Need some advice, What am I entitled to? (Gigabyte RMA)

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 01:22

FINAL UPDATE BELOW (REMOVED ORIGINAL INFO)

Okay so on receiving the laptop back unfortunately there was some damage.On sending the laptop the first time there was slight damage already to the chassis. Unfortunately during the replacement of the internal components this was worsened and is therefore why it now flexes. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BcP0BBPozI

Fortunately however Gigabyte were quick to act and have now offered me a full refund through Overclockers. Although this whole thing has been stressful I want to point out that this is probably a one in a million case. Gigabyte do offer great products and most of them are absolutely fine. Unfortunately this wasn't the case for me but i'm glad that it's now sorted.

Being in direct contact with both the engineer and UK manager was also great and they offered good advice and generally made the whole process a lot easier.

I hope you guys understand this and see that the final outcome was positive. Take into consideration what's happened but don't let it completely put you off.

I want to thank all of the guys i spoke to at Gigabyte as well as OCUK and those of you who helped out on here.

Jokester · 17 Jul 2014 at 07:43

How old is it?

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 08:54

Its just over 8 months old, has a 2 year warranty with Gigabyte. From the research I've done I'm not expecting a full refund but hopefully I can at least get a depreciated one based on how long I've had the laptop for.

Jokester · 17 Jul 2014 at 09:05

To me, it sounds like it's a heat issue because of it not starting again straight away. Do you know what the guy actually did to it?

If it's not fixed, you should be able to get a replacement (probably a refurb) easily enough.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 09:24

As far as I'm aware he cleaned the heatsinks and fans and reinstalled windows 8.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 10:44

So now they want me to send the laptop back to them again for another repair. I've also been told that it's not a good idea to update the graphics drivers at all and stay on Windows 8 instead of 8.1. Seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

As far as the technician is aware i cannot be compensated at all and they can only offer a repair. Considering the laptop was fine 2 weeks ago with Windows 8.1 and the latest drivers for the GPU I find it hard to believe that the problem lies there.

What am i supposed to do if they cant fix it? Really not happy atm :/

adeel2788 · 17 Jul 2014 at 11:20

A couple of questions if you dont mind answering:

1. Does this stuttering only happen in games?
2. When you are gaming, have you checked task manager ? Does it show irregularity?
3. Have you tried disabling pagefiles to run any particular game?

P.S. I just bought a gigabyte laptop and reading your story really disturbs me.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 11:31

Yeah the stuttering only occurs in games. I had originally narrowed it down to DPC latency but now if i'm honest I havent got a clue. I'm pretty confident with computers and have grown up with them doing all kinds of repairs. This is the first time i've genuinely been stuck after a week of trying to fix it myself. That's why i sent it for repair.

Task manager shows no irregularity

How would i go about disabling page files?

The laptop was fine up until now. I was recommending them to everyone and the support service have at least been quick in responding to me. I just feel like they could have done more. And now i'm looking at another week without my laptop which is really not good. Being advised that i shouldnt update any drivers etc also just seemed ludicrous.

I will keep this thread updated with how my experience goes.

oweneades · 17 Jul 2014 at 11:54

Try running MSI Afterburner and monitor the GPU temperatures. With the speed you are seeing the stuttering it could be a sign of the GPU throttling to stay within its temperature target. The action of the GPU downclocking to reduce temps and then clocking back up repeated can cause (very) noticable stutter.

If this is the case then it's the HSF installation (or TIM) that is at fault.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 12:05

I'm almost certain that its a hardware issue. The system is running really hot even when idling on the desktop.

I've asked multiple times for some kind of compensation and just to return the laptop to them but they wont have it. So sending it in for another repair. Yay.

