Dead PSU under warrenty, should I ship the mb?

  • Thread starter Thread starter James
  • Start date Start date
J

James

I have a dead PSU that fried my motherboard. It's still under warrenty but
the company Antec wants me to send the board back to make sure that it's
dead and to see if their unit killed it. They ask that I send the cpu and
memory with it.

Should I be concerned over this or not? I understand the motherboard but cpu
and memory? Perhaps I'm an alarmist, they seem very nice over the phone and
email.
 
I have a dead PSU that fried my motherboard. It's still under warrenty but
the company Antec wants me to send the board back to make sure that it's
dead and to see if their unit killed it. They ask that I send the cpu and
memory with it.

Should I be concerned over this or not? I understand the motherboard but cpu
and memory? Perhaps I'm an alarmist, they seem very nice over the phone and
email.
Click to expand...


Not alarmed, but concerned if you don't have spare parts to
tide you over till who-knows-when this gets resolved.

Presumably you're trying to get Antec to replace your
motherboard? If so, are they going to replace the CPU and
memory too if they failed as well? We have insufficient
detail of the situation to know exactly what's going on, but
it's not inconceivable that if they plan to pay for damages,
they'd want proof of the damage, or at least to put people
though enough of a hassle to discourage excessive warranty
coverage costs.

They may not need the other parts to determine the problem,
but if they REQUIRE you send the other parts, it's your
choice, all you could do is ask if you can keep the other
parts, claiming you need them to keep a system running in
the meantime.
 
No they didn't require the other parts but the tech guy asked if I could. I
have another machine so I don't need them and it would be easier because I
wouldn't have to dismount the cooler again.

I'll probably do it just to get things resolved quicker, I just had some
thoughts they if they mysteriously lost my stuff there'd be no way for me to
legally recover from it.

thanks

You had replied to another of my posts when I was asking whether motherboard
would powerup without the cpu. I had gotten the mother board back from new
eggs and hooked it up and powered it up and it didn't power up and I smelled
something burning. Now having gotten a new power suppled (premiere pro) I
see the board is dead and I'm trying to get them to cover it.
 
James said:
No they didn't require the other parts but the tech guy asked if I
could. I have another machine so I don't need them and it would be
easier because I wouldn't have to dismount the cooler again.

I'll probably do it just to get things resolved quicker, I just had
some thoughts they if they mysteriously lost my stuff there'd be no
way for me to legally recover from it.

thanks

You had replied to another of my posts when I was asking whether
motherboard would powerup without the cpu. I had gotten the mother
board back from new eggs and hooked it up and powered it up and it
didn't power up and I smelled something burning. Now having gotten a
new power suppled (premiere pro) I see the board is dead and I'm
trying to get them to cover it.
Click to expand...

If you have an e-mail from them requesting that you include the other
hardware than their PSU then that would probably provide sufficient
proof in small claims court. Make sure you inventory the hardware you
are sending them, like the brand, model, and serial number of the
motherboard, the CPU brand, model, and speed, and the memory brand and
specs. Presumably they must first send you an RMA number before you can
send the stuff to them. Make sure that somewhere during the RMA
creation process that it gets recorded what you are sending in to them.
If they cannot record it in their RMA, then send them an e-mail with the
list to have them respond that those components are acceptable. Cover
your ass!

I really don't see why they need anything other than their own PSU and
only their own PSU. They do not need your other components to determine
if the PSU is bad. They might want the other components to see if they
are bad and damaged the PSU. However, the Antec PSU should have
over-amperage protection so even a short in the header pins or on the
mobo or in the drives should have shutdown the PSU (and it will reset
after a thermal fuse eventually resets) or blown an internal fuse
(rarely are they externally available anymore so you can replace it and
instead you have to open the PSU case). In fact, I can't see why they
would want your components at all since they should have test benches
primarily setup to verify operation of their own equipment.

If it was just the PSU that is bad but you send in all the other stuff
then you don't have any of that other stuff on hand should they be okay.
After 8 to 10 weeks and still no resolution or replacement PSU sent
back, you might find buying another one and getting it quick to get your
system back up is more desirable than waiting another couple months. I
sent in a mobo once for warranty repair and it was 6 months before they
decided to replace it (after LOTS of phone calls and letters to them)
and another couple months before they finally shipped it and it got to
me, for a total of 8 months without the motherboard. I had built a
replacement system after 2 months of waiting (but I wasn't just going to
surrender my mobo to them).
 
