My leadtek (winfast a400 GT TDH) geforce 6800gt is doing crazy things

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A Week

ranmas said:
Is their turn around time always this horrible? They have had my card for more than a week now and I've not heard anything from them. I've had to rma a couple of other parts before and have never had to wait this long. In fact the other companies didn't make me wait at all, or not very long. One place I rma'd to sent out a replacement part before I sent them my old one. The other had the replacement heading to me the day after. :mad:

What is with them taking near 40 days to get a part back to anyone, thats just wrong. There is almost no reason at all for it to take that long to get a replacement part. :(

Its going to be an email or a call to them soon about this. :unch:


It usually only takes a week. Anyhow im glad to announce that the 7800GS is bad *** and has no problems got it yesterday and put it in and instantly it worked. IM glad they finally got me a good card that is better than the old one.
 
Good to hear that your new 7800gs is running good.

I did end up giving them a call today. The guy I talked to was just a bit difficult to understand, he had a very heavy asian accent. He said that they have had my card over a week now, and it was still at the repair station. I did ask when I could expect news on the card and was told possibly next week. Being as today is friday thats not too suprising, but rather vague. When I asked if they had a chance to look at the card, and if they new what was wrong with it he got a bit evasive saying it was very difficult to tell.

My guess is its still sitting in the box I sent it too them in. I almost wonder if they are just takeing their time deciding what exactly they want to do with these cards. As dethalis has recived a 7800gs we can see that they are willing to upgrade them. Only time will tell, and I have about a week or two waiting to find out.
 
Lolz

ranmas said:
Good to hear that your new 7800gs is running good.

I did end up giving them a call today. The guy I talked to was just a bit difficult to understand, he had a very heavy asian accent. He said that they have had my card over a week now, and it was still at the repair station. I did ask when I could expect news on the card and was told possibly next week. Being as today is friday thats not too suprising, but rather vague. When I asked if they had a chance to look at the card, and if they new what was wrong with it he got a bit evasive saying it was very difficult to tell.

My guess is its still sitting in the box I sent it too them in. I almost wonder if they are just takeing their time deciding what exactly they want to do with these cards. As dethalis has recived a 7800gs we can see that they are willing to upgrade them. Only time will tell, and I have about a week or two waiting to find out.



Dude i bitched them the hell out and thats how i got my 7800gs ;-)
 
Problem with Leadtek winfast a400 ultra fixed! (for me anyway)

I purchased a board from ebay that had the same symptoms as many here have posted - scrammbled screen etc. I too went through the driver escapade and install - uninstall. I emailed the seller and he told me it was giving him probs too, but the techs at leadtek told him it was compatability with his abit board. He sent it back twice (just like many others here) and it still was screwed. I messed with the board for a while (I have an abit ic7 max3 mainboard) and came up with this solution that is working fine for me. Here is the return email I sent to ABIT tech support. puke:

Hello,
I am returning this email to offer some information. I have fixed the board so that it works for me. Apparently, the vid card takes up two slots because the heatsink is so big and heavy. The metal part of the board that houses the DVI connectors that face outside the back of the machine is much thicker and heavier than regular cards. When the vid card is placed in the socket and then screwed fast to the case, the ridgidity of the metal on the board causes it to pull away from the center of the mainboard AGP slot ever so slightly. When I say slightly, I mean that if you unplug and then plug in the DVI connector it is enough to unseat the card and cause the problem. I bent the metal slightly (as most cards will bend a bit when putting them in the case) and left the fastening screws a little loose. Then I used a hole in the vid card near the center of the mainboard to fasten to the top of the case with zipties and pulled it up tight. This gives the board full contact and it works great.

I am not telling you this to pump up my ego, just to let you have an idea in case you get other questions about these new, heavy cards. I can see in abit's future a heavier and deeper AGP and PCI-E slot with perhaps a memory stick type fastener to hold the cards to the board.

BTW send me an email when the new slots come out and I'll give you an address to send the royalties ;)

Thanks for your time.


----- Original Message -----
From: <fae4@abit-usa.com>

I hope this helps someone else. Usually when a vid card comes unseated just a little, the screen won't work at all the the mainboard will beep 4 times at you. These BIG ones just keep going until they fry so if you see the problem, turn off your machine and try to reseat.

kelvar_byte
 
@ Kevlar Byte

Kudos to you on that effort, unfortunately the problem with many of those card goes beyond what you described, as proven by Leadtek's confirmation of bad ram in one of the responses from an earlier poster and I actually told them this on my first contact with the Netherland momos.

