Will my PC ever come?

[LFFPicard]

PCS I believe sell any of the components separately to an existing customer. You can certainly choose upgrade from your account and buy more ram, new HDD etc. so Memory Card reader should be doable. The only thing I would say, the reader is usually pre-populated in the config so the only reason I can see it wont have been is if the case you chose does not have space for or does not support the reader.

Best thing, ring them tomorrow and ask them, if it will go in your case then you can probably just order it with them there and then on the phone.

 

[domrob]

My reply's a bit delayed, but I phoned up and was told the '£3' unit would cost £6.06 and another £6 to send via courier. Part of me was tempted to still go for that as I completely forgot originally, but the guy suggested I try looking online elsewhere as I'd most likely find something cheaper elsewhere. Had a look on Ebay and found item 171669348417 which is like all the card reader things in a USB stick, for £4.09 delivered. Sorted

I've got another query, though, which has come up tonight, as I've bought a headset with a microphone (my first one) and while it works in the usual headphone and mic ports on the back, there are the same connections on the top of the case (it's a Zalman Z11 Plus) but when I plug it in those, the PC isn't recognising anything. It'd seem odd to have to activate these, so have PC Specialist just not connected these up?

Thanks again for any replies.

 

[domrob]

Those connections should work. Open the case and see if they are connected. Very easy to do. Just follow cable to mobo.

Just had a look but I can't see any cables coming from that vicinity at all. The headphone and mic are at the front-left of the top of the case, and the only cable I can see in that area, inside, is the cable coming out the back of the Blu-ray drive which is in the top-most bay. I can't see anything else that looks obvious as having come out from the mobo, so like a man with no pencil, I've drawn a blank. I've listed the mobo below in case that helps. Thanks again.

ASUS® X99-A: ATX, HSW-E CPU, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s

 

[domrob]

If you have the Headphone and microphone ports on the case then the cables should be there. Looking at this review it looks like the cables are there:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/zalman_z11_plus_review/3

Thanks for the link. Do you know which are the cables for the headphone and mic, please? To me it's a spaghetti junction, but I can see it looks like the cables are routed over from the front-right of the case. However, I couldn't see anything that's obviously unconnected so I really don't know what I'm looking for.

 

[domrob]

Just tried having another look but everything is still plugged into the mobo with nothing unconnected.

 

[domrob]

Just a quick update-ish. I knew most of this week would be busy, so while I'll give them a call tomorrow, in the meantime I dropped them an email.

The order number was in the email subject.

I got a reply back today saying "What is the order number?"

(sigh)

I replied back hoping it'd be picked up quick since it'd take them 3 days to reply, and got a 'your email was deleted without being read' response. WTF?!

I've politely forwarded it again (I was eating dinner at this point so didn't want to start faffing with the PC at that time) and will call if I don't get a solution by the time I get home from work tomorrow.

I know Outlook can still show an email in a preview window so it can be read before the email gets deleted, but the fact they deleted it is not good. And I hope my reply hasn't gone to the back of the queue again, but what's the betting it has?

 

[domrob]

Indeed. It's tempting to just let this run by email (for now at least) just to see how badly their customer service can be shown up, especially since I'm not going to get this resolved before the weekend

 

[GeorgeHillier]

Indeed. It's tempting to just let this run by email (for now at least) just to see how badly their customer service can be shown up, especially since I'm not going to get this resolved before the weekend

Well it does state on the website that it can take 24-48 hours for them to answer an email and longer in busy periods, which it currently is as they have a backlog from when the phone line had issues.

 

[domrob]

I ended up missing a call from them earlier as I was eating dinner and not expecting a call, but the guy emailed and said he'd try to call again later and I didn't hear back but...

As things turned out, I kinda got it sorted out later on this evening. I updated the Sound Blaster Z drivers, and then found the control panel for that (so that's 3 of them including that and Realtek HD Audio Manager), plugged the headphone/mic (it's a Hyper X headset) into the case at the top, and the upshot is that it can hear me talk and do a successful test of the headphones through that connection.

One problem is that the PC doesn't tell me when it recognises me using the cases connections, and Realtek HD Audio Manager doesn't react by highlighting them either when they're plugged in. Why? I don't know. A google earlier on the problem, albeit with a different PC case/mobo, showed that this is not uncommon, so the connections can *work* but they just don't trumpet about it. Still, the good thing is that they do work.

Also, rather oddly, the Control Panel sound is confusing since the Recording tab lists the case mic connection as a front audio jack as 'not plugged in' when it is. And the Playback tab has no mention of the front audio headphone jack at all. So, even though the problem is resolved, it just makes as little sense as my ex-girlfriend.

