Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

Oh dear, my nice 8RDA+ (bought 22/Jan/03) froze up yesterday, and will
no longer boot. Disconnected everything, and the boot still hangs at
'C1' or 'C3' or (sometimes) 'FF' .. swapped the CPU, and tried it with
various memory combinations .. no dice. When it hangs the HD light is
on, and the FD reset has happened. No beeps.

Upon inspection, 50% of the GREEN electrolytic caps are bulging &/or
leaking .. exactly zero of the (admittedly fewer) black (or are they
dark blue?) ones have that problem, so I assume someone at Epox skimmed
a few cents on capacitor supply. Is this a known problem with this board
... I thought the 'dodgy capacitors' problems were through the system 2
or 3 years back, not still present in Nov/Dec 02 when this would have
been built.

Anyone know what the UK warranty is? Or should I just give up on Epox
and get an Asus A7N78X board (my A7V133a is still running after 4-5
years, despite being a miserable VIA chipset thing). Seems like Tekheads
no longer sell Epox boards .. I wonder if there is a reason?

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

Pop over to the Epox UK website, get the phone number, and give them a ring.
I have found them more than helpful in the past regardless on if the 1 year
warranty is out or not.

--
Regards


Morgan

Hard Drive noise a problem....?

www.flyinglizard.freeserve.co.uk

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <GSV@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote in message
news:+wPeLaBVjGsAFAuy@from.is.invalid...
> Oh dear, my nice 8RDA+ (bought 22/Jan/03) froze up yesterday, and will
> no longer boot. Disconnected everything, and the boot still hangs at
> 'C1' or 'C3' or (sometimes) 'FF' .. swapped the CPU, and tried it with
> various memory combinations .. no dice. When it hangs the HD light is
> on, and the FD reset has happened. No beeps.

My old Chaintech managed to just about get through POST before restarting.
>
> Upon inspection, 50% of the GREEN electrolytic caps are bulging &/or
> leaking .. exactly zero of the (admittedly fewer) black (or are they
> dark blue?) ones have that problem, so I assume someone at Epox skimmed
> a few cents on capacitor supply. Is this a known problem with this board
> .. I thought the 'dodgy capacitors' problems were through the system 2
> or 3 years back, not still present in Nov/Dec 02 when this would have
> been built.

They wouldn't be the 6mm or so round ones by any chance? That was the
problem on my board, one was a bit dodgy looking, one looked fine, the other
(there's three together) was lifting/ pushing the seal out.
IIRC, the board was new around mid 2002, maybe a little earlier.
>
> Anyone know what the UK warranty is? Or should I just give up on Epox
> and get an Asus A7N78X board (my A7V133a is still running after 4-5
> years, despite being a miserable VIA chipset thing). Seems like Tekheads
> no longer sell Epox boards .. I wonder if there is a reason?

I have no idea how you might go about getting joy from Epox, after all, the
board is over a year old. Probably worth a try though. My board is currently
at a local ish electronics place, who are going to see if they can fix it.
News is good so far, but they've run out of the right type of capacitor. Bit
of a shame that, as it meant buying a brand new board while I wait and see.

If you don't get any luck from Epox, try asking around. I was quite happy
when a friend said he had a family member who does 4 layer PCB soldering
stuff every day

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

On Sun, 23 May 2004 10:03:17 +0100, GSV Three Minds in a Can
<GSV@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote:

>Oh dear, my nice 8RDA+ (bought 22/Jan/03) froze up yesterday, and will
>no longer boot. Disconnected everything, and the boot still hangs at
>'C1' or 'C3' or (sometimes) 'FF' .. swapped the CPU, and tried it with
>various memory combinations .. no dice. When it hangs the HD light is
>on, and the FD reset has happened. No beeps.
>
>Upon inspection, 50% of the GREEN electrolytic caps are bulging &/or
>leaking .. exactly zero of the (admittedly fewer) black (or are they
>dark blue?) ones have that problem, so I assume someone at Epox skimmed
>a few cents on capacitor supply. Is this a known problem with this board
>.. I thought the 'dodgy capacitors' problems were through the system 2
>or 3 years back, not still present in Nov/Dec 02 when this would have
>been built.
>
>Anyone know what the UK warranty is? Or should I just give up on Epox
>and get an Asus A7N78X board (my A7V133a is still running after 4-5
>years, despite being a miserable VIA chipset thing). Seems like Tekheads
>no longer sell Epox boards .. I wonder if there is a reason?


I bought my 8RDA+ a week later than you and last week I had the same
experience. I went back to the shop and they had it returned to EPOX.
According to the euopean site warranty is 24 months:
http://www.epox.nl/english/support/rma.htm
I was told it should take 2-3 weeks.

The bad thing is that they replace the capacitors with the exact same
brand. So in 1 or 2 years you probably have the same trouble.



Peter

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox (More info?)

