My rotten raptor luck

[Shorty]

I think storage systems and me have fallen out big time :(

I got two raptors last week, just installed them tonight and one of them is DOA.. just suddenly stopped working :(

It wont format, won't detect as not-working though :sawed: according to the RAID manager.. it's fine :werr:

So tomorrow, it's reinstall time on my old SATA's. Sorry prime.. you are gonna have to wait for your new drives :(

[Straight_Man]

I'm gonna go out part way on a limb.... Question becomes this:

do you have aboard that cna do IDE plus SATA or IDE plus IDe RAID plus SATA??? Do your old SATA drives work on same channels on SATA as the new one would NOT work???

Next not-so-dumb idea, is some mfrs have had to BIOS update to allow for Maxtors and WDs, and in some cases the fixes were for compatibility with drives themselves and in some the fixes were for combos of both. In some cases, SATA specific drives were cited as reason for upgrade, often with Silicon Image SATA chips that were very recent ast tiem board was mfr'd. Abit and Asus both have such fixes, and I would try not the local site, but the Taiwan sites for both, possibly the ftp servers if you can get to them. sometimes takes WEEKS for the updates to perk to other branch sites local to operating regions. MSI has also posted SATA-specific fixes for some of thier boards, and I THINK Gigabyte also has recently done so.

So, since dummy over here forgot, could you once again post board model and rev and mfr if you cannot find your flash files easily??? If I can find one for your board that does this, will give you a specific URL or direct FTP link.... Or attach it here.... :D

John D.

[Shorty]

I ran the WD DiskLifeGuard on both drives.

Drive 1 passed everything with flying colours.
Drive 2 wouldn't even start a test. Reported raw read/write error. Basically it's a DOA.

I rang WD tech support, who verified it's an RMA replacement and so they feel it's never going to be up to scratch. They have.. (wait for this!)..

Shipped out a NEW raptor to me via UPS which should get here within the week. Included will be a UPS package for returning the defective one. The cost to me??

Nothing, nada, zip. Not a penny. Didn't even have to give them a CC number!

That's customer service :thumbsup:

[Jimborae]

I ran the WD DiskLifeGuard on both drives.

Drive 1 passed everything with flying colours.
Drive 2 wouldn't even start a test. Reported raw read/write error. Basically it's a DOA.

I rang WD tech support, who verified it's an RMA replacement and so they feel it's never going to be up to scratch. They have.. (wait for this!)..

Shipped out a NEW raptor to me via UPS which should get here within the week. Included will be a UPS package for returning the defective one. The cost to me??

Nothing, nada, zip. Not a penny. Didn't even have to give them a CC number!

That's customer service :thumbsup:

Some people have all the luck with rma's, I'm still banging my head against overclockers.co.uk's door trying to get my Sapphire 9500 non pro back from them. I sent it to them at the begining of the year.

[Straight_Man]

I ran the WD DiskLifeGuard on both drives.

Drive 1 passed everything with flying colours.
Drive 2 wouldn't even start a test. Reported raw read/write error. Basically it's a DOA.

I rang WD tech support, who verified it's an RMA replacement and so they feel it's never going to be up to scratch. They have.. (wait for this!)..

Shipped out a NEW raptor to me via UPS which should get here within the week. Included will be a UPS package for returning the defective one. The cost to me??

Nothing, nada, zip. Not a penny. Didn't even have to give them a CC number!

That's customer service :thumbsup:

Yeah, that is why I like them.... When the drives go under warranty they cross-ship. After all, they DO know where you are....

John D-- who looks like he will catch up to you in folding points on about March 24th, according to Arachnid and Folding@Work.....

[Necropolis]

Some people have all the luck with rma's, I'm still banging my head against overclockers.co.uk's door trying to get my Sapphire 9500 non pro back from them. I sent it to them at the begining of the year.

Have they gave you a reason why it is taking so long. Send them a letter that you will set the trading standards/Solicitor on to them and see how long they take to get back to you then.

[Spinner]

Some people have all the luck with rma's, I'm still banging my head against overclockers.co.uk's door trying to get my Sapphire 9500 non pro back from them. I sent it to them at the begining of the year.
I would pay them a visit. I had to return a PSU to them once, and had no problems. You just need to be persistent. They're based in Stoke on Trent, just off J15 of the M6. One Saturday when you've got a few hours to kill, pay them a little visit and talk to them face to face about it.

[Jimborae]

Have they gave you a reason why it is taking so long. Send them a letter that you will set the trading standards/Solicitor on to them and see how long they take to get back to you then.

Yep I've done that and got a reply to the effect that they had finally sent it too Sapphire to sort out, but it took them over a month to do this. I then said I'd give them some more time to await Sapphire's verdict but have since heard nothing more from them. this was over a month ago so I think its time to start fireing more emails to them.

[Shorty]

Just a quick update on mine. Brand new raptor arrived this morning :eek:

Gonna hook them up tonight to test them out with LifeGuard.. run them in a few hours on my other SATA controller, just to be sure. If they are still working a-ok, Il image my Windows install over to it :)

Fight them hard Jim, OCuk can be a bit unhelpful when they want to be :(

[Necropolis]

Just a quick update on mine. Brand new raptor arrived this morning :eek:


Only because you name dropped mate ;)

[madmat]

It must be something like that...I shipped my 120gig to W.D. on the 27th of last month and I still don't have a replacement drive.

[Shorty]

Hint:

Call them. Their online RMA sucks. Phone them up and you get a much better response ;)

[madmat]

I have called them...not much luck and I got my RMA on the phone and have followed it up on the phone as well.
Their basic response is "It'll get there when it gets there"

[Shorty]

Could be a country thing I guess. They were fine with me.. before I even mentioned I was an online journo.

[madmat]

They wouldn't want me writing a review of the 120's I bought...2 drives, 2 failures and over a month for the first replacement and 22 days and counting for the replacement for the second drive.
The reasons for both drives taking so long is that they are waiting for their supplier to get them more drives in stock. :wtf:

[Shorty]

Actually, that's very common with WD-US and territories I hear :(

http://forums.amdmb.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=303647

[madmat]

I'm not going to be buying anymore W.D. drives anytime soon. I think I'll be going with Maxtor from now on.

[Shorty]

That thread sure doesn't make good reading does it!

[madmat]

Not at all...I just read the first few posts, groaned and closed it.

[Shorty]

Not at all...I just read the first few posts, groaned and closed it.
But they are all US customers.

As a euro, im used to a poorer level of customer service than the US peeps.. but on this one.. we got ya beat.

[madmat]

:kneel:

[madmat]

WOOT!! I just got off the phone with W.D. and my new drive is scheduled to ship today!! Finally!!

[Shorty]

WOOT!! I just got off the phone with W.D. and my new drive is scheduled to ship today!! Finally!!
Told ya!.. you gotta fight for your rights.. or you will get walked over ;)

[madmat]

Nah, it was already scheduled to ship when I called, UPS just hasn't run there yet. Just chalk it up to serendipity.