As I try various games, I'll see if they 'like' the front connections even if the various control panels are as disagreeable as the United Nations.

The guy also said that the guy with the order number issue was new, so fair play if he's getting used to it. We've all been new in a job.

George - one of my main issues was seemingly having to go to the back of the queue when replying, as it goes back to the main email. If they had an 'enquiries2@...' email, or similar, when replying to a reply, then that'd stop that happening. Also, 'deleting emails without being read' is also something that needs to be addressed.

Anyhoo, I'll email back and confirm it's resolved. I'm just glad I'm not having to send the PC back.

Edit: And now I find an option in Realtek... for "AC97 Front Panel" which shows up the front case connections when they're plugged in, and the Control Panel Sound also shows the front mic as being plugged in, as well as showing the volume for the rear speaker connections reacting when I test the headphones (with the sound coming out of the headphones). Baffling, but it works, so I'll leave it there.

 

[keynes]

I ended up missing a call from them earlier as I was eating dinner and not expecting a call, but the guy emailed and said he'd try to call again later and I didn't hear back but...

As things turned out, I kinda got it sorted out later on this evening. I updated the Sound Blaster Z drivers, and then found the control panel for that (so that's 3 of them including that and Realtek HD Audio Manager), plugged the headphone/mic (it's a Hyper X headset) into the case at the top, and the upshot is that it can hear me talk and do a successful test of the headphones through that connection.

One problem is that the PC doesn't tell me when it recognises me using the cases connections, and Realtek HD Audio Manager doesn't react by highlighting them either when they're plugged in. Why? I don't know. A google earlier on the problem, albeit with a different PC case/mobo, showed that this is not uncommon, so the connections can *work* but they just don't trumpet about it. Still, the good thing is that they do work.

Also, rather oddly, the Control Panel sound is confusing since the Recording tab lists the case mic connection as a front audio jack as 'not plugged in' when it is. And the Playback tab has no mention of the front audio headphone jack at all. So, even though the problem is resolved, it just makes as little sense as my ex-girlfriend.

As I try various games, I'll see if they 'like' the front connections even if the various control panels are as disagreeable as the United Nations.

The guy also said that the guy with the order number issue was new, so fair play if he's getting used to it. We've all been new in a job.

George - one of my main issues was seemingly having to go to the back of the queue when replying, as it goes back to the main email. If they had an 'enquiries2@...' email, or similar, when replying to a reply, then that'd stop that happening. Also, 'deleting emails without being read' is also something that needs to be addressed.

Anyhoo, I'll email back and confirm it's resolved. I'm just glad I'm not having to send the PC back.

Best thing to do will be to email PCS regarding this issue and try to get a formal complaint to them if you are not satisfied with the service. Hope everything else gets sorted

 

[PaulH]

With the greatest respect here, we aren't going to be putting a new enquiries2 email into effect.

The emails are answered in by what time they come in, by putting you to the front of the queue just because you already had an answer pushes someone else down one just because they haven't queried a point before doesn't make the question less important and that you would take priority over it.

The above is a common situation if you have an add in soundcard as well as the motherboard on-board soundcard, we used to disable the on board if the customer ordered an add in one - we got complaints, while we do try and help as much as we can we simply cannot cater for every single persons requirement, custom PC or not, we are not going to be calling every single person to ensure they know how to use the new machine with the spec they ordered, it simply isn't feasible.

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

EDIT: Don't know why you got an "Email deleted" notification, it wasn't, unless it was a duplicate.

 

[domrob]

With the greatest respect here, we aren't going to be putting a new enquiries2 email into effect.

The emails are answered in by what time they come in, by putting you to the front of the queue just because you already had an answer pushes someone else down one just because they haven't queried a point before doesn't make the question less important and that you would take priority over it.

I didn't have an answer. That was my point. The reply simply asked what my order number was, which was already in the subject header. But I've since heard back regarding that.

The above is a common situation if you have an add in soundcard as well as the motherboard on-board soundcard, we used to disable the on board if the customer ordered an add in one - we got complaints, while we do try and help as much as we can we simply cannot cater for every single persons requirement, custom PC or not, we are not going to be calling every single person to ensure they know how to use the new machine with the spec they ordered, it simply isn't feasible.

I didn't ask for a call. I was phoned up and missed the call, but the guy then said he'd try to ring again later. As it turned out, I since found the solution.

EDIT: Don't know why you got an "Email deleted" notification, it wasn't, unless it was a duplicate.

It wasn't a duplicate. I sent a reply. I then got a "Your email has been deleted without being read" and only THEN did I re-send the email with the added words that I was asking why this had happened.