Unless the majority of us out there have badly designed motherboards, there is no logical reason for everyone to have to go through some ridiculous rigmarole to get a brand new card installed in a slot that is designed for it. I have been building computers for years and do know when a card is defective from when it isn't appropriately inserted or snapped in.

I'm glad Leaktek is now doing the right thing by not disregarding the complaint and frequency of returns they've been getting. I went through a terrible ordeal with these guys and am just glad it's over. They knew they had a bad batch of cards but they chose to cut corners by recycling bad returns under warranty as opposed to a massive recall because they would save a ton of money that way. I wonder how they'd feel if we all paid them several times over with bounced checks after getting perfectly fine cards.

Lastly, congrats to the guy who got a 7800GS out of the deal, with no good and bad 6800's in their stock anymore, am sure they'll be doing something similar for others too (serves them right), especially Leon Kuiper and the other momos from the Netherlands. At least the guys from here in the US like Eric Lai (Technical Marketing Manager), John Zhang (Eric's errand boy) and Clara Lee (Accounts department lady) showed some empathy and eventually got me sorted out, so ask for them if you feel you are getting too much e-runarounds.

Goodluck guys.
 
w00t

Sabertooth said:
@ Kevlar Byte

Kudos to you on that effort, unfortunately the problem with many of those card goes beyond what you described, as proven by Leadtek's confirmation of bad ram in one of the responses from an earlier poster and I actually told them this on my first contact with the Netherland momo's.

Unless the majority of us out there have badly designed motherboards, there is no logical reason for everyone to have to go through some ridiculous rigmarole to get a brand new card installed in a slot that is designed for it. I have been building computers for years and do know when a card is defective from when it isn't appropriately inserted or snapped in.

I'm glad Leaktek is now doing the right thing by not disregarding the complaint and frequency of returns they've been getting. I went through a terrible ordeal with these guys and am just glad it's over. They knew they had a bad batch of cards but they chose to cut corners by recycling bad returns under warranty as opposed to a massive recall because they would save a ton of money that way. I wonder how they'd feel if we all paid them several times over with bounced checks after getting perfectly fine cards.

Lastly, congrats to the guy who got a 7800GS out of the deal and with no good and bad 6800's in their stock anymore, am sure they'll be doing something similar to others too (serves them right), especially Leon Kuiper and the other momo's from the Netherlands. At least the guys from here in the US like Eric Lai (Technical Marketing Manager), John Zhang (Eric's errand boy) and Clara Lee (Accounts department lady) showed some empathy and eventually got me sorted out, so ask for them if you feel you are getting too much e-runarounds.

Goodluck guys.


Thanks to eric and his staff yes i got a reasonable solution. After all i told them the first time i sent the card back that it was bad ram and even gave them this forum's link so they can ponder the idea. I also would like to say hey man don't expect the zip tie to work for long if you read further back in the posts that there were people who did find a solution for the card becoming unseated. But never the less they still ended up failing after use. If i was anyone who has this card and is having issues call up or email eric lai and let him know what the dealio is. He more than helpped me out, he hooked me up with the fastest and best agp card out. Might i add i can play fear on maximum settings with no lag and the card oc's great 375 stock 475 max core so far ;-) and 1200 stock 1400 max ram thus far and runs at a wopping 69 c max load... :p So anyway if you people can try and get them to just upgrade you to this card it kicks so much ***... also its about 2 and a half pounds or more lighter than the a400 gt :-D big plus there. Im waiting for an artic cooling cooler that i can buy to replace stock to get even more oc :-D Good luck guys and good luck kevlar. Hope the card don't fail on ya.
 
dethalis said:
.......Might i add i can play fear on maximum settings with no lag and the card oc's great 375 stock 475 max core so far ;-) and 1200 stock 1400 max ram thus far and runs at a wopping 69 c max load... :p So anyway if you people can try and get them to just upgrade you to this card it kicks so much ***... also its about 2 and a half pounds or more lighter than the a400 gt :-D big plus there. Im waiting for an artic cooling cooler that i can buy to replace stock to get even more oc...

