What are OCuk like for returns/replacements ?

gandalf

Right got all my bits for the new system today and decided to install the mobo/processor with heatsink & fan/memory/floppy & gfx card to test everything was working before I ripped 1 of the HDDs & CDRW out of my currect beast.

After spending ****in ages getting the heatsink on (I was taking my time) I was ready to power it up and nothing happened. The Monitor is registering that it is connected the GFX card, it doesn't come up with that no device connected crap you get when u disconnect the VGA cable but nothing is appearing on the screen. Checked out all the relevant sites etc. and went back and tried out all their advice.

Reseated the GFX Card, checked the mobo for shorts and eventually removed the FOP38 and the processor. When I examined the processor it appeared to have scorce damage on it so I reakon its dead. I presume I got a duff processor as I installed the fan (FOP38) and the fan was running when I booted up.

I'll ring OC tomorrow or Monday but I'm just wondering how fast etc they are at replacing faulty gear?

Gandalf.

[This message has been edited by gandalf (edited 26-01-2001).]

Gerry

I presume you put thermal compound on the processor? I just put together a bundle from them this evening, and it eventually installed windows, after tweaking bios settings for a few hours. its a 1ghz chip guaranteed to 1.2 ghz, and 1.2 is no go, it fails stress tests. I emailed techsupport@overclockers.co.uk and got a response 5 minutes later. That was quick I though, but it was just an automated response saying double check everything and read the manual. I posted to their messageboard, and will now email returns@overclockers.co.uk

gandalf

Naw didn't use thermal compound as the FOP38 had some thermal tape on it. Wasn't planning to overclock it for a month or so.

Gandalf.

THE SPERMINATOR

Before you go sending it back take out the cd rom cd write ect ect just leave ya ram hdd vid card and try again sounds to me like you may have goten your wires crossed ie you want your hardrive conected straight to the motherboard on the end of the cable and have it set to master and make sure your cables on the right way round to coz this has the same affect k.I had a the same prob lately when fixing a m8 system.If your sure everything is conected properly and you havent conetcted wire upside down then it could be a shagged cpu.Btw way im not useing heat compound some say it makes matter worse.mine combo it working fine at 1.2 np reckon i could crank up a good way yet hehe.

Best of luck
Stone

_CreeD_

Word of warning guys. You know the ABIT KT7 has a problem with early versions of the Hercules Geforce2 Pro? It only boots intermittently, ie. power but no display/post(I usually power on, leave it for a minute, pull the plug (This is important), then try again.....). They fixed it with a later rev of the Card.
Just in case that's your problem.

---

Gerry

Well I have the machine working stable at 1170 mhz, but thats not really what I paid for. I havent tried 3d games either, cos I only have an old ati pci card in it until the geforce2 arrives. I know about the problem with the geforces creed, that affects all geforce2 cards, on certain dodgy kt7 boards. They should have fixed it ages ago. Suttys machine has the booting problem, since he got a creative geforce2 gts.

THE SPERMINATOR

That sounds like a nasty bug.Thankfully im to poor for gf2 hehe my gf1 works fine ive even got that overclocked to 135mhz ccf and 330mhz mcf.Im a peasant and proud of it.


Stone

gandalf

Sperminator : All I had in the system was the Processor/Memory/GFX Card and a Floppy Drive just to check it was booting up etc before I ripped the 20GB HDD outta this system. That should have booted and given me the error message no boot device available. It did not get this far. Power gets to the motherboard as the fans are operating but nothing else. I have checked the GFX card in this system and it works very nicely indeed (the way a GeForce handles light is amazing) and I have fired the Voodoo3 3000 from this systme into the new one with no joy. I know the memory works as I have tested it in this system. That leaves the mobo and proc. As I said the processor seems to have scorch damage on it (that cannot be good can it ?) so I reckon thats the culprid.

Does that sound reasonible?

I probally will bring it into work and get our engineers to test it out fully.

Gandalf.

