*****SANDYBRIDGE MOTHERBOARD CHIPSET ISSUE*****

[Gibbo]

Problem being Gibbo is that when you spend a lot of money on an item you expect it to be 100% working without the thought that something might go belly up in the future.

Plus, as noted above, Gigabyte have said that all suppliers should remove said boards from sale yet you are going against their wisdom and still selling them!! That doesn't look very professional mate

Still better for you to collect said boards and deal with the returns. No need for customers to be out of pocket with postage costs etc. I would want to return to the retailer myself.

Were giving the option to the customer, you can buy or not, am I holding a gun to your head saying buy Gigabyte or I will pull the trigger?

Asus have decided its insane to stop selling the boards, I'd not be surprised if Gigabyte decide differently as Intel have stated they don't want their Q1 ruined due to this.

OcUK is not a sheep, we make our own decisions and try too give our customers as many options as possible and not limit those options.

 

[Gibbo]

Sorry but i have to disagree there. The boards, wether bought from OcUK or a competitor, should be dealt with by the retailer. You sold the boards, you should sort it out. Simples.

GET A GRIP FFS!

If a customer wants to return to us we shall happily deal with it.

However the faster and easiest option is the manufacturer will swap the board at in a very quick time and one at no cost to customers.

If it was me I'd want my board turned around in quickest time possible at no cost to myself, this is something the manufacturer can do, because surprisingly they are equipped to do so in the quickest possible time.

Essentially they are cutting out the middle men, the resellers and thats why Asus the largest motherboard manufacturer has choosen to do things this way. We will of course happily deal with it too, but we can't promise as quick turn around.

 

[Gibbo]

Surely they're not allowed to do this?

I could understand using early returns, fixed to swap out with later returns but surely it'd be illegal to sell boards as new if they'd actually seen a month or two of use, regardless of whatever warranty terms they choose to apply?

They can do as they wish, as they'd have been re-manufactured. Whether they can do so legally who knows, but the facts is myself or you can't prove otherwise. This happens all the time at a manufacturing level.

 

[Gibbo]

Always nice to know that your new equipment might actually be second hand by a few months

I can't believe it's so easy for them to get away with that.

I'm not saying they do by the way, but am sure that now if you think about it we'd never be none the wiser.

 

[Gibbo]

I've heard through the grapevine that motherboard manufacturers may exchange at the doorstep in cases like this, essentially having the courier collect the old and deliver the new replacement mobo at the same time, this is the best cost effective and best customer service method.

This is what were pushing for.

But none of them can confirm until after Chinese New Year and I am sure all will agree this is far better service than having to send it back to the place of sale.

I'd far rather have courier come to my house, take old board and drop new shiny B3 revision off. Unfortunately the point of sale / dealer cannot do this.

 

[Gibbo]

If it is a way that is going to work 100% then yes, the manufacturer collecting from the house is, i suppose, a better idea. I have now got a grip Gibbo!

Sorry but after this week I have no hair left, thanks to Intel.

Think of it logically, you send goods back to us, we refund your shipping, we then wait for B3 replacement board to come in, we then ship out your board at our cost. We do this whilst also doing all our other usual duties resulting in what could be a lengthy few days wait, maybe weeks if departments can't cope with the load.

Were happy to do the above as we will be making sure were fully compensated by Intel/Motherboard vendor.

But I'd far rather the option of manufacturer ships me new shiny B3 board and they collect B2 board at same time, that is what were pushing manufacturers for or as close as possible.

But nothing will be 110% until after Chinese New Year, so debating now is rather pointless until the true facts are known.

 

[Gibbo]

Assuming we do sent it back to, how would we package it? I didn't keep the most of the packaging for mine.

The plan is manufacter will collect and drop of a new one.

If that changes then such discussions will be held at such time, now its pointless until we actually know what will actually happen, for now just enjoy your setup.

 

[Gibbo]

DSRs do state that consumers can reject the goods as faulty at any point up to 6 months after purchase, return them and expect a full refund including their postage costs.

You can but then you have no computer or are forced to buy an older technology as the fault does not prevent you from using your computer.

So you could get a refund now for a motherboard and have a CPU you can't use or you could carry on using the mainboard and get it swapped out when the recall is done.