Hopefully you never will have the need to replace your card because if you do, you'll be OOL because overclocking your card voids all warranty on the card, not to mention installing an aftermarket fan. Certain things are sometimes better left undisclosed.
 
Hmm...

Sabertooth said:
Hopefully you never will have the need to replace your card because if you do, you'll be OOL because overclocking your card voids all warranty on the card, not to mention installing an aftermarket fan. Certain things are sometimes better left undisclosed.


true sabertooth however they give you the overclocking utility man so i don't think they would not honor the warranty. Besides artic cooling makes excelent and easy to install coolers for vga cards the will help keep it cool. I wouldn't see why they wouldn't honor the warranty when they give you the damn utility.
 
I'm getting ready to send back my card. I sent tech support a fairly lengthy email describing the problem, and mentioned that I was following several other threads with the exact same problem, that there doesn't seem to be any new cards available, and that many people get cards back with the same problems. I said that I didn't want another GT card, I asked about a 6800gs AGP (I know they make them, don't know if leadtek does). Don't really want to ask for a 7800gs.

Well, all I got back was "Based on your description, the card may be defective." and to RMA the card. Don't know if they even bothered reading my message, but it sounds like I'm going to just get another GT.

I hate to dump more money into this shipping these cards back and forth, especially if I have to do it several times, but this the the first time I've tried to RMA that card so I guess I don't really have an leverage to ask for a card from a differnet line yet.

To be honest, I'd be happy with a 6600gt. I was originally planning on getting one or a 6800 nu before I saw this card for $200 on newegg, which was only a little more then I was ready to pay for one of the lesser cards.
 
hello, i ve just joined this forum just to say that i ve same problem. but unusuall thing is that its Albatron make 6800 with this same kind problem and its pci-e not agp as was stated by many people above. i am going to return the card today.
cheers.
ps was looking for this problem everywhere and only this forum got it.
 
Well about after almost a month I finaly got my card back today. Yeah I said my card, as in the same one I sent out to leadtek to begin with. Instantly I was worried about this. After examaning the card further I was a bit annoyed. Some of the copper fins were bent, there was thermal past on the fins and you could see residue of some sort on the plastic fan case. The actual board appeared to be clean. I would say as if but I know they did, take the heatsink off and cleaned the board.

So far not what I would call a good impression. At least it looked like they really looked at the card.

After installing the card and crossing my fingers, the system powered on with no graphical issues. Currently I've tested Need for Speed Most Wanted and World of Warcraft. They have both worked flawlessly. I do plan on running though a few futuremark tests and maybe a couple rounds of call of duty2 and battlefield2 just to make sure there are no artifacts.

If they hadn't taken so long with fixing my card and getting it back to me I would have been very happy with this, as it is I'm just happy that I currently have a working card. That I hope will stay that way for at least another year or so.
 
This is a fascinating thread. I have this video card and the same problems as everyone else. I guess I must send it back to Leadtek, although I am very reluctant to do that as it seems likely after reading this thread I will either get another card that doesn't work, or I will get a card that works for a while and then breaks. Even the prospect of having to wait a month with no graphics card upsets me.

I brought this computer on ebay (big mistake :p ) and it came with a rubbish graphics card. So I upgraded through the seller. Then the mobo crashed and I sent the pc back to the seller for repair and upgraded to the 6800GT in the process. Then it comes back and I find out the video card is rubbish. It's already been three months since I bought this machine and it still doesn't work after all this time.

I must say though, the guy who got a 7800gs -- you are my hero. :p I hope they give me a 7800gs that would make a fine ending to this whole thing. I will try that email address you posted, perhaps that guy can help me out.
 
Winfast A400GT Major Problems ------Please Read-----

Hello,
I own a Winfast A400Gt. I bought it in september 2004 and it worked great until october of 2005, thats when the problem came. While I was playing Quake4 my monitor turned off.

I hard restarted the system and waited for the monitor to come on and the system to post. The system never made it to post, the monitor never even came on.

The only way I was able to get the computer to turn on was to install my old ATI Radeon 7000 APG.

I then contacted leadtek support throught their web page. They quickly responed and issued me an RMA request form. I then filled it out and sent it back to them to get a RMA number. After that I sent the graphics card in to Leadtek on Dec 17. I got the card back on the 11th of January.

