A Strange DT&T Experience

[daniel brunk]

In early-mid January, I sent my 2400c (NuPowr G3/240)
to DT&T because I was having freezing/GLOD issues. 
This had happened to me once before, and I had solved
the problem by unplugging it and letting it sit for
about a month.  It worked fine for about three more
months, but this time around there was just nothing I
could do to stop it GLODing after only a few minutes,
if I could get it to boot up at all. So off to DT&T it
goes.

I get an RMA # from them in advance.  Send it to them
UPS.  I wait two weeks.  I drop them an email asking
if they've received the laptop.  Thankfully they say
that they have, but I thought it was kind of odd that
they hadn't emailed me to tell me that it was safely
in their hands.  

I wait three weeks.  I drop them an email asking if
they've figured anything out.  They reply, "Oh, sure,
you have a bad G3 processor.  It'll be $200 plus $30
labour to fix."  Ack!  A little more than what I was
hoping, but of course I want to keep the little Comet
alive, so I tell them to go ahead.

I wait two weeks.  I drop them an email asking if it
has been fixed.  "Oh, sure, we just need you to
arrange for payment."  This is frustrating.  Why
didn't they tell me that it had been fixed?  So I call
them and give them credit card info, etc.  They tell
me that it will be sent out in a day or two.

I wait ONE MONTH.  I drop them an email.  "Oh, please
be patient, we are still working on your computer." 
Still working?  You told me that it was done!!  Grr!  

I wait ONE MONTH.  The laptop returns!  The world is
good.  I take it out of the box....but no power cord!!
 I call them.  "Well, if it's not in the box, then I
guess we still have it.  We'll send that out to you
right away."  Naturally, at this point I am skeptical
about the timeliness of the return, so I go ahead and
put a bid on a yo-yo on eBay.  

Two days later, the power supply arrives!  Of course,
I am shocked.  I had been afraid to start it up on
battery, since it's only good for about 45 minutes and
who knows how much juice was in it.  But I start her
up and everything seems well!

I go through to make sure I still have the 80 MB of
RAM, etc.  Then I get to thinking....I had set the
NuPowr control panel to show the NuPowr logo on
startup, but I didn't remember seeing it during
boot-up.  I look in the Extension Manager...the
control panel is there, but it's been disabled.  Then
it occurs to me...although the machine seems zippy,
could it be possible that DT&T has removed the
(faulty?) G3/240 card and put an original 603/180 card
in?  While although this would be better than nothing,
it's certainly not what I paid for.  I go into Apple
System Profiler and....

Processor Type:  G3/320!!  One of those Interware 320
cards after which we all lust?  Could it be?  I've let
it sit all night running SETI, and it's certainly
carrying along at a zippy rate.  And....the bottom of
the machine is only slightly warm.  Nothing like the
small nuclear generator that I was used to with the
NuPowr card!!

So, in all, despite my frustrations with them for
their apparantly horrible communication skills, I am
very happy to get my machine back, now worth *more*
than it was when I had sent it out.  

Thought you all might find interest in the story.  And
while I'm at it, can anyone think of a reason why I
can't start file sharing on it?  I try to turn it on,
but I cancel it after it's been trying to start for
about five minutes.  

Enjoy!


	
		
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