- Oct 30, 1999
- 11,815
- 104
- 106
So I get some CPU's back from some customers on RMA sometimes... and they're dead. 
How?
How are they dead?
I mean, you do have some mortality rate on CPU's, but I'll have some customers that will fry two CPU's in a row or the only thing they buy from us is a CPU and it ends up dead... and I'm like "WTF?!?!"
I shouldn't admit this, but once upon a time a person in our warehouse dropped four trays of Athlon XP 1900+ CPU's (10 CPU's per tray). Some of the pins got bent, so the powers that be were concerned with the condition and functionality of the CPU's. I spent an entire day straightening out pins and testing each and every CPU by firing it up into Windows and running Passmark burn in on each one.
Every single CPU I had tested had worked and passed the Passmark burn in with flying colors.
So here's an example of 40 out of 40 CPU's that had been dropped on the floor and despite this all tested good.
Yet I still get the occasional, "you guys sent me a dead CPU!".
And they wonder why I'm skeptical?
My work builds entire PC's too. We'll crank out about 200 units until we have one with a bad CPU. And usually it's not a completely dead CPU, it's just flakey or something. I'll actually have a bad power supply before I get a bad CPU when we're building them. Wish the same could be true when Joe Enduser is building them.
How? How are you people frying all of these CPU's? Sure, they're not bullet proof, but COME ON!!!!
We had one customer that bought a chip and fried it. Sure it could've really been DOA, but let's just say for now that he fried it.
I issued an RMA number and got it back from him.
The CPU was in fact dead as a door nail. The customer did not buy anything else from us and was right up on his 15 day warranty, so to make sure we would have no problems with the customer in the future, I pre-tested his replacement in a motherboard by running Passmark and 3DMark2001SE on it. It was good, so I shipped it out to him.
After he got it back, he e-mailed me telling me that it was "also dead". I told him that it was not dead because we tested it here first. He said that he not only tried it in his brand new board, but also tried it in a friend's known good board and it didn't work in it either. Well of course not. You had already fried it by then.
I told him that if the CPU is dead, then he either fried it by not installing the HSF correctly (if at all) or he has a faulty motherboard that's frying chips. Either way, neither part was bought from us and the CPU was documented as a functioning unit when it left the shop so there was nothing I could do for him.
He sent an email, "If there's nothing you can do for me, you can talk to my lawyer. Either that or give me a refund when I return this faulty processor."
I simply responded, "What's your lawyer's name. I would like our lawyer to clarify with him that the CPU was not faulty.. you fried it."
How?
How are they dead?
I mean, you do have some mortality rate on CPU's, but I'll have some customers that will fry two CPU's in a row or the only thing they buy from us is a CPU and it ends up dead... and I'm like "WTF?!?!"
I shouldn't admit this, but once upon a time a person in our warehouse dropped four trays of Athlon XP 1900+ CPU's (10 CPU's per tray). Some of the pins got bent, so the powers that be were concerned with the condition and functionality of the CPU's. I spent an entire day straightening out pins and testing each and every CPU by firing it up into Windows and running Passmark burn in on each one.
Every single CPU I had tested had worked and passed the Passmark burn in with flying colors.
So here's an example of 40 out of 40 CPU's that had been dropped on the floor and despite this all tested good.
Yet I still get the occasional, "you guys sent me a dead CPU!".
And they wonder why I'm skeptical?
My work builds entire PC's too. We'll crank out about 200 units until we have one with a bad CPU. And usually it's not a completely dead CPU, it's just flakey or something. I'll actually have a bad power supply before I get a bad CPU when we're building them. Wish the same could be true when Joe Enduser is building them.
How? How are you people frying all of these CPU's? Sure, they're not bullet proof, but COME ON!!!!
We had one customer that bought a chip and fried it. Sure it could've really been DOA, but let's just say for now that he fried it.
I issued an RMA number and got it back from him.
The CPU was in fact dead as a door nail. The customer did not buy anything else from us and was right up on his 15 day warranty, so to make sure we would have no problems with the customer in the future, I pre-tested his replacement in a motherboard by running Passmark and 3DMark2001SE on it. It was good, so I shipped it out to him.
After he got it back, he e-mailed me telling me that it was "also dead". I told him that it was not dead because we tested it here first. He said that he not only tried it in his brand new board, but also tried it in a friend's known good board and it didn't work in it either. Well of course not. You had already fried it by then.
I told him that if the CPU is dead, then he either fried it by not installing the HSF correctly (if at all) or he has a faulty motherboard that's frying chips. Either way, neither part was bought from us and the CPU was documented as a functioning unit when it left the shop so there was nothing I could do for him.
He sent an email, "If there's nothing you can do for me, you can talk to my lawyer. Either that or give me a refund when I return this faulty processor."
I simply responded, "What's your lawyer's name. I would like our lawyer to clarify with him that the CPU was not faulty.. you fried it."
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