The card I got back from leadtek was in a new non sealed box and had 2 new games and all of the adapters and power cables. It was not the same card that I sent in, however it apeared to have dust on it and I new that it was not a new card either, it looked like a refurbished card. I took a deep breath crossed my fingers and installed the card in my machine.

When I powered up the computer I was greeted with strange artifacts symbols, bars and colors. I contacted leadtek support John Zang the guy I was dealing with and informed him that the card that they shipped me was defective. He responed by appologizing and directing me to the technical support department. When the technical support guy he asked me what my power supply was, I told him I am using a 580Watt dual line power supply. There was no way this was a power problem.

I looked at the card and noticed that the power molex connection on the card had a darker colored pin on it with some scratch's. I thought that it may have been a case of not making proper contact so I moved the power cable connecting to the card around a bit and tried to make a better connection. I reinstalled the card and it worked exect for a few white dots and lines that would pop up every once in a while.

I was making progress or so I thought. After that I flashed the bios with new version of the leadtek 6800gt bios thinking that might work. Mabey it would give it more power I thought.

It worked. I was able to play games like morrowind bf2 rainbow six lockdown dungeon siedge 2 fear call of duty 2 far cry, the list goes on. I could play all the latest games that stress the hell out of components, most of the time. Some times all these strange artifacts and colored bars lines, characters and then it would all break apart with strange colors everywhere. After that the system reboots with the artifacts, until I power down the system. I could then turn the computer back on and the artifacts would be gone. Most of the time that is. One day while play a game the monitor turned off again, when i turned off the computer and turned it back on the corruption was worse then ever.

I tried every practical technical solution that i could think of. This included voltage, extra cooling, updated bios, drivers, operating systems, and components such as quality power supplys and cheap power supplys, different cpu's and motherboards, changed ram. I even changed the monitor as well as try the graphics card in my other systems. The results were all the same with all the diffent systems, all would display artifacts.

So after trying everything I could think of I contacted leadtek today to tell that the card is offically defective and that it was not my computer systems. They issued me a RMA request form again. This is my second RMA to leaktek. As you can understand I was fealing quite dis-pleased, even though leaktek is good about RMA's they would probley just send me another junk card i was thinking.

I got everything ready for RMA and decided to try on last thing, I read in some of the previous post's that people found a solution to this problem by propping the card up with cd cases or other small things. So I installed the graphics card in my system and got a piece of copper wire. I thread the wire through a hole on the outer edge of the card closest to the power molex connection where the card sinks the most, due to the overwhelming wieght of the huge cooling device. I looped the copper wire around steal colum near the top of the case. This way the copper wire was holding the card up on the end that sank down the most. I powered up the computer and it worked perfectly. No sign of the artifacts. I can play games and everything without crashes. 100 stable now. It seams at least, it may screw up again at any time.

It is my theory that the wieght of the cooling device forces the copper plates on the agp connection on the card to shift out of alignment with the pins of the mobo in the agp conector. This causes the artifacts, colored bars dots symbols and lines.

Conclusion
By supporting the card with the copper wire fastent to the top of the case the card makes proper contact with the motherboard, and therfore the artifacts are gone
This solve that problem for me

If you have orther artifacts or crashing in games it could be one of your memmory modules. There are 8 or them and if one is bad your games will never work for prolonged periods of time, or may crash right off the bat. The crash would restart the system.
Or
Your cooling device is not making proper contact with the chips. You may need to buy some thermal paste or thermal pads to tranfer the heat better.
Or
You may need to upgrade your power supply if you have a unit under 350watts.

Well that is my experience so far and I know that this post can help someone out there.

I just hope my graphics card stays fixed. If it doesnt im sending it back and asking for a different line of cards. Mabey the 7800gs or something.

Thanks to all who shared thier knowledge and helped me fix my problem,
Thanks to all who have taken the time to read this post,
Steve
 
Leadtek blows

Hi another new member here after finding this thread on google.

