Trouble with Gigabyte RMA -- what would you do?

Viper87227

Viper87227

Fully [H]
Joined
Jun 2, 2004
Messages
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Earlier this year, one of my two Gigabyte 560 Ti's developed a defect. Several games would hard crash my system at stock clocks, I had to underclock one GPU to get it operational. After some troubleshooting with Gigabyte tech support, they advised me to RMA. Here's what has happened so far...

March 27th - I filed for an RMA request with Gigabyte. E-mail said wait 2 business days and I should get an RMA approval e-mail with an RMA number. This never happened.

April 4th - Reopened my support ticket to find out why I never got a notice that my RMA was approved. The following day an RMA number was issued in the support ticket.

April 11th - Card received by Gigabyte

April 18th - Tracking number received for replacement card, received April 26th.

I received back the same card I sent in, not a refurbished replacement. I threw the card in, and noticed right off the bat that it was running much hotter than it should. Checked it out, one of the two fans on the GPU was not spinning. Great. I swapped it into the bottom slot so it would run cool enough to at least use it, and can confirm that they did at least appear to fix my problem, as the card was otherwise operating fine, just too hot.

April 26th - Reopened my support ticket again, explaining the problem, and asking for clarification of the services performed. The agent told me the notes indicated that "several chips on the card had been replaced"... We went back and fourth while the agent confirmed it was not a software issue, and then on 4/28, he advised my to contact a certain e-mail address about being shipped a replacement heatsink.

May 3rd (today) - Received the replacement heatsink, switched everything out, bottom fan still is dead. This tells me that if Gigabyte really did replace some components on the PCB, they fucked up the connection to power the fans in the process.

So, I've opened my ticket again, but in the mean time, I'm wondering what others would expect out of Gigabyte at this point. I'm over a month into this process by now, and I'm well tired of it. Technically, the card does work. It runs a little warm, but within an acceptable temperature range (around 80C load). I could probably just throw in the towel and keep using it, but my concern is that when it's time to upgrade, this will significantly hurt the value of this video card. Another option is an aftermarket cooler, but I shouldn't have to. Before all this started, the card ran at 65-70C under load. So, again, it's costing me money just to get back to the start. Think I'd get anywhere asking Gigabyte to foot the bill for an aftermarket cooler? Or do I just RMA the card again? If so, is it far to ask that all shipping costs be covered by Gigabyte (and expedited) since this is their error? Should I ask for an advance replacement?

So... while I wait for an answer from tech support on what they think is going on, please weigh in on how you would act in my situation.
 
Personally, I would absolutely lose my mind and make the situation worse. You probably shouldn't do that but I would continue to pursue a full replacement--if only on the principle of the matter.
 
Simplest solution is to pickup an aftermarket heatsink and install it yourself. They are not that expensive and that will minimize the time involved. Obviously you should not have to do this, but at this point Gigabyte tried and failed to fix your problem. Lots more back and forth with Gigabyte might or might not help at this point. And look at the bright side, with an aftermarket cooler you will enjoy lower temps and less noise.

I had a similar problem where the heatsink went bad on a BFG 8800gt. An aftermarket heatsink made the card run better than new.
 
"Several chips had been replaced"...

Do they really do board-level diagnostic and repair at those places as opposed to just sending out a refurb replacement? I kinda doubt it.
 
biggles said:
Simplest solution is to pickup an aftermarket heatsink and install it yourself. They are not that expensive and that will minimize the time involved. Obviously you should not have to do this, but at this point Gigabyte tried and failed to fix your problem. Lots more back and forth with Gigabyte might or might not help at this point. And look at the bright side, with an aftermarket cooler you will enjoy lower temps and less noise.

I had a similar problem where the heatsink went bad on a BFG 8800gt. An aftermarket heatsink made the card run better than new.
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The stock heatsink is actually really good (when it worked). The temps sat around 70C, and the fans stayed quiet enough that I didn't hear them at all over the fans on my H70. So, an aftermarket cooler, for $45, really nets me nothing other than getting the card to perform the way it should. It's not like its going to get me a better overclock or something, because I was never previously limited by heat as it was. Also, call it OCD, but replacing the heatsink on one without doing the other will really drive me batty.

MavericK96 said:
"Several chips had been replaced"...

