Gigabyte Support Was a Let Down

Short version

- December 31, 2015 - Started having problems with my Gigabyte motherboard

- January 3, 2016 - Purchased MSI motherboard

- January 13, 2016 - Sent Gigabyte motherboard for RMA

- January 25, 2016 - Gigabyte sent me my motherboard. They said they tested it, and found nothing wrong with it.

- February 8, 2016 - MSI motherboard started having issues. 

- February 8, 2016 - Tried to the use the Gigabyte motherboard, it was still broken. Had the exact problems as before, they fixed nothing.

- February 9, 2016 - Sent MSI motherboard for RMA

- February 25 - Got the new motherboard that MSI sent me, installed it, everything is working fine now. Life is happy. Hope it stays this way.

Conclusion - I am going not buy another Gigabyte motherboard because their support was a let down. I will stick to either MSI and if they fail me, I will have to turn to ASUS or ASRock. 

Long version

We moved into a new house on December 18, 2015. I was very happy to have a dedicated office/gaming room. We were moving from a very old apartment into a really nice house. The best house I’ve ever lived in. The plan was to set up our two gaming machines, for creating content for Youtube, and also for work. 

A friend donated us his fancy looking desk, which had plenty of room for a triple monitor setup. 

My setup before I started having motherboard issues

We setup everything, and for a few days, life was great. I took some time off for a bit before the New Year’s weekend, to to spend time in our new home, and play games and just relax. 

That’s when the problems started. On December 31, 2015. Nvidia driver kept crashing in addition to Windows freezing intermittently. I thought it was the GPU. I switched my GTX980 with the GTX780 from my wife’s machine. Still had the same problems. Her computer had no issues with my GTX980. 

After hours of troubleshooting, I couldn’t narrow it down to either the RAM or the hard drives. 

Then I thought it was Windows that had the problem, and I thought I should format and reinstall. So went into BIOS to change the boot device, and the BIOS froze. It dawned on me that it might be the motherboard that's causing all the problems. I’ve never had a motherboard gone bad before, so maybe my luck has run out. At this point, I still hadn’t ruled out Windows, so I thought I’d go ahead and reinstall Windows and see if it solves the problems.

This was when things got really worse. I loaded Windows setup and formatted the hard drive, and as new files were being loaded, I got this error - 

0x80070002 Error when installing Windows 7

I googled it, and I couldn’t find anything helpful. I thought my Windows 7 DVD had some problem. So I made a USB boot drive, and I tried to install Windows through it, and that failed with the same error.

At this point, I was at my wits end. I had no computer, and my New Years’ plans were ruined. 

The next morning, I decided to RMA the Gigabyte motherboard. I created an RMA request on January 1, 2016. I didn’t expect the approval to happen anytime soon because of the holiday season, so I purchased an MSI motherboard from NewEgg on January 3 2016. I had free 2 day shipping available through Shoprunner. The MSI motherboard arrived on January 6 2016. 

I installed this motherboard, and installed Windows, and everything went smoothly. This confirmed my suspicion that the Gigabyte motherboard was causing all the issues. 

My RMA was approved on January 6 2016, but life got a little busy, and I couldn’t send it till January 13 2016. I put a note explaining all the problems I had, and even mentioned that BIOS would freeze intermittently, and installing Windows was impossible. 

Gigabyte received it on January 20 2016 and they sent me back my motherboard January 24 2016. They made a note that the motherboard had no problems, and sent me back the exact same piece. 

Gigabyte RMA status page

When I realized this, I decided not to swap out my working MSI motherboard with the Gigabyte motherboard, which I believed to be still broken. I wanted to send an email to Gigabyte asking them to replace this particular motherboard. I would be more than happy to accept a certified refurbished item, but life got busy and I just neglected it. 

On February 8 2016, the unthinkable happened. The MSI motherboard stopped working. The computer wouldn’t post. Resetting the CMOS, didn't help. I was dead in the water. 

I figured I should at least give the Gigabyte motherboard a try, because my situation couldn't get any worse. So I reinstalled it, and what is the first thing that happens? Nvidia driver crashes. This didn’t surprise me one bit. I decided to give Windows reinstall a try, and as I went into BIOS to change the boot order, it froze. I knew there was no point in trying to get this motherboard to work. Problems don’t magically fix themselves. 

