Our (sole) ATM/credit card was compromised a few days ago so we must wait two weeks for a new one, unless we pony up $62 for "expedited processing".

The bank declined the purchase that was attempted, which we suppose was nice, even though we would not have been liable for it.

It would have been nice for the bank to tell us instead of us finding out that the card was useless when we were out of gas in the middle of nowhere. (Fortunately we keep a $20 bill under the seat for emergencies!)

The bank has absolutely no interest in finding out how our card was compromised! We very rarely use it as a credit card so the "suspects" are pretty limited.

We try real hard to protect our info. Our bills are paid with [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_Clearing_House"]ACH[/URL] transactions. Also, we pay for gas with a [URL="https://www.speedpass.com"]Speedpass[/URL] which is "connected" to our card but does not need our physical card to work. We use the Speedpass because we were told that gas stations are the number one place to have your card "read" and the info stolen, plus the Speedpass is really small and convenient.

We are just flummoxed as to why nobody cares about the "how". Business as usual we guess.

:sad:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;342602]Our (sole) ATM/credit card was compromised a few days ago so we must wait two weeks for a new one, unless we pony up $62 for "expedited processing".[/QUOTE]That is one reason that I have more than one available. When mine was compromised, I had a very good idea of what happened (restaurant worker copying the data down.) 2 very odd charges that happened tipped them off. I keep a few shekels in the car (more than $20) for things like that and disaster situations (most places will take cash even if the power is out.)

I once had found that (one of) my card(s) was getting withdrawals of ~$499 per day from some place in Spain and advised the credit card company over the phone immediately. Amusingly, they assured me that they will take care of everything -- but the charges continued for another week (! they didn't block the card !). I was not liable for any of that $7,500 debt, in the end. Not a single penny.

Another time, my wife was sure that she lost her purse, so I cancelled three cards over the phone from some pay phone in Marathon, FL. After packing our stuff (we were leaving on that day), we [I]found[/I] the purse. I had one or two extra cards though. ;-) The fun didn't end yet, though, as we started driving the a/c compressor locked in, so I had to stop using it and drove on in a horrible heat of a car without a/c ... for the full 1400 miles back to Edison, NJ (because at night it was such a nice thing to drive; I couldn't stand the thought of the second such day drive). It could have been one of the most irresponsible things I've done in my life (I drove for 22 hours). When we came home before noon of Sept.7, 1998, I went to sleep for the whole day -- only to find [URL="http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/sep71998page.htm"]total devastation[/URL] around the city when I woke up. So my driving turned out to have saved us from being stuck on the road ...or worse.

I was supposed to visit the "Endoscopy" department at the hospital today.
I must have ended up in "Bulimia" department instead: I received some most effective aversion therapy.
I told them I would have preferred it from the other end.

I've stated before how I hate Minecraft, not so much the software itself, but all of the mods. One of my sons wanting to install a mod installed a bunch of crap on one computer at home, which I had to uninstall. Then on my wife's computer something he tried to d/l another one. He ended up installing a virus instead. I think I removed the virus, but I need to take it somewhere to verify that it is completely gone before I use the computer for anything else.

Well crud. Today I noticed that my GTX 570 was running warmer than usual. I messed with other fans in the case before I finally remembered to look at the card itself (it's in a low slot and hard to see.) The middle fan of three has stiffened up too much to run reliably. I peeled the label off the hub and put a bit of oil on it, but to no avail. What appeared to be the shaft end and bearing, was just a sleeve fixed to the shaft. I managed to dismount the fan, peel the bottom label, only to discover that there is no bearing access there, either. Poop. There are fans on Ebay the right size, which even say Gigabyte Graphics Cards, but they are 2 wire, not 3. Only thing I can find is from a vendor in Hong Kong, who states that cheap, postal shipping is not tracked, and may get lost. Otherwise, Fedex, UPS, etc. costs more than the part.

I've tried to check the RMA section of the Gigabyte site, but it is fscked up. I'll have to keep trying.

[QUOTE=kladner;354468]Well crud. Today I noticed that my GTX 570 was running warmer than usual. I messed with other fans in the case before I finally remembered to look at the card itself (it's in a low slot and hard to see.) The middle fan of three has stiffened up too much to run reliably. I peeled the label off the hub and put a bit of oil on it, but to no avail. What appeared to be the shaft end and bearing, was just a sleeve fixed to the shaft. I managed to dismount the fan, peel the bottom label, only to discover that there is no bearing access there, either. Poop. There are fans on Ebay the right size, which even say Gigabyte Graphics Cards, but they are 2 wire, not 3. Only thing I can find is from a vendor in Hong Kong, who states that cheap, postal shipping is not tracked, and may get lost. Otherwise, Fedex, UPS, etc. costs more than the part.

I've tried to check the RMA section of the Gigabyte site, but it is fscked up. I'll have to keep trying.[/QUOTE]

Uh oh. Best of luck on RMA(how many times has it been, seems like it's a bad model or something, idk) I just hope they don't have a record of your RMA's.

[QUOTE=kracker;354476]Uh oh. Best of luck on RMA(how many times has it been, seems like it's a bad model or something, idk) I just hope they don't have a record of your RMA's.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. This must be the third, at least. This is not even the model I originally had. Last time they replaced it with the next model up. I'm sure they know my record, though I don't think it matters as long as it's still in the 3 year period.

If it turns out to be expired, I'll start by drilling a tiny hole in the bottom center to see if that gets me a shot at the bearing. Otherwise, I guess I'll risk the Hong Kong vendor, if I can't track down anything closer. It's an Everflow fan. I have not yet gone digging at all the cooling sites I know of. Maybe I'll get lucky one way or another. I can't really afford the current Arctic Cooling model which fits. But I'm pretty inventive when it comes to stuff like this. I won't let a stinking fan defeat me.

The site is back up. By the calendar, the card is still under warranty. The RMA request is pending review.

EDIT: I forgot that there is a Dead GPU thread in GPU Computing. Oh well. This one isn't totally dead, yet.

[YOUTUBE]UmMD4ij8GHk[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]grbSQ6O6kbs[/YOUTUBE] :smile:

[QUOTE=kladner;354521]The site is back up. By the calendar, the card is still under warranty. The RMA request is pending review.[/QUOTE]

Who knows, you might get a 660ti or 760!

/sad sarcasm

Woo hoo! Received the following from Gigabyte today, i. e., less than a business day to respond! :smile:

[QUOTE]We have received your request for service for defective fans on your video card. To reduce the service time we will be able to send you the fan replacements for you to replace yourself however, we will need to check for the amount of pins in the power connector for each fan you are replacing as they differ depending on which fan(s) have failed. Please carefully remove the defective fan(s) and check the power cable for the number of pins in the connection and reply back to this email. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact us at the information below.
[/QUOTE]