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TERRIBLE Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro RMA Process (final update?)

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AcEsSalvation

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Discussion starter · #1 · (Edited)
My board has had a few issues over time, but I all ways thought they were easily explained by other random things, maybe a bad cable, driver/firmware/etc installed incorrectly, my RAM not being on the QVL, etc. Then I started having random drive disconnection issues. My Windows drive would just disconnect from the PC, and not be picked up by BIOS. Having to do cold boots (several times), and tweaking with BIOS settings would eventually get me back in. Then I decided to start trying to repair windows, update drivers and vital files, etc. Trying to boot from a flash drive and run windows repair would BSoD in the repair. Something's definitely wrong. Then finally, my board would not POST. I check my status light and set a timer. Moves from CPU to RAM quickly, then hangs for 17.5 seconds on DRAM, and repeat that cycle. Nothing I do changes anything.
Note, that at this point, I have unsuccessfully done any repairs. When I do get to get chkdsk or sfc commands working, they find nothing wrong. I haven't got to doing BIOS updates, and was set at stock completely.
I tried to get the RMA request going, but Gigabyte had just been the victim of a ransom. I check back a little later, and was able to get in and send a request. It's approved that day, and two days later, I have my package at UPS, scheduled for UPS Ground, and expected to reach City of Industry, California by the end of the week. Approved on Sep 3rd, UPS received Sep 7th, delivered to Gigabyte RMA services on Sep 14th. Sep 20th comes around, and they finally acknowledge they received the board.
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For 6 days, their site reported that they were waiting to receive item, when I have from UPS the e-mail stating that they signed for the delivery. I cannot find that follow up e-mail from UPS, but I can check the proof of delivery. Left at loading dock apprently, but I trust that. Anyway, I get an e-mail today saying there is damage to the CPU socket. Looking at the pictures, I thought they were attempting a terrible strategy to make me pay for repair. The pictures that were sent show a grid of pins, and many are bent. And, the second picture which shows my S/N shows silver around the socket in the background. I honestly thought that they had taken my S/N sticker, and put it on an Intel board, and tried to say I had bent pins. I studied them a bit more and realized that they took off the top of the socket exposing the link underneath the socket.
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I have never actually seen what's under the socket you drop the AMD CPUs in to, so I have no idea how much it takes to damage these pins, but it appears as though there is a lot of damaged connectors. Since I have had issues for so long, sporadically, and across the entire system, I'm thinking my board had a manufacturing defect. They are requiring $100, or they ship the board back to me as is.
Either way, I think this may be my last Gigabyte product. I know how I have treated my equipment, and other than disassembling my PC to ship the board back, my CPU never left the socket until the 6th, when I preemptively disassembled my PC to store the board in the box, waiting to send in my request.

Pics to come
Hopefully the pics formatted correctly
 
#2 ·
I own an Auros B550M Pro. Although it has been flawless, this will be the last time i would use one for a build.

Thank you for sharing and +rep.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
AcEsSalvation said:
My board has had a few issues over time, but I all ways thought they were easily explained by other random things, maybe a bad cable, driver/firmware/etc installed incorrectly, my RAM not being on the QVL, etc. Then I started having random drive disconnection issues. My Windows drive would just disconnect from the PC, and not be picked up by BIOS. Having to do cold boots (several times), and tweaking with BIOS settings would eventually get me back in. Then I decided to start trying to repair windows, update drivers and vital files, etc. Trying to boot from a flash drive and run windows repair would BSoD in the repair. Something's definitely wrong. Then finally, my board would not POST. I check my status light and set a timer. Moves from CPU to RAM quickly, then hangs for 17.5 seconds on DRAM, and repeat that cycle. Nothing I do changes anything.
Note, that at this point, I have unsuccessfully done any repairs. When I do get to get chkdsk or sfc commands working, they find nothing wrong. I haven't got to doing BIOS updates, and was set at stock completely.
I tried to get the RMA request going, but Gigabyte had just been the victim of a ransom. I check back a little later, and was able to get in and send a request. It's approved that day, and two days later, I have my package at UPS, scheduled for UPS Ground, and expected to reach City of Industry, California by the end of the week. Approved on Sep 3rd, UPS received Sep 7th, delivered to Gigabyte RMA services on Sep 14th. Sep 20th comes around, and they finally acknowledge they received the board.
View attachment 2527802
View attachment 2527803
View attachment 2527804

