Problems with AVADirect build, pls help

R

roc567

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Jun 7, 2007
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I bought a budget gaming rig from AVADirect back in early June of this year.
AMD x2 3800+
2gb Crucial memory
Asus MSV mb
nvidia XFX 8600
250GB WD hard drive
Rosewill 550 Watt PSU
Windows Vista Home Premium
Thats pretty much it cept for the dvd/cd drives.

The problem is the computer freezes up on pretty much any game thats come out in the last year or so after playing it for more than 10-15 minutes, it will lock up in the middle of the game and I'm unable to ctrl-alt-del out of it or alt-tab out of it, about 5 seconds after freezing up the monitor will say no signal and I have to manually shut the computer off using the power button. It's been doing this since I got the computer.

The second issue thats it's just started doing in the past few weeks is when I start the computer it freezes up on startup right when it displays the little windows load bar it just stops loading and locks up right there, and again I have to shut it down using the power button.

I have been talking to Chris from tech support from AVA and he had me run Memtest86 which I let run for around 29hours with no errors or address locations displayed or anything. He then had me go into the bios and change the memory settings to 1.80. After doing that the computer started up fine and restarted a couple more times with no problems, but a day later it's doing all the same things it used to.

I really dont wanna have to send the comp back to AVA for repairs. The guys at AVA have been as helpful as they can be but I came here just to see if there was anything more I could do. I forgot to add that when it locks up on startup and I turn it off manually if I open the computer up and take out the memory sticks and put them right back in the computer will start normally but will still freeze up on games. I was having trouble burning the memtest ISO file to a disc at first so ava tech support said I could just test the mem sticks induvidually to see if that was the problem since I couldn't get memtest86 to run initially, but like I said I was able to run it with no problems or results.
 
Is the XFX 8600 passive cooled? It sounds like either a video driver (corrupt) or the video card (thermal), or at this point a combination of these two issues. Try updating the driver first and then putting some sort of fan/air on the card to try to isolate the issue. If that doesn't work, send it in.
 
Send it back, that's why you bought it from a builder.:eek:

If you wait too long and it goes out of warranty, you'll be stuck with a computer that doesnt work.

You also may have a bad video card. Potentially you could buy a new one, say an 8800 GTS and place it in and see what happens, providing your powersupply can handle the extra load of a higher powered GPU. If that's the case, then all you do is send the bad card back to AVA and get a refund of that part of the deal, saves you from boxing up the entire computer.
 
As Randy indicated, that's a video card issue - whether it's the driver, bad bricks on the card, or a thermal problem.
 
I was able to monitor the card temp and it never went into unusually high temps. The computer had been locking up on games since day one but never did it freeze up on startup like it has been doing for the past few weeks. Would that be a video card problem also? If so thats to bad, i've used XFX for a long time with no problems, oh well it was bound to happen sooner or later, my hardware luck has run out.lol
 
roc567 said:
I was able to monitor the card temp and it never went into unusually high temps. The computer had been locking up on games since day one but never did it freeze up on startup like it has been doing for the past few weeks. Would that be a video card problem also? If so thats to bad, i've used XFX for a long time with no problems, oh well it was bound to happen sooner or later, my hardware luck has run out.lol
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Freeze on start up isnt a video card issue, per se.
The card, if temps are normal in 3D use, doesnt seem to be the isue.
I'd call AVA and discuss it. Sounds like they need to get involved.
 
My question is after having these problems all this time why not just send it back to AVA and let them fix it? There is a 3 year warranty on it for a reason and if I had a problem that continued on such as you have I would definitly send it back.
 
A couple of things I just noticed about this issue - they had you change the memory voltage settings to 1.8, after which you had no problems...and then problems again.

First of all, what was the memory originally set at? 1.8 is standard for DDR2 memory (though high-performance sticks run higher), and if it was any higher, it would almost certainly cause problems. Do you have high performance Crucial, or is it vanilla?

Since changing the voltage temporarily alleviated the issue, it makes me think there's something funky with the voltage regulation across the RAM slots, in which case, the only thing to do is send it back to AVA.

The lock-ups at the Windows loading screen could be a driver initialization error for the video card, if it turns out that the memory is not the problem. An easy fix would be to go into safe mode, uninstall your old NVIDIA graphics driver, restart, and install a new NVIDIA driver and see if that resolves it.

