Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
About three weeks ago I received the Powerleap iP3/T adapter and Celeron 1.2GHz Tualatin kit direct from the manufacturer. The kit also included a nice, thin CPU cooler and the sticker “warrantee void if broken” across the edge of the CPU to the socket. Well, time to put the thing in and test it out.

First things first, the motherboard, not listed on Powerleap’s site, was an Epox BX3 rev .5. So I plugged in the kit, and low and behold it worked! But all was not right in Tualatin land. I tried clocking the thing up by a measily 5MHz FSB and it would lock up. I thought maybe I had a dud processor, but just in case, I tried modifying it to 1.675v by wining in Vid2. No go.

Thinking I might have a quirky board, I tried a Soyo SY-BA6+III. Again no overclocking was possible, and the Soyo didn’t like my 256MB Crucial Cas2 PC133 DIMMs, so back to the Epox.

Further testing revealed that this adapter was supplying only 1.3v to the CPU! For those who don’t know, the Tualatin runs at 1.475v! I tried the 1.675 mod on the CPU again, still no go, the adapter still supplied 1.30v! By now I’m starting to realize that this is indeed a problem with the adapter. Large amounts of heat are being released from the back of the card in normal use.

I try wiring in Vid 3. This in fact does work, giving me 1.70v (since none of the other Vid pins seemed to be connected on the card). But the CPU and card are experiencing heat lockups. Finally I try Vid 2, which provides 1.50v. Everthing is top notch. The CPU runs at 110FSB fine. 124FSB for a few minutes before the heat monster returns.

Thinking it was a problem with the thermal conductant inside the CPU heat spreader, I removed the heat spreader and applied thermal paste directly to the core. Try to reboot, nothing. Check the voltage, it’s only at 0.2v! Try removing the pin jumper from the CPU, it fires up at 100FSB/1.30v again. So I try raising it again, and get 0.2v again. Try it at stock, just to have something to use, the adapter finally gave up the ghost.

To test the adapter, I tried a Celeron 500, using the proper on-card jumper for Celerons. No boot, check voltage, and it reads 1.26v. So much for Powerleap, this thing was obviously defective when I got it (at 1.30v for a 1.475v processor). I’ll let you know what they have to say about this defect, if they own up to it and support their product, or give me shake off.

1.) A good company will accept responsibility for their defects and make them right, regardless of stickers.

2.) A bad company will write off their customers for any excuse they can find, without owning up to their responsibility to the customer. I wouldn't blame them if I burned up a CPU. But their adapter in this case did not function as it is designed to.

Let’s hope that Powerleap is of type 1, so I can continue to recommend their products!


What's the frequency, Kenneth?
 
Quite right.

I'm currently in an e-mailing spar with a reseller for the replacement of my ST6-R mobo, which died. They claim as its a warranty job, its an Abit issue and I should deal with them, but Abit state on their website that they don't sell to the public, but to resellers. I've stated I don't wan't the same mobo back again, as I have lost confidence in the product.
From my reseller:

Sir. Faulty boards are always returned to the manufacturer, in this case Abit, who always repair or replace with the identical spec.
Sorry sir, but this is their procedure.
I tidied that up slightly, as it was semi-illegible. Here's my reply.

Thank you for your prompt reply in the matters mentioned below. I would like to carry this matter further to Abit. Abit's website states that they do not 'sell' their motherboards to the public, but to resellers. This effectively means they take no responsibility for their warranty procedures at a public level. This puts the ball in your court, so to speak. If you disagree, feel free to reply with a contact at Abit, so I can be put right.

I repeat the fact that I no longer want this product (which I purchased from Dabs, not Abit), and would happily settle for an alternative solution. I would of course ensure that any alternative solution be at or above the original cost of the original product.

Additionally, I would like to have explained to me why I must be billed for the shipping costs of the return of defective goods? I purchased the product in good faith, and have not had satisfaction.
As you can see, its becoming a pain in the @$$. I reckon after I'm finished with this problem, I'm finished with them...

:cool: <b><font color=blue>The Cisco Kid</font color=blue></b> :cool:
 

girish

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2007
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Well, it does seem that you have had a defective adapter, but given the operations you done on it, will the company take it back?

A good company should take its products back even if the warranty seals are tampered. It is done to test the product isnt it?

But how does a product qualify as bad? I have a Luckystar K7VAT KT133 motherboard for my Duron 600 MHz chip, bought just about the time Duron was new. There was too little choice for it, the A7V was expensive, and MSI one was available but at the last moment the dealer sent a Luckystar mobo (without consulting me!) and my brother assembled the system that I saw it the next day. technically the product was worked on, and it ran pretty well for a few hourse of installation and burn-in. Within three days, it was then confirmed to be crap. It simply wasnt stable, will reboot a number of times, hand quite often and even failed to boot occassionaly! I returned it to the dealer, whos routine checkup was to put some memory and the processor, and see if it boots. If it does, give it back to the customer! They have support working in only two events, either the board is dead or the board boots in which case they simlpy return the board with NDF (No Defect Found) marking!!!

Then I worked on it for hours installing the VIA 4in1 drivers almost everyday, every version, playing with almost every BIOS setting, every Windows setting I know and think of, swapping about 4~5 sticks of DIMMs and changing the HSF thrice even when the temperature was pretty normal at 45. At last, I got it to work much better, not it doesnt hang or crash that often although a crash can be expected anytime. I dont know how, but finally I got that thing to work better if not the best.

So does the instability of a board, failing to work properly under normal conditions warrant a replacement? Anyway Luckystar is not a company that I can expect a very prompt and generous support, I simply dont know who they are. If it had been Asus or MSI they would have lost one follower.

girish

<font color=red>Nothing is fool-proof. Fools are Ingenious!</font color=red>
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
In this case, the slotket came with a defect that had it operating at 1.30v instead of 1.475v. And simply changing the detected voltage of the CPU is normal use (because I could have just as easily been using CPU's with various voltage). So the fact that the VRM failed is caused by a defect.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?