Do they really do board-level diagnostic and repair at those places as opposed to just sending out a refurb replacement? I kinda doubt it.
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I would have thought the same, but they clearly did something. The card I got back is the one I sent in. Same S/N, and the I/O plate on the card is the same, so unless they took those both off and put them on a new PCB... they did something to actually repair the board I sent in. Stock GPU clock is 900mhz on this card, and at that clock, this card would hard shut down my system in any GPU intensive game. I had to underclock to 822mhz (560 Ti stock) to get it working. The replacement I clocked up to 930mhz just to see if it would play nice. It was warmer than I'd have liked, but it was 100% stable. Backed it down to the stock 900mhz, and I'm a little more comfortable with the temps that produces, and it remains 100% stable. So... something changed.
 
Bitch a bit. That's what I had to do. I had to RMA my GTX 260 SOC twice before they finally sent me a refurb GTX 275. The first time they sent me the same card back untouched. Second time they sent me a different one that also was defective. I don't like Gigabyte's RMA service. That was the second time in less than a year they'd give me a huge amount of grief over a simple and straightforward RMA.
 
requiem99 said:
Bitch a bit. That's what I had to do. I had to RMA my GTX 260 SOC twice before they finally sent me a refurb GTX 275. The first time they sent me the same card back untouched. Second time they sent me a different one that also was defective. I don't like Gigabyte's RMA service. That was the second time in less than a year they'd give me a huge amount of grief over a simple and straightforward RMA.
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I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but my attitude towards them will depend a lot on how they ask me to proceed. If they tell me to try again through the regular RMA channel, I will be pissed.

As far as getting an upgrade, that doesn't really do much for me since I am running SLI. Assuming they would bump me up to a 570 or a 580, either would be inferior to two 560 Ti's, so I'd have to settle for a lesser single card solution (albiet with some extra pocket cash when I sell my other card), or else continue spending money to get another SLI setup going.
 
Gigabyte does actually do board level repairs. We've sent in motherboards and gotten the same one back with a new lan chip and cpu socket.

There is a switch on the windforce 2 460s that will turn off one fan for quiet computing. I'd check for that.
 
Jorona said:
There is a switch on the windforce 2 460s that will turn off one fan for quiet computing. I'd check for that.
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I don't recall ever seeing one, and some googling only turns up MSI 560 Ti's having this. Also, if such a switch existed, the support agent would have to be incredibly incompetent to not suggest I check that before replacing the entire heatsink unit.
 
Jorona said:
Gigabyte does actually do board level repairs. We've sent in motherboards and gotten the same one back with a new lan chip and cpu socket.
Click to expand...

Other than this issue being dumb, that is pretty impressive actually for a consumer-level hardware retailer.
 
Viper87227 said:
I don't recall ever seeing one, and some googling only turns up MSI 560 Ti's having this. Also, if such a switch existed, the support agent would have to be incredibly incompetent to not suggest I check that before replacing the entire heatsink unit.
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You are underestimating the incompetence of technical support specialists.
 
Got a response just now, with the rep trying to tell me that it is normal for the second fan to not operate due to the "Windforce technology" -- I replied to him that with the card under full load it surpasses 90C, and the fan still remains off. All the while, my other GPU has both fans going from the moment my system receives power. I'm not sure why he is trying to make me think this is normal behavior, but that sure wasn't the response I wanted.
 
Right off the Gigabyte site.

WindForce 2X - Smart dust-reducing

Equipped with anti-turbulence inclined fins, ultra quiet PWM fan and pure copper heat pipe. It effectively minimizes the flow of turbulence between two fans and also provides dust reduction function. Users can choose Dual Power Mode and Smart Alternate Mode to reach remarkably silence or power cooling.

It depends on the model, it seems that not all of the 460s with Windforce 2 have that. I would check your card though.

Edit: Found the difference. Windforce X2 doesn't have it while Windforce 2X does.
 
Jorona said:
Right off the Gigabyte site.

WindForce 2X - Smart dust-reducing

Equipped with anti-turbulence inclined fins, ultra quiet PWM fan and pure copper heat pipe. It effectively minimizes the flow of turbulence between two fans and also provides dust reduction function. Users can choose Dual Power Mode and Smart Alternate Mode to reach remarkably silence or power cooling.

It depends on the model, it seems that not all of the 460s with Windforce 2 have that. I would check your card though.

Edit: Found the difference. Windforce X2 doesn't have it while Windforce 2X does.
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Well, my card has the 2X. Found this: http://www.gigabyte.com/press-center/news-page.aspx?nid=934

Neither of the cooling solutions they list describe what happens with either card. One of my GPU has both fans running 100% of the time. The other card has only one fan running 100% of the time.

