HTPC sidelined by bad... hardware

You'd think after all the trouble I had with software, that would be enough. But nooOooo. When I got the Asus motherboard, it had a burned fan header- not a big deal because there were others I could use. But then, in the midst of installing MCE, the ethernet port goes belly-up.

I call the vendor (zip crap fly) and try to send it for a replacement. "It's more than 30 days, so go through the vendor". I explained that it was bad day-1, but they ignored me. So, I had Amex reverse the charges, and sent the board to Asus. Order from newegg next time.

That was more than a month ago. No motherboard. Their RMA system is broken so you can't even check your status online, so I've been calling every week. Last week they said "something isn't right."- since they guarantee a 10-day turnaround. We'll see the new excuse this week.

The root of the problem, IMHO, is that Asus now builds their products in mainland China. Land of slave labor, child labor, communism, environmental destruction, prisoner organ harvesting and now, crappy computer components.

Asus sucks, Zipzoomfly sucks. And you probably know what I think of mainland China.