interestrateripoff Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 We usually buy Viglen PC's at work and the last batch I've had to call out the engineer to them around 3 or 4 times, we bought around 10 PC's that's a failure rate of 30%-40%. I can't imagine this failure rate across the company as that would be insane. Now it could just be bad luck but has anyone else noticed a more failures in IT equipment from all manufacturers? I can remember Denniger going nuts over Chinese capacitors a few years ago. http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2139241 http://www.theeestory.com/topics/6139 Not all of the problems are down to this as some had faulty Ram, but I'm guessing more manufacturing in components has been shifted to China over the years has the quality of the products deteriorated? Surely for the end manufacturer this will start eating in profit margins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloo Loo Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Blimey, Viglen....theres a name from the past...decimated by MS support to Dell and other US firms. Best buy a quality brand like...Escom.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Banner Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I knew Viglen (Vig and Len) when they were a two man band in West London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Brown Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Most manufacturers have had a bad run at times, for example from failing memory: IBM and the wretched DeskStar disks: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1018121/ibm-settles-deskstar-75gxp-class-action-suit Some ASRock motherboards - hit a good reseller here in Switzerland So Viglen could just be unlucky. As others have said - buy from a major name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live Peasant Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Having major problems with a certain German company's gear at the moment. Appalling quality control in the Mexican factory. It took eight months for them to even acknowledge there was a problem by which time we had installed over 100 system. All need to replaced and rebuilt. Also having problems with PCs from the same brand although the same machine with the HP branding doesn't seem to suffer with the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Anything to do with lead-free solder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Anything to do with lead-free solder? I thought that the Chinese bits didn't use such new fangled ideas even if labeled as doing so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I thought that the Chinese bits didn't use such new fangled ideas even if labeled as doing so. I'd assumed that they get tested occasionally, otherwise we wouldn't find out about the latest batch of toys painted with lead and arsenic. I'm starting to run out of lead / tin solder I've got some non-cored, and can get more, for non-electrical work (along with even more unpleasant solders with a fair amount of cadmium in them), but not so much of the bog-standard electrical stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I'd assumed that they get tested occasionally, otherwise we wouldn't find out about the latest batch of toys painted with lead and arsenic. I'm starting to run out of lead / tin solder I've got some non-cored, and can get more, for non-electrical work (along with even more unpleasant solders with a fair amount of cadmium in them), but not so much of the bog-standard electrical stuff. I read somewhere recently that the problem with older type solders is not in fact that they are lead based but the flux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I read somewhere recently that the problem with older type solders is not in fact that they are lead based but the flux. The standard electrical flux is rosin, which AFAIK is just some tree sap, the same stuff that gets used on violin strings. Might not be good to breath in when you're soldering but that's easily avoided. I don't think that the flux has changed. Some fluxes used for non-electrical soldering can be fairly nasty (often acids that need neutralising afterwards if the soldered piece isn't to fall apart eventually). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffneck Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 i've only really had issues with western digital hard drives , seagate has been great for me other hardware failures have been for components over 5 years old which i feel is perfectly reasonable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 i've only really had issues with western digital hard drives , seagate has been great for me other hardware failures have been for components over 5 years old which i feel is perfectly reasonable I prefer Seagate as well, although as all competition has effectively gone now in the market there isn't much of a choice about who to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Dont know about the hardware. Seems to be lots more viruses now. I enjoyed virus free interneting 1996-2009. Since then keep getting the damn things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronyx Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 i've only really had issues with western digital hard drives , seagate has been great for me other hardware failures have been for components over 5 years old which i feel is perfectly reasonable Same here, I have a 500GB SATA drive I purchased in 2007 that crapped itself last month, credit to W.D. they have a 5 year guarantee and sent a replacement immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe_ Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I'd say so. I've had 3 components fail on me within 2 years (Graphics card, RAM, and PSU) I've never had anything fail on me before that. I think most technology these days is poorly made, always seem to be sending stuff back under warranty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigantic Purple Slug Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I'd assumed that they get tested occasionally, otherwise we wouldn't find out about the latest batch of toys painted with lead and arsenic. I'm starting to run out of lead / tin solder I've got some non-cored, and can get more, for non-electrical work (along with even more unpleasant solders with a fair amount of cadmium in them), but not so much of the bog-standard electrical stuff. Go to RS and you can buy as much as you want. AFAIKT ROHS bans the sale of products containing certain substances (including lead) but not the solder itself. This kind of makes sense. You don't want to mix lead/non lead because the joint is much weaker and there is still tons of stuff out there that needs leaded solder to repair it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnlyMe Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Cheap capacitors (or just badly spec'ed/made ones) cause a lot of failures. Look at some of the marketing blurb of high end components - they advertise that they use long lasting high quality caps - they know the score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Bear Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 People / manufacturers love shaving corners - if you start a PC build with a PSU costing £4.99 (or a case for £20 with a built in 400W PSU) then it's bound to end in tears. The oddest thing I've seen recently is the WiFi on routers failing with age. From an electronics POV I can't see what would be wearing out, but they do seem to get unreliable with age. This doesn't seem to be any particular make. Buckers The failing with age may well be good quality control, I'm serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxe Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 The problem is the price point, and the fact that money isn't worth what it was any more. I spent about £200 on memory for my old PC. If I spent the same again 6 years later, the real equivalent would be about £150. Instead, to get the same quality, I spent £250 - and I got 24GB, but the point still stands. It is a bit like clothes washing machines. Everyone says that the modern stuff doesn't last like it used to in the 70s/80s - but the machine cost £400 in the 80s, and we expect a £200 one today to be as good. You can still get a good washing machine - it just costs £1K, which is about the same as £400 in the 80s... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piece of paper Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 People / manufacturers love shaving corners - if you start a PC build with a PSU costing £4.99 (or a case for £20 with a built in 400W PSU) then it's bound to end in tears. The oddest thing I've seen recently is the WiFi on routers failing with age. From an electronics POV I can't see what would be wearing out, but they do seem to get unreliable with age. This doesn't seem to be any particular make. Buckers Power supply. Netgear particularly. Have a look at the amperage rating on a failed Netgear router - say 0.75 amp. Go to Maplins and buy one rated at 1.5 amp and in many/most cases the problem is solved. p-o-p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleepwello'nights Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Not all of the problems are down to this as some had faulty Ram, but I'm guessing more manufacturing in components has been shifted to China over the years has the quality of the products deteriorated? Surely for the end manufacturer this will start eating in profit margins? One of the most expensive materials used in computer components for end users is the cardboard used for the packaging. Its much thinner now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash4781 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Cheap capacitors (or just badly spec'ed/made ones) cause a lot of failures. Look at some of the marketing blurb of high end components - they advertise that they use long lasting high quality caps - they know the score. Oh yeah I remember back when I was more into diy hifi audio (stopped by the wife) there was an article about a load of 'dodgy' possibly fake capacitors. I've seen bulgy ones, and have seen the aftermath of one which exploded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saberu Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 My Dell laptop has lasted me over 4 years now whereas when I was building my own PC components failed all the time. My advice to you is forget desktops, go with cheap laptops en masse. They are easily powerful enough for most tasks and you can still connect an external monitor, mouse and even keyboard if you really wanted to. Only reason for using a desktop is if you need the power for graphic design or gaming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted September 24, 2011 Author Share Posted September 24, 2011 One of the most expensive materials used in computer components for end users is the cardboard used for the packaging. Its much thinner now. Cardboard is one of the most of expensive materials? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.