Arriving at home, I had defragged my computer earlier, and it was still defragging, so I waited. When it had finished my brother checked his email and then I turned it off, images of mega fast load times and having 8 applications running at once dancing about my head. I opened up the case, popped in the ram (there is only one way it goes in) and reapplied the case. Now, before I had installed the new ram, my computer would say something along the lines of 'System completed self check, computer now booting to operating system'. but when I turned on my computer, nothing popped up on the screen and the little voice said, 'System Failed, CPU Test. System Failed, CPU Test. System Failed, CPU Test.' over and over and over. I had to power it off to get rid of it. I switched the rams around, trying one then the other in the 3 separate locations, and different orientations of the two, to no avail. my computer was lost! all I wanted was a to be able to watch porn, download music and create web pages at the same time, and now I could do none of those nor anything else, singular or plural =( winter 2003 continues I looked up what it means when it says System Failed - CPU Test in the ASUS motherboard catalog, and it said to call them. By some small string of luck I actually got through to a technician (see below) The first thing he tells me is that i should never mix different kinds or speeds of ram. and that my motherboard might be fried. I'm like, 'greeaaat...' I call Best Buy and tell them what had happen. They said bring it in we'll take a look at it. First thing I did was return the ram and got the correct ram, but evidently if the thing you are returning is not in the package they gotta charge you 20 dollars. On top of that, the 2700 was 20 bucks more. I complained but it got me nowhere. So I bring in my computer and the run a simple diagnostic on it and tell me my motherboard is fried. so I say, 'Well, what are you gonna do about it?' the manager was like, 'Excuse me?' 'The only reason it is fried is because you sold me the wrong kind of ram.', I tell them. They tell me the store policy: if they didn't install it, they are not responsible for it.' I tell them that's a bunch of Bullshit, because it was their dumbfuck employee who told me that it would work in my computer, and now my computer is destroyed, all because I put in their crappy ram that destroyed my machine that their employee told me it Would Not do and it Did! It was Their Fault! The lady wasn't having it. she pretty much ignored me and went to help another customer. Murderous Visions flittered in my mind, taking one of those carts they have and throwing it at the computer desk, or driving my shitty station wagon through the front doors, or burning the place down and doing a little breakdance on the ashes of this god forsaken hellhole... but I relented. I bent over and I took it up the ass like a good customer does when dealing big crappy corporate industries like this that are only in it for stealing your money and don't care who's shoes and/or motherboard they step upon.... I mean what can I do? Make a fuckin website, that's what I can do..... The Aftermath It was a pretty bad day all around, the day I decided I will never shop at Best Buy again, and do everything in my power to make sure the world knows of my plight and convince them to not shop there as well. I mean there's tons of other places to shop - Comp USA comes to mind. Even Circuit City... I went to a place on University, called Digital Nano Systems. they checked out my computer and put my processor on another motherboard. my processor worked fine on that one, and they told me it was a 98% chance it was indeed my motherboard. I told them my story of Best Buy, and they said they knew how I felt. Well I tried to cash in on my 3 year warranty through ASUS, but every time I called I got put on hold for about 10 minutes, then a guy would come on and take my name and number. I would try to tell him that I got a diagnostic on it, 2 sources (1 reputable, the other being the guy from Best Buy who had missing teeth and a ponytail to his knees) told me that it was my motherboard and all I needed was to find out how to get my 3 year warranty cashed in. He told me to make sure to tell the technician that after we go through some troubleshooting steps.... I called back later and got the same guy, and he assured me that they will respond within 24 hours (this has happened twice now, and even though I had left my name and number, i have not received a call back, and it has now been 120 hours since my last attempt) Thanks ASUS...... I got sick of not having a computer, i had nothing to do otherwise, just Shining Force for Sega Genesis, and RPG Maker for Playstation. I was going Mad! Mad I tell You! Sweet Relief Glorious, sweet sweet CompUSA. I went in and bought a motherboard there, and the staff was knowledgeable and friendly. They got me on my way quickly with a wondrous new board. They even had a 2 year in store warranty that I got along with it. If this motherboard is fried for any reason, I can just bring it back and they will give me a new one, no charge, or something comparable =) I told them my story of Best Buy, and that I was never going to shop there again, and they said, 'That's what I like to hear!' and gave me a big smile. So I'm back on track !hehehe! and I love it. So My Tale is Told - Don't ever shop there, you will be only let down and led around and screwed over. It is a worthless place of vile corporate greed and the employees know about as much about computers as a bucket of rocks. Fuck Best Buy! My only regret is that when I was there I noticed that Geek Squad was now a part of Best Buy. You poor poor unfortunate souls, how did they sucker you into that?