For 6 days, their site reported that they were waiting to receive item, when I have from UPS the e-mail stating that they signed for the delivery. I cannot find that follow up e-mail from UPS, but I can check the proof of delivery. Left at loading dock apprently, but I trust that. Anyway, I get an e-mail today saying there is damage to the CPU socket. Looking at the pictures, I thought they were attempting a terrible strategy to make me pay for repair. The pictures that were sent show a grid of pins, and many are bent. And, the second picture which shows my S/N shows silver around the socket in the background. I honestly thought that they had taken my S/N sticker, and put it on an Intel board, and tried to say I had bent pins. I studied them a bit more and realized that they took off the top of the socket exposing the link underneath the socket.
View attachment 2527805
View attachment 2527806
I have never actually seen what's under the socket you drop the AMD CPUs in to, so I have no idea how much it takes to damage these pins, but it appears as though there is a lot of damaged connectors. Since I have had issues for so long, sporadically, and across the entire system, I'm thinking my board had a manufacturing defect. They are requiring $100, or they ship the board back to me as is.
Either way, I think this may be my last Gigabyte product. I know how I have treated my equipment, and other than disassembling my PC to ship the board back, my CPU never left the socket until the 6th, when I preemptively disassembled my PC to store the board in the box, waiting to send in my request.

Pics to come
Hopefully the pics formatted correctly
Click to expand...
Simply refute the facts, say you are extremely disappointed by such customer support, and force them to send you a board replacement.

You can write this in your answer email, saying you were so disappointed by the Gigabyte customer service, that you asked a repair shop some help.

"I showed the pictures to a specialized electronics repair shop, that answered me it is impossible i could damage the inner part of the AM4 socket retentions pins.
Since the user does not have any interaction with the inner socket pins, the user can only push back and forth the lever, that slide the upper/outer plastic, to secure the pins.
Moreover, the end user could not visually check, nor should be able to visually check, the inner part of the AMD socket retention mechanism.
The user can only drop the cpu into the socket when the lever is in the "open" position, the user cannot force the cpu into the socket without damaging the cpu pins in the process.
So if there is an issue with the inner socket pins, this is most likely a manufacturing defect, that should indeed be taken in charge by the warranty, without asking anything.
The fact the support came so far, showing the defective inner socket pins, shows the company intention to blame the end user.
Since the user doesn't, couldn't have any direct interaction, with this part of the socket."

To this mail, you must add the picture of the cpu pins, that should be in pristine conditions and not bent.

You can also bring your case to the Gigabyte Twitter, asking for further explanation, saying you are absolutely not happy with the Gigabyte RMA process and customer service.
 
#4 ·
Is that what happens if you pull the CPU out without unlatching it? I had that happen with a liquid metaled 3950X, pulled straight out without that much force. The motherboard still seems to work fine, but I never looked under there, of course.

It doesn't really look like it to me, given the pattern of damage, but that is the only way I could see those getting damaged after assembly at all.
 
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#5 ·
AcEsSalvation said:
I have never actually seen what's under the socket you drop the AMD CPUs in to, so I have no idea how much it takes to damage these pins, but it appears as though there is a lot of damaged connectors. Since I have had issues for so long, sporadically, and across the entire system, I'm thinking my board had a manufacturing defect. They are requiring $100, or they ship the board back to me as is.
Either way, I think this may be my last Gigabyte product. I know how I have treated my equipment, and other than disassembling my PC to ship the board back, my CPU never left the socket until the 6th, when I preemptively disassembled my PC to store the board in the box, waiting to send in my request.
Click to expand...
The only way to do something like that without removing the cover is to force in a CPU with damaged pins, rip a CPU out of the socket with a twisting motion while the socket lever is locked, or bend the entire board.

They probably assume you removed the socket cover to clean the pins and damaged them in the process, or that you damaged the socket and replaced the cover with one from another board to conceal that fact.

These are reasonable assumptions, but they should be giving you the benefit of the doubt, rather than having more stringent inspection standards than QA standards. Half the motherboards I get brand new would fail the kind of stingy fine-toothed-comb inspection horseshit they are pulling here.
 
