SOLVED Z170X Gaming 7

[Robert17]

I recall from 20-25 years ago putting ECS on my 'don't purchase' list and Gigabyte on my 'are you sure you want to consider them' list due to customer service issues (well, obviously also due to MB performance issues). Sounds like Giga has improved significantly in the CS department at least. OCF members often comment on using their boards with little to no issues overall, even recommending them. Maybe it's time for me to move them back onto my normal 'consider' list?

 

[EarthDog]

They should have never been off the list.

People don't seem to realize these horror stories are such an incredibly small part of the whole it really doesn't matter much, that customer service side. Two things need to happen...

1. Part fails while within warranty (rare, 1-4% generally depending on the part. There are worse there are better)
2. You then get bad customer service on that 1 in 100 chance of failure.


It happens, I get it, but it is simply not worth it to me to eliminate anyone just looking at the numbers and using my head..

 

[Robert17]

I recall having a MB from Gigabyte, my first from them, and had an issue that I called their CS department about. From the other end of the line I got the response "what did you do to it" as opposed to "what issues are you having". Maybe this is as simple as a tech having a bad day, but first impressions are important. But at about that same point in time a friend of mine also had an issue on a Giga board. After a number of diagnostics, component testing, et al, we figured the board was bad which reaffirmed my consternation rather than alleviate it. He got no satisfaction from them either. That's my history with them.

ECS was even worse. I purchased two identical models of MBs from them at Fry's intending to perform upgrades for my son and I to game on (I ran a small home network with 4 systems on it; this was in the Win95 early years). I didn't get around to making the swap-outs for a couple of weeks. The board I put in my system worked fine from first boot. The other would never fire up at all no matter the amount of tinkering. Fry's said I had to contact the vendor as the 10 day return window had expired. I could find no contact info for ECS whatsoever: not on the box, included lit, nothing on the web, the contact number that Fry's gave me went unanswered, no geek I knew at the time had any better contact info. So I trashed the board and ECS remains on my 'don't purchase' list.

 

[EarthDog]

Anecdotes. Small parts of the whole... 20+ years ago on top of it.

Not much else to say...except that isn't how I roll and doesn't make sense (to me) to roll that way. To each their own though!

 

[wingman99]

I use to hate ASUS products and customer support, then I tried a new ASUS Z370 and it bricked after a BIOS update. So now I'm back where I started with ASUS problems because statistics don't work well for me.

 

[EarthDog]

Sorry about your luck. That doesn't change the point, however, of how illogical it is to shun a company considering the facts.

But I do understand the 'once bitten twice shy' mentality...... I just don't subscribe to it in this case.

 

[UltraTaco]

Problem is, that's how human kind operates, ED. I sometimes feel sorry for the species.

 

[Robert17]

A broader point still is that I've enjoyed so many other options without using my 'fool me once' strategy as a primary source of advice. I also have a habit of spending my money with companies that satisfy my needs which the other MB manufacturers have successfully met. I'm pretty open minded about many things. As I travel a lot I stay in a lot of different hotels and mark a few off my list for various reasons, same with restaurants. So I'm not necessarily closing Giga off due to a grudge as I have had many MBs from the other players that keep me going back for more.

 

[wingman99]

I have noting but good luck with Gigabyte motherboards for 15 years. I had a sound controller malefaction that was just a part failure, not Gigabytes fault.

 

[Alaric]

Well, I made things much more interesting for myself. While clumsily trying to fit the plastic cover back on the socket, I bent pins in the lower right corner. The LGA socket doesn't offer the "straighten 'em with a credit card" ease of repair my AMD sockets provide. The board is toast. I included a note explaining that it was done by me trying to pack the board for shipping and isn't the cause of the problems the board had, but it doesn't seem repairable now. If they were going to fix it, and now can't, it's on me. I guess they could be nice and send a revision 1.1 replacement (12 BIOS updates and a revision indicates the first series may have had issues), but I'm not expecting it.
Nobody to blame but me. Then my bank card got hit for $280 to install cable in Atlanta, GA. Comcast said they can't trace it back with the card number, so I called bull**** on that. They know exactly where revenue streams originate and they have a home address for the install! Then my bank wants to treat me like a potential fraud case, because of course I need Comcast service in Atlanta while living in Phoenix.

