So I have an M2N-E motherboard in one of my systems, and it gradually became unwilling to boot up until one day it completely stopped POSTing. Power supply and processor checked good in other systems, but the standby power light on the motherboard often wouldn't come on, or would flicker. I asked ASUS for an RMA number, which was no problem, and sent out the motherboard to be repaired. After what seemed like a very short amount of time, I received a status update that the warranty process was complete and that the repaired/replaced motherboard was being sent to me - I received the motherboard neatly wrapped up in a new box last week.
Cut to today when I get the time to reassemble the system. Hmm, this motherboard looks familiar...I thought that in this disposable era manufacturers usually sent displacements. Wait - there's that little blob of thermal grease that it had on it after I pulled out the processor. It's just my old board! I look around for evidence that any repairs were done, any fresh solder joints, new looking components, nothing. With a growing sense of dread I put the bare minimum of components back together to see what happens...the board power light flickers and dies. I use another power supply. Same thing. A spare Athlon processor - same thing. Test the power supplies - they start on their own and all voltages are normal. Maybe the board somehow passed their testing? I don't know, I doubt it, but no documentation of any kind was included.
My best guess is that someone in the RMA deparment just didn't want to deal with it, so just sent me my same old broken motherboard straight back, but took the effort to put it in a different looking box to fool me for a little while, and maybe the shipping department? I plan on giving their RMA department grief tomorrow, but I don't know what kind of satisfaction I'll ever get if I say "Yeah, someone's tried to trick me instead of actually working." I've heard stories about bad RMA departments before, but this is just unreal. Maybe instead of trying to RMA it again and turn this into a running joke I'll just tell them to stuff it, vow to never buy Asus again, and grab a Gigabyte board.
Cut to today when I get the time to reassemble the system. Hmm, this motherboard looks familiar...I thought that in this disposable era manufacturers usually sent displacements. Wait - there's that little blob of thermal grease that it had on it after I pulled out the processor. It's just my old board! I look around for evidence that any repairs were done, any fresh solder joints, new looking components, nothing. With a growing sense of dread I put the bare minimum of components back together to see what happens...the board power light flickers and dies. I use another power supply. Same thing. A spare Athlon processor - same thing. Test the power supplies - they start on their own and all voltages are normal. Maybe the board somehow passed their testing? I don't know, I doubt it, but no documentation of any kind was included.
My best guess is that someone in the RMA deparment just didn't want to deal with it, so just sent me my same old broken motherboard straight back, but took the effort to put it in a different looking box to fool me for a little while, and maybe the shipping department? I plan on giving their RMA department grief tomorrow, but I don't know what kind of satisfaction I'll ever get if I say "Yeah, someone's tried to trick me instead of actually working." I've heard stories about bad RMA departments before, but this is just unreal. Maybe instead of trying to RMA it again and turn this into a running joke I'll just tell them to stuff it, vow to never buy Asus again, and grab a Gigabyte board.
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