Bitstring <vvj1b05tuehjrlb7ae0v9epuqpgkda3f90@4ax.com>, from the
wonderful person Peter Oosterhoff <hoffjes@xs4all.SKIP.THIS.nl> said
>On Sun, 23 May 2004 10:03:17 +0100, GSV Three Minds in a Can
><GSV@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>Oh dear, my nice 8RDA+ (bought 22/Jan/03) froze up yesterday, and will
>>no longer boot. Disconnected everything, and the boot still hangs at
>>'C1' or 'C3' or (sometimes) 'FF' .. swapped the CPU, and tried it with
>>various memory combinations .. no dice. When it hangs the HD light is
>>on, and the FD reset has happened. No beeps.
>>
>>Upon inspection, 50% of the GREEN electrolytic caps are bulging &/or
>>leaking .. exactly zero of the (admittedly fewer) black (or are they
>>dark blue?) ones have that problem, so I assume someone at Epox skimmed
>>a few cents on capacitor supply. Is this a known problem with this board
>>.. I thought the 'dodgy capacitors' problems were through the system 2
>>or 3 years back, not still present in Nov/Dec 02 when this would have
>>been built.
>>
>>Anyone know what the UK warranty is? Or should I just give up on Epox
>>and get an Asus A7N78X board (my A7V133a is still running after 4-5
>>years, despite being a miserable VIA chipset thing). Seems like Tekheads
>>no longer sell Epox boards .. I wonder if there is a reason?
>
>
>I bought my 8RDA+ a week later than you and last week I had the same
>experience. I went back to the shop and they had it returned to EPOX.
>According to the euopean site warranty is 24 months:
>http://www.epox.nl/english/support/rma.htm
>I was told it should take 2-3 weeks.
>
>The bad thing is that they replace the capacitors with the exact same
>brand. So in 1 or 2 years you probably have the same trouble.

Well, you never know, maybe the capacitor maker learned how to do better
in the last 12 months. However, I'm not impressed, so while I wait for
Epox to fix it (they could learn from Maxtor!) I guess I'll put an
Athlon64 or P4 mainboard (+CPU + Memory) in the system, just so I can
get at the data/applications on the disks, and inflict the repaired
8RDA+ on someone else later .. an upgrade for my wife's system or
something.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

Bitstring <c8pt58$mmm$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk>, from the wonderful person
Morgan <morgan@home.net> said
>Pop over to the Epox UK website, get the phone number, and give them a ring.
>I have found them more than helpful in the past regardless on if the 1 year
>warranty is out or not.

The warranty was actually 2 years, so I ought still be OK for a repair
(if 'waiting 3 weeks and hoping it doesn't have the same problem 3 days
after it gets back' qualifies as 'OK'). However the Epox UK site is
entirely lacking in both phone numbers and email addresses .. I guess
I'll just fill in their 'support form' (email the hard way!), &/or
hassle Tekheads about it.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

I have just visited their site and was amazed at the changes that have been
done, although it isn't too surprising as it was a few years ago since I
visited, and had an Epox board.

At that time there were phone numbers available on that site as I used them
for help in the past.But I don't have a contact number for you to try -
sorry.

I have seen some suppliers reduce their stocks, or stop selling them at all,
of Epox boards. I remember asking at one large supplier and the person
informed me it is due to them getting too many back as returns. Whether he
was right in his comments or not I'm not sure but I always thought that Epox
made damn good boards with great UK support.


It might be worth a shot at calling Tekheads.

--
Regards


Morgan

Hard Drive noise a problem....?

www.flyinglizard.freeserve.co.uk

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

Bitstring <c8sdii$k94$1@newsg3.svr.pol.co.uk>, from the wonderful person
Morgan <morgan@home.net> said
>I have just visited their site and was amazed at the changes that have been
>done, although it isn't too surprising as it was a few years ago since I
>visited, and had an Epox board.
>
>At that time there were phone numbers available on that site as I used them
>for help in the past.But I don't have a contact number for you to try -
>sorry.
>
>I have seen some suppliers reduce their stocks, or stop selling them at all,
>of Epox boards. I remember asking at one large supplier and the person
>informed me it is due to them getting too many back as returns. Whether he
>was right in his comments or not I'm not sure but I always thought that Epox
>made damn good boards with great UK support.

Epox UK actually got back to me to say that 'yeah the warranty is 2
years, and yeah, we can fix it for you'. The bad news is they seem to
want me to pay return postage to their shop, plus pay them £7.95 (by
cheque) for them to send it back. That comes to about £15 all told, plus
time and hassle .. and gets me a somewhat dodgy board back in 3 weeks
time .. whereas for £60 I can get a new A7N8N-E-Deluxe =now= (actually,
I already did).

