hmm RMA, disapointed

[grayg1]

Hi, I recently sent back my 7800GT thinking it was causing a problem but, after I got my 8800GTS on the weekend it became obvious it wasn't. No problem I think I will phone them up on Monday and cancel my RMA testing and just ask for it to be sent back to me. Check my RMA today and it says it has been tested by Eliane (spelling?) and a fault was found, so I am like oh well then won't bother phoning and just let it continue on then.
Just got an email through saying my item has been tested and no fault found, go and check on Scans website and sure enough tested no fault found and the name of the tester changed to Daryl.

Now I am disapointed because instead of being charged a shipping fee I am now about to be slapped with a testing fee as well aren't I?

[SHare]

Well, I dont think there is too much to complain about. You almost got away with it when you seen the elaine test result and the next one, for whatever reason, caught you out. Looks like you'll just need to take it on the chin.

[grayg1]

Well if it is tested faulty first I am thinking well something has happend so I can't just phone up and say send it me back because it's broke O_o
But then later on it has changed to it isn't faulty, this is misinformation from Scan, it's not my fault, has caused me confusion and the cost of a testing fee.

[SHare]

It hasnt cost a testing fee. You sent back a product, which you later found out wasnt faulty. Now, you seen someone at scan log it as faulty briefly, that means nothing, someone could have made a mistake and it was rechecked. You are guilty of misinformation as much as scan.

[grayg1]

Well since rebuilding my computer about 2 months ago with new parts I have had nothing but problems. I have an extremely obscure problem which no scan techy can help me with. I have tried practically everything under the sun to solve it to no avail.
When you put a 7600GT in your computer and the problem doesn't happen then I can think it is the 7800GT that is causing the problem (yes I have tried a different PSU). Then when you get an 8800GTS and it's doing it again I'm just like "FFS, what is the problem?!"
I could write an absolutely HUGE list of things I have tried to solve the problem with. About the only 2 things I am left to try is another brand of RAM and a different CPU because I can't get hold of those myself. With my luck lately even different RAM and CPU wouldn't fix it I bet.

[ackrite26]

Hey, can you elaborate on the actual problem as there are alot of people who look into this forum and you might be lucky that someone has had the same problem and can help you out. Techys dont always know everything (although most things).

[grayg1]

ANY 3D game can either randomlly freeze for a few seconds and continue playing or completely lock up and require me to press the reset button.

Using Windows XP Pro all fully upto date have even tried it from fresh install without upto date.
Just a small list of things which could help rule things out... Same problem with:

XFX 7800GT EE / XFX 8800GTS
Gigabyte 965P-S3
Old IDE Fujitsu HD (on it's own as the main Windows installion)
Tagan 420watt PSU
Sound disabled in BIOS and uninstalled
No fans and no dvd/cd drives connected

Tests performed:

Intel E6600 - In place large FFT's Prime 95 stable 3hrs 25 mins
Intel E6600 - Small FFT's Prime 95 stable 1hr 20 mins
Intel E6600 - Custom blend like test (950mb RAM asigned to each core) Prime 95 stable 35 mins
2x 1GB Corsair PC5300 Value Select - Memtest passed 9 times in a row
250GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA HD - All SeaTools tests passed

Can a scratched XP disk even if it get read fine cause a bad installion? (this is were I am leading to, my problem is very obscure so I am now looking into the region of insane)

[ackrite26]

Hmmmmm, as you have changed PSU's and also performed the SeaTools on the SeaGate drive I cant see why it would be those. Try diagnosing the the old IDE drive, here are some programs to choose from

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/diagno.../tophddiag.htm

I believe I had a similar prob to you a while ago, comp kept freezing and getting BSOD when playing games or watching films for long periods hence why I thought it was the GPU. However it turned out it was the mobo that didnt like my GPU (although both were made by asus). Once I changed it then everything worked fine. Do you have anyone you could borrow a different motherboard from?

Also have you tried updating the Bios? that can sometimes work.

[grayg1]

I have tried 2 different motherboards already and my current motherboard doesn't have any BIOS updates because it's a new model that has been released recently.

I don't use the old HD in the computer, I just used it as a test to check if the one I use is causing the problem.

[IAmATeaf]

What mode (SATA1 or SATA2) do you have the drive set too and have you installed the latest Intel ICH8 drivers.

EDIT: And what mode do you have the ICH8 set to in the BIOS, IDE or ACHI?

[grayg1]

Removing the cover on the pins on the HD makes it operate at SATA II correct? Thats what I have it set to and I have tried it with the cover still attached.
Going to check the ICH8, have a feeling it is set to IDE and that it won't boot with ACHI.

Edit: yes IDE

[IAmATeaf]

What I did was set the Gigabyte SATAII ports to run in IDE mode, connect my disk in SATAI mode to this to get the system to boot up. Once the system is confirmed as booting from the HD, then go into the BIOS and set the ICH8 to ACHI mode (for me I set it to RAID as my DS3P has a ICH8R controller), then booted up and installed the Intel drivers. Then shutdown the system down and move the HD over onto the Intel SATA port and removed the jumper on the HD.

[grayg1]

Well Scan customer service proves itself again. Guy on the phone said "because of the confusion I'll get that sent back free of charge to you".



Now back to finding the needle in a haystack problem with my PC...

[IAmATeaf]

Have you checked or tried changing out the IDE and SATA cables, a freeze like this could be caused by dodgy cables or even a dodgy CD/DVD drive, try running the system with the CD/DVD disconnected.

[grayg1]

I have tried without cd/dvd drives connected

As I said in the other thread I have now sorted it out so it runs in AHCI. Was a bit of a pain because during Windows install it wouldn't detect my HD on ICH8 so I put it on the Jmicron and it worked I then swapped it back to ICH8 after the install and it worked fine.

I have changed cables yes, I was orginally using a regular IDE cable and have swaped it out with a rounded one and I have tried 2 different SATA cables

[IAmATeaf]

Where abouts are you mate, if anywhere near NW London I don't mind giving you a helping hand.