The Netgear RT-314 Router, A piece of junk with even worse support

Click on the link to read about a really inferior product with really inferior service. Netgear RT-314 Internet Router

HP Scanner power supply

I acquired a HP scanner. It worked fine. After a few years it failed. I didn't know why. After a little effort, I found the 12v power supply, often known as a wall-wart, had failed. It had a standard 5mm coaxial plug, but it was a non-standard depth. Fortunately, I had a spare power supply from my failed Best Data Cable Modem. A ugly splice job later, and the cord from the HP wall-wart was attached to the cable of the Cable Modem. Fixed the problem, the scanner is now working fine.

Antec Earthwatt EA-380

After a long life, my Antec power supply finally failed. I replaced it with one almost as old, an Antec NEO-HE 500w power supply. I am told this one is made by Seasonic, which is my favorite power supply manufacturer.

Acer Aspire 5100 bl51 Notebook

After about 1.2 years, the battery failed. The warranty was one year. When charged, the notebook worked for about 10 minutes, and then shut down. It turned out that cells were ok, but the protection circuit in the battery failed. I replaced the battery with one bought on ebay, and it worked for another year before the notebook bricked.

Lenovo G555 notebook computer

This is a decent, entry level computer. Worked fine for about a year. Then the battery pack failed. It would work for about 5 minutes, then shut down. I thought the batteries may have failed from the notebook being plugged in too much, overcharging the batteries. I ended up getting a new battery pack on ebay that came with a 3 year warranty. I took the battery pack apart to get the lithium batteries for flashlight use. I thought a few might still be useful. It charged them up, and ran them, 2 at a time in a very bright flashlight I have. I ran the flashlight for between 1 and 1.5 hours at medium brightness. Every battery worked fine. Therefore, I conclude that the protective circuitry inside the Lenovo battery failed in some way. The circuitry is supposed to protect against overcharging, over discharging, over temperature and the like. I expect lithium ion batteries to wear out, but I expect electronics to be far more reliable. Of course, anything can fail...

Toshiba L750-A7280 Notebook

After about 1.5 years, the battery failed. The warranty on the notebook was one year. When charged, the notebook worked for about 10 minutes, and then shut down. I am not impressed by these cheap notebooks. In my experience, Dell, Compaq, IBM and Apple make reliable notebooks.

Super Talemt DDR3 ECC Unbuffered memory

I have been building computers for well over 20 years. I had a 8mb SIMM fail a long time ago. I found a 1gb DDR DIMM that had failed. Memory is very reliable stuff, and so most memory makers offer lifetime warranties. Enter Super Talent. They offer a 'limited lifetime warranty' on the DDR3 memory. I contacted them about a failed 8gb DIMM. At first they said the warranty was limited to 5 years. Then, when I pointed out their own web site said 'limited lifetime warranty', they replied:

Since you bought it in 2012 and it's an old series product. Sorry that I just found it has been removed from our website, so this item has been discontinued. We can only provide warranty service for items in production.

Now, I have no experience getting warranty service for failed memory, because it is so reliable. I asked Super Talent if they could give me my money back, but they said:

According to our warranty policy, it is limited lifetime warranty. Sorry for the inconvenience the product caused you. Have a nice day!

So it is clear that when Super Talent says 'limited lifetime warranty' they really as long as they make the product, or 5 years, whichever is less. That is not how I understand limited lifetime warranty. Of course I won't be buying any more Super Talent products. Choose a reputable memory manufacturer.

LG 995e 19 inch CRT

I bought this in 2000. In 2007 it failed. The power button doesn't turn green when you press it. No idea why. I guess I got my money's worth since it lasted 7 years.

120mm temperature sensing fan

I don't recall the brand, but they were 38mm thick and had a built in thermisistor. I bought 4, and they all failed in service. It is pretty rare for fans to fail, and these are the only ones I recall failing.

Inline 3 pin fan controller

These are a little black brick, roughly 1.4cm x 2cm x 6cm, with a knob on top to control the fan speed, and a 3 pin socket on one side and a short 3 pin wired connector on the other end. Their current capacity is 1000ma, which should be more than enough for most fans. They cost $3 or $4 from china on ebay. I had one fail in service. Yesterday, I had another one fail. I took it apart. There is a circuit board with the 3 pin plug soldered on one end, a potentionmeter, a small capacitor, and a 3 pin to-220 semiconductor with a heatsink. It might be a transistor, or an IC. On the other end are short wires with a 3 pin plug. When I said the 3 pin plug was soldered on the circuit board, when I really meant was it was supposed to be soldered on the circuit board. It was not. I am not sure how it ever worked, but when I tool it apart the 3 pin plug was wiggling freely. Fortunately, I soldered it back together, and it worked fine. There are clearly quality control issues with these. Perhaps I will be able to fix the one that broke a long time ago...

Orico 7 port usb 3.0 pcie card

This looks like a great card. 2 controllers, 7 ports. When I tried to install it, it became clear that the 7 vertically oriented ports was a bad fit. The only way I could plug in the ports closest to the bottom could only have things plugged into them the the I/O shield was not tightened down to the case. Perhaps poor tolerances, or poor design. But I could live with that. When I booted up my computer, I was able to log in. Within a minute, the computer rebooted itself. I tried again with the same result. When I booted the third time, I went into windows recovery. I removed the card and put in my old card, and everything is now working well. Dunno if it is an isolated instance, or a poor design. Don't care. I am returning the card, and I will avoid Orico. I have never installed a USB card that made the computer reboot itself, and I have installed many cards.

USB 3.0 back plate bracket to 20 pin header

I have a usb3 card that has 2 internal ports (via a 20 pin connector) and 2 external ports. I know the internal ports work, as I tested them. I bought an inexpensive backplate with a cable with a 20 pin connector. It was advertised as usb3. It turns out that it only works at USB 2 speed. I had purchased it on ebay from a Canadian seller. I was able to get my money back. I ordered a different one from a Chinese seller. Same issue. I also got my money back. It is not a difficult thing to make, and they should not sell USB 3.0 backplate that don't work at USB 3.0 speeds. I ended up buying a MSI branded back plate which worked perfectly.

Adata XPG 8200 Pro NVME SSD 512gb

See XPG for details. Failed after about 3 days.

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