When Is Anandtech Going To Expose Gigabyte's Failure To Support Its Products?

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TheBeagle

Senior member
Apr 5, 2005
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Good Morning Mr. Glenn & Everyone.

Obviously, this Thread has struck a really raw nerve since I started it several weeks ago. Aside from the issues with the failed N680i board, the commentary from many contributing posters seems to exhibit a rather seething discontent about a much bigger issue. The posting above from Mr. Glenn is a clear statement of that larger problem. It is the exhibited corporate mindset of Gigabyte when faced with a real problem - and how Gigabyte has failed (heretofore) to properly deal with righteous complaints concerning its products.

A prime example of that sort of mindlessness is the recent lame proposal that each N680i board owner remove their failed N680i board from its case and ship it back to Gigabyte to be "reworked." Of course, this is a classic example of "The Devil Is In The Details." Nowhere was there any mention by Gigabyte that BIOS revision support, or any other kind of support, would be available for a "reworked" board going forward. And since the N680i boards had already (a number of months ago) been declared to be EOL, to believe that Gigabyte would somehow resurrect meaningful support of an EOL'd board would border on absurd - you'd be better off to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny!

However, Gigabyte now appears to be doing that which it should have done almost a year ago - namely and quite simply stated as: STAND BY ITS CUSTOMERS!! Finally, this may now be the case, but it took months of screaming and bitching, and a recent ground swell of discontent into a FIRESTORM of anger, the likes of which I haven't seen in a long time, to cause it to happen. This sure should have been a learning experience for Gigabyte. Indeed, Gigabyte can turn this into a POSITIVE EXPERIENCE if they choose to do so.

IF Gigabyte truly learns from this fiasco, and causes a corporate-wide examination of just how they found themselves to be in such a position, they will be well on their way to having the knowledge to prevent it from ever happening again.

There is an applicable folklore story from the early frontier times in the USA, when life was very much simpler, and equally simple social pleasures were appreciated. In those early frontier days, the most common form of social interaction was known as a "Barn Dance."

The Barn Dance was very much what it sounds like. A farmer would clean out his large barn and temporarily house his livestock outside for a few hours, and put a fresh layer of straw on the earthen barn floor, and some extra lanterns where placed about. The folks from all around that local farming community would come and bring food and refreshments. Some of the guests were musicians and would likewise bring their musical instruments. Folk tunes were played, people danced, and a good, wholesome time was had by all.

As part of these local festivities, it was not unusual for the teenage son of one farmer to arrive (via horse and carriage) at the house of a neighboring farmer that had a teenage daughter, to escort her to the Barn Dance. And as the story goes, it was quite customary for the mother of that teenage farm girl to instruct her daughter as follows: (aside from telling her to keep her knickers ON!), that she must make absolutely sure to "dance with them that brung you!" Meaning, that she was to be sure to dance several dances with the young lad that was good enough to escort her safely to and from the Barn Dance.

And so, it would seem that Gigabyte may have never heard that frontier adage, and therefore never reflected on its wisdom. But it's never too late to learn something. I suggest NOW IS THE TIME Gigabyte - adopt the adage, and NEVER AGAIN FORGET "to dance with them that brung you."

Best regards to everyone. Have a nice day. TheBeagle :D :beer:

 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I agree that this is a very good step in the right direction, and will go a long way to settling the issues we have had with these boards. Still waiting on my call though. I sent the email 1 1/2 days ago (was around midnight EST on Wednesday). I may send Colin a PM.
 

Glenn

Senior member
Oct 10, 1999
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Mr. Glenn,

I woulds ask that you contact Mr. Colin and if need be start a new thread as he has and is very helpful.
I do hope you reconsider though it took some time for them to help us out as said about the 680i it truly was a doomed board from the start.
Also I hear nothing but great stuff about there Intel line up of mainboards.
Regards!