My story goes back to last year. June 05 I bought a retail brand new (non-refurb) a400gt from newegg. These were supposed to be brand new cards, though I doubt they were as the packaging (i.e. peeled back and reattached tape) seemed like it had been opened before but arranged so that it would appear new. In total three (3) cards were mailed to me one at a time, and all three were defective. Which I sent back each time one at a time. Luckily this happened within the 30 day return period. I eventually took a refund and went to Fry's to purchase this same card. I always do my research before buying a product, and Leadtek had a such a name that it was recomended by reviewers and the tech-savy. So I thought maybe Newegg was trying to get rid of a bad batch. Well they were, but I had no idea of the severity of the problem until my experience and reading this thread.

The card I purchased from Fry's Electronics (B&M retailer) has lasted me for a little over 6 months, when it suddenly died. I rma'd and the turnaround took close to a month. My unique problem is that I never recieved the card. When they shipped the card they never supplied me with a tracking number or information that they shipped the product. UPS said they delivered it, and I beleive them because my neighbor saw the truck pull up and the driver walk up to my door. However, when I arrived home the package was not there and it was most likely stolen off my porch. I emailed John Zhang about it and told him why he didn't ship with signature confirmation or at least give me a tracking number. He told me that the new shipping policy is UPS ground and to only give a tracking number if the customer asks for it. Well that's BS! When I shipped to them I paid extra for signature confirmation. They couldn't even give me a tracking number.

So I asked them if they would send me another card to replace the one I never recieved. John Zhang said that because my RMA was controlled they cannot give me another card. So there it, for $400 I got 4 defective video cards in a row and crappy customer service. Leadtek will never again get my money and I will advice everyone to stay clear of them. And to anyone that has RMA's out there, be sure you request a tracking number, because they will not bother giving it to you unless you ask.


Man I wish I had found this thread earlier! Does anyone have any advice for me in this case? Maybe I could email a higher up? Computers happen to be my favorite past-time, but for me $400 is a huge amount of money, and a terrible loss. Thanks for reading and thanks for this thread.

George
 
7800 gs demand

If you dont have any card with you, unfortunately I can't help you but I hope there is a solution.

For my case, I've just sent Eric Lai a mail to get a 7800 gs, as Dethalis did. I explained that I sent them 2 cards and that I'm now at my third one and I'm still having problems with it in 3d games.

I will probably get an answer next monday, I'll keep you informed about developments.

*sry for my bad english*
 
Yeah the 7800gs it is a fine card. I picked up a BFG 7800gs after Leadtek said they would not ship me another card. I don't think I'll keep it though, as it cost me $350 and for that price, it's just not worth it. It is only slightly faster than the 6800gt, sometimes it is noticeable others not. The 6800gs is probably the best card to go with price/performance. I need to switch over to PCI-E to get the real bargains for graphics. AGP is a dead platform and if I buy one now I will pay a premium for it. Not only that but it will have no longetivity beyond my current system because my next one will be pci-e.

Glad it was a positive outcome in your case though and congrats on that 7800!
 
ok they answered to my demand but ... they ask me to pay $80 which is the difference between a 6800 gt and a 7800 gs..

dethalis, I dont think you paid the 80$, am I right ?

It has been 9 months I'm not with a working card and i think they should pay the damn $80..

should I accept their offer ?
 
Nice to know that there are others going through the exact same time as me. :)

atomicplayer said:
ok they answered to my demand but ... they ask me to pay $80 which is the difference between a 6800 gt and a 7800 gs..

dethalis, I dont think you paid the 80$, am I right ?

It has been 9 months I'm not with a working card and i think they should pay the damn $80..

should I accept their offer ?


Hey AtomicPlayer,

My solution of adding extra support to the graphics card has failed. I am now using a ati radeon 7000 agp. My pre-order of Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion irrived on tuesday but I cant play it without a beefy card I will have to wait for leadtek to send me my 7800gs. Hey at least I can play Morroiwnd in the mean time.

Here is what I think, in point form this time so you do not have to read four pages of my opinion. :)

- I bought my first Leadtek winfast a400gt from logiccomputerhouse. (not from newegg)
- My first Leadtek winfast a400gt lasted 1 year.
- My second Leadtek winfast a400gt was dead on arrival. (artifacts on bios)

It is my opinion that the whole 68xx series of graphics cards from Leadtek have the same flaw’s. There is a problem with the memory controller that causes memory modules to burn out and the weight of the cooling device may have something to do with the damage we are seeing here. I don’t think that newegg is the source of this problem.

