robo989 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Helllo, well I'm not having much luck, I just got my SLI-DR back from being RMA'd to http://www.overclockers.co.uk And with it a nice receipt saying "Warraty VOID" with the reason... "CPU Cooland Found In CPU Socket"!!! Which isn't true!!! Basically the board won't POST, its got nothing to do with any CPU coolant... They saw that there was a tiny amount of the thermal paste (not an electrical conductor) in the CPU socket and have instantly jumped to the conclusion that its cpu coolant!!!!!! I am not a happy bunny... I was just curious where I stand on this, what is DFI's stance? It is just thermal paste from when you mount the cpu in the socket with a vapochill. Thats got nothing to do with the mobo and certainly should't affect the warranty. The board has not been modded in any way and it has a the 623-2 or -3 bios in it I can't remember. How on earth can you refuse a warranty for there being thermal paste visible on the mobo? If it was arctic silver I could maybe see why, but this is just that white crap, its only on the socket input, not on any components at all... They are gonna have what for later on I can tell them now!!! I'd like some opinions on this, or facts hopefully, does having white thermal paste on the cpu socket automatically mean you have no warranty? These boards cost £150! Thanks for your help with this, Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay76 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 I'm not sure what you should do here, but don't tell overclockers.co.uk that you used a vapochill as that automatically invalidates the warranty! :eek2: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrp65 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Now when I put my system together I didn't see anything about putting "white crap - coolant or whatever" anywhere on my CPU or Mobo ... I am not siding with them but I can see them saying that that was not part of the standard build instructions. Did you see anything that said add coolant to the cpu socket? I agree this probably has nothing to do with your issue. But it probably gives them a reason to void your warranty. This is not what you want to hear I know. Maybe you should clean it up and send it back. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robo989 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Hello again, thank you very much for the replies, I was thinking of telling them that it had had a vapochill on it. But I thought I should post here to see if thats wise it looks like its not a good idea... Just to clarify... There was NO COOLANT on the cpu socket, there WAS thermal paste (basically crap quality stuff that is white and doesn't conduct electricity, it could be plastered all over the board and it still would cause the board to mess up) When you install a vapochill, you are supposed to cover ALL the cpu pins in this stuff, then put it in the socket. Whats happened is when I've taken the cpu out its left some there - quite normal... I've cleared all of it off except very very small amounts around where some of the pins go in - Its impossible to identify what the substance is, it could very well be toothpaste for all they know.... They just sent me a receipt saying the warranty is void with the reason as and I quote "Cooling in cpu socket"... This is simply not true, they received the mobo yesterday and returned it today!!! I'm absolutely certain that they just saw the white residue and jumped to conclusions that it was cpu coolant... Hell, my vapochill would be RMA'd by now if that was the case!!! I've never even seen any cpu coolant. Please please help me with some excuse I can make, its not as if it expressly says "If you have thermal paste in the cpu socket your warranty is void"!!! the paste has no effect on the running of the board and the board is totally as new other than that... I have not touched or removed or messed with anything!!! heeeeelllllpppp!!!! thank you , Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bulldog Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Dear Sir: Provide me the serial number of your board as well as any associated RMA numbers assigned to you and/or Overclocker's UK and I will look into this matter. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bulldog Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 PS: If possible send me a digital picture of the CPU socket in question. You can send it to [email protected] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cythrawl Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Hello again, thank you very much for the replies, I was thinking of telling them that it had had a vapochill on it. But I thought I should post here to see if thats wise it looks like its not a good idea... Just to clarify... There was NO COOLANT on the cpu socket, there WAS thermal paste (basically crap quality stuff that is white and doesn't conduct electricity, it could be plastered all over the board and it still would cause the board to mess up) When you install a vapochill, you are supposed to cover ALL the cpu pins in this stuff, then put it in the socket. He's quite correct that you have to apply some kind of thermal grease to the CPU Pins. Generally its better to use this stuff http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/merchant....oduct_Code=9345 . However what I would try to do is this... Get some Isopropyl Alchohol and a Techbrush (part number #2032) and apply copius amounts of achohol to the brush and clean the socket and the underside of your CPU. Whats even better is to try and get hold of some Micro Care Precision Cleaner II. Both of those products do not conduct and dry rapidly. Once your socket and CPU has been cleaned out, try it again using the stock cooler (Just to make sure the board still works). If it does, then try the dielectric grease I suggested or even Vaseline to protect the pins from corrosion, just apply a thin layer to make sure that the pins are covered and the underside of the CPU.. you DO NOT need to apply it to the socket as well. It may just be that theres too much grease in the socket and the pin is NOT making a contact in the socket. But I really dont think that you have damaged your board. However DFI and AMD for that matter have every right to void the warrenty as you are not using the standard cooling system on said CPU and mobo. You have DEFINTALY voided your CPU warrenty by using a different cooler than the stock one (Dont believe me? then read your AMD Warrentee), but hey I'd say that at leat 90% of us on this board have also voided our AMD 3yr warrenty Really thats the risk you take for using non-standard (but VERY good) cooling I guess.. I know its not what you want to hear, but I dont think that its disasterous.....yet... