AW18 980m SLI issues.

Sup, so I was helping the poor guy out and you sir are doing some shady shady business it's not even funny.

The first 2 set of cards you sold him as new where clearly refurbished and died even before he could flash or do anything to them, BOTH died. Clearly a very poor job.

Then you send him two "new" cards, and both looked great when they arrived at first glance. However if you look closely you can see that this card has been refurbished as well:

Spoiler

Goodwill my ass.

Also this card isn't even the one that broke, which is hilarious.

EDIT: I told him to make pictures the moment he got the cards out of the box, because he contacted me about his first set of cards. Obviously my interest peaked the moment he said that both cards were broke before he even started to use it, which is unheard of so I already assumed something shady is going on.Hell even the barcode on 1 of the cards is completely gone due to the alochol used and some lines are missing on the other card, where some lines are still very faintly there.

And here are your "new" cards you gave him.

Spoiler

I told him to contact ebay and paypal about this, you made this whole thing harder for him by not selling though ebay but through an invoice.

So there are 2 possibilities:
1. You're being scammed yourself by some fake company claiming to be Clevo related.
or
2. You're scamming people by selling refubrished cards as new.

Looking at your ad on ebay, I strongly tend to the latter. However if you're being scammed by some fake company yourself, I'd say sue them.

Important to point out:
On a normal GTX 980M card you can easily run Premamod without worrying it dying. Prema has tested his vBIOS on plenty cards and it always ensuring the optimal performance and stability. On stock it's highly unlikley that a card will die due to Premamod, so don't you sully his name with bad excuses. I've flashed tons of maxwell cards with his mod and none have died, even after years of usage.

 

I told him to send back and find another seller

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk

 

The PREMA VBIOS is very good, if you know how to use it.
I use it myself and have no problems, but I also know where are the limits.

The first graphics cards were Brand New
Inclusive travel card with serial number.
Graphics Cards with Travel Cads are 100% new, and not like many pulled out of the notebook.

The graphics cards were additionally tested in the service center before shipping.
Test 100% okay

So much for the topic, used graphics cards.

 

If I send you a PM, then it's a PM.
You are not 12 years old.

And no I am not a dealer.
Just because I had an Alienware hobby, and have a lot of GTX graphics cards, does not mean I'm a dealer.

Also if I sell 2 GTX 980M for 890, - Euro with 2 years manufacturer warranty
Does not mean that I'm a dealer.

That my contacts reach as far as Tiwan does not mean that I'm a dealer.

I could open a lot of very unpleasant topics here.
example
regarding the sale of graphics cards sold as new OEM
and it was actually used QS version graphics cards.

For many users I have exchanged defective graphics cards for free because the sellers did not want it.

So please, stay correct in the future.
This applies to all users.

Because life is too short to cheat.

By the way, there are many users who use Prema BIOS or VBIOS, what percentage of the users donated only 5, - USD?

Dear you look on other pages for free options.

You should be ashamed

 

Yeah right 2 brand new cards, both die even before installing drivers.
Then you send him another 2 "new" cards which I've shown where they have been refurbished before the guy has even used them because I asked him to make pictures before putting them in, however ignoring me completely on that one because you know it yourself.

after only a couple of days os usage with stock prema cards 1 already dies on exacly the place where I said it's refurbished.

That you even have the balls to sell 2 cards for 890Euro which is twice as much as what people actually charge for new cards, while yours being refurbished is downright scamming.

@woodzstack
If it was his notebook his GTX 770Ms would also have died, which isn't the case, both work flawlessly happy ever after.

 

no need to turn this into some competitive screaming match, with insults being flung, you should just retract what you said about me, plain and simple.

your selling and even replacing orders for people. Your the one saying this. not me, I'm just repeating it.

Your a seller, you can go and argue the terminology with anyone if you like, I do not really care. Maybe no one does.

I am not saying your a reseller as per these forum rules and under those restrictions, I am no mod and not implying you should be under those restrictions, is that what the concern is ?

if people are selling QS cards they should be called out for it ! been a pet peeve of mine for years.

Especially if they are misleading about the, like OMG please start those threads would be excellent !

I sometimes feel alone fighting all these sellers in this saturated market, I could use someone on my side, against those who are doing fishy stuff. honestly !

As for which users donated 5$ to prema or only 5$, I would suspect most of them ? no idea. Again, who cares? no offense or anything, not to you or Prema. but that's his business.

It seems like your issue is with your customer not me. I simply thought to say something obvious like you guys should resolve this, but maybe not here, openly on the forums, seems to be going no where.

I'm not involved in this dispute, and I have no intention of getting in the middle of it, if I am unwelcome to.

