Jenny, THANK YOU! I know I have complained about Amazon here before and I know I am in the minority regarding them, but I have certainly noticed them going down hill as they have been growing too big. The last time I ordered from them I had trouble with the receiving part too, that was more to do with the Amazon drivers, which is why I really just preferred how they shipped a long time ago before they had their own delivery drivers and facilities all over the place.

Actually, I did have another problem one time with an item clearly showing in stock but they didn't ship it and told me it was not in stock. I cancelled that order and ordered from a 3rd party seller. I've never had any problems yet with the 3rd party sellers but you have to pay the shipping.

The cable sells and ships from Amazon and shows I can get it tomorrow if I order within 12 hours, however, the email that I received this morning has no update for shipment date; just that it is delayed. I also have considered cancelling and reordering. Will think some more about that.

Is "chatting" the only way to contact customer service now? Can't I just email them?

Wow, I think I'm glad I live in the country! I've had to return 3 items and all I had to do was print out a label and either take it to a UPS store in town or for a large item - a damaged TV - UPS was here the next day and picked it up for me! I was immediately refunded the amount upon pickup, not even having to wait for them to receive it.

Like Marian, I wonder what the reason for the disparity is!

What you describe is exactly my experience, Drac, the only difference being when I was returning something they always came and picked up the item right at my front door, and not just large items either. And the refunds were initiated right after the pickup.

The only difference I can see is that we don't get Amazon drivers or trucks where we live.

Well, imagine you returned your item and didn't receive either the replacement you asked for or a refund. And when you logged into your account and looked at your purchase history, it claimed the item had not been returned and the address you were given to return the item to is not attached to the item in your purchase history. And when you try to get Amazon help to sort it out, they claim to do so, and then you get an email with a partial refund on a completely different item from the one you returned.

I've already received one automated email saying the item had not been returned and wouldn't be refunded, and had to contact Amazon help over that yet again.

Amazon's system is all messed up. If anything goes wrong, it just cascades and they have no way to fix things because the reps aren't given those options. The rep told me flat out there was nothing she could do to fix the mess that had been created in my Order history and I still have no idea if I'll ever actually see a refund for this damaged item they sent.

That's just terrible, Jenny. It is hard to believe we are even talking about the same company.

I just ordered a different cable, the same as I ordered 4 years ago for this Windows 7. I tried to cancel this first order but they say they cannot cancel it. IF it does ship, I guess I'll just have an extra cable. I won't even bother trying to return it. For the price they charge for Prime now, it really isn't worth it to me but for some reason I just haven't cancelled. Maybe next time the renewal comes up if I can catch it in time.

Wow.. that's horrible. I agree - it's hard to believe we are even talking about the same company!

You can cancel it at any time, but you won't get a refund if you have used any of the benefits. I get my membership back many times over. Hubby and I also watch Amazon Prime Videos heavily and never have to pay more. I think I had to pay for a couple of the Hunger Games movies when my granddaughter and I watched them together this summer. But we have watched several series and hubby likes all the WW II documentaries they have.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201118010

Thanks for that link Draclvr. I don't use much of their Prime stuff but have been TRYING to so I would feel better about it. Watched a couple of series and a movie or two. Part of me wants to cancel but part of me wants to just try to get more out of it.

The second cable that I ordered was just delivered so hopefully later I will have a little news. (I still have a bit more clearing/cleaning to finish as I was lazy about it yesterday.) I hope opening the case to take the styrofoam out doesn't frustrate me. I assume Mike still packs it like that.

We will be waiting to hear about it all.

Hooked it up and I'm getting NOTHING!!! Emailed MIke.

Of what does nothing consist? Booting to the desktop? Monitor not working? No internet?

Did you make sure the switch on the power supply is in the "on" position?

Nothing at all. No boot up, no movement going on inside.

Yes Draclvr. I did.

Not impossible for a bad power supply... had it happen to me once. As long as the power supply switch has the "dash" pressed down and you have tried plugging it in to a different outlet, it should at least try to boot up.

I don't know which case you got, but also make sure you're not pressing the reset switch instead of the power. Sometimes they look the same.

I know they boot them up before they ship to be sure everything works.

Okay wait. The power supply switch is opposite of the one on this Windows 7 which I looked at first to make sure I did it right. I had tried the switch in both positions when one didn't work but I did not remember to press the start up button after I changed the switch. I just did that and the fans are going now but nothing else is happening that I can tell. The monitor is staying dark. Remember, I plugged this into the same monitor as the XP but the XP computer is completely unplugged from the outlet.

Are any lights flashing on the front of the computer?

And I don't ask this to sound insulting, but because I myself just did it 2 weeks ago! I was troubleshooting a computer and forgot to push the on/off switch on the monitor! I was about to scream until I realized what I'd done. Then I had to laugh at myself.

Also make sure your monitor is plugged in to the video card monitor port, not the video card port for the motherboard.

There are no lights to flash on the front of the computer but nothing inside is lit up at all either.

Sorry there is some little teeny light that flashes now and then on the top.

ALL help appreciated Draclvr as you know my brain does not work well. I think I do have the monitor plugged into the wrong place but I'm having trouble plugging it into the card. Stand by.

That little light should be your hard drive indicator. If it's flashing, that says the hard drive is working. Double check where you have your monitor plugged in to... Reset your cable both in the computer and in the monitor.

Standing by!

WHEW! Had the monitor plugged into the wrong place. I have to email Mike back. He had responded asking for a picture of the plugs in back but I don't have the capability to send that to him.

OK, so does that mean you are up and running? I'm going to hang out here for a little while if you need help to get going.

Gotta say... can you imagine getting a response to an email question within an hour from Dell or HP?! This is one of the reasons I recommend these guys.

Well, sort of. I need to check it all out.

I hooked up the internet just as described earlier in the thread, but plugging the ethernet cable in. No USB key, no password. I don't know what the heck I was doing when I hooked this Windows 7 up. Only, it is plugged in to this modem that keeps going out. (I just wanted to test it to see that it really worked that easily.) I do have a question regarding this.

My Windows 7 needs some serious attention and is running hot quite often. Is it possible that the computer is causing the connection problem and not the modem? Although, I believe the modem was giving me problems before the computer got this bad. Just wondering.

I still am thinking I should hook up my other old but unused equipment (if I can figure it out) and try that (only with the Windows 10 though). If there are problems with that, or even if there aren't, I can then contact AT&T.

I would not for even an instant consider plugging the new computer into the old overheating equipment. In fact, unplug it ASAP.

If I remember correctly, you have your Windows computer in a very cramped space?? Have you been using the software to check the temps whenever you think it's getting hot? Keeping it connected to this malfunctioning modem is NOT a good idea.

Yes, I've been keeping an eye on the temps. Right now they are in the low to mid 40's. After playing they are usually in the 60 range. I know this is okay BUT, I also know that my 2 top and 1 back fans are not working and there is a load of dust in there. Remember a year or so ago when I started talking about dealing with this. DIDN'T! I toyed with the idea of trying to do it myself while I had a clear space to work before hooking up the Windows 10 but I am sure I will not be able to clean or replace the fans myself. I'd like to get the Windows 10 going and I absolutely want to take the Windows 7 somewhere because I would like to get several more years out of it. I know I won't with it how it is now though.

That antivirus that comes with Windows 10 is NOT automatically activated is it? Or how can I check it? I want to put my Norton on the system.