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robo989 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 whooa whoa calm down, no need for the aggressive undertones!!! I'm not having a go! Basically there is VIRTUALLY no paste visible on the cpu socket, but it is still visible, I've been over it with alcohol as much as is humanly possibly, without sticking anything actually in the holes, so there is paste visible right on the top of some of the holes... It has in NO way affected the product and to say as such would be madness if you had seen what it looks like... The mobo went knees up - THEN I sent it, the fact of the thermal paste being visible is the reason they won't RMA it - NOT the cause of the problem. The only reason its even been mentioned is because overclockers.co.uk seem to think that its "CPU Coolant" and it has leaked onto the board (I pressume)... I fully realise absolutely that I have voided the warranty of the CPU - as well as the extra warranty AMD provide, I'm not an imbecile (I do not mean that to sound aggressive - but I am fully aware of their policy and was before I bought the product just to make that clear)... I can fully understand the CPU warranty beign voided - The vapochill is for cooling the cpu and cools it to -40c so thats obvious! It is NOT in contact with the motherboard - there is no mention anywhere that using a Vapochill WILL VOIDE the motherboard warranty...Modifications, yes but using an alternative cooling solution to whats considered "normal" is not a reason for not honouring a warranty! The thing thats really annoyed me is that overclockers.co.uk didn't even bother contacting me by emailphone to discuss it and just sent it back... Its very difficult to get though to their tech support so I really am quite worried Sorry for the rant Here is my RMA number from overclockers.co.uk... 69290 Where do I find the serial number for the board? Can't seem to see it on the board, thank you , Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bulldog Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 There is a sticker affixed to the side of the first PCI Express slot that says "Warranty Void if Removed". It also has a barcode, and underneath that a serial number that will state something like U5........ Let me know what this "U5" code is. Don't forget the digital picture if possible. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cythrawl Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 whooa whoa calm down, no need for the aggressive undertones!!! I'm not having a go! Basically there is VIRTUALLY no paste visible on the cpu socket, but it is still visible, I've been over it with alcohol as much as is humanly possibly, without sticking anything actually in the holes, so there is paste visible right on the top of some of the holes... It has in NO way affected the product and to say as such would be madness if you had seen what it looks like... I wasnt having a go, in fact I wasn't even being agressive. I was just giving some facts out thats all and on where you stand. And as far as sticking something in the holes a brush will do the job nicely (just make sure its anti static). The mobo went knees up - THEN I sent it, the fact of the thermal paste being visible is the reason they won't RMA it - NOT the cause of the problem. The only reason its even been mentioned is because overclockers.co.uk seem to think that its "CPU Coolant" and it has leaked onto the board (I pressume)... And therein lies your problem. Overclockers.co.uk are notoriously bad these days. I remember when you could get unlocked CPU's back in the day and they were very good. But now, I KNOW that they are bad. I used to live in the UK, and my family still do, My brother has bought a 7800GTX from them and its bad, He got a replacement and this too was ALSO bad. he's had to wait for a refund (30 days I think which is just plain wrong and probably breaks some laws) and now will not buy from them again. He buys a 7800GTX from elsewhere (scan I think) and lo and behold it works. It seems to me that they had some success in the past and its all gone to thier heads and now they employ dip-crap who dont even care for the customer anymore (as your case clearly shows yet again). My advice is once you have this sorted, never EVER buy from them again. I fully realise absolutely that I have voided the warranty of the CPU - as well as the extra warranty AMD provide, I'm not an imbecile (I do not mean that to sound aggressive - but I am fully aware of their policy and was before I bought the product just to make that clear)... I never said you WAS an imbecile. In fact quite a few people dont EVEN know that fact and I was just clarifying it just in case you also didnt. There was a case on here where a user damaged his capactors on the board due to him not taking care, with a screwdriver and got peeved that I said that it was accidental damage and probably would not be covered by any warrenty. Some people are just like that, they buy something and expect the moon on a stick from the supplier. Just imagine that if they walked around on a carpet shuffeling thier feet wearing only socks and while holding