It's RMA time again folks. Goodbye A7M!!!

[bluewest11]

Yesterday I took delivery of what I thought was going to be my brand-new Asus A7M 266 DDR top of the line motherboard. The delivery guy walked up the path to my front door holding a squashed looking outer cardboard box. I opened the box to check the contents and inside was the red distinctive A7M packaging. Excellent I thought, looking forward to trying out this board with a reputation second to none. Took the package to my computer room and put on my Anti-static strap. Now it was time to give the contents my usual very detailed inspection. As soon as I opened the Asus box the three letters RMA popped into my head. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now its not like me to lose my temper but.

OOOPS, got to dash, Emmerdale is about to start. I'll be back to complete this post in a couple of hours or so. Stay tuned for part 2. I think you will find it interesting if you are someone about to buy a MB on-line.

[bluewest11]

Continued.......

Right, so I opened the box and was immediately struck by the "tatty" looking anti-static bag. I then removed the board and began my inspection. I noticed that several of the jumpers were not set at the default setting. 1: vio was set to maximum 3.45 volts instead of 3.30 volts (default). 2: vio1 was set to maximum 2.8 volts instead of 2.7 volts maximum. 3: Onboard audio jumper was set to enabled instead of disabled (default).4: There were traces of dust in and around the fan over the 761 north bridge. 5: A thumb print on the nice shiny cmos battery and a few other tale-tale signs that this board had been previously returned then repackaged. I decided to try out the board anyway despite being well within my rights to immediately demand an RMA on the spot. The board turned out to be faulty. The board seemed to work ok for about an hour or so, infact I was immpressed by the sheer speed. After running tests for an hour or so I shut down in order to have my meal. On returning to continue my testing and software installations the trouble began. I powered up and was greeted by a series of bleeps, 1 long and three short. This tells me the video card has not been detected or the video card memory is bad (there is nothing wrong with the video card). I put this down to a teething issue with a new system but the display was eventually lost altogether. The screen just looked like a TV when the aerial has been pulled out but more colourful. After trying all the usual stuff, format c, loose cards etc I realized this the situation was going to be hopeless. I have called tech support and they virtually admited that the board had been returned, repackaged and re-sold as new. Oh, forgot to mention that the bios was set on the correct date and the battery was a maxell which had been tampered with. They are now sending a replacement that will be "brand-new". It will be the 5th motherboard I have tried for this particular system when it arrives.


The moral of this story is, never assume that what you buy is brandnew. Look for the tale-tale signs and if you find them I suggest you RMA immediately. You DO NOT want anything that someone else has had before and returned. The board I got had obviously been previously owned by an overclocking fool.

Some signs to look for:

1: Double check all jumpers to make sure they match the default settings in the manual. DO NOT ASSUME FOR A SECOND THEY WILL.

2: Look for scuff marks or scratch marks in and around the connection points such as PCI slots and USB ports.

3: Check the battery to see if there are any finger marks or thumb prints and also try to find out if that make of battery is common for the board you bought (some people may swap the battery for a dud or older one from another motherboard before they RMA).

4: Look for any dust or dirt like the type you have noticed inside your own case.

5: Take note of any bios settings on first boot in particular the clock or date settings. If the date is correct then ask yourself why. Plus, Are the rest of the bios settings set at default like the manual specifies?

6: Take note of packaging including the anti-static bags (Do they look brandnew and how are they taped shut?)

7: Does the driver cd have any scratches, dust or any other marks?

8: Does the manual look like someone has been reading it (creases or pen marks inside).

9: Look around the socket with a torch to see if there are any marks on the motherboard where someone has slipped with a screwdriver whilst trying to fit a HS/F. This happens a lot especially with overclocking as many different HS/F are tried in order to lower CPU temp.

Well, I think you get the picture. I hope this post helps you out.

[d0cman]

Just the condition of the box should have been a warning.

Yeah, it sounds like you received a board that someone had sent in for RMA, but then was accidentally sent to you instead of QC. I've had it happen to me. Received a replacement monitor, box had also taken a bit of a beating, open the box and find a monitor with ink stamps and children's stickers all over it. Needless to say, the monitor was still defective.

Can't even say live and learn in my case ... nothing I could do (sigh)

[bluewest11]

Yep, you are right, the box should have been warning enough and I should have demanded an immediate RMA without wasting my time and fitting the damded thing. I don't think that the board was sent out by accident because the cables had been replaced with new ones and there had been one or two other adjustments made to try to give the appearance of a new board. I can understand that retailers will probably sell many pieces of hardware to people who do not know what they are doing and send back items that are not faulty or have been damaged by the end user through trying to overclock or incorrectly fit an HS/F and I sympathize with that. I have done business with this on-line retailer before and I will give them the benefit of the doubt this time thats why I have not mentioned their name in the posting but If it happens again, they will be plastered all over the Internet along with a warning about their retail policies. When you pay almost £160.00 for a MB you expect brandnew.

[bluewest11]

Just a quick update,

Replacement A7M arrived this morning and will be collected with a new RMA sticker on it tomorrow afternoon. I did not bother to fit the board this time as like before, same three jumpers not set at default like the manual shows and green and blue pen marks on two edges of the board as well as the tatty and obviously not brandnew appearance of the anti-static bags. I will be getting a refund not a replacement this time. There should be someone in the UK who can sell me a BRANDNEW motherboard somewhere!!! If anyone in the UK knows an on-line retailer who gets their stock straight from the manufactorer and not a distributor like "Landmarq" for example, then please let me know where I can find them.