THE SPERMINATOR

Yup m8 looks like you've covered all the bases.As i said though just double check you've got the ribbon cable connected the right way on both ends [and no im not being funny it is easily done]

Ill just tell you the exact symptoms i had when i got me wire upside down lol

power to the box lights came on fan worked but but the monitor light remained red and nothing came up on the screen or symptom 2 when i put a new cd rom in ages ago it was set to master which caused a conflict symptoms was the hardrive fired up fan worked lights came on nuffing on the monitor even though it sounded like it was loading windows from the HDD when it came to turning it off the reset button didn't work had to pull the plug in the end.
if this sound familiar you you know what to do
But it could well be the chip is fooook from your description [charred lol]
BTW if your certain that its got to go back then make sure you get a ref number from overclockers site before you send as they will reject it if it doesn't have a number.


Best of luck hope you get it fixed m8

Stone

Kegser

Well jesus... most Mobos and IDE cable that've been released in the last few years have little guides just to make sure you don't put the cables in arseways. I don't think that's the problem.

Gandy just make sure and get that Mobo tested with a different processor aswell. A mate of mine got a mobo and processor from those guys and it turned out to be his Mobo.. OCuk tried to give him a spiel about having to send the mobo to the netherlands for testing but he was having none of it and they sorted a replacement for him.

THE SPERMINATOR

I know most of the new systems have the little plastic bit to stop this but even on my system which is 2 years old that not all the drives have this feature.And having only upgraded the mb and cpu as has gandalf i thought id mention it.

_CreeD_

I know its not really relevant, but since it was mentioned and could happen....Heres more info on that GTS/Motherboard issue. It's NOT all GTS cards, but neither was it just the Hercules as I thought....

http://www.insanehardware.com/articles.php?i=00003

gandalf

Yeah I doubled check the cables weren't in wrong. Had that problem with my 2nd PC years ago. Once you make that mistake you never make it again

I'll bring the system into work tomorrow and ask some of the engineers nicely to run a few tests to confirm the processor is at fault.

Thanks for all your help,

Gandalf.

Gerry

The tbird will burn out in 10 seconds if its not making proper contact with the heatsink. I presume however that you would have noticed scorching on the chip before you put the heatsink onto it. I seriously doubt they would send you a processor that wasnt working, but hopefully you will get a replacement. I still havent gotten a proper response from them about the "guaranteed" 1.2ghz chip which won't do its guaranteed speed.

THE SPERMINATOR

Huuum starting to wonder about o/c customer care.I sent back a psu before xmas now in there defence i didnt get a number before i sent it back [like saw it was ****ed return post in ya go job] and ive e-mailed em about it they say they wouldnt have exepted it with no number but it hasnt come home.Worse part about it though is my missus posted it she put a return address but didnt register it grrrr so i guess thats £32 down the crapper.

Stone

_CreeD_

OCUK are pretty much hit and miss. I've ordered about 2 systems worth of stuff off them over the last year and a half - and while they're great when they have things in stock, they are very slow at returning mails/dealing with problems. I still buy from them as I've only once had a fault with anything I bought. I figure the order delays and (sometimes) white lie emails are worth the cash I've saved using them.

gandalf

Gerry TBH I didn't check over the processor too much before I installed it so I don't remember any scorch marks on it. I know the Heatsink was contacting the top of the processor as the thermal tape has the indent of the top of the chip on it. I hope to fuk they don't try and get out of this.

The bigger fear I have is theres a problem with the motherboard that caused the chip to self distruct.

Gandalf.

Gerry

They just got back to me with an rma number, hopefully they get a chip back to me quickly. I think they just dont bother dealing with returns on weekends. Gandalf, thats what I was thinking. I hope they don't try and get out of it either. If they delay you much longer, ring them, but don't let them promise a call back, cos they did that to me before.

gandalf

Gerry got through to them by phone yesterday morning. They told me tp fill out an RMA which I did. I was out of the office for the whole afternoon and when I got home I had a rake of replies from them with an RMA Number. So far so good.

Gandalf.