Fuck refurbished shit

[itszutak]

So a few months back I bought a refurbished Optiquest Q241wb monitor, 1920x1200 resolution, 180 degree viewing angle and a ridiculously high contrast ratio, for the bargain price of $250. I thought it was too good to be true, especially when it arrived and actually worked.

Fast forwards to one month back. I just bought a new power supply and graphics card. I overclock said graphics card as far as I think it will go, and play Crysis for a few hours or so. Upon leaving Crysis to browse forums, the screen starts flickering. Uh oh, I say to myself, I just fried my graphics card.

The flickering persists, and gets worse. Within minutes, I have my box shut down and I frantically replace the graphics card, so that I can get some stuff done at least. The flickering persists. I decide some other component must have fried due to the power supply.

Enter a two-week intensive scan of all my components. Deciding the motherboard is the fried component, I do some research. Dell uses the BTX architecture, a format supported by NOBODY. To replace the motherboard means I have to replace my CPU and I need to buy a new case.

$250 later, my parts arrive. I assemble the computer, and it won't boot up. Fucking ECS piece of shit motherboard had a bad BIOS. I have to send it back. And by now, my original computer was in pieces (many parts I used in my new box were salvaged from the old one), and I did not feel like putting it together for only a week before taking it apart again. I am stuck with nothing to do for a week while I wait for a new motherboard to arrive. So, I convince my father to use my screen for a week on a whim. I watch over his shoulder as he boots up windows, fools around a bit on the computer.Then I see a flicker. And another. And another. Within minutes, the screen is unreadable.

Shit.

I just wasted $250 of saved-up money (I have no salary, no allowance, no job) on parts I didn't need, and if I had JUST TESTED THE FUCKING MONITOR IN THE FIRST PLACE I WOULD STILL HAVE A WORKING COMPUTER AND NOT THIS MONTH OF BULLSHIT LACK OF COMPUTER.

FUCK.

This problem only comes up after an hour or so of screen use. It probably slipped right past whatever quality control they have working for the company.

The moral of this is a) do not buy refurbished monitors, and b) TEST ALL YOUR FUCKING HARDWARE, NOT JUST SOME OF IT.

TL;DR: AAAGGGHHH FFFUUUCCKKK YOU VIEWSONIC

FUCK YOU PCCONNECTION

FUCK...JUST FUCK YOU ALL

TEST YOUR SHIT BEFORE YOU SELL IT

[p0lar_bear]

:words:

They DO test their shit before they sell it. They don't know it's going to break when it does. Ever heard of the domino effect? It's inafmous in cars; one thing breaks, fix it, something else follows shortly.

Quick breakdowns are a risk you take with refurbished merch. If you want a lesser chance of something fucking up, get it used or new.

Believe me, I went through a few refurbished Gamecubes, one with a dead internal BIOS battery (clock reset on turn off lol), then one with an unfocused laser. Both things happened about two or three months after the purchase. :/

Also, welcome to the world of PC troubleshooting. Test EVERY possibility before drawing a conclusion to avoid the scenario that happened.

[itszutak]

They DO test their shit before they sell it. They don't know it's going to break when it does. Ever heard of the domino effect? It's inafmous in cars; one thing breaks, fix it, something else follows shortly.

Quick breakdowns are a risk you take with refurbished merch. If you want a lesser chance of something fucking up, get it used or new.

Believe me, I went through a few refurbished Gamecubes, one with a dead internal BIOS battery (clock reset on turn off lol), then one with an unfocused laser. Both things happened about two or three months after the purchase. :/

Also, welcome to the world of PC troubleshooting. Test EVERY possibility before drawing a conclusion to avoid the scenario that happened.
What frustrates me most is not that they didn't find the problem but that I didn't find it, and didn't want to find it. I found as many excuses as I could not to test the monitor, and that's what screwed me in the end.

I think I might have exploded a bit with my OP. I haven't had a working computer for a month, and I think it's wearing a bit on me.

[legionaire45]

After my mom's refurbished Power Mac G5 failed on her my family stopped buying refurb stuff. It's not worth momentary savings if it is just going to fail after a few months/years.