Put the FX 8370 and new GTX 1070 in the back up rig since it looks like it will be the daily driver for a while. My Best Buy 520 watt PSU was not impressed or amused. So in went the Evga. Found out two SSDs and a couple Raptors, and a blower 1070, produce some heat in a cheap mid tower. So the optional fan vent in the side panel now has a 120mm Corsair fan on the outside to blow cool air over the cheap Asus tower cooler that was suppose to only keep a stock 1045T happy. Then found out the front intake fan's Molex connector was buggered up after everything was installed and (I thought) ready to rock. That took a while to find because the short kept the rig from starting and there is no room to work inside the budget wonder case with 2 SSDs, 3 HDDs, 1 ODD, GTX 1070, tower style air cooler, and possibly a partridge in a pear tree. I can hear the partridge, but I can't find him. Or it's a fan bearing chirping. Fan, game bird, who knows. Nothing would surprise me at this point. I'm living an episode of The Benny Hill Show.

So, Mrs. Lincoln, other than that how was the play?

 

[Mandrake4565]

Can you fix the pins with a razor?

 

[EarthDog]

I use the tip of a mechanical pencil... or a sharpened pencil.

 

[Alaric]

I didn't have much luck trying to straighten them. Pretty sure at least one is broken, but apparently my eyes ain't what they used to be.

 

[EarthDog]

Magnifying glass.

 

[UltraTaco]

Tacoed board.

 

[Alaric]

I used a magnifying visor, but I was short on sleep and distracted by a bunch of other stuff. I'll take another look at it tonight (maybe clean the lenses LOL) and see what's up, but I'm sure at least one pin is broken. They look hollow, unlike AMD's "somebody will bend 'em" design. I have a suspicion I'll either be paying Gigabyte for a repair or buying another one. I'm kind of surprised new and refurb versions of my board seem to be selling for what I paid new.

After some patient effort with decent lighting the pins seemed a lot better. I carefully put the CPU back in and closed the hold down, then took the chip out and the pins seemed be going where they're supposed to. Hard to tell with them looking like they aren't really vertical, but from directly above they look like the rest of the socket. Off to the Post Office today.

 

[Alaric]

OK, update time, and it isn't pretty. I got the board back from RMA. No idea what they did but they "fixed something" so it was a repair, not replacement.
Now it goes in to a startup loop, won't boot and doesn't even post (no signal to display). Gigabyte lists the error code (C1) as "reserved" and they don't even list the 5 long beeps I'm getting. % long beeps, shut down, and repeat. All the lights come on, and the fans used to spin up but that stopped after a few tries.
So far, based on various guesses I found looking for the beep codes.

Different graphics solutions (onboard and discrete) and different cable types (DVI and HDMI)
Different known good PSU. The PSU I'm using was powering the rig I'm using now, so it works, too.
Checked the socket pins a couple hundred times, they all look fine. A little pointy gold sea of uniformity.

Tried taking the RAM out to test, same thing. (!?)
Going with the theory that the error codes should have been a little different, or additional codes should have shown up with no sticks installed, I tested each stick in each slot. Once during this testing one stick in slot 4 (closest to CPU socket) the CPU fans powered up like normal but I got the same 5 beep loop again. I couldn't duplicate it either. It went back to not even getting far enough in to POST to get the fans going.

Since the board actually would POST and boot when I sent it off, and two RAM sticks failing at once while sitting in a box is pretty rare, I'm leaning towards a screwed up RMA repair. It's not a compatibility issue because these same parts worked together for two years. Worked really well, in fact.

So, does anyone know what the C1 debug code is? Besides "Reserved", and/or the 5 long beeps? CPU or RAM error seem to be the predominant theories online but Gigabyte's opinion isn't represented that I could find. And I don't have any other RAM to test it with because DDR 4 is too expensive to buy and throw in a drawer "just in case". Same with the CPU.

 

[EarthDog]

Send it back.

 

[UltraTaco]

I would contact them first before putting it into a box marked with gigabyte address and sending it out without them expecting it..

 

[EarthDog]

QUOTE=UltraTaco;8094706]I would contact them first before putting it into a box marked with gigabyte address and sending it out without them expecting it..[/QUOTE]THat needed to be said???