RMA - No fault found !!

[mattmyarse]

Hi there. i've just received notification that my faulty graphics card has been tested and no fault was found. I am very unhappy with this.

Now I'm an IT Manager by profession and although this doesn't make me an expert in graphics cards it certainly rules out any school boy mistakes. I ruled out drivers, os corruption, PSU and even the whole pc by trying the card in another system but still BF3 would randomly crash. Incidentally the latest furmark 1.9.2 would also crash if run in full screen 1080 res but older versions of it were stable. Also the Heaven benchmark would run for hours faultlessly. The crash in BF3 is always a black screen with the GPU fan running on full. It was only after seeking advice on various forums that I found that raising the core voltage would completely fix the problem - a classic sign of a borderline chip and BF3 is known to be very demanding. This is all that I have to do to cure all the problems so it was at this stage and by being able to reproduce the fault that I decided to RMA.

So where do I stand now? I know the card is faulty but it doesn't crash when you run your synthetic benchmarks on it. I'm hardly likely to return a working card and ask for an identical replacement just for the fun of it. I will persue this issue further if the outcome is not satisfactory particularly as my experience of your award wnning RMA procedure has been a poor one. My initial web form requests were ignored for several days until I went public and posted on this forum and now this outcome. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further but I've only the option of an 0871 number at my extortionate cost. Please advise.

Regards, Matt

[mattmyarse]

If it is solely with BF3 then its a graphics card driver I that's the problem I would have thought. Furmark can be hit or miss and is in no way a proper diagnosis. The fact that older versions are stable proves this.

No it is not a driver problem. Drivers do not determine the maximum voltage to the GPU. The voltage is set by the cards BIOS at 1.025volts. I have to raise this to 1.050 to get the card stable at stock speeds only - heaven knows how I would get on should I wish to overclock the card.

I'm not really looking for advice on the cause of the problem - I'm long past that stage and know clealy what the prolem is. My issue is more what Scan is or isn't prepared to do about it.

[mattmyarse]

Yes I get crashes on other games (Dirt 3 for one) but BF3 is what I bought the card for.

I can't reiterate enough that ALL of the instability is removed when the voltage is increased. Without the voltage increase BF3 is unplayable. I'm not refering to a random crash but rather between a few seconds or maybe a minute at most of game time before it drops out with a blank screen and a roaring fan which just can't be right and which is why I'm frankly staggered that Scan reckon they have tested with this game for hours.

I have my old GTX 460 back in the PC now and BF3 is running perfectly if not a fair bit slower!

[Mick@SCAN]

mattmyarse,

Thank you for your query, having checked the engineers fault report I can confirm that the card was tested under Crysis benchmark for 2 hours and then run under Battlefield 3 on ultra settings for 3 hours, at no point did the card show any signs of a problem.

The latest WHQL Nvidia driver (285.62) was used for testing and the card was tested in a busy online server as part of the test.

Kind regards,

[mattmyarse]

mattmyarse,

Thank you for your query, having checked the engineers fault report I can confirm that the card was tested under Crysis benchmark for 2 hours and then run under Battlefield 3 on ultra settings for 3 hours, at no point did the card show any signs of a problem.

The latest WHQL Nvidia driver (285.62) was used for testing and the card was tested in a busy online server as part of the test.

Kind regards,

So someone sat and played BF3 for 3 hours or did you run a loop? I can't play the game for longer than a minute on any driver with voltage at stock. I really don't now care what is happening on your test rigs as a benchmark on loop is not a real world scenario. When trying to diagnose the problems I was having I found that the Heaven benchmark also ran for hours on end but 3DMark11 crashed in the same way as BF3. Can you please advise where I go from here or could you please telephone me so I can talk. I can't see why you would think I would waste your time in trying to get a perfectly good card replaced with an identical one just for the fun of it. I will pursue this further particularly in light of your claims on customer service.

[Mark@SCAN]

The latest WHQL Nvidia driver (285.62) was used for testing and the card was tested in a busy online server as part of the test.

As above, the BF3 testing was done by actually playing the game in an online server for 3 hours, to my knowledge there is not even an option in BF3 to run a looping benchmark?