 

[Gibbo]

The Gigabyte statement posted at Anandtech states that they expect the distributors / retailers to handle the recall, and that they will not accepts the motherboards directly.

Also please note that as per Goods of Sale Act the contract is between the buyer and the retailer, not the manufacturer. The retailer is responsible in case where the goods are faulty or not fit for purpose as is the case here.

It does, but we've told Gigabyte that level of service is simply not good enough as what Asus is offering is a far better service. Gigabyte are now looking at offering something similar.

Customers can still send back to us but as already mentioned that will be more time consuming.

 

[Gibbo]

Gibbo has stated that OcUK would do the full RMA if need be. Even i read that!! They are not shirking their responsibilities guys. How many other suppliers would be available for questions with answers in the evenings? I applaud OcUK as said before.

Looks like it will be simpler / faster, if the manufacturer does the replacement.

I do have to say it seems because we actually try harder and give customer more options we infact get moaned at more.

Read my earlier post in this thread, I feel I've now answered all possible questions and as such more updates on actual plans will be after Chinese New Year, so in a couple of weeks and the recall will happen March/April.

I'm now going for a curry.

 

[Gibbo]

MSI Official statement: http://uk.msi.com/sandybridge/

we can swap your current Intel 6 series based product in a brand new MSI product which is based on the new B3 stepping of the Intel 6 series which solves the current SATA2 port issues. If you have an MSI 6 series mainboard you can – for the short term - connect your storage devices to the safe white SATA3 ports on your mainboard with no detrimental effect.

This MSI product you get swapped will have similar or better specs. These new MSI products will become available in April and this way you are free to keep using your current system until a replacement is available. This way we can ensure the smoothest possible transition, and the least downtime for your PC. You can identify the new products by a clear sticker on the colour box. We will release details about this procedure before the end of February. If you would like to be contacted via email as soon as more information on this service is available, please send a blank email to [email protected]

The exact arrangements for the exchange are still being investigated but you can contact us on the support line or support email address given if you have any specific enquiries.

again, we don't see this issue as anything to start a panic over and we are confident that Intel will resolve it soon so that we can arrange replacements and keep our MSI Sandy Bridge users happy.

Great work, I look forward to seeing MSI's plans for swapping customers boards out in the quickest possible time with as little disruption as possible to our customers.

 

[Gibbo]

For those of you wonderin all OcUK's motherboard vendors which includes Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Intel, Foxconn and Asrock have agreed the following with OcUK:-

All of the above parties have agreed on a intermediate solution to the Sandybridge problem.

As there is *NO* Immediate Danger/Fault and as this fault is likely to affect a small number of boards over time and Replacement Stock will Not be available until realistically April/May, all the parties above have Guaranteed Direct Swap Out of all P67/H67 Boards bought from OcUK should you the end user wish to do so at a later date. The above manufacturers will launch plans after Chinese New Year with instruction on how to register to get your board swapped out for a new B3 revision which will happen in April/May time no doubt direct with the manufacturer.

Based on this Swap Out Guarantee we have decided to keep all our Sandybridge based mainboards on sale.

The Decision to buy and use still lies upon you the end user.




A lot of you were moaning earlier this week of how bad it was of us to keep on selling the boards, saying oh look your competitors have removed from sale and now look competitors seem to be re-listing them for sale. We made it clear there was and still is an issue but at least left our customers to decide for themselves. Now those same competitors are all of a sudden selling kit again, wonder why that is...........

 

[Gibbo]

I'm pretty sure Intel have gone on record saying there is no data-loss risk and that all that happens is that the port may stop functioning. That's why New Egg are talking nonsense.

I've asked Intel regarding data loss. I posted the answers to this 1-2 days ago in this very thread.

Basically if a port fails during a data write that data write will be lost/corrupted but all other data will be fine.

In essence if a port fails during use its identical to having a powercut without a UPS, the only data that will be lost is the data been written at the time. If you were reading data no corruption will happen.

That means worse case is you'd loose only the data been written too at time of port failure.

Hence its my recommendation of connecting your HDD's to the none effected ports and run your optical devices on the effected ports as an optical drive will not suffer data lost issues unless you were in the middle of writing/copying a CD.