If I'm honest I feel pretty let down. For a product that is priced so high and advertised as a premium product the service seems poor. But I'm stuck with it now so not a lot I can do.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 12:15

Also even if they repair it I've been told that I can't upgrade to windows 8.1 or update my graphics card drivers :l Idek what to do now.

oweneades · 17 Jul 2014 at 12:24

Robbsy said:
Also even if they repair it I've been told that I can't upgrade to windows 8.1 or update my graphics card drivers :l Idek what to do now.

Well that point is total crap. There is no technical reason why you can't run Win 8.1 or the latest GPU drivers. Heck the latest versions of what will be a similar laptop will be running 8.1 anyway.....

If it is running hot at idle this does sound like either a poor TIM paste job / HSF re-assembly by the technician (assuming this was re-applied - did they not do any testing :confused:

) or an actual fault with the CPU/GPU itself.

You laptop should be idling in the 30's/40's and load somewhere in the 70's/80's (assuming a core i7 4700MQ and 765m GPU).

adeel2788 · 17 Jul 2014 at 12:55

Come to think of it and what oweneades has said, I believe it is a hardware failure with your GPU, maybe they opened you the heatsink on the GPU and did not apply any thermal paste.
Just try one other test, run the game on low resolution and low textures, if there are no stutters, then the GPU has VRAM issues.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 12:59

It idles at 70-90 and is an i7 4700HQ with GTX765m

oweneades · 17 Jul 2014 at 13:07

Robbsy said:
It idles at 70-90 and is an i7 4700HQ with GTX765m

Assuming the system works in the sense that are no obvious artifacting etc then it does sound like something is awry with the cooling*. I would be tempted to fix it myself (if it was mine) but honestly this is what the warranty is for.

*I would say hardware failure or hardware fault but generally you would notice more than just high temperatures.

Robbsy · 17 Jul 2014 at 17:45

oweneades said:
Assuming the system works in the sense that are no obvious artifacting etc then it does sound like something is awry with the cooling*. I would be tempted to fix it myself (if it was mine) but honestly this is what the warranty is for.

*I would say hardware failure or hardware fault but generally you would notice more than just high temperatures.

Yeah games don't work haha. I'm pretty sure it's the GPU.

Robbsy · 18 Jul 2014 at 09:50

Quick update for anyone that's interested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MgZV_i-fvc

This video shows the exact problem. If you've got any knowledge that could help me or the engineer out in fixing this it would be much appreciated

adeel2788 · 18 Jul 2014 at 10:08

Hi Robbsy,

Judging by the video, I could not hear the fans on the back ramp up, normally they do. This might be causing the heat and shut down.

Previously when you gamed perfectly, were the fans more noisier than this ?

Another thing you could try is swapping the HDD or defragment the current one.

Let us know.

Robbsy · 18 Jul 2014 at 10:16

adeel2788 said:
Hi Robbsy,

Judging by the video, I could not hear the fans on the back ramp up, normally they do. This might be causing the heat and shut down.

Previously when you gamed perfectly, were the fans more noisier than this ?

Another thing you could try is swapping the HDD or defragment the current one.

Let us know.

Yeah I'm not sure why they weren't. The Laptop was picked up by UPS today and is off for its second RMA. I will keep this thread updated as things progress.

As I've said before I'm hoping they will have the decency to just replace/ refund it. Even if it's fixed I feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with my unit whether it be motherboard issues or singularly related to the GPU and I'm kind of worried it's going to happen again.

The worst thing is that I originally switched to gaming laptops as I'm going to Canada for 3 months as part of my degree and needed something to take with me. I don't want to take this to find that it breaks again while I'm there.

Robbsy · 21 Jul 2014 at 14:07

Just got a reply from the engineer. This is what I have been told

"Fault replicated.

System reimaged with gigabyte recovery image.

Tested on GRID For 3 hours without fail.

Customer, Please DO NOT Update the graphics driver."

So basically no I have a gaming laptop which I can't update the graphics drivers for when in the past ive had them all updated to the newest iteration.

Really disappointed by this. At the moment i'm waiting to hear back from them again but it just seems ridiculous.