Bad luck: Why, oh why, does the hardware act up only after I've voided the warranty?

[Thegonagle]

I swapped the fans in my 9 month old Antec Truepower and probably shouldn't have. It runs a little (not a lot) warmer after the mod, so I don't know whether this thing would have failed within the 3 year warranty or not, but now I wish I hadn't done that.

It still runs, but the 3.3 V supply now seems to fluctuate about 2 times per second, especially at full CPU load, and it runs too low to supply the V-core @ default voltage under load, so that fluctuates too.

I tried cooling it down with an extra high-speed fan, but it's too late. The PSU is definietly on the way out now.

Now I need to BUY a new one.

I can't contribute to the SETI teAm until the new one arrives. (I've ordered the Fortron 350W with the single 120mm fan.)

Anyone else ever have bad luck like this?

 

[MplsBob]

Why, oh why, does the hardware act up only after I've voided the warranty?

.Answer: For the very same reason it always rains just after you've washed the car.

I'm sure the answer will come down to a question of Quantum Mechanics. That when our joyous expections begin setting off unharmonic oscillations, the universe has nothing left but to correct them. There seems to be quite a bit of specificity to the response. Newly shined shoes get gouges and scuffs, while freshly washed cars get rain and mud spatters.

I am sure that this will all be revealed to us at some future date when the Quantum people get a handle on this. Still, it does appear that this process is initiated by our expectations. For instance do you think for minute that we'd get mud spatters on our cars if we really wanted them? Of course not. So maybe if we mutter about how much we wanted mud spatters on our cars we would get clean cars. I'm really drowning in homework right now, but if a few of you people could experiment a bit and find out just how much muttering was required to get the result we really want. The rest of us would really appreciate it.

There now, doesn't that help you understand the sitution a little better Mister/Mrs/Miss/Ms Thegonagle?

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: MplsBob

Why, oh why, does the hardware act up only after I've voided the warranty?

.Answer: For the very same reason it always rains just after you've washed the car.

I'm sure the answer will come down to a question of Quantum Mechanics. That when our joyous expections begin setting off unharmonic oscillations, the universe has nothing left but to correct them.

LOL. The unharmonic oscillations have concentrated themselves in the electron potential of my 3.3 volt power supply.

(Mpls in screen name is shorthand for Minneapolis)

I knew that.

I need to study too. I'll probably go to the Wilson library to get some productive work done, because all I ever do at home is play with my computers.

 

[apoppin]

Bad luck: Why, oh why, does the hardware act up only after I've voided the warranty?

You answered your OWN question in the first two words of your topic's title.

you said it, L-U-C-K and just MAYBE bad judgement . . . can't you swap the fan back IN and rma it?

And NO, most of my stuff fails just BEFORE the warranty expires . . . (PIII 600, numerious PCI cards, radeon 8500, Dell Inspiron 4100, my last monitor) - I also don't mod stuff so as to void the warranty . . . if it doesn't come stock the way I want it, I don't buy it . . .

The only thing I can recently think of that failed just after warranty was my Soyo Tisu MB - but that was such a POS and the Soyo tech support so INCOMPETITENT, I couldn't wait to pull it out of my case and toss it in the trash.
(I got to do the ULTIMATE mod - with a Big HAMMER .. . . I'd like to send THAT back to Soyo)

 

[sharkeeper]

This is by design.

Cheers!

 

[EeyoreX]

It is also possible that things break because you have done something that voids the warranty... And bad luck is also likely.

can't you swap the fan back IN and rma it?

That would be fraud. Don't make the manufacturer pay for your screwup.

\Dan

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX
It is also possible that things break because you have done something that voids the warranty... And bad luck is also likely.

can't you swap the fan back IN and rma it?

That would be fraud. Don't make the manufacturer pay for your screwup.

\Dan

Don't worry. I wasn't planning on it. I broke the tamper seals and even if those weren't there, I think my soldering job on the fans would still be clear evidence against me.

I'd actually like to eventually diagnose and replace the failed component(s).

I'm really just bummed because I gambled a $60 PSU and lost. I figure it would have gone eventually anyway, because it's really not much warmer than before, but now I have no warranty.

 

[apoppin]

Fraud - not my suggestion!
. . . soldered in, uh . . . you said "swapped" in your original post without being specific.

next time might wanna make absolutely certain your modification is an improvement.

Just consider your $60 as a part of your "lesson".

 

[EeyoreX]

Even if he just unplugged the original fan and plugged a different one in and the PSU was damaged, it would still be fraud. Also, you can't know that an "improvement" won't be an improvement until after you do it. Nothing is guaranteed, and personally, I think its rediculous to suggest otherwise. Overclocking, modifying, altering is always a gamble. Anytime you do something that voids a warranty or changes settings to run out of specification, you don't know weather or not the modification will be an improvement until you try. And anytime you try you run the risk of damaging something. That's life. You can live on the edge (or closer to it ) and mod or overclock. Or, you can be a wuss like me and run everything stock.

\Dan

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: EeyoreX
Even if he just unplugged the original fan and plugged a different one in and the PSU was damaged, it would still be fraud. Also, you can't know that an "improvement" won't be an improvement until after you do it. Nothing is guaranteed, and personally, I think its rediculous to suggest otherwise. Overclocking, modifying, altering is always a gamble. Anytime you do something that voids a warranty or changes settings to run out of specification, you don't know weather or not the modification will be an improvement until you try. And anytime you try you run the risk of damaging something. That's life. You can live on the edge (or closer to it ) and mod or overclock. Or, you can be a wuss like me and run everything stock.

\Dan

Thank-you for your definition of fraud.

And you can minimize your "gamble" by doing research. (rasonable) O/C'ing is rarely a gamble anymore and many MBs are designed specifically for o/c'ing "research". Even ATI and nVidia "condone" utilities that o/c their product.

Everything isn't absolutely black and white.

 

[Thegonagle]

Yep. Soldered. The original fans didn't use any standard plugs that I could find, so I just unsoldered/resoldered the fan leads right at the fan motors. I like to solder anyway. It's a skill I have and I like to use it in my hobbies whenever appropriate. I don't believe in the twist'n'tape method--too messy looking, amateurish, and unreliable for me. Plus, it's kind of fun, to me, anyway.

 

[EeyoreX]

Thank-you for your definition of fraud.

My definition of fraud seems to match that of the dictionary's deffinition. I don't see a way to send that PSU back for a replacement flollowing policies I am aware of. Unless one said "Look, Mr. Manufacturer. I opened your PSU and replaced the fan, FUBAR'd the PSU, put the original fan back in, and now would like to to pay for my replacement."

A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain.

I will admit I don't pay attention to the overclocking utilities put out by nVidia or ATI. Are these products warranteed? Or are they "as is" products?

\Dan