In the process of disconnecting the 8-pin supplementary power connector on a MA790X-UD4P board, I broke off the adjacent can-type "transistor". As this component has only two leads and the socket on the board is marked "+" and "-" it has to be a diode of some sort. It is marked "560" with some batch numbers. Now, the board is under warranty (though this clearly was my fault) and I could have sent it in for repair/exchange, but I am an electronics hobbiest and this is ONE LITTLE DIODE; I could replace it if I knew its specs.
So I started emailing to Taiwan, asking for the specs on "560". The replies persistently said to return the board (to their US service dept.). I finally got a (non-free) phone number and talked to a technician, who looked up "560" in his parts inventory and gave me a long obscure number on which Google search could find nothing. Another call, another tech said he COULDN'T POSSIBLY give me the specs: TRADE SECRET! This is nonsense; if there are any "trade secrets" on the board, they are in the integrated circuits.
For comparison I looked at a recent Asus board I have. The semiconductor components retain their original manufacturer's markings and it was easy, as a test, to locate online a pdf spec sheet on a selected component. I could have then ordered a substitute. Gigabyte should provide access to component parts specifications.
How did I solve the problem? I bought a similar model board, used, sold "for parts only", which was populated with many "560"s, removed one and re-soldered it to the MA790X.
Gigabyte uses high-temperature solder, so I had to use a mini rotary drill to drill out the "560". Not as hard as it sounds, and a lot quicker than having to return the board. It works fine now.
So I started emailing to Taiwan, asking for the specs on "560". The replies persistently said to return the board (to their US service dept.). I finally got a (non-free) phone number and talked to a technician, who looked up "560" in his parts inventory and gave me a long obscure number on which Google search could find nothing. Another call, another tech said he COULDN'T POSSIBLY give me the specs: TRADE SECRET! This is nonsense; if there are any "trade secrets" on the board, they are in the integrated circuits.
For comparison I looked at a recent Asus board I have. The semiconductor components retain their original manufacturer's markings and it was easy, as a test, to locate online a pdf spec sheet on a selected component. I could have then ordered a substitute. Gigabyte should provide access to component parts specifications.
How did I solve the problem? I bought a similar model board, used, sold "for parts only", which was populated with many "560"s, removed one and re-soldered it to the MA790X.
Gigabyte uses high-temperature solder, so I had to use a mini rotary drill to drill out the "560". Not as hard as it sounds, and a lot quicker than having to return the board. It works fine now.
My guess: GB's actions have actually nada to do with 'trade secrets', and everything to do with the fact that they want to discourage, as strongly as possible, people 'fiddling with' their hardware; simply the 'tiering' of dreadful support points to the fact that they want these thing treated as 'toasters'; I nearly fell off my chair laughing when the 'nutzo' overclockers found that a hardware mod would allow more PCIe frequency, which allowed higher (and more stable) memory speeds on the X58s... The mod was 'hidden in plain sight', with the apparent intention that, if you couldn't find it, you didn't belong on your SMT board with a soldering iron in hand :lol: I could just cry for the days of my old Z80 KayPro - when six bucks, and, like, fifty cents shipping and handling (apparently, back in those days, they didn't do as much handling - and I always wonder about that - who's doing the 'handling'? - did they wash their hands, first? 
) you had an actual schematic to your actual board - with all components clearly listed! Of course, the day after it arrived, I was soldering 'piggy-backed' TTL chips onto the floppy decoders, to double the frequency (and the storage), then hacking the (eminently hackable, as we had source!) ZCPR-based BIOS to accomodate them... You can plainly see the effect from the (ever shrinking) list of component parts available from Radio Shack; I used to be able to go to pretty much any city, and fix industrial output boards with TRIACs picked up for a buck at RS - but no longer; I'm pretty sure the lawyers put the kabosh on any parts that operate at line voltage, as they don't remotely intend to allow themselves to be sued by someone who's electrocuted himself! Their "Digital ICs & micro controller" category contains three items, and not a single microcontroller - either they're too dangerous, or, the number of people who could conceivably make use of one has, nationwide, shrunk to a number that can be counted on the fingers of one hand! I recently complained to the pimply kid behind the counter about the paucity of component part offerings, and was told "that's because nobody knows anymore what to do with them...", like we were some kind of ancient alchemists who've fallen out of use or favor! 
:lol: 
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