Therefore I suggest that you take the offer form Leadtek for the 7800gs, but I warn you that you may be in for a wait, as Leadtek doesn’t have any of these cards in stock. They should know when they are RECEIVING these cards on Monday 27 2006.

I agree that they should pay you the 80.00USD but be happy that you will finnaly be ridding yourself of the headache of the 6800gt and it should be worth it to you to pay the 80.00USD just for the piece of mind that come with knowing that this problem is over.

Just my 2 cents.

Steve

p.s,
Keep me informed on what leadtek tells you when you complete the forms and pay the 80.00USD. They told me after I had paid them that they did not have any 7800gs's in stock. I find that a bit strange dont you. They are a graphics card manufacture. I look forward to hearing from you.
 
We need a class action lawsuit !!!

:D
barans said:
Hey AtomicPlayer,

My solution of adding extra support to the graphics card has failed. I am now using a ati radeon 7000 agp.

I kinda saw that coming, there's just way too many incidents for Leadtek to paint the issue as mere coincidences. This company is just not accountable and very unresponsive when it comes to customer service, they are just lucky they are not into pharmaceuticals or they'd be ducking for cover right about now.
 
Leadtek, is a shoddy company with poor customer support. From now on, my money is on BFG. BFG has the best customer support in the industry. The few bucks I spend extra on a BFG is well worth it than buying the cheaper Leadtek after this experience. People have been telling me that for RMA's BFG crossships you a card so you experience little to no downtime. But hey these are individual cases, so I don't know if this applies to everyone. I do know that they have a real lifetime warranty on their cards. A "real" lifetime warranty means the life cycle of the card as long as you own it and not just the product(manufacturing) cycle like all the other companies that say "lifetime warranty". Anyway enough of my BFG fanboyism, do your own research and go with a company you feel comfortable with. Just don't buy Leadtek!


atomicplayer: You can either accept the offer and pay the $70.00 or reject it on principle. If you accept it, you will still be able to game on AGP for a little while longer and avoid upgrading your whole system to PCI-E. Of course if do choose this option, what I would do is sell your new leadtek 7800gs when it arrives and buy a BFG, eVGA, or [insert your favorite non-Leadtek brand here] 7800gs. That way you won't have to deal with their customer support again if/when your new card breaks.

Or you can try to negotiate with them by telling them that you feel that paying $70 is out of the question after all the hassle they have put you through. And if they don't give you a new card you will contact your lawyer and the Better Business Bureau about their warranty pracitses.

Or you can completely reject it and have the satisfaction of telling them to f-off and stick it up their ****.

I don't know your financial situation or your upgrade cycle, so I won't tell you what to do. Either way you go, we won't think any less of you.
 
Please message me when you hear from them

atomicplayer said:
ok they answered to my demand but ... they ask me to pay $80 which is the difference between a 6800 gt and a 7800 gs..

dethalis, I dont think you paid the 80$, am I right ?

It has been 9 months I'm not with a working card and i think they should pay the damn $80..

should I accept their offer ?


I have been in the process of upgrading to a 7800gs however leadtek is no longer returning my e-mails. So please inform me of your experience with them.

Thanks
 
barans said:
I have been in the process of upgrading to a 7800gs however leadtek is no longer returning my e-mails. So please inform me of your experience with them.

Thanks

Pick up the phone and call them up, ask for Eric and if he's not available request John.

Leadtek Research Inc.
910 Auburn Court, Fremont CA 94538, U.S.A.
Tel : 1-510-490-8076
Fax : 1-510-490-7759
Web : http://www.leadtek.com
 
I got my replacement card today, so far, so good. Ran it though a bunch of 3Dmark benchmarks without any glitches. I changed the cooler back to the nv5 silencer ... I weighed them, the NV5 is 14.8 ounces, the stock one is 19.8. That should put less strain on the card.
 
It's been 3 weeks and they still haven't replied to my request for an RMA number. Spoke to a guy with a heavy Asian accent named John Zhang. He told me 'the man who is in charge of RMA numbers is out of the office". When I pushed onto when I will recieve my RMA he said maybe next week. 3 weeks and waiting.

Anyone interested in a class action? :haha:

I cannot wait till I upgrade to PCIe and say goodbye to LeadHECK.
 
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