 

it's hard to say, if the 770M would die too, just being honest here, because I've seen plenty of cases with good cards not working in older laptops - and usually, 90% of the time it was the more powerful cards that would have the issues, and thus we more often then not, differences between them, come to a conclusion that there are power issues on older Alienware motherboards.
not always the case, but sometimes the case.

I've been frustrated more then once with this sort of issue myself, with my own cards in testing.
Throw them into laptop both laptop and cards work normally, but then higher end cards wouldn't work but when tested elsewhere everything was fine.
There are components that begin to fail in alienware's over time, like 3-4 years later capacitors are no longer as capable, and only getting worse.

anyways, who knows the condition of the cards he received, in the testing I've done, I've never had cards with blown components like that, even when they did not work and it turned out to be the laptop.
I also always took precaution, like those TEP modules/pads I sell etc... small things, they all add up you know.

but that said there is also human error, this is something those two involved should work out between them and not have us get involved. We don not have all the facts nor is it really our business.

 

also the two new graphics cards were tested.
And both graphics cards have full manufacturer's warranty.
and not just 60 or 90 days

 

This is a good statement

 

Here’s a picture after installation the cards were working fine. After like 2 hours usage max the slave failed. No human error while installing, take all necessary precautions like esd band and pad.




Must have just been a bad card.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No. More likely the proper vbios wasn't flashed to the slave card, fans never activated, and you cooked the card to death. That's far more likely than a 980M flat out dying in 2 hours because a component decided to quit. Alienware 18 require special slave vBIOS or else the secondary fan doesn't spin, and you cook your cards......gg

 

Flashed this bios here that I was sent from Siggi.
Confirmed this by checking up in dell website as well. That problem your talking about was with the M18X I have the AW18. I also checked in gpu-z as well to make sure cards temps were fine and slave cards never went over 73c.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Also I don’t think I would have been able to achieve this with slaves fan not spinning.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm done here. Good luck.

 

Dells bios is just right click and run and it flashes both cards. I don’t know what your trying to say. I know you know your computers but that doesn’t mean everyone else is a cave man. I can confirm 100% that there was nothing I’ve done to kill that card. But thanks for your input.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Personally I don't take these precautions and then when you tell someone it broke they blame it on that right away.... like no tape over the gpu transistors with liquid metal when that wasn't the issue as it was VRM... sucks your cards broke though try to pick up another one or get a refund... If u have had 2 broken items from the same seller I think it's time to buy elsewhere

 

Hopefully 3rd time lucky. He’s been good to be honest. Always reply’s quickly if I have a problem and very quick to sort it out. Think I’ll part with the sli setup once new card comes and just get a 1070.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I don't care if they have been tested or have warranty. If you sell something as NEW then you should provide them NEW cards, not refurbished ones. If you want to sell refurbished cards, go for it, I don't mind, but don't tell them they are new. I like myself refurbished things as well since they are cheap and if decently made sometimes even more sturdy than original.

@ Raidriar
He "killed" 3 cards. 3. Not 1 slave, but 3 (1 primary, 2 secondary slot). All died, 2 before even installing any drivers, 1 died in slave.

He also checked the temps with GPU-Z, temps were normal.

 

sometimes things happen, but your seller seems willing to work with you, so that IS worth something, keep that in mind, many chinese sellers simply put tell you to contact other people for support - some send people to me, almost everyday - it's annoying.

 

yeah you 100% need the proper vbios. not just a single card OC vbios or such. The .12 I think it is, is the one you need if my memory serves me well, on both cards. In m18X-R2 you need a different set for master and slave, but in AW18 you need both the same.

 

how do we know they were refurbished ?
I will be honest - sometimes the big distributors try to pawn off refurbs or returned cards sometimes, they quickly test them and send them on thier way.
not to defend the guy, but there is ore to a card dying or component failure to say it's refurbished. (although less then 0.1% of my cards have ever come back broken or dead in multiple years...so numbers do mean something)

Like I always tell people check the card thoroughly, for discoloration, check the sides of the silicon, this shows how long it's been exposed to air and heated up, even a light load or testing would slowly color the card a tiny bit, and then there is wear and tear on the gold pins itself, a new card wouldn't have any signs, or they would show a single light use.

there is always a sticker with it's date too.

Then again if you do not have that, you can always ask us, on the forum, based on it's S/N how old it is, and some of us have the ability to find out.
Like I can usually tell if I compare dates and such, what month a card was from based on other sin same batch range, just from my own personal volume, back when these cards were selling like hot cakes, I had weeks I was selling 40-50 at a time.

