New Antec EA380 DOA. Bleh

[nerp]

I sent it back to Newegg today for an RMA. I'm going to use it to power a simple Foxconn 6150 motherboard, Opteron 148 and 512mb pc3200 for a WHS box with 3-6 hds running. Surely, an EA380 is up to the task.

So I take it home, connect it up. The machine starts fine. I haven't bought WHS yet, so I decide to boot a copy of Ubuntu and play with it with just one drive plugged it. Boot the CD, things work fine, reboot again, pop in bios, poke around.... Power down.

When I try to fire the machine back up, nothing. . . Nothing happens.

At first I think it's my Inwin Q500's power switch. This case is getting long in the years and the power button has a tendency to stick really bad. I begin to get frustrated, start prying the cover off this tall beast. . . . End up ripping the switch part right off the wires.

Great.

Now i can't even try to turn this on if I wanted.

10 minutes later, I've got my other main box in a lian-li and the inwin pressed against each other like nervous junior high dance partners. The power switch leading to the Lian li's power button is connected to the Foxconn. I just need a switch....

Nothing.

So WTF?

Eventually, I decided to connect my FPS 430 in the lian li to the foxconn motherboard. It looked strange, seeing the power connections from my LIan Li's PSU reaching into the InWin like R2D2 was trying to hack in or something. Anyway, using the FSP and the Lian'Li's power switch (because I basically busted the InWin's power switch) I managed to get the foxconn board to fire up just fine.

So Basically, this Antec gave me about 5 minutes of life and then decided to never turn back on again. Sucks. I also cut my finger pretty good trying to get the Foxconn motherboard tray to lean against the lian'li and I need to figure out whether I should buy a new case, a $14+shipping replacement panel for the InWin, a simple motherboard power switch connector (since this will be a headless server, I shouldn't be using the power switch much anyway), or what.

Antec's reputation has gone down lately. I wonder if this is the kind of stuff people deal with nowadays. Bleh. Let's hope the RMA works out.

 

[John]

Would you be posting the same rant if it was a Corsair psu?

 

[nerp]

Probably. Wasn't even really aware of Corsair making PSUs. I've been out of the loop for a while and last remember them as being just a memory company.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

Strange. From everything I gather, the new Earthwatts line is top-notch, about as good as they get for <$75. They're made by Seasonic. My own 380W Earthwatts has been running like a champ for about three months now.

 

[nerp]

Yeah, I figure it's just a random bad apple and when I get my RMA back I'll be singing its praises. I was digging the high efficiency.

 

[LxMxFxD4]

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
Strange. From everything I gather, the new Earthwatts line is top-notch, about as good as they get for <$75. They're made by Seasonic. My own 380W Earthwatts has been running like a champ for about three months now.

I got my 430W earthwatts for $30 after rebate, with free shipping too I think. Amazing deal considering it'll pay for itself in saved electricity in 18 months. And quiet as all hell too!

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: LxMxFxD4

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
Strange. From everything I gather, the new Earthwatts line is top-notch, about as good as they get for <$75. They're made by Seasonic. My own 380W Earthwatts has been running like a champ for about three months now.

I got my 430W earthwatts for $30 after rebate, with free shipping too I think. Amazing deal considering it'll pay for itself in saved electricity in 18 months. And quiet as all hell too!

So you think you will save $30 in an 18 month period.....

 

[John]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: LxMxFxD4

Originally posted by: Gigantopithecus
Strange. From everything I gather, the new Earthwatts line is top-notch, about as good as they get for <$75. They're made by Seasonic. My own 380W Earthwatts has been running like a champ for about three months now.

I got my 430W earthwatts for $30 after rebate, with free shipping too I think. Amazing deal considering it'll pay for itself in saved electricity in 18 months. And quiet as all hell too!

So you think you will save $30 in an 18 month period.....

It's reasonable to assume that he was using a 75% efficient psu, that his new EA-430 is 80% efficient, and now he's pulling 15W less from the wall.