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Discussion starter · #6 ·
I've built computers for friends, loaned my previous builds/parts out, and Frankenstein'ed rigs to make a fill-in build. I've worked on and made both intel and AMD based builds from replacing an Athlon II single core chip in the first prebuilt I tinkered with to Athlon II X3 450, then FX8350, to i5 4690k (what I'm using now as a backup PC with a gigabyte z97x gaming 5), to Ryzen 1700, and now my 3900x. Never have I ever forced a cpu at all, ever. I know about the arrows on corners, and if you look at the pins whether it's on CPU or board, the array of pins have a specific pattern to fit with the CPU/board. It's just like installing RAM, there are easy ways to physically see how it needs to be installed. And with AMD, it's very easy because the CPU won't actually sit in the socket if it isn't turned correctly. I have previously done that, but just one corner stays elevated, so I didn't try to close the socket. (friends old build, and we had very poor lighting at the old apartment)

Anyway, I'm going to see if I get a response from them. I sent an email basically saying because those pins are protected by the CPU cover, and the issues I have had previously, that I believe the board was flawed from manufacturing. I posted here to see what the community thought so far, as well as if anyone has any experience with this particular problem. Thanks for responding everyone 👍

Edit:
Dear Customer, CPU Socket Damage is not covered under the warranty, the product was received in the condition shows in the photos if you do not wish to proceed with the repairs the product will be sent back to you after the designated period Thank You.
Click to expand...
The e mail I received today
 
#8 ·
AcEsSalvation said:
I've built computers for friends, loaned my previous builds/parts out, and Frankenstein'ed rigs to make a fill-in build. I've worked on and made both intel and AMD based builds from replacing an Athlon II single core chip in the first prebuilt I tinkered with to Athlon II X3 450, then FX8350, to i5 4690k (what I'm using now as a backup PC with a gigabyte z97x gaming 5), to Ryzen 1700, and now my 3900x. Never have I ever forced a cpu at all, ever. I know about the arrows on corners, and if you look at the pins whether it's on CPU or board, the array of pins have a specific pattern to fit with the CPU/board. It's just like installing RAM, there are easy ways to physically see how it needs to be installed. And with AMD, it's very easy because the CPU won't actually sit in the socket if it isn't turned correctly. I have previously done that, but just one corner stays elevated, so I didn't try to close the socket. (friends old build, and we had very poor lighting at the old apartment)

Anyway, I'm going to see if I get a response from them. I sent an email basically saying because those pins are protected by the CPU cover, and the issues I have had previously, that I believe the board was flawed from manufacturing. I posted here to see what the community thought so far, as well as if anyone has any experience with this particular problem. Thanks for responding everyone 👍

Edit:
The e mail I received today
Click to expand...
Brah go public with this ****. Send it to steve at gamers nexus hes always looking for stuff to blast gigByte on. Hit them on twitter too
 
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#9 · (Edited)
AcEsSalvation said:
The e mail I received today
Dear Customer, CPU Socket Damage is not covered under the warranty, the product was received in the condition shows in the photos if you do not wish to proceed with the repairs the product will be sent back to you after the designated period Thank You.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
I'm left without speech, really, if you were in good faith with the story you shared, i really don't know what to say.

Please be sure to send a mail refuting again the claims, it is really important to have proofs, of your exchanges with the support.
Because if it needs to be escalated to an upper management figure, you want to have proofs that, you actually said you never send the motherboard in this state.

Moreover, you must specify that, since you haven't shipped the motherboard, in the state they claim to have received it.
You must ask where the upper AM4 socket retention mechanism is, since you shipped the motherboard with the mechanism attached to the socket.
And it is unlikely and there have been no reports of a retention mechanism, disassembling itself during the shipping.
That something happened during the shipping or something happened, once the motherboard reached the Gigabyte support centre.
The motherboard was in a working state, even if not optimal, hence why you RMA'ed it, but now the motherboard is not as functional, as when you send it!

If you have pictures of the motherboard and of the cpu, prior to shipping, send everything alongside your email, refuting clearly the Gigabyte support claims.
At this point, go to the Twitter Gigabyte page, and share your situation asking for help.
Do the same on the Gigabyte forum.
 
#10 ·
1devomer said:
I'm left without speech, really, if you were in good faith with the story you shared, i really don't know what to say.

Please be sure to send a mail refuting again the claims, it is really important to have proofs, of your exchanges with the support.
Because if it needs to be escalated to an upper management figure, you want to have proofs that, you actually said you never send the motherboard in this state.

Moreover, you must specify that since you haven't shipped the motherboard, in the state they claim to have received it.
You must ask where the upper AM4 socket retention mechanism is, since you shipped the motherboard with the mechanism attached to the socket.