Let us know how it turns out.
 
Thanks for all the responses, I sent the computer back to AVA last week and I'm sure the issue will be resolved shortly. I'll post when I find out what's wrong.
thx again
 
well I got the comp back from AVA today and after a few restarts its doing the same thing that it was before I sent back as far as freezing up on the load progress bar. I wasn't sure where to put another thread about the problem so I started one in the OS forum here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1235108
any help would be very much appreciated.

thx
 
Sorry to hear that, but what did AVADirect do to the computer. Did they update, change, or modify anything? Just curious, have you already tried moving your memory to the other slots on the motherboard?
 
Yeah any updates?

I'm personally having a pain in the ass with AVA, I've only had the computer running for 1 month out of the 3 months I've owned it, and now it's in their hands and has been for a whole week and they still don't know what's wrong :(
 
*sigh*
The problem is poor build quality in the components used. You can do the best assembly job on earth, and if the components you use are crap, it's all for naught. Frankly, AVA should have already learned by now that these systems are having massive problems and they need to stop building with those parts. Especially that Rosewill PSU.
You're all wrong. It's not the video card. It's the motherboard, specifically the northbridge most likely. Obviously AVA knows damn well the motherboard has issues, hence why they were screwing with memory voltage. And obviously AVA is full well aware of the extent of problems they're having with systems - and it would seem to me that they're not doing anything.

Somebody needs to introduce their lead engineer to the basics of OEMing. Preferably with a brick. You take note of failure rates, and make changes, or you get burned. You evaluate parts based on not purely failure, but incident rates - that includes support calls where it's NOT failed hardware. You don't dick around with band-aids (which is what they've been doing here,) you fix the root cause and stop all the future problems before they waste your techs time.
It's either that or they're completely confused - you can't do budget systems+service focus with crap parts, and you can't do awesome systems+service with only half your parts being worth pissing on in a fire.

(EDIT) Another thought - are they even bothering to test things, or just slapping parts together? It seems to me that the majority of the time, that's exactly what they're doing - slapping parts together, no testing, no stressing, no burn-in. Then it fails after a month, and rather than re-evaluate the system and figure out why, they're just throwing random parts at it and ignoring the root causes. Repeatedly. The express road to fail and customer dissatisfaction.
 
Well they said the CPU was overclocked when I sent it back to them and apparently they just set it back to factory settings. I also have a feeling its the motherboard just from a lot of bad reviews I've read on the board itself (Asus M2V), apparently a lot of people think that series is shit. Its under warranty for at least another 9-10 months, so hopefully we can get this resolved at soon as possible. As far as updates goes it's got all the latest updates and drivers for all the hardware. I have no idea what to do other than send it back to AVA and demand ALL the problems are fixed this time, I hate to pay for the shipping again though, seems like they should have to pay.
 
I'd send it back,it's their responsibility to deliver a working system.I was under the impression that their systems had a three year warranty,maybe it's different with budget systems.It might help to post an unfavorable review at a ratings site like ResellerRatings.com. Sometimes that gets a company's attention and spurs them to act on a problem.
 
roc567 said:
Well they said the CPU was overclocked when I sent it back to them and apparently they just set it back to factory settings. I also have a feeling its the motherboard just from a lot of bad reviews I've read on the board itself (Asus M2V), apparently a lot of people think that series is shit. Its under warranty for at least another 9-10 months, so hopefully we can get this resolved at soon as possible. As far as updates goes it's got all the latest updates and drivers for all the hardware. I have no idea what to do other than send it back to AVA and demand ALL the problems are fixed this time, I hate to pay for the shipping again though, seems like they should have to pay.
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Frankly, they should be paying shipping, and replacing the entirety of the internals. Including that trash PSU. I've yet to see anyone from AVAdirect posting or even reading [H], and I think I can tell exactly why - the warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on, because they're not interested in committing the resources. I would strongly suggest demanding a manager, and demanding they replace the entire system. Three returns for repair in this time span puts it under most state lemon laws - in Ohio they're legally required to provide you an entirely new system from entirely new parts at this point.
 
Boy, this is the second or third post of somebody having real BIG problems with AVA Direct......it seems like they take something to the shop and just dont ever fix it correctly.

Then the customer gets hosed again when this lame computer is broken, now twice.

I dont get it. I have 5 computers in my house that Ive built myself. None has any problems, each does its job superbly.

