo c++. It trashed large zip-encoded files while
reading them off the disk. Sometimes. When I finally got the thing
installed, the system kept freezing up on me, in both turbo c++ and
windows 3.0. Like you, I kept stripping down the system by removing
drivers, yet I could not fix the problem.  I tried slowing things down
by adding wait states - which didn't help.

I sent the system back (via my cousin), and got a new AMI BIOS. This
allowed turbo c++ to install, but did not solve the freezing problem.
I sent it back again, got a new motherboard, and that didn't help. 2
1/2 months later after I ordered this piece of garbage, I sent it back
and got a refund, (my cousin is a decent guy).

I bought a Gateway which, after their recent price drop, was a lot
cheaper, got here fast, and has been trouble-free. Lots of clear and
thorough documentation, (unlike Mica). Like everyone else, I'm very
pleased with the product and the company. 

Postscript: Mica finally admitted something was fishy and they spent a
lot of time working on this one box. The problem turned out to be the
CASE. Apparently, the motherboard couldn't fit quite right, (remember,
two were tried), and when things got heated up, a short developed
between the board and the case. So they say. They insulated the entire
innards of the case and this, reportedly, solved the problem. In spite
of this, they are not giving my cousin a full refund - something about
a 15% (I think) "restocking fee". He brought them a lot of business,
so this really isn't very smart of them.

Moral: get lots of recommendations about the exact computer and
configuration you're thinking about, before you buy anything.

Jack Orenstein
jack@odi.com

P.S. Feel free to post this to the net - I can read, but posting from
here is broken.

----- end inclusion -----

Incidentally, the computer isn't from Mica, but from System Ave.  Anyone
else have any experiences with them?  They seem knowledgeable and helpful,
but now I'm not so sure about their hardware...

-- 
Kevin Martin
sigma@rpi.edu