X.M.P Failures

[Oliver]

Just looked at the OS Disk (this was the disk which was included with the computer in transit at all times) it seems theirs multiple small hairline cracks in the disk. Going to ask Paul for advice on what to do. Might be able to burn an ISO of the OS but not sure as of yet. With Windows 8 it was pretty easy to do it inside the GUI but with Windows 7 it's a little backwards. You used to be able to get copies off technet for the ISO's but it's been retired since.

 

[Oliver]

Paul has arranged a new OS disk to be sent out. (Cheers!)

Also my new drives arrived via DPD. They came in a special casing normally used for DSLR Cameras in transport!

Very Impressed with the delivery. Will be running diagnostics this week to ensure no bad sectors in place. If all goes well we could be back to business next week!

 

[Oliver]

Just had a phonecall with Paul. He reassured me that things are getting sorted with the computer and has prepped an OS disk to be sent out soon. He is investigating my formal complaint which should be addressed soon.

I'm happy to say I now trust PCS alot more than before the phonecall.

 

[Oliver]

Just called PCS to get info on when the disk is being shipped out (having to book time off part of my work day to try and get the rig online) Have been told by Darrin labels are being printed today and the item is being dispatched tomorrow for Friday.

Thanks again guys!

Oliver

 

[Oliver]

Update: Drives installed, OS Ready, Boot Sequence Commencing

We got the drives from PCS on Wednesday, Got them into the computer Thursday night (some of the rubber pins had worn out on the chassis/mount for the middle drive. this drive wasn't secured in the last transit) Called PCS this morning and convinced Ash to send out some new rubber Pins for the mount. (they even threw in a new chassis for a disk) The drives are now undergoing the vendor diagnostics to ensure they have no running faults. OS Disk was provided by Paul as the previous one had been pretty badly damaged in transit this arrived the next day! I also did a dry run of the driver installation which provided a controller error however Paul responded in a flash to the question and it seems to be fine.

So while im waiting for the tests to run, Ill listen to the A-Team Theme.

[video=youtube;wyz_2DEah4o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyz_2DEah4o[/video]

 

[Oliver]

Driver Install Problems

I have been getting the drivers setup however I have had multiple driver problems.

OS Install 1
BSOD Install: couldn't boot after final driver install. Memory Controller registers error 0

OS Install 2
Memory Controller registers error 3
Hardware drivers "missing"
No SATA drivers from the Proc vendor using the backup ones.



I shall update with my findings as i go along with the driver process.

 

[Oliver]

The rig was online however today at 5pm my GPU or Memory died in spectacular fashion. I am unable to boot into the BIOs, I get one long beep three short ones. I will be resetting the CMOS battery and removing the RAM sticks one by one to see which stick is broken. If I am able to boot I get to the login screen and then the computer freezes reboots its self and gets stuck in a loop of vegetation.

*bangs his head against a brick wall*

I spoke to Darrin and Zack both where great at providing support they said as theres display problems it might be the worst case ie a GPU. Hopefully not thought...

 

[Oliver]

If anyone's wondering what might have killed my GPU I suspect that playing Star Citizen (a CryEngine3 game) may have caused the card to tank. still pretty rare to do such a thing.

 

[TheGeeza]

Doesn't sound right at all unless of course the card was already faulty.
Did you manage to see the temperatures?

 

[Oliver]

unfortunately I was unable to grab temps before hand. We do use air conditioning inside the office which we monitor at the time of the error the room temp was 22c with humidity of 55% I noticed in star citizen when I had locked onto other ships there was a 3-4ms delay from the card/cpu. So physics and everything was very unsteady.

 

[Oliver]

Beep Codes we had heard during fixing the unit in question

1) 1 long beep 3 short ones (GPU)
2) 3 short beeps (RAM)

So we are actively investigating both of them, should be pulling the rig out tomorrow to try and do the steps above.

 

[Oliver]

sometimes on boot we was not hearing post beeps. I am wondering if the GPU has been going since we had the card in the computer when we had the damaged in transit incident. I suspect this has been a long coming problem. just unfortunate really!

 

[Oliver]

I have also been noticing the following problems

-stuttering in the CS:GO Menu
-stuttering in the Dota 2 Menu

I am suspecting its either the card or the memory that's causing the problems. We will find out tomorrow.

 

[Oliver]

I have contacted Paul (the manager), Have provide the serial number for the card. From what I can see the gpu vendor will attempt to repair the part themselves before replacing it the parts being replaced only have a year's warrenty. No ETA on the fix as of yet. Until then have a double facepalm

[video=youtube_share;BNsrK6P9QvI]http://youtu.be/BNsrK6P9QvI[/video]

 

[Oliver]

I was able to login to my computer before it froze on me again. Thankfully the DMP files back up my suspicion that the card has been failing as confirmed by PCS. Spoke to Matthew whom said the card I use is no longer in stock and that they would be sending the card out to Poland (could take a couple of weeks) then quickly dropped an email to Paul to let him know the situation and he said he will try and get the card out quicker and needed to speak to the head of the returns department as he has a plan. He should be getting back in touch with me as soon as possible.

So now we wait, I'm glad we found the smoking gun as previously we thought it could be memory or graphics card.

 

[Oliver]

The card was sent out by Special Delivery (also included higher tier of insurance), I got an alert this morning to say that Fran had signed for the parcel and have passed the information onto Paul so he can have alook. Hopefully we might hear back the options today as the head of returns is back from his holiday.

 

[Oliver]

Ok so I have ensured the manager has the card on his desk. He has explained the plan is to try and contact the german branch of the vendor or they will have to send the item off to Asia for repairs. This could be quite a long time :-( Not weeks but probably months depending on the location due to customs. Hopefully the German branch has cards in stock but we will have to wait and see. I might have to just buy another card as my business needs to continue.

 

[Oliver]

forgot to mention that the manager said they should be hearing back from the GPU Vendor tomorrow to see if they have stock in Germany if not the card will be taking a trip to Hong Kong. Very worried/concerned as its quite a journey (call rep said it was going to Poland at first...)

 

[Oliver]

Hi All,

After looking at the description of the RMA the code providing the error is 116. (feel free to google it). Basically points to the gpu but can also mean conflicts between the gpu and other pieces of hardware. Hopefully the card is at fault but I am a tad bit concerned it could be something else.

Thanks
Oliver

 

[Oliver]

I have some good news back from Paul today, he personally called the german branch of the gpu vendor and they have accepted my RMA. He said the new card should be on it's way to me very soon. Really happy with the service provided by Paul. He's gone above and beyond normal pc building firms!