I guess it pays to use good components???

You should NOT have to pay for anything at this point.
 
AreEss said:
Frankly, they should be paying shipping, and replacing the entirety of the internals. Including that trash PSU. I've yet to see anyone from AVAdirect posting or even reading [H], and I think I can tell exactly why - the warranty isn't worth the paper it's printed on, because they're not interested in committing the resources. I would strongly suggest demanding a manager, and demanding they replace the entire system. Three returns for repair in this time span puts it under most state lemon laws - in Ohio they're legally required to provide you an entirely new system from entirely new parts at this point.
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You're mistaken on one point,there have been responses from AVA here in the forums,though none in the past couple of months.I'm disappointed they haven't kept up the practice,and a bit discouraged by some of the recent problems posted here.I've been planning to order a system from them myself,I can't afford the higher priced boutique builders,and though their consumer ratings are still very high,you worry that this may be a trend.In my case I'd be picking each component myself,unlike their budget systems,but still,after incidents like the Monarch fiasco,one wonders just who you can trust.
 
michael.pa2 said:
You're mistaken on one point,there have been responses from AVA here in the forums,though none in the past couple of months.
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Sorry, but I'm not. Please, reread what I said.
I've yet to see anyone from AVAdirect posting or even reading [H]
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I personally haven't seen a word from them, ever. Though thinking back, I may have seen someone from there pop in on a thread reviewing their systems. Also probably should have been clearer that I was also specifically referring to issues like BlueZilla - supposedly a flag product, they screw up three times, and only partially refund the customer? Hell, around here, I'd question the legality of a partial refund after what I read.

Frankly, that alone should enough of a red flag to dissuade anyone here from doing business with AVAdirect.
 
AreEss said:
Sorry, but I'm not. Please, reread what I said.

I personally haven't seen a word from them, ever. Though thinking back, I may have seen someone from there pop in on a thread reviewing their systems. Also probably should have been clearer that I was also specifically referring to issues like BlueZilla - supposedly a flag product, they screw up three times, and only partially refund the customer? Hell, around here, I'd question the legality of a partial refund after what I read.

Frankly, that alone should enough of a red flag to dissuade anyone here from doing business with AVAdirect.
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They have responded before. See link for response from Chris Mundy:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1205762
 
It's important to note that because AVA has such a wide configurator, it was likely the buyer's decision to purchase the parts that he did. That said, it falls upon the sales folks at AVA to take a look at the build and give the customer their best advice - which is what was done in our evaluations.

As far as sending the computer back to the customer still defective, much less exhibiting the exact same behavior as it did when it was sent in, this is very concerning and disappointing.

I think a tech from AVA is going to respond shortly, so I'm anxious to see what he says.
 
Hello Everyone,
This customer’s system came to us because of stability problems he was experiencing. Upon closer examination we found the CPU was overclocked in the BIOS. Once we corrected the CPU settings his stability issues disappeared. Then we tested the system for over 20 hrs without any problems. It is most likely that this new problem is caused by a combination of low cost components and Microsoft Vista's flakey drivers. We have offered an RMA to this customer with a prepaid shipping label as well as urgent status on his repair. Please understand that this new problem was not detected during our diagnostic tests, we wouldn't ship a system back to the customer if it was still experiencing problems.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
results.jpg
 
AVAChris said:
Hello Everyone,
This customer’s system came to us because of stability problems he was experiencing. Upon closer examination we found the CPU was overclocked in the BIOS. Once we corrected the CPU settings his stability issues disappeared. Then we tested the system for over 20 hrs without any problems. It is most likely that this new problem is caused by a combination of low cost components and Microsoft Vista's flakey drivers. We have offered an RMA to this customer with a prepaid shipping label as well as urgent status on his repair. Please understand that this new problem was not detected during our diagnostic tests, we wouldn't ship a system back to the customer if it was still experiencing problems.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
results.jpg
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Is prepaid shipping a standard part of AVA's warranty on system's,regardless of the number of RMA's needed to get the system in working order while under warranty?This is a point I'd like to have cleared up.
 
michael.pa2 said:
Is prepaid shipping a standard part of AVA's warranty on system's,regardless of the number of RMA's needed to get the system in working order while under warranty?This is a point I'd like to have cleared up.
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Hello Michael,

Shipping is prepaid as long as the defect was not caused by the customer.