I was so tried with computer problems that I thought about just setting my computer aside till I can afford a Skylake machine. I even thought about buying a prebuilt machine…

I quickly came back to my senses, and began the RMA process. I created the request and it was instantly approved, which was nice. I sent the motherboard to MSI on February 9, 2016, and I got a replacement from them on February 25, 2016. 

MSI RMA status page

I removed the Gigabyte motherboard, and installed the new MSI board, and everything is working well now. I hope it stays this way. I do not want to make any changes to my machine until I am ready to build a Skylake machine. 

The bottomline is, I was very disappointed with Gigabyte. I am not going to buy their products after seeing how their RMA was very unhelpful. In contrast MSI did the right thing, and sent me a replacement without any fuss. I will stick to MSI for my Skylake build. 

F.E.A.R. Diary - Part 2 - The End Game

To think that I wouldn't have revisited this game if it weren't for a defective motherboard...

I finished F.E.A.R today, and I thought the ending was quite excellent. It ends on a real cliff hanger. They set up the sequel quite well. Its a shame that F.E.A.R 2 doesn't have the same PC focused design. I played the demo a long time ago, and I remember it being some what like Call of Duty. I could be wrong.I am not going to install it any time soon. I have Grand Theft Auto 4, Need For Speed Shift 2 and Dying Light to finish.

I think as soon as I finish those games, I will go with the expansion packs. I remember playing the demos a long time ago, and it would be fun to revisit those games again.

There is a frame rate bug that affects the game. At start, the frame rate is maxed out at 144 FPS, which is the refresh rate of the monitor, but after a while, it drops down to around 50 FPS. This is a known bug with the game, and the fix is to disable HID compliant devices in Windows. I didn't believe this at first, but sure enough, it works.

Disabling these devices will fix the frame rate issue

Another thing about the game is the level design. I've yet to play a game which had such bland levels. I can't recollect a single level that was memorable. Not a deal breaker, but with the entire game being set in a huge industrial compound, the map can be very boring. It does get a little bit better towards the end, but for the most part, its kind of boring.

I think this game stands above the rest of the horror games because the scares are very subtle. I enjoy that in a horror game, more so than jump scares, which can get really old.

Nailed to the wall

Alienware in F.E.A.R

Towards the end, it reminded me a lot about Half-Life, specifically the beginning of Half-Life.

Also, sprint and aim down sight (ADS) are very weird compared to modern games. Sprint feels more like walking, and ADS reminds me of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R games. The weapon is only sightly pulled up, and initially I couldn't tell the difference between ADS and non-ADS.

All in all, great game, totally worth the $2.99 I paid for the bundle.

Battlefield 4 Diary - Part 2 - Attack Chopper Domination

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Played a round of Battlefield 4 with friends, something we haven't done in a very long time. We decided to play Conquest Large, and I got the attack chopper on Siege of Shanghai. 

This map is fairly friendly to attack choppers because there is no AA. Of course once the building collapses, anyone with burst fire cannons on their attack boat can take out the chopper without much difficulty. 

I used struggle flying the attack chopper, but some practice on Dragon Valley made me fairly competent. I am still not great at using the two missile, so I stick to the heat seekers. 

Here is a video of some attack chopper gameplay - 

Need For Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed Diary - Part 6 - Downgrade Performance to Win

I was playing some Time Attack races with a highly upgraded  Lamborghini Murciélago, and I kept losing. Over and over again. Couldn't even get to the podium let alone win the race.

The  Lamborghini Murciélago is a Performance Grade A car. I decided to try the Ford Shelby GT instead which is a Performance Grade C car, and I am having much easier time winning races.

Using the Nissan 240 Drift Alliance, which is a Performance Grade D car, makes life even easier. 

Yet another difficulty scaling issue, it looks like. 

Nissan 240 Drift Alliance on the Miami Speedway

Nissan 240 Drift Alliance on the Miami Speedway

Winning at the Miami Speedway