[mattmyarse]

As above, the BF3 testing was done by actually playing the game in an online server for 3 hours, to my knowledge there is not even an option in BF3 to run a looping benchmark?

I'm banging my head against a brick wall aren't I?

[Mark@SCAN]

mattmyarse,

Were not saying your making this problem up, but we cannot tell you something is faulty if we cannot replicate the problem.

We appreciate your frustration, I can only suggest we return the card on your behalf directly to our supplier/ASUS for further testing, it may be that the testing they carry out is able to replicate the fault you have reported that our testing hasn't.

Please advise.

Regards

[mattmyarse]

mattmyarse,

Were not saying your making this problem up, but we cannot tell you something is faulty if we cannot replicate the problem.

We appreciate your frustration, I can only suggest we return the card on your behalf directly to our supplier/ASUS for further testing, it may be that the testing they carry out is able to replicate the fault you have reported that our testing hasn't.

Please advise.

Regards

No please send the card back if you are unwilling to help and I will deal with ASUS direct. I would have hoped that given my detailed account of my problem and my request for a replacement card rather than a refund you would have sent a new card out of goodwill and to maintain a happy customer.

I will consult Consumer Direct and my credit card company once I have the card back and also advise that my company ceases using Scan for IT supplies.

[Mark@SCAN]

Not sure how from my post you have decided we are unwilling to help?

As stated I have offered for us to return the card on your behalf to our supplier at our cost for them to test. If they are able to replicate a fault with the card it will be replaced.

As much as we would like to just take your word for it that the card has a problem and replace it, this isn't possible I hope you can understand why.

As a side note, as we have been discussing this morning your card has been looping 3DM11 on the extreme preset @ 1920x1080 it's chugging along at about 2.5fps. I've just been in to check on it and 11am and it's done about 8 loops without fault. We'll keep it running to see if the problem occurs but there is only so much we can do.

Regards

[Mark@SCAN]

Another hour and half has passed since my last post and the card still hasn't missed a beat in 3DM11 (maximum everything). It's now been taken off test.

It's clear from the testing we have done (in total more than 6 hours) in Crysis, BF3 & 3DM11 that we are unable to replicate the problem reported.

Please contact the returns department to make arrangements for the return of the goods or if you prefer for us to call you to discuss the options?

Regards

[mattmyarse]

Well I am staggered...I can't get one loop out of the card on stock voltage.

Can you please call me on the number I've provided before as I'm not ringing the 0871 number. Thanks.

[Mark@SCAN]

If it will help below are the specs of the system used for testing:

ASUS P55 Motherboard
i5 750 CPU
4GB Corsair 1600 Memory
Antec 550W PSU
Windows 7 64bit SP1
NVIDIA WHQL Driver 285.62

I'll call you now on the mobile number we have.

Regards

[Steve A]

I have a sugestion, whether you have tried this im not sure but .... i installed the Asus software that came with the card (gamerOSD i think its called) and i kept crashing (black screen) in BF3 and others ... i uninstalled it and i havent had a single crash since... might be worth a try.

Hope this helps

[mattmyarse]

I'm just going to chime in here and point something out,

My mate had a problem which involved his PC either shutting down completely or all fans screaming at full whack, His PSU died a week or so after this, have you thought that it may just be your PSU cacking out on you? Seems as scan cannot replicate the problem, and TBF BF3 is well known for causing rigs to crash out, i'd stagger a guess at your PSU not being up for the job.

First thing I thought when I got the card and got the issues. Replaced a perfectly good OCZ 600w with a new Corsair 650w. Made no difference at all. Anyway I've got my card back, £45 worse off for rejected RMA charges and the problem is back once more. It's just crazy.

[Mark@SCAN]

First thing I thought when I got the card and got the issues. Replaced a perfectly good OCZ 600w with a new Corsair 650w. Made no difference at all. Anyway I've got my card back, £45 worse off for rejected RMA charges and the problem is back once more. It's just crazy.

As discussed during our telephone conversation. If you return the card directly to ASUS as you advised you would be doing and they are able to replicate the fault reported we will refund the charges you have paid.

We are not unreasonable but we cannot just fail a card if we find no fault with it.