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Gigabyte RMA: Need Advice

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Route44

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2005
Location
Southern New Jersey
After almost 2 years of solid stability 4 of my 6 USB 3.0 ports failed at the same time. After doing the diagnostic steps Gigabyte Support instructed and reporting the findings, they immediately issued an RMA.

I have never had to RMA anything before let alone a motherboard. I'll be putting it into a static bag, bubble wrapping, etc. My only concern is I can't for the life of me find the cpu protector cap.

So my question is: How important is this piece for Gigabyte's policy concerning an RMA of this nature? The last thing I want to do is give them an excuse for voiding the RMA.

Any other advice will be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Cut a peace of cardboard square and tape it over the clamp of the socket.
That way they cant blame you for bent pins.
 
Extremely important. Gigabyte may well refuse RMA if the correct, plastic, cap is not in place.

I personally would not use a piece of cardboard, I can too easily see GBT bending pins and blaming it on the cardboard.
 
Extremely important. Gigabyte may well refuse RMA if the correct, plastic, cap is not in place.

I personally would not use a piece of cardboard, I can too easily see GBT bending pins and blaming it on the cardboard.
+1
Take a quick trip to a local computer shop and see if they have one laying around, they should if they build and sell systems.
 
At least in Poland Gigabyte support won't make any issues as long as pins won't be damaged. You can even send it without protective cap or anything but they will reject RMA if anything happens to the socket.
If you won't get that plastic cap then at least use something else to protect socket.
 
+1
Take a quick trip to a local computer shop and see if they have one laying around, they should if they build and sell systems.

I did this this morning and nobody had an 1155 cap. They had others but not the one I need. :-/

I'll try eBay. Thanks all for your responses.
 
I was meaning corrugated cardboard box material over the clamp that should be plenty safe. Or get a peace of wood or plexiglass and cut to size.
 
Safe, probably, acceptable to Gigabyte? I seriously doubt it.
Most of the caps, and the motherboard manuals, and Gigabyte (and all other manufacturer) RMA pages, specifically state that the plastic cap must be in place on a RMA'd motherboard.
 
I Called Gigabyte and people send them in without anything coving sometimes and he said that covering the bracket with cardboard would be great to protect the pins, if you don't have the plastic cap.

Gigabyte tech TEL: 1-626-8549338 Option 4
 
Last edited:
Gigabyte seems to have cleverly taken down all their warranty terms, this is mildly horrifying.

However, here're three lga1155/1156 CPU caps, one GBT, one ASRock, one Zotac, plus a 775 Gigabyte cap for good measure, as well as a potentially extremely relevant section of their very brief warranty info:

IMG_20140407_104033530_HDR.jpg
This limited warranty will not apply if a claim is made arising from any unacceptable use or care of the product including (without limitation) misuse, abuse, negligence, acts of God, unauthorized modification or repair, and unauthorized commercial use.
Bolding is mine, for places they can say "lolno" to a mobo sent in with no cap.

They would be well within their rights to claim abuse, neglect, and a lack of care for a motherboard sent without a factory cap.
The question becomes, how careful and nice is the minimum wage unpacking guy at GBT LA feeling on the day your board comes in? If he pulls the cardboard off the CPU socket and accidentally bends a pin, you can bet he isn't going to report it as his mistake. You can bet that the dude on the phone isn't the dude unpacking boxes.
Newegg does this all the time.

Do you feel lucky?

I'd spend the $5 to get a cap off ebay or the classies or something.
 
Well I was fortunate to find one on eBay for $3.99 and that includes USPS First Class shipping. The seller has a very high reputation. Hopefully it will be here by Friday.
 
Update: I received my motherboard back with a sheet of paper that simply said repair without any further information. So I assumed they found the failed USB ports.

I installed said board and everything is working fine. I will say I was 100x better at protective shipping than Gigabyte was but so far, so good.

Thanks for all your help.
 
Glad they fixed your USB ports. Gigabyte usually does a good job, however I have seen allot of reviews for ASUS repairs and they did not fix the problems.
 
Glad they fixed your USB ports. Gigabyte usually does a good job, however I have seen allot of reviews for ASUS repairs and they did not fix the problems.

Yeah, I have been reading quite a bit about this especially here at OC and a few other places. I have been appreciative of the knowledge I receive on these forums.
 
I'd be pretty paranoid of that too after your ASUS ordeal :rain:

That's a different situation, as the cardboard isn't a "proper" method of protecting the socket.
In the case of that Asus thread a socket cap was used.
 
That's a different situation, as the cardboard isn't a "proper" method of protecting the socket.
In the case of that Asus thread a socket cap was used.

Good point.

Edit: Either way though, a company shouldn't purposely damage a product to deny RMA.
 
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