15 (Watt difference) / 1000 (kWhr) * 24 (if you leave it on all day) * 548 (18mo.) * $.15 (cents per kWhr) = $29.59

 

[nerp]

The RMA arrived today. New box, new PSU, let's try it out! Newegg, as usuall, was quick to process my RMA and overnighted my the replacement via fedex. Buying DOA gear isn't so bad when a company like Newegg is looking out for ya.

I'll post back once i'm up and running.

 

[nerp]

New unit works great. Now I'm RMAing the Foxconn. It died after 10 minutes. What a piece of crap. In the meantime, I slapped the 380 into my main dual core opteron rig. Doing perfectly well with the OC in my sig as well as 4 SATA drives (1x500gb samsung, 1x36 gb raptor, 1x160 gb hitachi, 1x320gb seagate) an IDE cdrom, fans, x1950pro, etc. I may just leave this in here and use the FSP elsewhere.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: John
Would you be posting the same rant if it was a Corsair psu?

Hehe funny you should say that John,I did read awhile back of several Corsairs owners posting(over at OCuK forums) their bad experience ie DOAs and another that died within a week,goes to show even the best can fail and no hardware manufacturer is immune.

Bottomline if you use PC hardware,expect law of averages(when it comes to faulty hardware) to get around to you sooner or later.

 

[andlcs]

Earthwatts and the Corsair VX450 are both based on Seasonic S12-II. They are pretty much the same thing... Except for the fact that Earthwatts uses OST capacitors and 8cm fan while Corsair uses United Chemi-Con and 12cm fan.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: nerp
this Antec gave me about 5 minutes of life and then decided to never turn back on again.

Originally posted by: nerp
Now I'm RMAing the Foxconn. It died after 10 minutes. What a piece of crap.

WFT is going on in nerpland? Hopefully these are just random events.

Originally posted by: Mem
goes to show even the best can fail and no hardware manufacturer is immune.

Bottomline if you use PC hardware,expect law of averages(when it comes to faulty hardware) to get around to you sooner or later.

QFT. There is no brand of computer hardware that has a zero RMA rate.

 

[nerp]

Originally posted by: Zap
WFT is going on in nerpland? Hopefully these are just random events.

No kidding! I'm not having much luck with what was supposed to be a simple WHS build. Hard drives I've bought for it are being used in my main box for the moment and I'm almost tempted to leave them in! I haven't had a DOA or hardware failure in more than 5 years before this. Kind of frustrating but this is really a project build so I'm not out of commission or anything. I think I've just hit a burp in the supply chain and should be up and running soon enough.

I've managed to slice my finger open twice, discovered busted up case feet on the Inwin, have old buddies on IRC mailing me drive bezels through postal mail and managed to tear the power switch for the inwin something fierce. To top things off, the InWin's power switch is crudded up and impossible to push. I'd buy a new case but I'm getting stubborn so I'll just use the reset switch. It's a headless server and all. . .

 

[magreen]

Funny thread. LOL. For awhile I thought it was bs. I'm still not sure.

I think you should claim the relacement cost of your power switch including s&h plus pain and suffering of slicing open your finger from Antec and/or Newegg. And the replacement cost of the Foxconn while we're at it. Plus aggravation and time lost.

 

[nerp]

Hahaha.. Not BS. This is just me plodding away with old gear and some new parts and seeing how it all goes. Turns out the Foxconn was RMA'd fine but they're out of stock at Newegg now so I'm close to buying a board from a member here.

The wounds have healed. I'm fine.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: andlcs
Earthwatts and the Corsair VX450 are both based on Seasonic S12-II. They are pretty much the same thing... Except for the fact that Earthwatts uses OST capacitors and 8cm fan while Corsair uses United Chemi-Con and 12cm fan.

VERY incorrect information there. The two are NOTHING alike outside of both being made by Seasonic.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
The two are NOTHING alike outside of both being made by Seasonic.

You have to admit that there's a familial resemblance to the innards.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
The two are NOTHING alike outside of both being made by Seasonic.

You have to admit that there's a familial resemblance to the innards.

Right. Until you take them apart and start by realizing that the Earth Watts is only a single layer PCB vs. dual layer....