X.M.P Failures

[Oliver]

Ok I sent an email over to the RMA manager and the enquires desk, called matthew (this guy is a legend, hes always been able to help fix any problems ive had over the phone) he quickly chatted with the RMA manager and confirmed the HDD's had been screwed in (they thought it had not during transit however it seems they was) so we can now get the hard drives out of the case without problems!

Thanks again...i can finally get things back up and running, after that i need a good holiday!

 

[Oliver]

Well i thought i was getting a break...

I booted the computer up for the first time since its been back. Had three loud beeps then an american megatrends error CPUFan Error. I called the call center and was told I now have another intermittent fault. They have requested photos.

 

[TheGeeza]

Damn how many ladders have you walked under
Sorry about the problems mate.

 

[Oliver]

Damn how many ladders have you walked under
Sorry about the problems mate.

About 6!

It's ok things can go wrong with computers, I contacted PCS over the phone after getting the photos, Matthew said the problem was the way the BIOS had been setup. The newer fans run at 500rpm and not 600rpm which causes the computer to show an error when booting up.


I also noticed that a CD/Driver disk had been left in the computer's DVD drive while it was in transit... Wasn't impressed by that at all, did call them to ensure it's marked down on my account if any disks get scratched Ill know the root cause. Darrin said he would mark down that it had happened, said sorry and said it wouldn't affect the computer or cause scratching of other disks....He said it's quite common for disks to be forgotten about during the build process. still their should really be a check list to ensure every part that goes into the computer comes out of it during transit.


I really do need a holiday!

 

[Oliver]

And the madness continues!

When i booted the computer up, checked the SATA ports in BIOS and Virtual Disk system it seems my 3rd hard drive is dead on arrival (not even showing up in the hotplugs/internal BIOS!). I am contacting PCS tomorrow to see what they can do. :/ really starting to regret this rig.

 

[mantadog]

Tried re-seating the cables?

Not quite sure what else to suggest, as always let us know how it goes.

 

[Oliver]

Tried re-seating the cables?

Not quite sure what else to suggest, as always let us know how it goes.

Reseated the SATA cable HD is showing now however the hard drive is making a grinding sound on boot. The POST Speaker is also faulty (not sending out a post beep during boot ups all the time checked the cable still not functioning.)

 

[Oliver]

Some interesting stats...
Since the computer has been back for 6 RMA's I have had 270 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner), 2160 hours waiting for a fix.

Hopefully PCS will respond tomorrow. The POST Speaker is probably faulty. The Hard Drive is grinding and i believe it's due to the hard drive not being seated/bolted in via transit. :wacko: it's not a normal grinding sound ive herd on previous hard drives. it sounds pretty serious.

 

[mantadog]

Did it normally beep? They don't always do it, most only beep to signify a fault? Otherwise it would just be annoying.

As far as the HDD, if its making a noise loud enough to be heard then I suspect it would have lunched itself already if it were the heads making contact with the platters.

 

[Oliver]

And it's even worse.
We now have our 7th RMA. this time it's a RC rather than a normal RMA.


We are now on their standard service meaning that the parts have to be shipped by us to PCS without DPD. :/

Hi Oliver,

We can send a replacement HDD out for you as it’s a brand new HDD this should not be happening. Please note the faulty HDD will need to be available at the time of delivery as we operate an swap it service, so DPD will hand you the new drive in exchange

Regarding the POST speaker, I can send a spare one out.

If you need any further information or assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.


Regards,
RMA Manager

I was talking to the RMA Manager this afternoon, He wanted to know what parts needed replacing and was offering an advanced replacement (so dpd would pick up the items) upon recontacting back the Manager to confirm this I got a message from the Sales/PR rep.

The noise you described is normal for WD black drives – they are known for being loud drives under access.
The best thing to do now is call us on 0333 011 7000.

Due to your system no longer being an RMA system, both me and RMA Manager are redundant in the situation, and therefore can no longer help unless the system comes back in the future. Please contact our support team for any enquiries or problems.

