Unhappy Me: The "dead GPU" edition

[kladner]

Oh well. My sympathy and condolences go out to you for you sad loss.

[Batalov]

Originally Posted by kracker

So, I am going to order another one today, but for the heck of it I took the "broken" one apart.... found something very interesting. Does it work or is it disabled or.. ?

Could you re-open image in paint.exe, circle what looks suspicious and repost?

[kracker]

Originally Posted by Batalov

Could you re-open image in paint.exe, circle what looks suspicious and repost?

Sorry. I was just wondering why that one port was covered. It's probably disabled, but when I look at other models, it's not covered.

[Batalov]

Oh, I see. Then this was already discussed.

I thought that I saw something (out of focus) on the chip, but it was hard to say if this was simply a pile of goo or it blew up like that.

[retina]

Originally Posted by kracker

... they wouldn't replace it because I did not register...

That sounds like a scam to me. Registration is only so that companies can spam you with stuff you don't care about. But your purchase rights should still be intact regardless of whether or not you signed up for the spam.

[kracker]

Originally Posted by retina

That sounds like a scam to me. Registration is only so that companies can spam you with stuff you don't care about. But your purchase rights should still be intact regardless of whether or not you signed up for the spam.

Perhaps. But I've heard(if you read above ) that if no register, no rma.
And besides, they won't even LET you make a rma ticket without a registered product, and you can only register within 30 days, otherwise, it won't work.

EDIT: I bought another gpu from MSI... hope it works... and I will register... I guess...

[retina]

Originally Posted by kracker

... you can only register within 30 days ...

There is the scam. Why the arbitrary 30 day limit?

Either accept their spam or accept no warranty? That ain't right in any country I've had experience with.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by kracker

Perhaps. But I've heard(if you read above ) that if no register, no rma.
And besides, they won't even LET you make a rma ticket without a registered product, and you can only register within 30 days, otherwise, it won't work.

EDIT: I bought another gpu from MSI... hope it works... and I will register... I guess...

Do you, by any chance, do Twitter and/or Facebook? Slamming companies on social media sometimes gets their attention big time. (Note: I won't go near either of the above.)

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by kracker

Perhaps. But I've heard(if you read above ) that if no register, no rma.

I think that is some misinterpretation here. Our factory produces electronic devices, and from time to time they malfunction at the customer site. Then the customer has to RMA them back. For this, the customer request a RMA registration number. Which the support (or marketing) dept. promptly give it to them, after talking with engineering, R&D, blabla. This registration number is mostly useful for customs, etc, then for our internal kitchen, as we have to "prove" that it is not an import, but a return, and avoid paying taxes, or something like that. The RMA number is attached to the parcel, and it is also used in our all reports (we refer it to describe what we repaired, replaced, causes, etc).

You should clarify with them what registration you need, or tell them clearly and directly that you request a RMA registration number, if this is the case. The "registration of the product" on the web when you buy it, as somebody already said, has nothing to do with RMA, it is indeed more for "spamming" purposes, and it MUST NOT void your rights as a buyer/owner of the product.

[James Heinrich]

For what it's worth, EVGA has good warranty policies. I had to RMA my GTX 570 last October, and I didn't have any hassles. Their warranty policies (exerpted):

EVGA offers various limited warranty terms from the date of purchase to the original owner with a valid invoice. For original owners without a valid invoice and users that have not purchased the product from an authorized reseller, the warranty period is 3 years from the date that the product was shipped from EVGA's warehouse. Registration is recommended by EVGA, but not required on the following:

• Limited 3 Year Suffixes: -KR, -K1, -K2, -KB, -KA, -KF, -KM
• Limited 5 Year Suffixes: -GR, -SR, -VR
• Limited 10 Year Suffix: -XR

Optional Extended Warranty and Step-Up® eligibility are offered for purchase upon product registration within 90 days of the purchase date to the original owner on applicable parts.

In short: every card gets a 3-year warranty, but some cards come with 5 or 10 year warranties, and those that don't can have their warranty upgraded for a modest fee (5-10% of card price), if upgraded within 90 days of purchase.

[kladner]

WooHoo! The 570 arrived yesterday in City of Industry, CA! Now if I can just manage to get something like it back, I'll be a happy camper until the next time it blows.

Batalov- I'll be very interested in whether the SOC version you got proves to be any more durable than the plain OC version you and I had.