Thanks for the advice Mr. Jaggerwild, but I didn't come to this conclusion based soley on this problem. There is a discussion here concerning Gigabytes handling of rebates Here, and is one of many to be found around the deal sites on the net. I have had nothing but excellent results with all the Gigabyte products I have used, and I have used a ton! But should this type of problem crop up on the builds I do, and they check out the way they have on these issues, I am facing finacial ruin!

Someday, companies that act in this manner, will learn that they don't only risk the loss of one customer, or just those relative few that are directly affected by their actions. They need to learn that those decisions, or lack there of, has more far reaching effects than just that, which is in front of them...

My decision is partially for solidarity with those affected, but mostly because I cannot afford to trust a company like this with my logo on the system!

Good Luck all!
 

jaggerwild

Guest
Sep 14, 2007
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Good afternoon all!

Just got off the phone with Leo and he said he will contact me with details and that the request would probably be approved.
Regards!
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
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Originally posted by: evident
im in outrage that s3 suspend doesn't work on my ep35-ds3r and e8400! not to mention their ADVERTISED DES software doesn't work with it either!

Interestingly enough, I spent 20$ more (well, i got hosed on shipping and didn't notice, it was supposed to be 5$ more) to get the new EP35-DS3R board instead of the P35-DS3R. With the EP i was gaurenteed to get v2.1 of the board, which supports their new energy saver feature. I have calculated it will pay for itself quite soon, even WITH the extra shipping cost it would have paid for itself within 2 years.
I found that the neither the shipped version, nor the newer version on the website would remain stable, the software was obnoxious to keep turned on and it will CRASH after a few minutes and not come back on by itself (requiring a long process of turning it back on and enabling all the power saving features).

That was months ago, several days ago I got the latest version and the situation is the same. It crashes after some minutes. It crashes ALWAYS during shutdown, etc. And when it crashes it will no longer come back on automatically, and has to be reconfigured.

This "power saving" feature simply does not work. Worse yet, I have receiving insulting condescending remarks whenever I contacted them. When I contacted about the bios updater not working, I was told that "You do not need to update the bios". When I contacted them about bugs, they brushed them off and told me I am wrong. When I contacted them about their motherboards not working properly with memtest (or any derivative thereof) when RAID is enabled I was told to "try with only one stick of ram" (I already did, and it has nothing to do with the issue). (in previous motherboards it was when USB keyboard and mouse PS/2 emulation was enabled, they didn't even reply to my email about that, however it HAS been fixed in their newer motherboards, but "older" motherboards never received a bios patch for it)

Gigabyte has consistently been treating me very poorly. I am sticking to ASUS from now on.

PS. I forgot that gigabyte demands you UNINSTALL windows critical updates to make their driver detector website work. It has been that way during XP days, it is now that way with vista, their stuff is always incompatible with a bunch of security updates. (which means it detects your system config through exploiting security holes, very bad).

Originally posted by: aigomorla
But let me just say this, if i had to pick gigabyte vs abit id still pick gigabyte.
And if i had to chose the P35-DQ6 against ANY P35 board minus the DFI LT P35, i would still pick that gigabyte.

QFT. Last time I tried to use an abit board (less then a year ago) I went through 3 seperate RMAs and each one was defective in a different manner. After weeks without a working system I just went to frys and bought an MSI on the spot (130$, it was 80$ on newegg but I needed it now, and wanted to be able to return it if needed, they didn't have the asus I wanted) and it worked right away. I sold the last RMA I got from abit on ebay for 20$... and it cost me 100$

ECS is even worse...

In 2007 I have built 5 computers using the asus M2N-E board (nForce 570a ultra) and each and every one of them was perfect. None were defective in any way shape or form. And each booted the first time (IE, I assembled the board, turned it on, and everything worked, no fiddling about, no booting with one stick of ram to change bios settings, no messing with drives to get things work... i just built it and it worked!)
 

chriskwarren

Member
Sep 19, 2006
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Good to see that they are offering an exchange which is similar to what other companies did. People who wanted SLI will be disappointed as it seems that Gigabyte might not be releasing a 790i board but the Intel board is still more solid IMHO.

Hopefully Gigabyte will have learned from this.