If you have more than 4 HDD's and the data is very sensitive, then people with such data will have very extensive backup solutions and as such be prepared for any such failure. If you don't have such backup systems in place clearly the data is not that important, you could simply disconnect the HDD's from the ports or if you really need those drives up and running buy a SATA card and run them of that or take your chances, afterall the risk seems rather minimal.

 

[Gibbo]

If people continue asking same questions, the thread will be locked, all the answers are within this thread, just search for replies from myself.

 

[Gibbo]

Personally attacked? Are you having a laugh?

if you read the thread you will find every question has already been answered.

The supposed "hostile" responces are justified as you are comparing us to competitors which whilst on OUR forum, is unacceptable.

So re-read the thread and find your answer and stop being so wet.

Also now other said UK competitors have now put boards back on sale.........what does that say..............

 

[Gibbo]

Your best bet will be to buy a B3 then send your old B2 back for refund. Only way you can be up and running quickly.

One problem with this, B3 won't be available for sale until all B2's have been recalled and swapped out as that will be the priority. Any B3's that do slip in the channel will be sold for huge premiums over the older B2 boards by any distributors/suppliers that get hold of them.

The recall is a no cost option to customers and manufacturers are working on a service of drop B3 board off with customer and collect B2 board, meaning the only downtime is the time it takes end-user to swap their board out.

 

[Gibbo]

Not an option if you have 7 SATA devices on there.

They don't put 8 SATA ports on a motherboard for show, some of us actually use them.

And yeah, I was ****ed off and worried that there might be risks of data loss ( not knowing if there could or could not be data loss means there is a risk of data loss, that's what risk means ) so thought I'd have to buy new drives. Obviously instead of new drives there was an obvious and far cheaper solution.

Doesn't change the fact that I was saying there was a risk, yet OcUK started saying there was no risk then back tracked and said there was a risk.

Yet I'm the one in the wrong?

Hold on a minute?

I mentioned the data loss thing a good day or two ago, I've never said there is no risk, just that its just data been written too at the time and the chances of it happening are slim, thats been my stance and still is. But I've not said there is *NO RISK*

 

[Gibbo]

According to this

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12354263

Only 100,000 of these faulty boards where actually put into new systems, that covers PC and Laptops it also states that they have already started making the new boards with the fixed chipset and expect it to be ready for end of Feb, so id say the replacements will take place 1st couple of weeks in March,

About 5% of PCs using the faulty part would have failed during a three-year period, said Intel.

Good show OCUK for keeping us uptodate, ill check back in a few weeks and if you have the newer boards in stock ill be ordering by new SB setup

Take it easy.

Replacements happening in March, no chance I am afraid unless something seriously changes.

Intel shall be sending the revised P67/H67 chipsets to motherboard vendors in 2-3 weeks, so towards end of february. It then takes the motherboard vendor 6-8 weeks to manufacturer the new boards. It then takes a further 2 weeks for the boards to ship from factory to their destinations around the world.

Just spoken to both Asus and Gigabyte, who are both saying replacements won't happen until April/May.

 

[Gibbo]

Is anyone else considering not even sending theirs back when the replacements becomes available? Honestly the hassle of doing that, removing the motherboard , taking the cooler off and the CPU out, sending it back and for what, in my case absolutely nothing. I'm never gonna use more than 4 Sata devices and I don't intend upgrading again now for probably 3 years by which time the motherboard won't be worth much anyway so it's not like I'm gonna lose a fortune in resale value if I don't get it changed. Think I might just leave it as it is seeing as it's working fine and not tempt fate, could easily damage something else by swapping the board out

There are some who think like that myself included. I'd say its worth getting it swapped out as you may sell it earlier or maybe need the extra ports but again for some the hassle of dismantling their system is just too much and like you say if the plan is to keep it for 2-3years and your not using more than 4 SATA devices a lot simply won't bother. Then also add in the fact the board has a 3yr warranty as well which means you could send it back to Asus in two year times and they'd still replace it anyway.

 

[Gibbo]

I would think they will have a program in place closer to the time.

This is correct, once the B3's are in our warehouse, we shall be doing so.

More info here from Asus:-
http://www.asus.com/News.aspx?N_ID=cqnNC5pGSATog5Pf