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I recently ordered a custom pc from ibuypower.com which was probably my first mistake in the whole process. When I got the computer, the process cooling tower had fallen out and was rattling around the case. I think it knocked out the graphics card, but that might have fallen out of its socket all on its own.

I got a few cooling tower from the company and tried turning it on. It was hooked up to an Acer AL1914 monitor and an Acer AL1916W monitor. They both didn't receive any signal. The computer made no error sounds at all. I tried unplugging the power cords from the graphics card, a Geforce 9800 GXT+ 512MB, and the angry beeping began. I am trying to find a friend on campus with a PCI-E graphics card I could test before I call ibuypower again.

Do any of you more computer literate than me think the graphics card is actually broken or that the factory settings are too high for my monitors to support. My monitors have a max resolution of 12something x 1024.

I should have just built it on my own, but I have almost no time thanks to student teaching. Thanks for your help.

Even if Windows was set to a resolution your monitor couldn't handle, you should still be able to see video from POST and from the initial Windows boot.

Graphics cards do not just fall out of their sockets all on their own. You need to get ibuypower to take their shit back, who knows what else was damaged if the heatsink was rolling around in the case.

I am pretty sure the processor cooling fan knocked it out. I really hate the new intel standard with the cheap plastic pins. There is no way they can hold something that heavy and big in place during shipping. I wish I could replace them with screws. Oh well.

I've seen computers where the heatsink fell off during shipping before, and it was pretty ugly. Imagine a spiky block of aluminum bouncing around inside your case smashing into the components like blocks in a Breakout game.

It's most likely that the heatsink rolling around physically damaged at least one component. Regardless, ibuypower needs to take the machine back and pay for everything. They are completely responsible and you shouldn't have to mess with this.

MPC2163 wrote:I recently ordered a custom pc from ibuypower.com which was probably my first mistake in the whole process. When I got the computer, the process cooling tower had fallen out and was rattling around the case. I think it knocked out the graphics card, but that might have fallen out of its socket all on its own.

Demand the company replace your computer. The heatsink probably damaged all sorts of delicate things inside the computer once it broke loose.

MPC2163 wrote:I am pretty sure the processor cooling fan knocked it out. I really hate the new intel standard with the cheap plastic pins. There is no way they can hold something that heavy and big in place during shipping. I wish I could replace them with screws. Oh well.

They're not supposed to. Most of those big tower heatsinks weigh more than the pushpins are specified to hold, and their center of gravity is much higher to boot.

Shouldn't they be using screws if they're mounting big heatsinks? This doesn't speak well to ibuypower's quality.

Uraniun235 wrote:Shouldn't they be using screws if they're mounting big heatsinks? This doesn't speak well to ibuypower's quality.

They should be. Mounting plates are widely available for large heatsinks, after all.