Hint, don't hack your bios and get it wrong.

FTFY

Over time there's one thing I've learned - if your PC works, leave it the hell alone.

Wouldn't normally care tbh, the time away from the PC has been nice but I have a friend coming from the USA in about 9 days and it's obs pretty much impossible to stay in contact to keep the plans rolling with no net.

I'm thinking of my other half's dad here, mainly.

Buy a Mac and an Xbox and stop messing around with 3rd rate operating systems on hardware that dates back to the ark.

Their RMA thing deffo sucks ass though. When I dared to ask how long it would take for the replacement parts she seemed to get all irate before I had even had a go. All I said was "ah ok thanks, any idea when my new one will ship?" and she immediately got all pissy and said it would be 7-10 days from recieved and there was nothing she could do about it etc.

I guess she gets it in the neck all day from customers. Thing is, they have my mobo, they have tested it so why I am waiting 7 fucking days for another one? I mean FFS if they made you wait that long when you actually first ordered it (like before they had your cash) noone would ever buy from them. So what should be different when they have your board back, have tested it dead and know they have to send another one?

Shit CS IMO. Will deffo make me think twice about going back for more shit, especially as the failure rate on brand new hardware is actually quite high (DOA more than anything thanks to modern rushed building techniques in cheap factories.

I flashed a beta-grade BIOS to my main machine once, trying to fix an incompatibility with my graphics card. It didn't work, so I flashed back to the previous BIOS but it went wrong and killed the board dead. This was a week before my undergrad dissertation was due and I hadn't done any work on it yet. Fun times!

Once I finished the diss, I had to buy a freshly programmed EEPROM chip from a bloke in the Netherlands. You just swap the chip out with the one on the board. I still have it, with its "badflash.com" sticker.

KC, I'll post that fiver.

To be fair, you broke it. In your situation I'd be probably quite pleased with any response that wasn't "Get bent."

FTFY.

Interesting point though, who has *only one* means of basic email and web access in this day and age?

I have 3 computers (albeit sharing one connection), the iPhone which can use GPRS and my work PC which is obviously on work's internet.

I can't remember the last time any of the hardware broke down (touch wood) but I certainly wouldn't want to be down to just one working computer, and then start dicking about with it!

I'm impressed they are replacing it at all. You'll have almost certainly voided the warranty.

I couldn't care a toss about how much money Microsoft are making out of gaming, to be honest. It's no different than Nintendo or Sega have done through the years, so blaming Microsoft for ruining a completely different sector by tapping into that market is madness.

Not when DFI basically told me to do what I did. As I say, wasn't fit for purpose in the first place and the manual tells you to flash the bios.

Interesting point though, who has *only one* means of basic email and web access in this day and age?

I have 3 computers (albeit sharing one connection), the iPhone which can use GPRS and my work PC which is obviously on work's internet.

I can't remember the last time any of the hardware broke down (touch wood) but I certainly wouldn't want to be down to just one working computer, and then start dicking about with it!

And I don't do cellphones, they're penis extensions.

If this was my house I would have a PC in every room like I did in the USA. Sadly it's not and I have to respect that which leaves me one room to set one up in. I had to sell one before xmas because it was getting in the way.

Doesn't help that I live in the middle of nowhere with no cyber cafes/libraries/fuck all.

And I don't do cellphones, they're penis extensions.

How? How is it true even in the slightest way?

"If we launch a game on 360 and PC we basically shoot ourselves in the foot"

"We see PC game sales as a lost sale"

PC gaming sector as a ginger step child

And I don't do cellphones, they're penis extensions.

For a phallic enhancement, my phone does an awfully good job of connecting me to the interwebs and letting me read email and that.

They have basically talked lots of gaming companies into not releasing on the PC at all.

Right. Right, okay. So Microsoft have talked companies out of making money. Right. Nowt to do with the fact it's more profitable to develop for consoles due to the relatively low pirating options on them. Of course. It's a conspiracy maaaaaan. Like, Microsoft had this big meeting with loads of developers and forced them to stop a lucrative business where people were like totally buying loads of their games.

Not when DFI basically told me to do what I did. As I say, wasn't fit for purpose in the first place and the manual tells you to flash the bios.

I've flashed the inside of my eyelids to show a picture of myp while I'm asleep. Unfortunately I got an infection, so I'm waiting for new eyelids to be delivered. I'm using grape skins until they are.

I've just showed my neighbour my willy & now she's phoning the popo. Does this mean my flash failed?

Interesting point though, who has *only one* means of basic email and web access in this day and age?

Right. Right, okay. So Microsoft have talked companies out of making money. Right. Nowt to do with the fact it's more profitable to develop for consoles due to the relatively low pirating options on them. Of course. It's a conspiracy maaaaaan. Like, Microsoft had this big meeting with loads of developers and forced them to stop a lucrative business where people were like totally buying loads of their games.

The worst offenders are people who read those computer magazines, the ones that constantly run articles with "ten top tips to optimise Windows" and have coverdisks with crappy bits of software that seem to randomly delete system files to speed things up. I'm thinking of my other half's dad here, mainly.

m$ have openly admitted how they would rather people not release PC versions of their games along side the console ones as they will lose money.