If anyone here (in the UK!) wants a (repaired) 8RDA+ for £20, then I'll
get it fixed and sell it to them, otherwise I guess it is skip fodder (I
can salvage cables, backplates, CMOS battery, jumper caps, etc. so it is
not a complete write-off). However EPOX go down my supplier list a long
way, since they should have been aware of the electrolytic cap problems
WAY before they built these boards.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <GSV@quik.clara.co.uk> wrote in message
newsFa9TqEOvvsAFA$$@from.is.invalid...

> Epox UK actually got back to me to say that 'yeah the warranty is 2
> years, and yeah, we can fix it for you'. The bad news is they seem to
> want me to pay return postage to their shop, plus pay them £7.95 (by
> cheque) for them to send it back. That comes to about £15 all told, plus
> time and hassle .. and gets me a somewhat dodgy board back in 3 weeks
> time .. whereas for £60 I can get a new A7N8N-E-Deluxe =now= (actually,
> I already did).

15 quid to repair a board under warranty is a bit poor, but then, RTB is
like that.
>
> If anyone here (in the UK!) wants a (repaired) 8RDA+ for £20, then I'll
> get it fixed and sell it to them, otherwise I guess it is skip fodder (I
> can salvage cables, backplates, CMOS battery, jumper caps, etc. so it is
> not a complete write-off). However EPOX go down my supplier list a long
> way, since they should have been aware of the electrolytic cap problems
> WAY before they built these boards.

Where were you when my Chaintech went the same way? Would've loved paying 20
quid for a decent board with some warranty left on it, instead of spending
60 quid on a brand new one while I wait for mine to be possibly fixed.

FWIW, my board died because of caps too, and wasn't all that old either, a
couple of years or so at most. Fingers crossed my new board will outlast my
needs, but I upgrade once every 5 years at the earliest!

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

GSV Three Minds in a Can wrote:

> Epox UK actually got back to me to say that 'yeah the warranty is 2
> years, and yeah, we can fix it for you'. The bad news is they seem to
> want me to pay return postage to their shop, plus pay them £7.95 (by
> cheque) for them to send it back. That comes to about £15 all told,
> plus time and hassle .. and gets me a somewhat dodgy board back in 3
> weeks
> time .. whereas for £60 I can get a new A7N8N-E-Deluxe =now=
> (actually,
> I already did).
>
> If anyone here (in the UK!) wants a (repaired) 8RDA+ for £20, then
> I'll
> get it fixed and sell it to them, otherwise I guess it is skip fodder
> (I
> can salvage cables, backplates, CMOS battery, jumper caps, etc. so it
> is
> not a complete write-off). However EPOX go down my supplier list a
> long
> way, since they should have been aware of the electrolytic cap
> problems
> WAY before they built these boards.

But if their cap supplier said 'no, ours are OK' then what can you do?

Anyway, when did they say they became aware of the problem and
fitted good caps? I got my 8RDA+ in June last year and it runs about
18 hrs a day so I have a vested interest!

It needn't cost you £7 or £8 to send it back since you can send it
by post and as it's of low value you only need £20 compensation
if it goes adrift.

You could put it to EPoX that they should send out a refurbished
unit straight away.

--
Graham W http://www.gcw.org.uk/ PGM-FI page updated, Graphics Tutorial
WIMBORNE http://www.wessex-astro-society.freeserve.co.uk/ Wessex
Dorset UK Astro Society's Web pages, Info, Meeting Dates, Sites & Maps
Change 'news' to 'sewn' in my Reply address to avoid my spam filter..

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.epox,uk.comp.homebuilt (More info?)

Bitstring <l8Nsc.8292$NK4.971699@stones.force9.net>, from the wonderful
person Graham W <graham@his.com.puter.INVALID> said
<snip>
>> However EPOX go down my supplier list a
>> long
>> way, since they should have been aware of the electrolytic cap
>> problems
>> WAY before they built these boards.
>
>But if their cap supplier said 'no, ours are OK' then what can you do?

Always check your suppliers! When in doubt, get a bond.

>Anyway, when did they say they became aware of the problem and
>fitted good caps? I got my 8RDA+ in June last year and it runs about
>18 hrs a day so I have a vested interest!

They didn't advise me. Heck, they didn't really admit it was a known
problem, just that they could/would fix it .. however judging by other
victims sticking their hands up, it was certainly a problem around early
2003.

>It needn't cost you £7 or £8 to send it back since you can send it
>by post and as it's of low value you only need £20 compensation
>if it goes adrift.

Yep, I could get it back to them for about £4 or something, but they
still want £7.95 to courier it back to me. Actually I should wait until
next time I'm passing MK, and just waltz in the door, that'd fox them.

>You could put it to EPoX that they should send out a refurbished
>unit straight away.

I doubt they have any. Even 'big ticket' makers (I'm thinking of Eizo
TFTs here) don't seem to always carry spare stock.

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Outgoing Msgs are Turing Tested,and indistinguishable from human typing.