If you have pictures of the motherboard and of the cpu, send them alongside your email, refuting the claims.
Click to expand...
This i always take pics of whatever item i am rmaing so i can just laugh at them and send them high res pcb shots
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
As for the "received in this condition" statement, I had sent an email to them stating that I had not damaged any pins. That was before I realized that I shouldn't be seeing any pins because I have an AMD board. I sent them a second follow up email saying that my board is an AMD board and not an Intel one (you can see the x570 badge on the heatsink of my board in one of the pictures). So I don't think they were saying the sliding mechanism was missing, they were saying there was underlying damage to the pins underneath
 
#13 ·
Blameless said:
The only way to do something like that without removing the cover is to force in a CPU with damaged pins, rip a CPU out of the socket with a twisting motion while the socket lever is locked, or bend the entire board.

They probably assume you removed the socket cover to clean the pins and damaged them in the process, or that you damaged the socket and replaced the cover with one from another board to conceal that fact.

These are reasonable assumptions, but they should be giving you the benefit of the doubt, rather than having more stringent inspection standards than QA standards. Half the motherboards I get brand new would fail the kind of stingy fine-toothed-comb inspection horseshit they are pulling here.
Click to expand...
I definitely agree that they could easily attempt to pin this on the customer but in my experience at least, I don't buy it.

I have used various methods to re-align AMD CPU pins including using the AM4 sockets on motherboards. I also go through a lot of coolers and mounts for each cooler, I pulled coolers off many times with the CPU out of my test board even after wiggling, never had an issue. I do not see how it's possible Aces could have caused that issue.
 
#14 ·
I would also avoid Gigabyte. I got a B550 mobo recently from them. The hardware is good, but the BIOS is too buggy and unrefined compared to Asus. However, Asus' hardware quality seems to be slipping compared to the competition.

The Taiwanese companies aren't particularly consumer friendly... i.e., they treat their customers like criminals when they need support.
 
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#15 · (Edited)
AcEsSalvation said:
As for the "received in this condition" statement, I had sent an email to them stating that I had not damaged any pins. That was before I realized that I shouldn't be seeing any pins because I have an AMD board. I sent them a second follow up email saying that my board is an AMD board and not an Intel one (you can see the x570 badge on the heatsink of my board in one of the pictures). So I don't think they were saying the sliding mechanism was missing, they were saying there was underlying damage to the pins underneath
Click to expand...
Ok, i prefer that, i was having half heart attack on your behalf. :eek::LOL:

First, if we have to be specific on the wording, there is no external socket damage to begin with.
Second, even if the cpu was pulled out, because of how the AMD socket is designed, it would have damaged the socket pins uniformly, which is not the case.
Third, i can't check now, but i'm curious to see which signalling pin, the damaged area correspond to.

Because i have seen a lot of people, complaining that the cpu came alongside the heatsink, when dissembling, but none had this kind of issue after the event.
Not i can remember to be honest, the preoccupation was more about bending the cpu pins, instead of damaging the socket.

So aside a faulty retention mechanism, strongly pulling-out the cpu with the heatsink, damaged pins due by cpu heat/current, and cooler mounting pressure.
There are not much other simple explanation, if the cpu sat in the socket the whole time, and you didn't wigle wigle purposely.

Dunno why they ruled out straight the RMA, without asking why and how this could have been possible, when the user has no inner pin reach.
 
#16 ·
sucks but seems like par for the course. I swore Gigabyte off after a bad experience back on 775 and decided to give them a second shot with a Z390 Aurous board. Had to RMA it and they held onto the board for ~2 months and sent it back saying they couldn't replicate the issue (board was 100% dead). Wrote them off completely now 🙃
 
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#17 ·
1devomer said:
Ok, i prefer that, i was having half heart attack on your behalf. :eek::LOL:

First, if we have to be specific on the wording, there is no external socket damage to begin with.
Second, even if the cpu was pulled out, because of how the AMD socket is designed, it would have damaged the socket pins uniformly, which is not the case.
Third, i can't check now, but i'm curious to see which signalling pin, the damaged area correspond to.

Because i have seen a lot of people, complaining that the cpu came alongside the heatsink, when dissembling, but none had this kind of issue after the event.
Not i can remember to be honest, the preoccupation was more about bending the cpu pins, instead of damaging the socket.

So aside a faulty retention mechanism, strongly pulling-out the cpu with the heatsink, damaged pins due by cpu heat/current, and cooler mounting pressure.
There are not much other simple explanation, if the cpu sat in the socket the whole time, and you didn't wigle wigle purposely.

Dunno why they ruled out straight the RMA, without asking why and how this could have been possible, when the user has no inner pin reach.
Click to expand...
This looks like someone ran thier finger across the socket without the plate on it...
 
