i've been an amd fan for as long as i can remember. started fixing computers in 1979. used to fix mai basic four minis in the mid-80s that were built on amd bit-slice bipolar cpus on boards that cost 15,000$.

for all of my tiny computer sales business' 20 years' life i pushed amd products because i believed they were superior to intel's.

just got 2 opteron 6172 cpus from ebay for what i thought was peanuts (450 $ each) only to discover upon delivery that both had hairline cracks at a 45 degree angle on one corner of the contact pad surface. looking at their web site i could figure i was out on a limb and amd will laugh in my face if ask for warranty support on these not-boxed cpus. i know some dumb ass managed to break those cpu corners, and tried to shove the crap to an ebay sucker, but the problem lies deeper, mostly in the g34 socket physical design itself of these otherwise beautiful electronic products. the edge of the metal cover doesn't reach the edge of the fiber board, leaving some unsupported area to be broken by dumb asses mimicking the old days when they could put a 40-pin dip cpu upside-down in its socket. so i'm freshly reviewing my belief system about amd while i figure a solution for this sh*t-hits-the-fan situation. wish i could have told amd engineers to cover theses last millimeters at the bleeding edge. they might argue this and that about non-boxed warranty, i still hold amd responsible for this preventable disaster.

i will appreciate any help, recommendation or suggestion about how to go talk to amd and get results, that anyone can offer in this matter.

paul :-)

first off this is a user to user technical support forum and amd technical support do not post here in any official capacity if they do at all. for RMAs follow the links on AMDs website.

Now, have you tested these cpus? do they work? im assuming they aren't for mission critical application as you bought 2nd hand off ebay from an unknown (to you) seller. if they work its purely cosmetic damage and not a design defect.

however if they do not work i believe you are barking up the wrong tree attempting to get some kind of recompense from AMD. at the end of the day you purchased 2 unknown processors 2nd hand from an online auction site. im afraid your only realistic course of action is to contact the seller.

chalk one up to experience im afraid :-(

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MODERATOR
The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.


Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

thanks for the advice action man,

after 15 days i finally got the 32 GB ram ordered from newegg and one cpu doesn't boot at all while the other one resets continuously after being on for ~ 2 hours.

i will return them to seller who has 100% score on ebay.

what rma? amd spits in the face of non-boxed cpu purchasers. try to look for the pinout of a 6172 opteron on their site. good luck my friend you are a hotshot if you can.

i still maintain that amd has some responsibility as their design makes it possible for someone to break the contact pad base because the metal cover on the other side doesn't reach the edge of that base. it's not as bad as the old days when you could put a 40-pin chip reversed in its dip socket but it's still no cigar. so if you know the links to feedback amd design engineers, tell me, i will definitely follow them. i will also gladly email the pics i took to anyone wanting to know what this weakness is like and what to look for.

paul :-)

i think you are mistaking "user error" for "design flaw". it is possible to damage items without it being a design flaw. for example if activate the front brake on a motorbike harshly at speed there is a good chance im to have an accident. is that a design flaw? nope that is me not handling the machinary correctly. if i were to attempt to replace an incandescent light bulb without first checking it has cooled down sufficiently i may get burned by it. design flaw? nope thats me not taking the proper precautions.

like i said, you took a gamble on some 2nd had cpus and lost.. no company in the world would accept an rma on 2nd hand goods bought at auction.

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MODERATOR
The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.


Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?

It sounds like some ham-fisted goofball broke a pair of CPUs and then tried to pass them off to some unwitting buyer on eBay. I'd bet he either dropped them or tried to mash the load lever closed on the socket when he had the CPU rotated 180 degrees the wrong way in the socket. I'd guess the latter as it takes a LOT of force to break a CPU and it would be doubtful if dropping it from any sane height would be enough force. Anyway, the older pin grid array CPUs would be damaged if somebody dropped them (more likely to be damaged than a newer land grid array CPU like the Opteron 6100s) or jammed them into a socket when they were rotated improperly. The fragile part of the LGA setup is the socket itself with the nearly 2000 tiny and very fragile exposed contacts sitting in the bottom.

The fact that the metal lid does not extend to the very edges of the CPU package is completely immaterial here. It's designed to allow for higher heatsink clamping forces, not to act as a helmet for the chip when somebody decides to improperly install it.

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