I don't know if that information only applies to the 4-series GPU's, but even if it doesn't, I don't think it's being used like they claim on my card. I don't even see a jumper on my card to switch something, and if Gigabyte wanted this to be something the end user could easily change, it wouldn't be hidden under the heatsink.
 
dccmadams said:
No Gigabyte 670 for me......
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Yep, can't say I'd buy another Gigabyte video card. These days, pretty much all the cards all equal. You can get a fancy heatsink and a factory overclock from anyone. The biggest factor anymore should be after-sales support, and I'm not getting good results from that.

I got one of the cards for a steal from another [H] member, and when I went SLI I decided to just get the same exact GPU so everything would match. Next time I will pay the extra few bucks and go with someone proven like Evga.
 
@ Viper87227... They probably will not pay for an aftermarket cooler, but I do not see your request to have the shipping cost recovered...after the first RMA as unreasonable in any way. They should have shipped you a 'tested' card to begin with. The card has two fans, so two fans should work. Continue to be polite, but firm and stick with the RMA process until it's resolve. It needs to get sorted on principal alone.
 
Saabjock said:
@ Viper87227... They probably will not pay for an aftermarket cooler, but I do not see your request to have the shipping cost recovered...after the first RMA as unreasonable in any way. They should have shipped you a 'tested' card to begin with. The card has two fans, so two fans should work. Continue to be polite, but firm and stick with the RMA process until it's resolve. It needs to get sorted on principal alone.
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I threw the aftermarket cooler as an option, but I don't expect them to go that route. Ideally, I would like an advanced replacement with a prepaid shipping label. I've been courteous and reasonable in my requests throughout the whole purpose - I don't believe there is anything to be accomplished by being difficult.

No word yet since it's the weekend, but hopefully they message me back tomorrow with something beyond more troubleshooting steps. It's the second time we've been through them and I'm smart enough to know this is not a software issue.
 
Another response today, and the guy once again referred me to the service department to request a new heatsink. It is almost as if he completely ignored the fact that I already tried that once. :rolleyes:
 
He's not looking at your history. Just tell refer him to previous encounters and state your fustrations. Tell them how you feel and how you are trying to remain as patiently as possible
 
Butter said:
He's not looking at your history. Just tell refer him to previous encounters and state your fustrations. Tell them how you feel and how you are trying to remain as patiently as possible
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Assuming its the same individual, I started by explaining that the replacement fan wasn't working. I don't think I should have to repeat that in each message.
 
Viper87227 said:
Assuming its the same individual, I started by explaining that the replacement fan wasn't working. I don't think I should have to repeat that in each message.
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I think you can get a free return shipping label if you ask for one and if you state that its been over a month since you initially had issues.

Also, I think you usually don't get the same individual working on an RMA because you should get a faster response from a team than an individual.
 
Well, tech support gave up and told me to contact the service department again. Maybe they will be more helpful.
 
Viper87227 said:
Assuming its the same individual, I started by explaining that the replacement fan wasn't working. I don't think I should have to repeat that in each message.
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Don't assume. he could be dealing with many things at once so he might not remember the exact details of your case. But in any case, hopefully service can help you out.
 
Butter said:
Don't assume. he could be dealing with many things at once so he might not remember the exact details of your case. But in any case, hopefully service can help you out.
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I know that, my point was that if he does not fully understand (or remember) the situation, he should be reading past notes to keep from wasting both his time and mine. At my last job, while I never had any contact with customers, I worked heavily with customer service, and at any given time probably have 10-20 different customers issues under my arm. Before advising anyone, I made sure I fully grasped the situation I was dealing with. Only reading the last message just seems lazy to me.

I 'spose it does't matter since I am (hopefully) done dealing with them. Last time I e-mailed the service department, they were pretty quick to reply. I've still remained calm and polite with everyone I've talked to, so hopefully that gets me somewhere.
 
Got an e-mail from the service department, they issued me another RMA and a prepayed label. It's a start, but I emailed them back asking for an advanced replacement. Sending my card out first means this process will have been dragged out over 2 months by the time I get a proper replacement. That is excessive.
 
Viper87227 said:
Got an e-mail from the service department, they issued me another RMA and a prepayed label. It's a start, but I emailed them back asking for an advanced replacement. Sending my card out first means this process will have been dragged out over 2 months by the time I get a proper replacement. That is excessive.
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That sounds reasonable to me but they will probably require your credit card information as collateral for the advanced replacement, at least that was the case for me when I dealt with Samsung and a faulty monitor.
 
Runt. said:
That sounds reasonable to me but they will probably require your credit card information as collateral for the advanced replacement, at least that was the case for me when I dealt with Samsung and a faulty monitor.
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Yep, just heard back, and they said as long as I let them do a preauthorization for $200 on a credit card, they will cross-ship to me. Good stuff.
 
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