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#18 ·
1devomer said:
Second, even if the cpu was pulled out, because of how the AMD socket is designed, it would have damaged the socket pins uniformly, which is not the case.
Click to expand...
That is what I was thinking as well. A weird pattern to happen after assembly, and so regular too. That half of perfectly undamaged pins seems very unlikely to be user damage, but I don't know what the damage from a straight pull usually is either. :unsure:

This is what my socket looks like after a straight pull, it is very different (and very damaged). Now that I think about it I might not have used this board since then... I might have switched to a Dark Hero at the same time. :oops:
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I am sure no RMA department believes what the user says, but how many boards come back with that kind of damage for them to think the users are doing it? If it is factory damage, maybe they end up doing this to a lot of people?

I have been a long time fan of Asus (mostly due to the BIOS being what I am used to at this point). The one time I RMAed a motherboard it was super easy. I RMAed that board twice too, no questions both times. The second time it blew up my golden 5960X too so I was still pissed, but it wasn't a ROG board and a golden 5960X could pull a LOT of amps. In retrospect, I was very stupid to think it was a fluke and keep running it with that motherboard. :(
 
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#19 ·
I always twist me CPU a bit before pulling it up with any decent force.
 
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#20 · (Edited)
Asmodian said:
That is what I was thinking as well. A weird pattern to happen after assembly, and so regular too. That half of perfectly undamaged pins seems very unlikely to be user damage, but I don't know what the damage from a straight pull usually is either. :unsure:

This is what my socket looks like after a straight pull, it is very different (and very damaged). Now that I think about it I might not have used this board since then... I might have switched to a Dark Hero at the same time. :oops:
View attachment 2527903
View attachment 2527907

I am sure no RMA department believes what the user says, but how many boards come back with that kind of damage for them to think the users are doing it? If it is factory damage, maybe they end up doing this to a lot of people?

I have been a long time fan of Asus (mostly due to the BIOS being what I am used to at this point). The one time I RMAed a motherboard it was super easy. I RMAed that board twice too, no questions both times. The second time it blew up my golden 5960X too so I was still pissed, but it wasn't a ROG board and a golden 5960X could pull a LOT of amps. In retrospect, I was very stupid to think it was a fluke and keep running it with that motherboard. :(
Click to expand...
Disclaimer!
The external AM4 socket retention clip is quite delicate, if you do not remove it properly, you will most likely damage it.
Do not attempt to remove the external socket retention clip for cheap reasons, leave this stuff to testers!

The socket pins don't seem damaged to me, to be honest, they seem quite fine.
Or maybe the pictures don't really provide a good point of view of the internal socket damage, depending on the viewing angle.

Here is my X370-F socket, alongside my dead 3600, that i killed assessing DDR4 memory volt-mod.
As you can see, my socket internal pins are in good shape, even looking at them personally, i can't find any issues BUT 2 burned, damaged pins.
The burned pins are related to the power delivery plane VDDCR_CPU, these are facing the CPU and SOC VRM power delivery.
Even if i killed the memory controller, no VDDIO_MEM pins were damaged by the volt mod.
I just send more than 2 volts, low current in the cpu IMC, nothing that could explain the VDDCR_CPU burned or damaged pins.

The cpu was never pulled out with the cooler, the socket never withstand the pressure of big coolers, only Corsair AIO blocks.
The cooler was indeed twisted a bit, as usual, to get the cooler free from the cpu, since my cpu is lapped, so i have a pretty good suction strength.

Rectangle Font Line Red Pattern

Attached below the AM4 pinout sheet!

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Font Gas Electric blue Technology Electronic device


Water Azure Rectangle Netbook Road surface


Automotive lighting Rectangle Fluid Fixture Gas



So as you can see, we are facing a very slopy slope here with AMD products, especially when AMD give you the possibility to run PBO full blast!
I never damaged and always took care of my cpu, socket and motherboards, i never touched the internal pin, STILL, i found 2 burned VDDCR_CPU pins.
Which by the OP thread and Gigabyte support standards, i would not be eligible either to any warranty!!!!!
Did the damaged VCCDR_CPU pins are the result of my memory volt-mod, not sure to be honest, but i will leave the benefit of the doubt.

And since, we as knowledgeable testers, wrongly never really spent the time, assessing the potential cpu internal pin damage, due to high current.
We can't even provide solid proofs to refute or concur, the support manufacture's claims.
So it is definitively something to keep in mind, going forward!!!!

More data and size sample are needed, to be sure that is not a potential issue, anyone running an AM4 platform could face! 🤷‍♀️
Never thought about until the OP report issue, maybe because we are still used to Intel, where we can clearly check both the cpu and socket pins! 🤷‍♂️
 

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