Vanguardx said:
If you have an e-mail from them requesting that you include the other
hardware than their PSU then that would probably provide sufficient
proof in small claims court. Make sure you inventory the hardware you
are sending them, like the brand, model, and serial number of the
motherboard, the CPU brand, model, and speed, and the memory brand and
specs. Presumably they must first send you an RMA number before you can
send the stuff to them. Make sure that somewhere during the RMA
creation process that it gets recorded what you are sending in to them.
If they cannot record it in their RMA, then send them an e-mail with the
list to have them respond that those components are acceptable. Cover
your ass!

I really don't see why they need anything other than their own PSU and
only their own PSU. They do not need your other components to determine
if the PSU is bad. They might want the other components to see if they
are bad and damaged the PSU. However, the Antec PSU should have
over-amperage protection so even a short in the header pins or on the
mobo or in the drives should have shutdown the PSU (and it will reset
after a thermal fuse eventually resets) or blown an internal fuse
(rarely are they externally available anymore so you can replace it and
instead you have to open the PSU case). In fact, I can't see why they
would want your components at all since they should have test benches
primarily setup to verify operation of their own equipment.

If it was just the PSU that is bad but you send in all the other stuff
then you don't have any of that other stuff on hand should they be okay.
After 8 to 10 weeks and still no resolution or replacement PSU sent
back, you might find buying another one and getting it quick to get your
system back up is more desirable than waiting another couple months. I
sent in a mobo once for warranty repair and it was 6 months before they
decided to replace it (after LOTS of phone calls and letters to them)
and another couple months before they finally shipped it and it got to
me, for a total of 8 months without the motherboard. I had built a
replacement system after 2 months of waiting (but I wasn't just going to
surrender my mobo to them).


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Click to expand...

Well I don't have an email from them asking for anything. I spoke with them
on the phone and I sent them an RMA request form and on that form are all
the things I'm sending them and they approved that.

The PSU killed two motherboards.When I removed the unit from the case I
could hear something rattling around in the unit. It eventually fell through
one of the slots and it looks like part of a chip. Black with the word
MOROCCO imprinted on it. So something blew apart inside.

Small claims court I think would not be an option because I'm here in Boston
and they're in CA. I don't think I can file remotely.
 
James said:
Well I don't have an email from them asking for anything. I spoke
with them on the phone and I sent them an RMA request form and on
that form are all the things I'm sending them and they approved that.
Click to expand...

If the RMA form listed the motherboard (and CPU and RAM) then you're
probably covered as well as you can be.
The PSU killed two motherboards.When I removed the unit from the case
I could hear something rattling around in the unit. It eventually
fell through one of the slots and it looks like part of a chip. Black
with the word MOROCCO imprinted on it. So something blew apart inside.
Click to expand...

Well, if you are sure the motherboards are fried then you don't lose on
the availability of your computer because they're dead now. Did you
ever try another PSU to make sure the motherboards were really fried?
Small claims court I think would not be an option because I'm here in
Boston and they're in CA. I don't think I can file remotely.
Click to expand...

There's the question of where was the point-of-sale for the transaction
(i.e., which state). Is it where the company is incorporated that
presents a worldwide presence via a web site, or is it where the
purchaser resides? I free call to your State Attorney's Office will
resolve that (they'll usually answer 1 question over the phone).
 
Vanguardx said:
If the RMA form listed the motherboard (and CPU and RAM) then you're
probably covered as well as you can be.


Well, if you are sure the motherboards are fried then you don't lose on
the availability of your computer because they're dead now. Did you
ever try another PSU to make sure the motherboards were really fried?


There's the question of where was the point-of-sale for the transaction
(i.e., which state). Is it where the company is incorporated that
presents a worldwide presence via a web site, or is it where the
purchaser resides? I free call to your State Attorney's Office will
resolve that (they'll usually answer 1 question over the phone).
Click to expand...



I bought the case locally but the company that makes the case and handles
the warranty is in CA, I'm in Boston. The company is Antec, a well known pc
case maker and they do have a www presence.
 
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