Other refurb things that failed:
ATI X800 XTPE - Worked fine until I started playing Runescape. Then the computer BSODed, shut down and I could smell ozone! Took out my motherboard, ram and obviously the video card. Just to make this story even better, Newegg kept on sent me 2 or 3 DOA motherboards that were...you guessed it, all REFURBS! After getting really angry I emailed them begging for a new in box one and they obliged. <3 Newegg.
Toshiba DVD/VHS Recorder - bought from woot, they didn't mention it was a refurb or something like that. Failed literally a few days after the warranty ran out.
Nokia N700 Internet Tablet - also from woot, I don't know if it is a refurb or not but other sites were selling confirmed refurbs for the same price. The wifi on it failed after less then a month and would not connect to anything. I actually got my money back on that one.

So, hopefully lesson learned. Refurb shit is just another attempt for the manufacturer to make a quick buck off of what would otherwise be thrown in the trash. Sadly this buck comes at the expense of the consumer.

[itszutak]

The worst part is that I can't find the return info, so we're $250 short with a giant waste of space. Seriously, this monitor is HUGE.

[Rook]

Sorry to hear about that, sounds like a bad situation... I don't make much money from my job either so any money wasted on unnecessary items becomes increasingly annoying.

I don't trust refurb stuff etiher... I buy it new or nothing -- good to find cheap deals on new stuff though. =]

[klange]

"Refurbished" varies between different companies.
IE, with HP, refurbished means "either we made too many or someone returned it and we fixed". My iPaq was a refurb, never had any problems with it (though the camera is a bit fuzzy, but I've seen pics from brand new ones, seems to be a recurring problem).

[Hotrod]

I don't mean to sounds rude or anything, but shouldn't you have tested the monitor in the beginning? That's what I would have done...

Sorry to hear about your problems though, that must really suck.

[itszutak]

I don't mean to sounds rude or anything, but shouldn't you have tested the monitor in the beginning? That's what I would have done...

Sorry to hear about your problems though, that must really suck.
Two things happened to stop me from testing it: I thought the way it was reacting meant it was not the problem, and I really wanted new parts for my computer.

But yeah, in the future, I'm testing all my components until I know specifically which one is the problem. :/

[Zeph]

lol, always buy hardware with long warranties. Never buy refurbished unless its for a one-time only thing.

[Needles]

I just wasted $250 of saved-up money (I have no salary, no allowance, no job) on parts I didn't need, and if I had JUST TESTED THE FUCKING MONITOR IN THE FIRST PLACE I WOULD STILL HAVE A WORKING COMPUTER AND NOT THIS MONTH OF BULLSHIT LACK OF COMPUTER.

FUCK.

I'm pretty sure the stuff I buy is always new....
And if you spent $250, did you at least get better computer parts?

[itszutak]

I'm pretty sure the stuff I buy is always new....
And if you spent $250, did you at least get better computer parts?
Definitely. A core 2 duo E7200 to replace my Pentium D 3Ghz, an Antec 300 case to replace my Dell case, and a motherboard that was compatible and sturdy (Turned out to also be DOA, but I'm getting a better one from a more reliable company). Not much else in my computer needed replacement. I already have a 4850 and a 650w power supply for it.

[Needles]

Definitely. A core 2 duo E7200 to replace my Pentium D 3Ghz, an Antec 300 case to replace my Dell case, and a motherboard that was compatible and sturdy (Turned out to also be DOA, but I'm getting a better one from a more reliable company). Not much else in my computer needed replacement. I already have a 4850 and a 650w power supply for it.
Sounds like it was worth it.

[Hotrod]

Yeah, it does sound like it was worth it, well, except for the monitor, of course.

[itszutak]

yeah. :)

I'm updating my profile once I have the whole thing hooked up and I know it's working.

[TheGhost]

I've always shied away from refurbished stuff, not out of personal experience, but I guess because I find it weird that it had a previous owner. That and the rule that, because everything eventually dies, buying something that's already lived means that it will die sooner. I'm glad to hear that my cynicism is somewhat well-founded after reading some posts in this thread.

[TeeKup]

Wow ghost, you're more active than usual, more than 2 posts! :P

[itszutak]

Update: New motherboard isn't working either. I'm a bit upset about the whole thing and would really like having a working computer.