when I started at a location 3.5 years ago, I asked the owner what the deal was with the NFS Underground. I was told they had to ship the PC out to Global VR. so I said ok. about 2 months go by and I start inquiring about why the PC hasn't been sent back yet. a phone call to Global VR revealed some nonsense about how they didn't get any "drop shipping" information. as I scraped a little deeper I found that the PC went to American Vending, then to Global VR. why Global VR couldn't merely send it back to where it came from, who knows.
the reason they weren't able to fix it however was because "it's not our hardware" they said. that's right, the man up the street at the computer shop basically rebuilt it with aftermarket hardware, and then scrapped the original machine. fair enough. I was then supplied a bit of information from Global VR about how it's a "special Windows" and there's "no driver support" (given it's the Windows XP Embedded version) ... this comes into play later.
so now I have to get drivers for the video and audio. after about 2 days of research, I pulled it off. I was able to replicate a fully working NFS Underground using aftermarket hardware. I never told Global VR this. I probably should deserve a medal for my accomplishments.
I subsequently told the owner to get rid of those fucking piece of shit NFS Undergrounds. my stress level was reduced dramatically. fuck Global VR and their hackjob PC games. I hope to never work on their garbage ever again.
EDIT: these have one of the most annoying attract modes ever. I know they're saying "everybody body rock" but it still sounds like "biddy boom bop bop" to me and I hate it for that reason alone. in addition to the automatic respawning of cars if you happen to go in reverse. as a fan of the Need For Speed series, I was extremely disgusted with their shift to the ricer revolution. my angry rant is done now.
My good man....I feel your pain. Your colorful "angry rant" is appreciated and actually helps me understand that I am not alone in thinking what a turd that PC is.
Here is a rundown of the sequence of events that I have enjoyed with this one:
- Found CL ad for 5 games needing work; 4 hour drive (one way) away.
- Of course the weather turned and made things much harder. Oh well, too bad..just do it.
- intitally found PSU was dead. installed a new, quality replacment.
- Game fired up...Joy! Oh wait, video issues. vid card tested fine in another PC. Bad
motherboard. No joy.
- Tried loading software onto a more modern PC (I have the three orginal discs)
That worked great except for the dongle was not recognized. Company that made the
dongle is no more and Global was no help.
- I bought a functioning replacement P35-BL motherboard off Ebay for $180 (ouch). Flew
that sucker in from Latvia.
- Cloned my HDD before assembly
- Fired up the PC with all orignal components and hoped that XP would just adjust for new
hardware and be happy. It did just that and the game went to calibrate mode. Joy!
- Put the PC into the cabinet and got ready for my first "ride". Was a humid day in the
shop. The second I pushed the magic button, the monitor leaked high voltage from
under the anode cup and it rode the dust to ground. Took out the WG PD279200 tri sinc
chassis. Horizontal collapse....no joy.
- Removed the monitor. Will get that going or replaced in the future
- Chin up, stuck a 19" monitor in there to at least get my first game under my belt.
Booted up the PC, calibration completed...game mode begins. JOY! I select my car and
the countdown begins 3-2-1...GO! Wait a second...my car is barely moving and
squealing like crazy...wth? E brake is stuck on at all times. Hard to race with the
brakes on :-/ No joy.
- Tore apart the handle, wiring, and tested everything right back to the i/o card header.
- Nytric i/o board has a problem. pcjohn was kind enough to post that they are known to
have issues. Thanks for that. I traced the circuit back to a couple IC's that I replaced.
Tried again and it worked! Joy! (are you seeing a pattern here?) I went to button test
and confirmed each switch funtioned. Was in a hurry, so no game time, but happy.
- Last week, i went over the chassis and found a toasted MOSFET. two days ago i replaced
that and stuck the chassis back in there to test it. The excitement builds...will there
finally be racing joy? pushed the button and static hits the tube...yes! but wait, nothing
going on. No booting...no music...no nuthin". No joy.
- Walked away...put the matches and gas down.
- Put the PC on the test bench. Nope...that motherboard is no longer playing nice. I
turned it on maybe 5-6 times in the time I owned it.
- So, here is where I am today. 400+ mile trip, hours of troubleshooting, $$ spent on
parts, junk mobo #2, unknown chassis repair status, and zero games on the counter.
Nobody likes a quitter, but I am on the edge of sending this one down the road to some 15 year old MAME expert with a sweet set of Ryobi power tools at his disposal. I'm thinkin' a nice Sony Trinitron sitting in that hole may look pretty good about now :-/
Lol...thanks for the feedback guys and trudging through this silly post.