Now I have herd the black hard drives load up via read and writes but for some reason the top and bottom drives are louder than normal with a grinding sound which isnt the same as the read and write sound. (this was confirmed by others whom have herd the computer's drives before) and with the middle hard drive which read writes without grinding. Finally i got an email from the marketing/sales chap, He asked to be removed from future emails about the system (The Manager was also CC'ing him into the threads so I continued to do so, so he was kept in the loop. I guess that wasn't a good idea.)

So I then re-contacted the call center and explained the situation, They said that the hard drives would need to be delivered using their standard service and not the advanced one suggested by the manager we would also have to pay for postage plus packaging and get it back to them as soon as possible without the swap taking place meaning it's going to take much longer to get things fixed once again!!



Once again disappointing and confusing really...

 

[knigh7]

What is RC, why isn't this an RMA?

 

[Oliver]

What is RC, why isn't this an RMA?

An RC is a return collection. However their are two types of these.

Standard RC - You pay for the parts to get back to PCS.

Advanced RC - They swap the parts like for like with the courier.

RMA - Full Returns (so the computer goes back, gets checked by a tech, tests done etc)

I've had 7 RMA's overall (they call them RMAs in the Email) but it's reference is RC not sure why.

 

[Oliver]

This was included in the email.

If the RMA type is "Advanced Replacement" this means that we will dispatch the item to you in advance and include a DPD bag, allowing you to put the faulty item in this bag immediately and hand this back to the DPD courier while he/she waits. Please have the item carefully packaged in a strong rigid box with bubble wrap or other such appropriate packaging to ensure that it reaches us safely. Please note that the collection bag is 600mm x 400mm x 300mm (L x W x D) in size. If your item is larger than this please attach the bag to the package with sellotape. The courier will not deliver the new item to you without the f aulty item being available for collection.

If the RMA type is "Standard Replacement" this means that we are now waiting to receive your faulty item back. When sending the item back, we recommend you use a recorded delivery service so that you can track the status of your return. We will then test and repair/replace the item as necessary.

 

[Oliver]

I just got put thought to one of the support guys, asked if they can change the parts to advanced replacement as it would save the hassle of trying to find a courier to deliver them back with. waiting now for a response...

 

[Oliver]

Just spoken to Shawn and he has been able to get a drop/swap for Tuesday! :sweatdrop: Looks like less hassle!

 

[knigh7]

Good luck mate

 

[Oliver]

Good luck mate

Thanks I'm going to need it!

 

[Oliver]

I had to call them up again to confirm that two drives are being dispatch rather than just one mentioned via the RMA's item description (on the problem it says please dispatch two) so hopefully *fingers crossed* they will deliver the new drivers and swap em on Tuesday with the new BIOS speaker then ill be good to go...then ill really need a holiday as arnie puts it...

[video=youtube_share;if-za0Lu7tI]http://youtu.be/if-za0Lu7tI?t=11s[/video]

 

[Oliver]

Just got another call from PCS (Fran) Just said the reason they didn't offer the Advanced service was due to the fact that the hard drives wont be in stock until Monday. (I said i'm more than happy to wait until they are ready to ship them out) Just hoping now things will get fixed.

 

[Oliver]

Ok it seems the previous RC/RMA was deleted by Fran so he could set one up on Monday Morning, I sent out a friendly reminder to ensure that 2 HD's are included as the previous RMA/RC only showed 1 I did request two over the phone and it was confirmed by Jack (the manager) and Fran.

Dear Fran/PCS,

Fran said he would look into getting both hard drives swapped on Tuesday using the Advanced Service, for clarification the current RC (XXXXXXX) shows a Quantity of 1. This should be 2. (just confirming this to ensure we get the two hard drives requested) it also seems the other order was cancelled to ensure the advanced service could be set-up Monday morning by Fran as explained over the phone. Please be advised this is for 2 hard drives instead of the original 1 as discussed with Fran and confirmed by Jack.

This is just a friendly reminder to ensure that happens.



Thanks again guys your support has been great.