So, with that we can find out when it was manufactured, and if it's an older date, like older then a few months, I would become increasingly suspicious the further the date is. If it matches 2014-2015 dates, yeah they could be from a first batch, which pretty much sold out multiple times.

You could also look closely for different types of residue, like if you see multiple types of paste used or residue from multiple types of thermal pads used, there is almost always some residue, especially if you leave those plastic covers on around the GPU die center area.

 

Pretty sure this is correct as well. I don't think he need 2 vBioses for his AW18 model.

You should check my post, there are clear signs of refurb, the guy doens't deny it either. He doesn't even seem shocked by it, which means he's aware of it.

 

Here’s a picture I took of the cards as soon as I received delivery, I was concerned with the colouration on one of the cards gold like connectors. I brought this to siggi’s attention as well and asked if these were new and was told they was. Here’s a picture for you guys to decide (top left corner of card 2 gold square thingys as I call them)

By the way I would just like to add that this is the card that’s still working and in my system.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

@woodzstack

Also no date present on any of the cards, here are however there are S/N:
5TNEGX124500240 (discoloered, yellow tint)
5TNEGX126459987

As you can see on my previous post, I pointed out where the refurbjob has been made. Clearly not new cards.

@ Raja786
Wrong card. That's the one still working

 

Here’s a picture of back of the same card for your reference.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yes I know I just thought I’d put a picture of the back so you could see the s/n.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I already posted both S/N, I guess Woodzstack can do something with the numbers and maybe determine when they have been made. I might take a dip into that as well.

 

Cool. At least we will be able to get an idea of the manufacture date.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

it's clearly discolored everywhere, it either got very hot very quickly or it's been used. BUT - if it was used and this was slower coloration, then it would show on the sides too and be more evenly distributed In this case it looks like it heated up quicker because the coloration is on one end of the card only and not even near the die area.
Could be improper cooling on the coils. The heathad to go somewhere. Or too much voltage.

Oh BTW, seems the card has a vbios sticker with the proper vbios, just saying that literally is the absolute BEST vbios for AW18.

 

These pictures were taken when they was removed from the parcel upon delivery.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Care to read?
I've already pointed out the card as been refurbished, not only that but those pictures where before he even put anything into the notebook while the seller claimed they were "new" right from the factory from clevo in taiwan.

 

Are we sure though ?
But yeah if that was how they were as they were shipped, then damn... not sure what to say, but naturally I am always suspect, but then again not my sale so no stress for me.
I'm not going to check the S/N in this case, too much snooping for my likes, and I'd rather just leave this convo to not upset either party. It's really not my business, after all, and I said my points in as neutral as I usually try to be.
I only said what I said as a means to increase buyer/seller awareness etc...

 

The moment 2 supposedly new cards were broken even before drivers were installed I told OP to make pictures of the new cards before he would even do anything with them, sounded fishy to me from the beginning. And now we're here. No need to be passive about this, I mean the guy knew they were refurbished and sold them as "new".

Also:
@Raja786
The first card is from 2014, the other is from 2016. Can't figure out the accurate date yet, but the years are something I figured out.

 

So the one that’s still working is from 2014?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

well, story unfolds.

 

No, the 2014 one died. It's also the one the yellow tint on the S/N, due to age and usage.

The 2016 once seems to be still running just fine.

 

I thought so. Personally I do not believe a card that was manufactured 4 years ago is still new. That’s just my personal opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

As already pointed out before, both are refurbished. Both have been used.

The funny part is, that both the first cards sent from siggi, where actually 2016. So he didn't lie when he said they werent exacly old. They even have been produced on the same day, if not even in the same hour.

So those cards were indeed newer and may have died due to production error rather than refurbishment.

Which makes this so much worse, first selling you new cards then selling you refurbished crap is not acceptable by any stretch.

@ Hardcorecustom
So yeah, first you sold him new cards which possibly have been cheaply made or just bad luck on production and now you're trying to sell him refurbished hardware? On what planet is this acceptable in your oppinion?

I get that you're possibly mad at him for "breaking" new cards, but it's not his fault, it is absolutely not acceptable giving him refurbished cards instead of what he bought. I strongly recommend either giving him all his money back or do a partial payback due to selling him refurbished hardware instead of actual new ones.

This is not acceptable in any way shape or form. The damage on the cards were caused by elecricity, not by heat or anything else. Considering he didn't even flash a new BIOS on it, which you can easily check yourself by usng a programmer and the fact that his card runs absolutely normal on his board and his current lone GTX 980M, supports the fact that this is not his fault or caused by his hardware and should either get full money back + sending cards back, partial payment while keeping refurbished cards or you owe him what he paid for, a set of new cards.

