Hardware Problem?
 

For about a week ive had a problem that seems to happen every two days or so and ONLY! when watching videos on dual screen where windows would crash the screen would just go blank and i would have to hit the reset button and windows would load up normally.

Today tho it crashed slightly differently causing a BSOD and a memory dump and Hard Disk Sentinal claims the new hard disk had a spin error which maybe caused by a Power spike. Now i dont think its the hard disk i think its driver related on a few accounts.

1. If it was hard drive surely with it being the master drive i would be seeing more than just a random crash now and then.

2. The Drive is a new The Seagate® Barracuda® 7200.12 1.5TB. Yes i know drives can go down at any age but i really dont think its the case here.

3. out of all the crashes which have been 5 or 6 only one has created a BSOD and in the event manager it stated that ... Display Driver amdkmdap stopped responding and has recovered sucessfully.

I have reinstalled the latest ATI Drivers 11.2, I have changed the Power Converter that converts to SATA and also changed the lead its being fed from on the PSU and just incase i have ordered a new PSU which i was gonna do later on in the year when i upgrade to X4 or X6 anyway this is the one i have ordered...
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/191844

I dont need anything majorly expensive a standard 850watt will do me upto now a standard 700watt has.

i will also be running Seatools if i can get it to detect any drives lol

Im just running this by people to see if i may have missed something, with my health being as bad as it is and my meds that im on my memory and mind isnt as sharp as usual.

Here is the window dump log...

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/6727/74904085.th.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5534/37485498.th.jpg

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Turns out its the hard disk, run seatools in Dos twice and it crashed out once at 19% and once at 26%. Will return the drive to Overclockers.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

bummer

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Well the drive has gone back, it failed a diagnostic twice and also i have a log from HD Sentinal showing a spinup failure. The drive also occasionally Locks up. After a full low level format to get rid of my data the drive passed a diagnostic but at the end of the day the drive is less than 3 weeks old, and u shouldnt be having intermittant problems like this. I intend to quote the sales of goods act and state the drive is not fit for its purpose and since i have a log to prove the failure i will be sending that with it.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

since ive been ill i havnt yet managed to return the drive and sort things out but will be doing on thursday and i managed to catch a picture of what it does to my PC when i run the seatools diagnostics on it. Bare in mind all other 4 drivers pass diagnostics fine this has failed 5 times. 19% 26% 54% and twice at 92%.

Here is the pic..

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/5...o0054cp.th.jpg

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

turns out its a known probs on the 1.5TB drives with CC1H firmware, its like a rash over the net and even on the support forum on facebook for seagate.

I rang Overclockers.co.uk yesterday to inform them that the drive is being returned and if they cannot supply me with a drive with different firmware i would like a refund, i was trying to explain the situation as the support person tried stating even tho the drive has spin issues also and has clunked a few times its down to me to put the new firmware onto the drive, i stated no thats not true as the drive is classed as faulty and keeps freezing etc and he said to me "Some people just like to sound angry" and hung up. I rang back and he answered the phone and i think he was a bit taken back i rang back and he appologised and i said ok we will forget that. I rang seagate support today and i have explained to them and they issued me with an email to place in the box to send to state the drive SHOULD be changed!.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Well thats overclockers for you. Worst aftersales ive ever encountered

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Zing well i know they have had issues with Trading Standards in the past and will again if they mess me around, i am not the sort of person to let things drop.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

agreed

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Well some good news, i had an email from Overclockers stating a replacment drive has been sent lets just hope this one is better than the last shall we!

I dont think they have argued the point since Seagate issued me with an email stating the drive is faulty and should be returned to the point of sale for replacement.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Well the replacement drive has now started playing up. When transferring data to the drive it will suddenly freeze to a point where it will even affect services such as DUmeter where information will become stale and then start again. Overclockers are being difficult stating that because its a known manufacturing issue i have to take it up with Seagate and Seagate are also being difficult. If i was state the sales of goods act to Seagate because there is so much on the net about these drives and the problems with them do u think they would issue me with a different model drive?

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

contract is still with overclockers . The product is supplied not fit for purpose which is a breach of the sales of goods act. I would get in touch with trading standards for where OCUK are as I am sure there will be s file on them a mile long even though I think they had to move

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

As Zing said get in touch with Trading Standard's but you also need to take the drive back to Overclockers.

What I will warn you is that they may well refund it after about the 5th or 6th time you have been to them, but they will also ban you from there store just like they did me and my brother in law.

He was banned because he lost his temper and started to scream and shout at them because his whole pc was faulty, and I was banned because I drove him to the store which is pathetic as I didn't even open my mouth to them.

I later got it touch with Trading Standards who are well aware of there neglect to customer's when it comes to faulty items.

Basically Overclockers have to deal with it as they are the company who sold it to you, and they can only tell you to deal with the manufacturer once the product's warranty has expired as all cost's are covered by that warranty so they claim them back from, the manufacturer.

Here is what happened the last time I took something back there.

Sales counter staff: We cannot deal with that item as it is over 28 day's old therefore you have to contact the manufacturer.

Me: NO you have to deal with it now you can either send it for repair or you can refund it simple choice.

