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> X-From: Sarah Redfield <sredfiel@nh.ultranet.com> > does anyone have experience ordering computers from midwest micro. they > seem to have good prices online and in their catalogue? Sorry this response is several days later than the rest of the responses, but I have been on vacation for a week (actually working on my dissertation). I cannot say that we have had good luck with Midwest Micro. We have about 20 Midwest Micro computers and have had considerable problems with them. Fifteen of the computers are in a computer lab used by Law School Students and the rest are used by faculty and staff. The 3-year warranty expired on them in March. I began working with tech issues in the lab computers a year ago and took over full control of the lab in January. I faced (or am facing) the following problems: 1. All of the monitors were blurry (and still are) and need to be replaced. After one of the monitors was replaced, they refused to send monitors to replace the bad ones. They said that we had to send them in to be fixed and they would return them. There was not enough time to cycle the monitors through their shop since I could not send them all at one time--because we did not have enough spare monitors to use while they were being repaired and I could not shut down the lab. Every other manufacturer I have worked with sent monitors out and we returned the faulty equipment with their packaging. They said they did not have any monitors to send out to us. 2. The computers are obscenely slow for Pentium 75s, much slower than the Gateway Pentium 75s we have that are a year older. In fact, we have 486-66s and Pentium 60s that are faster than they are. The were completely reformatted and had Windows 95 reinstalled, along with all of the software, last fall before school started. The very same procedure used on the Dell, Micron, Gateway, and Generics boxes we have. 3. We continually have trouble with the NICs having to be reseated or reinstalled. (Intel cards--we have over a hundred of them elsewhere with not problems). 4. The computers have obsolete parts (e.g., old connectors for the mice and keyboards). The Gateway and Dell computers we have that are 2, 3, and 4 years older, older do not have this type of technology. 5. The BIOs will not allow a supervisor's password to be used without having to enter it each time the computer is booted--as opposed to using a user password at boot and supervisor password to protect the BIOs setup--even though there is the option to allow the use of both user and supervisor passwords. Since the lab is open 24 hours and staffed only part of the time, we cannot have them entering passwords every time the computer is booted. But, we would like a supervisor's password to protect the BIOS settings. 6. They are probably not Y2K compliant, but Midwest Micro will not comment about this. We have been trying to get information from them for quite some time. They will not return our calls regarding this. Their web page just says the if you have one of our earlier Pentiums, we suggest you purchase one of our new systems. Apparently, they are not supporting the BIOs in the computer, you have to check with the BIOs manufacturer--who says call Midwest Micro they are responsible for support. 7. We have many more problems with them freezing, not logging onto the network, slowing down to a crawl, etc. than any other computer make we have in the building. I have replaced some of them with Gateway Pentium 75s to check to see if it is the network in the lab, but the Gateways worked fine--no problems with freezing, faster, etc. 8. We have had a constant problem with the computers not recognizing the hard drive when the computer is rebooted. We have to go in and manually set all of the settings in the BIOS. The Caviar 2850 hard drives cannot be recognized unless manually set up. The Gateway computers we have that are a year or more older do not have this problem with the same hard drives. 9. Etc., etc., etc. As a result of these problems. We have notified them that we will no longer purchase their equipment and are working with University purchasing to have them removed from the authorized provider list. We just put out an order for 47 new Pentiums and a new server, which they were informed not to bother bidding on. We have decided to replace the lab computers and surplus them (send them to salvage) rather than try to use them in the lounges and library public areas for web browsing and for checking email; they are just not worth the hassle. Rick W. Burkett Network Administrator Southern Illinois University School of Law Library Lesar Law Building, Mailcode 6803 Carbondale, Illinois 62901-6803 Voice Mail: 618-453-3433; Pager: 221-1106; Fax: 618-453-8728; E-mail: rburkett@siu.edu EDTECH has changed addresses. The new list address is EDTECH@H-NET.MSU.EDU. All subscription commands should be sent to LISTSERV@H-NET.MSU.EDU.
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