Products to stay away from. (horror stories)

[dokko]

Anybody got any prodcuts from hell they'd like to share so other comsumers don't have to suffer the same hiar pulling experience?

(Thought it would make a good thread for people to ref when buying)

I'll start:

AOpen - DVDRW - DUW1616L

Now apart from the drive being very noisy, this model doesn't recognise DVD games.

Not only that, but if you've say had FM06 in for the last hour and now decide you want to play a bit of COD:2 (these are just examples) you change discs over, the drive still thinks you've got FM06 in, and won't change its mind until a computer reset.

Now thats frustrating, but it gets better. So you ask what the problem is, the next logical step is to see Aopen, download a driver, see if that works.

Well, the DUW1616L is about the only producr Aopen does without a driver, or an update tool etc.. to solve any problems, which is quite funny considering they get about 30 complaints a week about this drive.

So what do you do now? Well i could get a RMA, but i thought its pointless for the sake of £30, the hassle of being without a DVD drive for a week would be worse.

So i contact Aopen, after using their utterly rubbish doctor thingy i wait for a response, i get nothing. So i send another, i get nothing, i use their forum, i get nothing onyl other people looking for the same type of answer.

I send off 3 complaints, 4 weeks later i get a response asking for system specs, i give them, and never here from them again.

-----------------------------

So there you have it. I recommend you stay away from the Aopen DUW1616L like as if it was the plague itself, and to be honest, really question yourself on when your buying anything from Aopen itself, because if its broken or needs a software update, it wont get fixed in any hurry.

 

[dokko]

Q-Tec Power Supply -

Sum it up:

Q-Tec + Computer = Boom

Could you give the whole storey, or is it still too painful?

Just so people can really know why not to but a cheap PSU.

 

[dokko]

Just wondering, that PC Spec you've got is similar to what im thinking of buying -is it good? You play games?

Very good, im delighted with it.

All at stock as well.

Paid £800 for it from Overclockers, even the standard PSU is good enough (seasonic)

The system is noisy, but runs cool. I'm looking to spend £60 on cooling sometime soon, and then i'll think about Oc'ing it, and getting even more out of it.

I play FM06 mostly, which is a dream with the extra mem, good CPU & fast SATA II.

But i also play COD:2, far cry, doom III, and the GFX run smooth & crisp, i dont get any jerkyness, even when ive got everything on max.

The DVD drive (which i bought with it) is the only let down from the system.

Daft thing is i only bought it as OC was having stock problems with cases, and i didn't know which or what colour case i'd end up with, so i got that DVD as it has clip on bezels.

 

[dokko]

Epox NF3 Motherboards (9NDA3J in particular) it may look ok, it way work well but by god!! It has the worst lay out ever.

First problem I encountered was trying to install my Thermalright XP120 heatsink on, the ATX connectors for the power to the motherboard were next to the CPU socket, so I had to install the motherboard and heatsink inside the case (even though it had a removable motherboard tray. Then when the ATX connectors were plugged in, it interfered with the heatsink making it virtually impossible to properly mount the XP120 - I had to bed the connectors almost 90 degrees flat to be able to install the heatsink.

Then once that was done I though, phew .. home free ... nope. The next problem was that the two SATA connectors are up tight along side the AGP slot, now I had an Arctic cooler silencer on my x800XTPE and the plastic shroud was virtually on top of the connectors, completely covering them!!! I had to wait an extra day to buy an Akasa SATA cable with the 90degree connector. When I got it I thought cool, this will work - but nope I had to double to cable over on top of itself as the connector on the sata controller was facing away from the front of the case.

In the end I had a Sata controller folder over causing the cable to fray slightly and it finally installed ok. Finally the fan on the chipset failed after about 1 month

I hate Epox!!! add to that they seem tio employ a cinder block to answer their support phone lines (in that they don't!!) they neither answer e-mails, it took 4 months to get a reply to a question

Actually thinking about it, had the same problems with my epox as well, but there were ways round them.

The DVD drive? Nowt can be done apart from take it to the beach and let the sea swallow it up forever.

 

[dokko]

Maxtor HDD's - Don't think I need to say anything else do I?

A brief what happened for future refs would be nice

 

[dokko]

Made the mistake of buying a Thermaltake 480W for an Athlon 64 rig. 12v went ballistic after a while. Fortunately I managed to sell it to someone with a lesser pc and recoup 2\3 of the cost.

Antec's low end PSUs are just as poor, and also very noisy.

My antec PSU, or seasonic provided by Antec is fantastic considering at 400w i must be running it to the wire.

Very low noise to boot.

Was this one a seasonic?

 

[dokko]

No, Antec 350W, ATX1.3.

Well with this case Antec have supplied me with a seasonic, maybe they've learned their lesson?

Probably not

*BOOM*

 

[dokko]

Did I mention the burning smell?

Does it smell sort of like a tyre getting burntout by some chav in a nova?

 

[dokko]

I have that drive (the one with the silver/black/white bezels) and it works perfectly for me, has done since I bought it ages ago. It reads everything, write's every type of disk I've chucked at it without burning coasters and is probably the best DVD writers I've ever owned.

Wow, 1st time i've heard anyone say anything positive about aopen!!!



So it worked 1st time without any drivers, madness.

Lucky you is all i can say.

You don;t want this one for £20 do you?