Sales: No sir we cannot deal with it now leave the store or I will phone for the police.

Me: No I want to speak to the store manager.

Sales: Ok let me go get him.

Now this is what happens to 90% (estimate) of the people who take stuff back

Sales: I am sorry sir the manager is in a meeting and won't be free for at least 2 hour's but he did say that you need to deal with the manufacturer no ourselves.

Me: Ok fine I will wait for the manager to become available as I want him to write it on a letter stating that he is refusing to deal with a faulty item that is under 12 month's old.

Sales: No sir I am now going to phone for the police if you do not leave the store.

I did leave the store and waited in my car around the corner for 2 hours and went back to find, the manager sat behind the counter I then tried to speak to him and he ignored me and walked upstairs then the small, skinny guy behind the counter said he had another meeting and would be 30 minutes, at which point there was about 5 or 6 customer's in the store so I started to tell them, what was going on and I think it was 3 or 4 of them walked out.
The manager soon came down the stair's and refunded the cost of the hardware and my petrol cost's.

They will do anything to get out of dealing with stuff that is faulty and if they cannot get out of it then, they will deal with it but ban you from the store at the same time.

I currently have a £250 Gigabyte EX58 Extreme motherboard sat on the side which was faulty from, the very 1st day that I bought it but they refused to deal with it saying it was not faulty after they said they tested it, which they could not have done as they would have seen the fault if they did.

After about 5 month's of me speaking to them they sent it for repair at which point, Gigabyte said that the sata controller was faulty and had been replaced then 2 month's later it went faulty again so I took it back and they "tested" it again and said it was not faulty and tried to charge me for it.

I will never be buying any hardware from them again and I suggest you stick with it and fight them, as you will get it dealt with but it will take some time probably and I suggest you avoid Aria as the manager from Overclockers now works there, and I suggest you use shop's like Scan and Microdirect as they actually want to keep there customer's happy.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Damien i have already taken it up with overclockers on the first attempt and i was ridiculed on the phone and they hung up and thats when Seagate stated that if overclockers didnt change the drive first time they would willingly RMA it for me. I will be contacting Consumer Wales to see if i can take it up direct with manufacturer.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Report them to trading standards to. Overclockers are the worst supplier. I had them ridiculing me also even though they were being a holes

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

I had a similar issue with scan, I bought components from there for a system totalling over 1200 for the base unit. I had 12 seperate returns to them which on each occasion they were an absolute nightmare to deal with, ranging from 3 lots of faulty RAM (Could confirm it was the ram, had some in another machine, install it in the build system and it's fine, install the stuff from them and failed POST - wouldn't run long enough to get to a memtest boot) Wrong motherboard in a box (Obviously a return not a new item, but packaged in a box with scan tape sealing it - when I queried it 'Oh it's from a pre sales inspection to make sure everything's ok) right the way down to a hard drive which had a speed control IC explode when it was powered on 'Must be installation issue sir, you left a screw on it' - umm no, when you install a drive the PCB is face down, any screw would fall off due to gravity, this however wasn't even IN the machine, I'd had so many failed components by this time I simply sat it next to the machine and powered on, no screws anywhere near it. It took 2 hours arguing in the shop with the owner before they would think of a warranty replacement and then it took them 6 months to replace it. That was the last time I dealt with scan.

I used to use them regularly when they were at little lever without issue, but since their move to the reebok stadium they have gone downhill, prices are up and customer service is way down. I switched to Spoton until they went bankrupt and now MicroDirect and Aria get my business. I have had one faulty component from each since dealing with them and on both occasions they have been exemplary in dealing with the problem. (Aria - one faulty CPU, MicroDirect - a faulty optical drive)

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Aria won't be used by me again after I had 6 faulty motherboard's from them in the space of a week, and not to mention the manager that banned me from Overclockers for no reason now work's there.

Never had a issue with Microdirect other than there prices and limited stock.

Never had a issue with Scan and found them to be outstanding when it come to faulty item's, bought a full pc from there for my brother in law and the board was faulty took it all back and they tested it in store and found the motherboard was the fault, but they replaced the whole lot just in case.

I bought a radiator from them last week that was obivously a returned item, as it had be damaged by the previous owner and they swapped it for me straight away and refunded 10% of the cost for my trouble.

I always seem to get treated well by Scan including being given a decent discount 90% of the time.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Had a faulty motherboard from Aria returned to me 3 times. I insisted on a final retest with the cpu and ram they supplied and the mobo blew up under test. 2 months fecking about

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

What gets me about Seagate they are insistant that this model of hard disk has no problems LOL

If any of u have time do a search google for the ST31500341AS mine is the one with firmware CC1H. It doesnt take long to realise these issues with the drive goes back as far as 2008 so i dont think Seagate will get away with saying WE HAD NO IDEA!.

Also look here...
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/1280...0011-troubles/
and
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/1285...-fine-dataset/

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Oh Ramila or Nisha would always give me a discount, but at the end of the day the discount isn't worth as much as reliability.

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

True but I as of yet have had no issues with them, but I know some people have but I think we all have issues with places sometimes ;)

Re: Hardware Problem?
 

Scan i find very expensive on shipping.