This post sort of continues from where the last one left out. I went to Nehru Place today. First off, I stopped off at SMC International to ask if they had any thermal grease. Turns out that they were out of stock, and that they’d be getting the next shipment by next week.
No matter, because I probably wouldn’t get my motherboard and graphics card till another week, as well. Next, when I went to the RPTech Service Centre, I encountered a rather grumpy guard. I mean…I still find it funny, that you need a guard for just one room! OK, so what if they’ve got some important stuff behind the counter, it’s not as if you can just reach over and grab something without someone noticing.
Anyway, when I gave the motherboard, they (as in the lady I’ve so gotten used to seeing at the counter) told me that, going by the serial number, it was out of warranty. This was a bit of a worry for me. No, actually a big worry for me. As I’ve explained before, having to replace the motherboard would mean that I’d have to replace pretty much everything that mattered, like the processor and RAM. But, the mobo, on its underside, did have the RPTech sticker, which meant that it could be repaired. The lady explained to me that it would take about a week to a week and a half to get the necessary approval from Asus, before the motherboard could be fixed by them. I told her about the fan, which had given up on me, ages ago, and also the new problem of the display taking leave of its senses ever so often.
As for the graphics card, I’d expected that they would put up a bit of a fight. This was because it was a problem that I couldn’t exactly prove to them. It would require stress-testing the card to unprecedented levels, like leaving it on for a couple of days and then running Call of Duty 4! But, I was in for a rather pleasant surprise, when they accepted the card without much ado. Apparently, they just took my word for it! Just accepted the card, after I explained the problems like the artifacts I experienced, and the 3D core going nuts and so on. The testing dude just wrote ‘Color problem in game’ on a sticker, and gave it to me to submit it. This is actually a bit of a worry for me, because, to be brutally honest, my graphics card gives much more than just color problems. The thing was going to self-destruct if it didn’t occur to me to turn the PC off!
Also, while submitting the card, I did make a big noise about how I’ve got it replaced about 4 times already! Apparently, another person, Mr. Chandra-something (maybe Chandrashekhar) overheard this, and said that he’d try to get XFX to give a 8600GT instead of the 6600GT. Now, I’m a bit apprehensive to believe this, since I’ve got it replaced several times, and they have promised a different card once or twice, but never delivered on that promise. Somehow or the other, they always found a clunky 6600GT!
Anyway, both of these will require time (about a week or so), so I can get the mobo, the card and the grease all on one day. Thing is that I’m going to Kerala from 12th to I think 17th, for my cousin’s wedding. So I can collect the stuff only after I come back. Posting will be an issue during this time.
The Pilgrimage shall continue.