Anything else is not acceptable.

@Raja786
You have more than enough ground to stand on, kontakt siggi again and figure something out. Those 3 options are acceptable, anything less isn't.

 

I always thought CEG was the hardcorecustom guy. Misleading, because in other threads I read he was with them, so confused.
I do not know why but people from that company used to come to me saying they were told to come to me for support by thier sellers.
Used to annoy me, not that I do not like to help people, but you do not see APPLE providing support for Microsoft Windows, right ?
But if used cards are being sold by people, as new, that's akin to fraud in my opinion, but there might eb laws protecting you, maybe try contacting your payment provider used for the purchase.

I would like to know what the association or history was between these two companies or people or whomever whatever anyone of them is.
I've always felt like they were together, which maybe act a specific way towards one or the other, because one of them used to direct thier customers to my support instead of doing it or handling it themselves.
(something they never asked me for permission to do or no agreement to do so etc..wtvr you know what I mean)
It's just I'm curious whats going on. I want to believe everyone was honest here, and things were cool, but if things seem shady it might be good to know things, warn people, who knows, knowing is half the battle right (anyone from the 80's gets the reference )

Anyways let this all settle in the end whatever happens, people should buy from the larger companies to know they are getting 100% and have support there for them, like a direct official Clevo reseller company, there are enough of them who support after market upgrades, and even offer services like installing the cards into your laptop for you to guarantee results etc.
might cost a bit more, time and service as you'd expect. Like taking your car in to change the brakes, very easy to do, and brakes are cheap - but they charge you for the service, and it's worth it , right ?

 

You’ve got that flipped.

 

Original VBIOS .... and WTF is that?
'' I've flashed Prema V2 and I'm very happy with my upgrade. ''
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw18-980m-sli-issues.812593/page-12#post-10675888
" I tried dell then prema. But the cards were faulty so did not flash either "
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw18-980m-sli-issues.812593/page-14#post-10676306

I wrote you several times to reflash only the original Dell VBIOS
Flashing Unauthorized VBIOS is a warranty loss.

 

Just send the cards back and part ways.

 

Siggi that’s what I said I flashed with official dell first so the cards were recognised in my system then yes I flashed with prema vbios which is specifically for the Alienware 18. If the bios flash that was the culprit both cards wouldn’t be working. The master which has a manufacture date of 2016 is still working yet the 2014 one is dead. You said your self you use premas bios yourself and you’ve never had an issue so why when it comes to me it boils down to premas mod that’s killed the card. Can’t be right for you but wrong for me. On these forums alone tons of people have flashed their cards with prema and not had any issues, why? Because the cards were fine. It all boils down to the cards and not the prema bios. Let’s see if we can get some input from prema himself. @Prema what is the likely hood of your bios killing a card? (I already know the answer but just to make it clear for some people).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

If I could get a refund I’d be more than happy. Or what I paid for in the first place. As I’d prefer to get what I initially wanted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Emphesis on tried.

Good luck trying to flash something on cards that shorted and cannt be read by the system.

Is this your excuse to keep the money and send him refurbished cards?

 

If the card was indeed running from 2014 (I don't know about that) and it was running for the past 4 years on stock voltage combined with silicone degradation, suddenly raising the voltage with Prema vBios has a pretty high chance to kill the card when it is loaded.

I always say don't use aftermarket vBios like Prema's unless you know 100% what you are doing and what your hardware can handle.

 

It was supposed to be a new card. This was manufactured in 2014. So there’s no way it has been sat on the shelf for 4 years. Check previous posts and determine yourself wether it was a new card or used.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What is wrong with you?

You write here that the first two graphics cards were renewed.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aw18-980m-sli-issues.812593/page-16#post-10676574

Then you write that the graphics cards were new ...

Yes, both graphics cards were new and with travel card.

As you already know, there are no Renewed Graphics Cards with Travel Card

Why do you write that I sold used graphics cards?

I think you have a little lost the overview here.

The second graphics card set was delivered directly from Taiwan,
After delivery, it was additionally checked in the service center and then sent to the UK.

And these replacement graphics cards were delivered out of goodwill

Because the first two graphics cards had overvoltage damage,
and with overvoltage damage there is no guarantee.

Do you read that through what you write?
"So those cards were indeed newer and may have died due to production error"

That's a guess, or were you present at the insallation of the graphics cards.

Because there are many ways to destroy new graphics cards.

 

Well the card is on its way to you now. I’m just hoping the replacement will give me better luck 3rd time round.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

a possibility if you make wrong settings in the VBIOS

You flashed, although you knew exactly, flashing at your own risk, and loss of guarantee