Sudden death of new rig...murder?

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Freemorpheme

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Feb 10, 2014
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I left my PC on last night to process some files while I watched TV in the same room. About an hour later I check on it, but the box is silent. Not only silent but it transpired it was stony dead. Nothing works, not a click, a buzz, a twitch of fan or a flicker of light.

This is the PC - it is three weeks old.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/b/Ndg

So I do have one or two questions... I am in the UK, in an urban area. Do you think it is possible that there could have been a surge without me noticing? Without the lights flickering or the tv going out?

What else could have happened? It was not overclocked, although I had the RAM up to 1867. I tested the power supply today and it is fine, meaning it is the motherboard or possibly the CPU, unless anyone has any bright ideas? The whole thing is completely inert.

What's the best way of getting these things replaced? Not sure if I should talk to the vendor or manufacturer.

Any help or commiserations welcome.
 
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mbarnes86

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Sep 16, 2010
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Hi

It is not clear if you bought a kit of parts or a ready assembled PC from a UK supplier.
How did you test the PSU ?

In another PC (so it is loaded on all voltages)
or using a jumper wire to make PSU switch on
or using a PSU tester which takes a light load on all voltages

Do you have all the case fans mentioned ?
as a miniITX motherboard in a Mini ITX case with a powerfull CPU & graphics card are at risk of overheating.

I know some one who tried to make a living selling this sort of small PC and most failed before the end of the year.

Most of the time the problem is the motherboard not the CPU.

a small percentage of electronic equipment fail early in life then most survive for a long time then start failing
(failure rate graph looking like a bath tub)

My advice if bought as a kit of parts get a new motherboard and case (Micro ATX)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor

If bought as a ready assembled base unit, send it back to seller to fix or replace
(Your rights under Sale of Goods Act are against seller not manufacturer

regards

Mike Barnes
 
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Freemorpheme

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Feb 10, 2014
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Thanks guys. I took the PSU out and put it in another machine to se if it powered, it was fine. As I say, in my machine nothing happened at all, no POST, not even a twitch of a fan blade. I did not try it on mine again as that seemed a pretty long shot and I plugged another PSU into the mboard to no avail. I should add there was no sound when it expired, no marks in the case and no smell of any kind. I haven't been loading the system much and there are two case fans to keep it cool, plus the giant cooler which you can see in the pictures.

The machine itself was built by me from separate parts from separate vendors, rather than a kit supplied premade or with parts presupplied. Has anyone RMAed a part so soon? I am concerned they will try to tell me I must have installed it wrong or otherwise try to wriggle out.
 
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notherdude

notherdude

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Actually a quick RMA is all too common (I have done it many times over the years) and assuming they are a reputable company they should not complain at all. It really sounds like your motherboard just died. They will examine it after they receive it and unless you did something very irresponsible to it like gouging it with a blade or something they should give you a new one no problem.
 
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Freemorpheme

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Well, perhaps you can advise on this, I bought the board from Ebuyer and their site says that since 28 days has passed they don't want it back and I should contact the manufacturer, while Gigabyte's site curtly tells me to contact the seller of the board...
 
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notherdude

notherdude

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I see they do state a 28 day policy. After that I would think the Gigabyte warranty should kick in. So I guess I would be demanding Gigabyte honor their warranty! On what basis does Gigabyte reject the claim? That ebuyer should have a longer RMA period? I don't get it.
 
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mbarnes86

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Sep 16, 2010
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Hi

you are in the UK so for the first 6 months it is for the seller to prove the problem was mistake by the the use or abuse etc

After 6 months the buyer has to prove there was a defect in the product

It may be quicker to go back to manufacturer but they may give you a repaired used mother board instead of fixing yours or replacing with new .

You have more rights under sale of goods act than most warantees for first 6 months
(note this 6 month period is only for retail sales not business to business)

The manufacturers Warantee may restrict your rights for example most second hand car warantees from insurance companies do not start until a month after sale, for the first month the seller has to fix any faults
There may be no time limit on how long the repair takes and the parts used may be second hand or reconditioned etc. Unless there is a warantee in writing it can not be enforced in UK.
(Writing would include a Warantee statement on a UK .co.uk website but not on the US parent company)

OEM parts frequently have no retail warantee. Then Customers rights are against seller only
(eg dealer buys bulk pack of MS Windows, DVD's, hard disks etc and sells them individually)

I always buy most of kit from one source such as ebuyer so I dont have problem of worrying which bit of kit destroyed another bit of kit. (eg psu failure killed motherboard)

I have sent back faulty RAM to ebuyer before (over 1 month less than 6)
One of pair of matched DDR-3 DIMM's failed I had to send back the pair, fortunately I had a spare to use while waiting for the replacement

regards
Mike barnes
 
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