Thank You

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
 
AVAChris said:
Hello Everyone,
This customer’s system came to us because of stability problems he was experiencing. Upon closer examination we found the CPU was overclocked in the BIOS. Once we corrected the CPU settings his stability issues disappeared. Then we tested the system for over 20 hrs without any problems. It is most likely that this new problem is caused by a combination of low cost components and Microsoft Vista's flakey drivers. We have offered an RMA to this customer with a prepaid shipping label as well as urgent status on his repair. Please understand that this new problem was not detected during our diagnostic tests, we wouldn't ship a system back to the customer if it was still experiencing problems.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
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Are you really blaming Vista? That's incredibly weak from any company.
 
Hurdler said:
Are you really blaming Vista? That's incredibly weak from any company.
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Hello,

Please understand that we are not blaming Vista, we are simply stating that there is a significant number of people having problems with Vista's issues and this could contribute to this customer's problems. We don't have a problem admitting when we might have overlooked something, that is how we learn and grow. We just want our customers to be satisfied and to have a perfect rig. It's very unfortunate that his system is still experiencing problems, but we will do whatever it takes to correct this situation.

Thank You

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
 
Hurdler said:
Are you really blaming Vista? That's incredibly weak from any company.
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I didn't see him blaming Vista.....He did say that some of the issues were driver problems within Vista...a problem more than just a few people have experienced.
 
Despite the problem that I have had with my build from AVADirect, I would still recommend them to folks. Although they have had my machine a bit longer than I would like, atleast I feel they are trying to fix it and get it done right before sending it back. So far they have replaced the video card and that was not the problem so they replaced the motherboard. Hopefully I will have my rig back very soon.

My point is I guess is that even though people have problems it is the nature of the beast so to speak with electronics and people such as AVA and Chris will work with you the best they can to get the problems resolved.
 
I'm still glad I bought the comp from AVA, Chris has kept in contact with me this whole time and has been helpful with any and all questions. I think I just have a strange issue thats tough to diagnose/fix. I sent the comp back earlier today with assurance that it will have top priority. I would still reccomend AVA to anyone looking for a custom comp. Thanks for the help and responses from everyone and I'll post to keep you guys informed.
thanks again
 
Well I just heard back from Chris today and he said they haven't been able to reproduce the freeze on startup problem I was having. Said it has passed all the test like 3dMark06 and some other just fine. Ran a program on it that reboots it over and over w/o it ever freezing up.
The only third party device hooked up to it was the Netgear router I used, that's it. I got an Acer 20' widescreen monitor shortly after buying the computer, maybe that has something to do with it, it said Vista ready when I bought and it works perfectly with my other computer running XP, so I dont think its that. I am truly at a loss, how are they supposed to fix it if its not doing what it was when I had it. I can't imagine getting it back and it doing the same thing it had been.
 
Hello [H]Forum Readers,

We have only been testing the system for one day, you all know testing takes time. Hopefully we will be able to reproduce his problems and replace whatever we need to. Sometimes it takes two or three days of running tests to make some systems show their hardware defects. For now we are going to continue to test the system over the weekend, and we can post results if needed.

Thank you for your time,

Chris Mundy
AVADirect
Technical Support
 
Having problems myself.

They backed out of everything promised on me and have left me out to die essentially.
 
pdonket said:
Having problems myself.

They backed out of everything promised on me and have left me out to die essentially.
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That's a pretty harsh accusation. Mind elaborating for the sake of us fence sitters waiting to make a major move? ;)
 
I'll quote magoo from the other thread: Man, I feel for you guys. :(
 
your LAST line where yo sya you arent lying is the only thing that makes me suspicious... funny how that works... Forward the emails to kyle. hell help you. tell him about this thread and the recent ones, leave him your email and forum user name. hes great with stuff like this...
 
0mega said:
your LAST line where yo sya you arent lying is the only thing that makes me suspicious... funny how that works... Forward the emails to kyle. hell help you. tell him about this thread and the recent ones, leave him your email and forum user name. hes great with stuff like this...
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Well I mean I have a full record of these events happening if that's necessary. Maybe 50+ emails back and forth trying to fix this up. I just don't want Chris coming in here to do damage control and claiming all of this is false on me.

Also, who do I contact? who is kyle? sorry for possibly asking very dumb questions lol
 
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