We as a community need to make sure we hold all companies to their promises by posting to well-known forums such as this one. Gary and Anandtech staff/mods have done a wonderful job supporting their readers and are to be commended!
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I still have not been contacted by Leo... Anyone else send an email and not get contacted?
 

EateryOfPiza

Member
Jul 19, 2007
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Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
I still have not been contacted by Leo... Anyone else send an email and not get contacted?

I sent a email at 12:06 AM EST on 4/11, and received a reply at 8:45 PM. I can probably PM you his number. Just fire me a PM.
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Well, I don't seem to have the ability to send a private message. There are no private message icons on your post for me to click on and there is no private message center at the top of the page in my control panel....
 

EateryOfPiza

Member
Jul 19, 2007
75
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Originally posted by: Fallen Kell
Well, I don't seem to have the ability to send a private message. There are no private message icons on your post for me to click on and there is no private message center at the top of the page in my control panel....

http://forums.anandtech.com/se....aspx?ProfileID=232818

Although I ask that you email him again and wait until Tuesday before PMing me for his number. Maybe he's just slow with his emails. Btw, his number resolves to LA area in California, and he prob doesnt work on weekends.
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Ahh... found the issue with PM's that I was having... I had the option turned off in my profile :D
 

dlbetz

Member
Mar 14, 2007
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Well, They called and said I had to email them my sn, contact info, copy of invoice and would recive back a confirmation email giving me my RMA lable to ship to them the Mobo. Then their engineers would inspect my Mobo to make sure every thing is ok and then they will send me my nrw 48x-DQ6 Mobo. So it looks like I will be without a pc for awhile.
 

Smitty1705

Member
Mar 14, 2007
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I also got contact from Chuck at Gigabyte and i'm in line to get the X48-DQ6 as well. I got my email with RMA and shipping info as well. Now I just need to send my board off to them.

Smitty
 

jaggerwild

Guest
Sep 14, 2007
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Originally posted by: Smitty1705
I also got contact from Chuck at Gigabyte and i'm in line to get the X48-DQ6 as well. I got my email with RMA and shipping info as well. Now I just need to send my board off to them.

Smitty
WOW that was fast,
Guess I'll have to wait till monday to hear back from Mr. Chuck@ Gigabyte then.
Regards!

 

TheBeagle

Senior member
Apr 5, 2005
508
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Good Afternoon Everyone.

Here's a copy of my posting on the other N680i Thread concerning shipping your boards back to Gigabyte:

...............................................

A Word Of Caution! I've had more than one unpleasant experience with Gigabyte RMA folks who maintained that the corner of a board returned for RMA was "damaged." By this I mean they said it was dinged (they sent me a photo showing a dinged board corner). However, I KNOW that I packaged that board in several layers of bubble wrap, and it was set in plastic peanuts in a snug box, then inside a bigger box with packed peanuts as well. There was NO WAY that the board was capable of striking anything in that shipping environment, let alone enough to cause that type of damage.

Of course the INTERESTING part of all of this was that the board was still under warranty by Gigabyte (it had over a year of warranty left) but that model board had already been EOL'd by Gigabyte. I honestly suspect that someone at Gigabyte RMA either negligently or intentionally dinged that board corner so as to not have to repair or replace the board. I can't PROVE that contention, but when I packed it, the board was in perfect condition, obviously with no dings.

Fortunately, I insured the board for its full replacement value, so UPS had to make good on it. Considering the circumstances involved with the N680i boards and a RMA back to Gigabyte, I would STRONGLY SUGGEST that everyone fully insure their board, just in case such an "inexplicable" situation should happen to their board as well. Considering what we have had to endure concerning these failed N680i boards, I would not put any possibility out of the realm of "bad luck." I suppose the best container to ship the board back to Gigabyte is the original packaging box, with the plastic support try, then that box inside a strong exterior box, with all edges and seams well taped. It would also be wise to take several digital photos of the board from all angles, so you can prove it was in OK condition when you shipped it, just in case you have to file a damage claim with the shipper.

.................................................