a Dimm and brushing thier hair with it that they think that it SHOULD be covered under thier warrentee, when quite clearly its not. All im saying is that it MIGHT not be covered by even DFI's warrentee thats all. Its always best to prepare for the worst, then if it the worst DOES happen, then you are ready for it.. Im not saying that you wont get a replacement, in fact I personally think that you WILL get it replaced as I doubt that the grease has anything to do with it (other than perhaps not making a contact) If you took that as a dig at you being dumb then Im sorry, it was not meant to be that way. Again I was not having a go and Im sorry if you took it that way, I was just clearly stating some facts (Which I believe you asked for in your first post, not to be a smartass ) I can fully understand the CPU warranty beign voided - The vapochill is for cooling the cpu and cools it to -40c so thats obvious! It is NOT in contact with the motherboard - there is no mention anywhere that using a Vapochill WILL VOIDE the motherboard warranty...Modifications, yes but using an alternative cooling solution to whats considered "normal" is not a reason for not honouring a warranty! Technically, yes they can... Will they? I dont think so. Addidng a vapochill Cooler requires you to do some modifcations to the motherboard (Insulating it etc) While its true that its not physically modifying it, its still classed as non-standard equipment. I doubt the DFI will be harsh and dink about it and say that the warrenty is void due to you using a vapochill on it, however if some damage has arised due to you incorrectly installing the vapochill, be it by accident or not, then no they wont cover it. Remember that a vapochill cooler is NOT standard and is probably installed on your hardware AT YOUR OWN RISK. Thats the point I was trying to get across thats all, again sorry if it seems that I wast taking this for granted. The thing thats really annoyed me is that overclockers.co.uk didn't even bother contacting me by emailphone to discuss it and just sent it back... Its very difficult to get though to their tech support so I really am quite worried Sorry for the rant Here is my RMA number from overclockers.co.uk... 69290 Where do I find the serial number for the board? Can't seem to see it on the board, thank you , Rob Well like I said above im not suprised about the tech support being lousy. Really I think dealing with DFI Direct is probably your best bet if at all possible. Which hopefully Bulldog will sort out for you... Remember, Never EVER use Overclockers.co.uk again... go elsewhere and maybe pay the few quid more.. and you had every right to rant, but as with what happens 90% of the time on Forums, etc ppl just misinterpret what others are trying to say and how they are saying it... Again, I didnt mean to insult, or anger you... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robo989 Posted August 18, 2005 Posted August 18, 2005 Nah about the aggressive thing, I was aggressivly making sure that I wasn't being all high and mighty to make sure that it be known I'm not - no agro here - and I thank you for your input its very interesting...Especially about overclockers.co.uk, I've know the site for a few years and it used to be really good, they used to sell pre-unlocked radeons and what not also. It takes 30 mins to get though to them and then you speak to some 18-20 year old (heck I'm only 20) who sounds like they really couldn't give a damn... I certainly won't be buying anything from them again after this...You'll find that overclockers.co.uk are actually more expensivem, just they do stock some stuff that other places don't... I've just spent (on this pc recently) about £1500 and at least £2000-£2500 in the last couple of years... If I could just say one more thing on them, I bought a coolermaster stacker that came with a 4-in-3 module, then a few days later ordered another one when it said they were "in stock" - they billed me! Then I waited 2 weeks still nothing (there was some other stuff on the order as well) After calling them up, it turned out the other stuff had been ready to send straight away but they didn't really have any modules in stock... And get this, they were waiting for them and they didn't even have any idea of when they were coming in, the total of my order was £250, and they wouldn't send to save them postage for their own cockup, anyway eventually hasstled them to send the rest of my stuff. Was waiting another 3 WEEKS and still no sign of the module, when I called them up, they said they had no sign of the order ever being made... Convenitenly I checked my bank and they had refunded me the cost of the module...3 days before, and guess what, they are NEVER stocking them again, its a little annoying having 2 sata hard drives "hanging" out your case... They are so up themselves its unreal, their forums have degenerated into nerdy testosterone infested scab hole over the last 2.5 years also... I will say no more on them......... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ My Serial Number is... D51206541 I don't have a digital camera sorry so I can't take a picture, I hope that doesn't cause any problems... Anyway thanks everyone for your feedback and advice and thanks DFI support for taking the time to help me its quite reassuring. cheers again. Rob Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoL-Shiver Posted August 19, 2005 Posted August 19, 2005 VERY OFFTOPIC.... Some people are just like that, they buy something and expect the moon on a stick from the supplier. Just imagine that if they walked around on a carpet shuffeling thier feet wearing only socks and while holding a Dimm and brushing thier hair with it that they think that it SHOULD be covered under thier warrentee, when quite clearly its not. LOL AHAHAHAHA. that my friend, is awesome. how do i put a single post link in my sig. LOL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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