Best regards to everyone, and good luck on the RMAs. Have a nice day. TheBeagle :D :beer:
 

EateryOfPiza

Member
Jul 19, 2007
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Just a quick question, if you get a new mobo, what will happen to Vista? From what I remember, Vista OEM licenses will invalidate themselves if you change motherboards.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
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Originally posted by: EateryOfPiza
Just a quick question, if you get a new mobo, what will happen to Vista? From what I remember, Vista OEM licenses will invalidate themselves if you change motherboards.
In theory, yes. But I don't think MS can afford to lose a Vista user at this point. In any case a quick phone call (hopefully no waiting) will resolve it.
 

Fallen Kell

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,212
537
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Originally posted by: EateryOfPiza
Just a quick question, if you get a new mobo, what will happen to Vista? From what I remember, Vista OEM licenses will invalidate themselves if you change motherboards.

Which is one of the reasons why everyone was warning everyone else NOT to buy OEM licenses... I got 2 copies of Vista Ultimate Upgrade (non-OEM) in the $140-150 range.... The deals have been out there, you just had to look for them. That probably is only $10-20 more then many people paid for the OEM Premiums.....
 

TheBeagle

Senior member
Apr 5, 2005
508
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Good Morning Everyone.

If your copy of Vista doesn't want to activate, you MUST use the telephone option to get it rectified. When you talk to the MS rep. (probably in India), you will be asked several standard questions. In order for you to avoid any re-activation problems, you need to simply inform the MS rep. that you had to REPLACE your motherboard due to failure, and that it also required re-installation of the OS. They will ask you on how many computers this copy of Vista is installed - Answer=One. They may ask you another question or two, but then the matter should proceed to receiving a new activation number. It would be wise to avoid any discussion of a motherboard swap, etc., as that may just confuse the whole transaction.

Best regards to everyone. Have a nice day. TheBeagle :D :beer:

 

bka4u2c

Senior member
Mar 17, 2006
551
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Originally posted by: TheBeagle
Good Morning Everyone.

If your copy of Vista doesn't want to activate, you MUST use the telephone option to get it rectified. When you talk to the MS rep. (probably in India), you will be asked several standard questions. In order for you to avoid any re-activation problems, you need to simply inform the MS rep. that you had to REPLACE your motherboard due to failure, and that it also required re-installation of the OS. They will ask you on how many computers this copy of Vista is installed - Answer=One. They may ask you another question or two, but then the matter should proceed to receiving a new activation number. It would be wise to avoid any discussion of a motherboard swap, etc., as that may just confuse the whole transaction.

Best regards to everyone. Have a nice day. TheBeagle :D :beer:

Yup, its as simple as that. I got mine from the Windows market place but I've probably had to call at least ten times due to hardware changes. Every time it has been the exact same process. Good news is though once it does activate, if I reinstall it on the same hardware it activates successfully through the Internet.
 

jaggerwild

Guest
Sep 14, 2007
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Good afternoon all!
One question, do we just send the motherbaord so connector or stuff that came with it? I just got my RMA# and want to be done soon here.
Thanks, Regards!
 

EateryOfPiza

Member
Jul 19, 2007
75
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Originally posted by: jaggerwild
Good afternoon all!
One question, do we just send the motherbaord so connector or stuff that came with it? I just got my RMA# and want to be done soon here.
Thanks, Regards!

That is a question you should probably ask your GB rep.
 

jaggerwild

Guest
Sep 14, 2007
430
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Well sense they didn't say........... By the way mine is in the mail, free shipping!
Can't wait to have a new board for my other build that has been sitting there for too long now.
 

TheBeagle

Senior member
Apr 5, 2005
508
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Good Evening Mr. JaggerMan & Everyone.

The old saying,"it's better to be safe than sorry" should be the watch phrase on these swap issues. Unless you get a clearance from your GB rep, I'd error on the side of safety - But, of course, it's your call. With all that you and everyone else has been through on this, I sure wouldn't jeopardize it for a few misc. parts.

Best regards to everyone. Have a nice evening. TheBeagle :D :beer: