Seems likely IMO, particularly given the fact it seems to have been an open box product that wasn't disclosed as such.
Good idea.
I hope you don't end up in such a mess, but suspect you will.I get what you mean...
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Areca 1880ix-12 issues on Mac Pro 1,1 :(
- Thread starter Squishy Tia
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I hope you don't end up in such a mess, but suspect you will. 
I got my RMA. These guys sure don't let you get much time for that RMA though - 5 days before the RMA# expires (yeesh!). And I have to pay shipping, on top of already having found out the hard way Amazon's "expedited" (read: expensive) shipping is just a priority queue jump and not actual next day/2 day shipping (they sent it via FedEx GROUND for pete's sake).
Oh well, now my only RMA left is with MaxUpgrades. Then I'll just try a new one from Newegg.com. Computer Brain didn't mention a restocking fee, so if they charge me one I can dispute it - it isn't mentioned anywhere.
Oh well, now my only RMA left is with MaxUpgrades. Then I'll just try a new one from Newegg.com. Computer Brain didn't mention a restocking fee, so if they charge me one I can dispute it - it isn't mentioned anywhere.
Hopefully you'll get this all taken care of before you know it (and with as little further hassle as possible).I got my RMA. These guys sure don't let you get much time for that RMA though - 5 days before the RMA# expires (yeesh!). And I have to pay shipping, on top of already having found out the hard way Amazon's "expedited" (read: expensive) shipping is just a priority queue jump and not actual next day/2 day shipping (they sent it via FedEx GROUND for pete's sake).
Oh well, now my only RMA left is with MaxUpgrades. Then I'll just try a new one from Newegg.com. Computer Brain didn't mention a restocking fee, so if they charge me one I can dispute it - it isn't mentioned anywhere.
Good luck with the returns.
The big problem is the RMA expriation time. It's labor day weekend. And they email me the 5 day expiration notice...on SATURDAY NIGHT. Won't get the mail out until Tuesday at the earliest.
Turds.
Turds.
And it's almost a week later, four days after they receive my return and I've yet to hear an update. I have confirmation that they did in fact receive my Areca card, and they damn well better refund me and honor their RMA# since it was received within five business days of MY receiving it (can't get it there in five days regular days of receiving it because they sent me the RMA# on Saturday of a Labor Day weekend, a three day weekend with no mail service until Tuesday at the earliest.
I've gone over their feedback and it's the returns that are all negative with them. And a few of them stated they refused to refund to CCs. That's unacceptable.
I either hear from them in two days or I go to the BBB and file a complaint as well as a claim with Amazon.com.
I've gone over their feedback and it's the returns that are all negative with them. And a few of them stated they refused to refund to CCs. That's unacceptable.
I either hear from them in two days or I go to the BBB and file a complaint as well as a claim with Amazon.com.
I hope they take care of it for you rather than give you the run-around.
BTW, will Amazon actually be of any help (never needed to do a return to a 3rd party seller through Amazon)?
Dunno. I at least kept a trail of what I've done so far. With that, if Amazon is unable (or unwilling) to help, I can dispute the charge on my card based on the vendor's unwillingness to contact me and resolve this in a reasonable manner (and sending me a 5 day limited RMA# on the Saturday of a three day holiday weekend is not reasonable).
BTW who in their right mind limits an RMA# to five days? That's ridiculous since unless you overnight the package (at great expense), there's no getting the mail to them unless they're in the same state as you are.
Glad that your CC will help out in a dispute if all other means fail (direct to vendor, followed by Amazon).
As per the 5 days, that does seem a bit ridiculous, and suspect it's a means of rejecting packages when possible (they may even try not to accept something that made it in time). And on low cost items, it forces the buyer to use faster shipping (more expensive) as a means of make it financially punitive (cost more to do the RMA than "eat" it).
Really sickening that some people resort to such tactics to make a buck.
I got my refund for the RR640 I had issues with last month (that HighPoint refused to exchange or support despite their being in the wrong). Now all that's left are the MaxUpgrades (gonna be a PITA) and Areca refunds. I'm not eating any restock fee on the RR640 (Amazon's refunding both base price plus shipping costs), but I'll almost certainly eat a restock fee on the Areca card on top of having to send priority mail ($17).
One down, two to go.
One down, two to go.
Highpoint isn't my favorite company by a long shot (support is awful as they don't design or manufacture anything they sell), but the current RR6xx series SATA/eSATA controllers do seem to work.
MaxUpgrades + Areca = 2 to go by my count.
MaxUpgrades shouldn't be that difficult from what I understand.
Good luck with getting the Areca sorted, which seems to be the difficult one of the lot.
Oh Computer Brain sent me an email after I messaged them asking why I hadn't received an update even though I showed confirmation of them receiving my item. They say I'll get a credit in 24 hours...48 hours ago. I'm waiting another day or two because it takes 3-5 business days to have credits show up on a card's account.
On the upshot, my day has been filled with things like my phone's (Epic 4G) SD card slot failing, then the phone requiring a factory reset to even boot, then failing to boot, and now failing to even power on. All in the span of five hours.
So yeah, I have a bricked phone that's a bit more than six months old. Not happy. Especially since I kind of use it to keep track of my bowling scores/averages, and my league is tomorrow night at 6 PM.
Sprint better give me a loaner...
On the upshot, my day has been filled with things like my phone's (Epic 4G) SD card slot failing, then the phone requiring a factory reset to even boot, then failing to boot, and now failing to even power on. All in the span of five hours.
So yeah, I have a bricked phone that's a bit more than six months old. Not happy. Especially since I kind of use it to keep track of my bowling scores/averages, and my league is tomorrow night at 6 PM.
Sprint better give me a loaner...
Hopefully Computer Brain did their part, and has done the refund (just waiting for confirmation). But they should have sent you a confirmation of the transaction on their end (issued a receipt for the amount of the refund).
Considering all of the recent events, I'm getting the strong impression you and electronics just don't mix well together.
My Mac Pro's been rock solid for more than four years so far. Nothing started happening until I put in the Areca card (the RR640 simply wasn't supported by HPT and didn't cause HW issues).
It's just that the troubleshooting in the last month or so has taken so much of my time that it's frustrating beyond comprehension. Problems linger after the hardware is long gone too. Had to reinstall my OS yet again to try to troubleshoot my OWC SSD which has inherited the Areca's 67 MB file transfer block problem (the SSD now only writes in 67 MB blocks, once per second instead of the constant 300 MB/sec it's capable of). That one got RMA'd and is due to arrive at OWC tomorrow for replacement. Hopefully they'll tell me just why it went south like that on me. SSDs having write performance worse than a stock HD from five years ago = something really terribly wrong.
On the bright side, I got Windows XP Pro booted in AHCI mode on my Mac Pro after much finagling and with that tried to flash the firmware on the OWC SSD before I had to send it back in for RMA and found that AHCI is indeed a main reason their firmware updater is not compatible with the first three Mac Pro revisions - these machines do not boot into AHCI mode in non-OS X OSes natively and must be forced to do so by the user with great effort (and risk to the data on the partition).
The only thing keeping me from getting a new Mac Pro right here and now is that the new SNB Mac Pros are likely due out in November, a mere two months away. They'll have SNB CPUs, much faster RAM, a much better QPI (two in fact), and if we're really lucky SATA3 native ports. I couldn't care less about Thunderbolt, and I hope the Mac Pros don't get it because that one port takes up 8 PCI-E lanes that could be better spent on cards which are suited for the Mac Pro (TB express docks are really meant for laptop users, not desktops with dedicated PCI-E slots).
It's just that the troubleshooting in the last month or so has taken so much of my time that it's frustrating beyond comprehension. Problems linger after the hardware is long gone too. Had to reinstall my OS yet again to try to troubleshoot my OWC SSD which has inherited the Areca's 67 MB file transfer block problem (the SSD now only writes in 67 MB blocks, once per second instead of the constant 300 MB/sec it's capable of). That one got RMA'd and is due to arrive at OWC tomorrow for replacement. Hopefully they'll tell me just why it went south like that on me. SSDs having write performance worse than a stock HD from five years ago = something really terribly wrong.
On the bright side, I got Windows XP Pro booted in AHCI mode on my Mac Pro after much finagling and with that tried to flash the firmware on the OWC SSD before I had to send it back in for RMA and found that AHCI is indeed a main reason their firmware updater is not compatible with the first three Mac Pro revisions - these machines do not boot into AHCI mode in non-OS X OSes natively and must be forced to do so by the user with great effort (and risk to the data on the partition).
The only thing keeping me from getting a new Mac Pro right here and now is that the new SNB Mac Pros are likely due out in November, a mere two months away. They'll have SNB CPUs, much faster RAM, a much better QPI (two in fact), and if we're really lucky SATA3 native ports. I couldn't care less about Thunderbolt, and I hope the Mac Pros don't get it because that one port takes up 8 PCI-E lanes that could be better spent on cards which are suited for the Mac Pro (TB express docks are really meant for laptop users, not desktops with dedicated PCI-E slots).
My comment was in response to the addition of the cell phone issues on top of what you've recently been through...
I've used them for years, and haven't had these kinds of issues (only heard of 1 issue with the 1880 series when it first shipped <wrong part value went in on the production line that slipped past>, and your unit, which I will presume defective until proven otherwise).
It's possible that the OWC drive was the actual culprit (may have gone bad, and as it was on the card, and the set is always based off of the worst performing disk in the set, dictated the entire set's performance was horrible <= 67MB file transfer issue when writing to the set>).
But I can't be sure, and given what has happened with Computer Brain (open box, and extremely short time frames regarding returns), I do suspect they knowingly sent you an open box that was previously returned as a defective unit. BTW, Areca's warranty returns are handled by kaleidescope.net, which is the US Distributor (they usually ship out a unit that's ready to go <must have one available of course>, then actually go through the circuits of the defective unit, as the results can help the engineers sort problems).
Understandable.
Been there on more than a few occasions myself (issues have usually been either bad disks/weren't validated by the card maker, or software). Cabling length issues have also cropped up from time to time, as well as the use of adapters with SATA drives (internal to externals that are held in a PCI bracket, and are only meant for SAS based disks). Most of which were systems I didn't order the parts, but came in later to trouble shoot the problem (have had disks go bad I did order).
See above (I'm under the impression the 67MB file transfer issue went away after you pulled the OWC SSD).
In the case of OWC, they're good about returns from what I understand (haven't had to do a return though them myself, so I don't have first hand experience on that yet).
At least there is a way to get it going... (clones are wonderful things to save time in the event of a future problem
). The parts may be available to vendors in November, but don't expect systems to ship by then. It typically takes 13 weeks of lead time (1 Q) to get systems manufactured, validate the production systems are within specifications (where they can find the wrong part was loaded, such as the wrong resistor value for the location), and get them shipped.
As per the SB-E5 based MP's, they may not add as much performance as you might think. It will depend on the software being used as to whether or not more cores will help (whether or not the software is threaded or not). There will be a performance increase (typically ~15% for the same use), but the cost may be too high to justify it for some.
For example, the memory channels won't matter for creative professionals (can't take advantage of the bandwidth due to the way the applications are written = capacity trumps memory bandwidth).
In your case, the performance difference between it and a 2006 MP will be rather noticeable however, so it would be a viable upgrade. But so would a 2009/10 for that matter (2008's too, but they would need upgraded sooner, and FB-DIMM is expensive; DDR3 ECC is much cheaper).
So it's really limited by your budget. And if you can wait, I'd recommend you do so. That way you'll be able to decide what machine has the best price/performance ratio for your specific needs (whether or not you go SP, DP, and of what model that best fits both performance and budget).
BTW, 2009/10 DP systems also have 2x QPI channels. SP systems only have 1x QPI channel to the chipset (same model years). In the case of SB, the chipset (actually a PCH), is attached via DMI 2.0.
I keep at least three identical backups of my current OS, as well as clone images from WinClone of my Windows partition (now on its own SSD). Boot times to Windows is abysmal (1.5 minutes on an SSD) but that's because the machine isn't in full AHCI mode until after the Intel Storage Matrix drivers are fully loaded and the SATA ports brought up to full Gen 2 (SATA2) speeds. Once booted there's a marked difference in speed vs. how it used to be.
As for my phone, it's gone. It's in Samsung Heaven® (patent pending on the Korean built Gateway and Stairs). It doesn't even power on at all, nor does it light up to indicate power via USB for charging. It's not only a brick, it's a pretty brick. Sadly the unit I'm getting in exchange is a refurb, but hopefully it's one from a user that never used the headphone jack, as I use that daily (listen to music on the way home from work thanks to the yummy 32 GB MicroSD card I used to replace the paltry 16 GB Samsung card).
Still no refund listed on my Barclaycard site page, and no new emails from Computer Brain. They have until Monday to cough it up, then I shoot them another email and get Amazon involved. Need to clear all that up before my billing cycle ends or else I get stuck with penalties and interest on something that should have been refunded already.
I may go with a 2010 Mac Pro, but it'd have to be a SP model. Having only a single QPI interface is moot since only one CPU is present anyway. The only limitation is the RAM, as it'll have only four slots instead of eight, meaning I'm going to have to populate three of them with 4 or 8 GB DIMMs (unless I want to drop down to dual channel mode with four DIMMs). But on the other hand, new Mac Pros are almost certainly going to have SATA3 ports, and that alone is worth the wait.
My day just keeps getting better and better. As if it weren't enough that my technology betrays me, now my leg does too. Slipped off of the approach during my bowling league tonight and hit my knee (that I injured severely two years ago) square on the bottom end of the ball return's teardrop shaped metel railing, sending me on my back faster than a hooker at Eddie Murphy's pimp lounge.
And it happens the night before two major tournament/league bowling days where I was to be at the front desk at my work. Woot.
Shoot me. Now.
And it happens the night before two major tournament/league bowling days where I was to be at the front desk at my work. Woot.
Shoot me. Now.
You should be well covered then...
I've never gotten a refurbished Samsung product of any kind, so I've no idea as to how well they work vs. new.
Hopefully, there won't be any difference, and it will do exactly what you want of it. Worst case, you'll have to pay the card up first (at least the minimum balance, though if you're the type to pay it off every month, just deduct the refund amount from the total balance and pay that). Then the refund processes and they'll (Barclay's) carry a credit on the account if it's more than any remaining balance.
Should result in no penalties, and very little if any interest that way.
You could even call Barclay's and see what they recommend you do after explaining the situation.
SP models are going to take over the workstation market due to the increasing core count per die (already up to 8 with SB Xeons).
As per RAM capacity issues, just fill the DIMM slots. Very few users can actually benefit from using the additional bandwidth from a single DIMM per channel due to the software they're using.
DDR3, including ECC variants, are cheap compared to DDR2 FB-DIMM. So there really is a bright side IMO.
Ouch.My day just keeps getting better and better. As if it weren't enough that my technology betrays me, now my leg does too. Slipped off of the approach during my bowling league tonight and hit my knee (that I injured severely two years ago) square on the bottom end of the ball return's teardrop shaped metal railing, sending me on my back faster than a hooker at Eddie Murphy's pimp lounge.
And it happens the night before two major tournament/league bowling days where I was to be at the front desk at my work. Woot.
Shoot me. Now.
Sounds like something I'd do (me = klutz).
Monday afternoon and still no refund from Computer Brain. They've been given one last email before I take it to Amazon, and if they are unable to help, a charge dispute will be filed with my CC company and the BBB contacted with a complaint of wire fraud.
Given the circumstances it's a valid course of action, and in your situation, I'd do the same.
Good luck.
I got my money back, minus what I paid for expedited shipping. No restock fee at least. That'll teach me to pay for expedited shipping which is no better than (and actually IS) FedEx Super Saver ground shipping, only with faster order prioritization (which is pointless with ground freight).
So now I can afford to try for another Areca card on the off chance that first one was a fluke and a bad card (open box/return).
If this fails, then I'll just get a new Mac Pro when the new SNB Xeons are out.
So now I can afford to try for another Areca card on the off chance that first one was a fluke and a bad card (open box/return).
If this fails, then I'll just get a new Mac Pro when the new SNB Xeons are out.
Glad you got it sorted. I'd recommend going with superbiiz.com rather than Amazon or newegg (great pricing, never needed to do a return). Provantage and PC-pitstop are also good places for RAID gear (bit more expensive, but they carry a lot more enterprise gear on hand/can get it to you fast if they have to order from the distributor <place order and the distributors drop ship directly to the customer>).
After reading the return/refund policy for superbiiz, I'm going to shy away from that on the off chance this doesn't work for me (a new Areca card).
Specifically:
Any product that is no longer in brand new, unopened condition.
Any product that has been installed or has attempted to be installed.
That kind of means if you open it, they aren't going to take it back unless defective. Not something I'm willing to bite into considering this is a $1k purchase.
Specifically:
Any product that is no longer in brand new, unopened condition.
Any product that has been installed or has attempted to be installed.
That kind of means if you open it, they aren't going to take it back unless defective. Not something I'm willing to bite into considering this is a $1k purchase.
I know what I'm after when I order from them, so it's not an issue; worst case, I'd only need to send it in if it's defective.
Given what you've been through however, I can understand the hesitancy (still a good place to buy if you know what you need).
Another option just opened up for me. It may not have the extreme capabilities of the Areca card and isn't bootable for OS X, but it may serve me just fine for the four drive enclosure I have in my optical bay for my SSDs, especially since I already have the cabling inside there. That'd let me use the other SATA cable connected to my ODD_SATA port for a Blu-Ray drive for watching BDs (would save wear and tear on my PS3).
I may try it out, since it's only $300 after tax (plus another $60 or so for the SFF-8088 -> 4x eSATA breakout cable since monoprice carries no such beast). It even has auto-passthrough mode so I can just plug and play my current SSDs without reformatting, and when I get more Vertex 3s for a RAID 0, I can do that too.
Oh, and it apparently uses the Marvell 88SE9485 running at x8 instead of the crappy 88SE9128 which is inexplicably used for a 6Gbps drive but has only an x1 link width for a max of 5 Gbps before overhead.
Once OWC replies with what the card shows up as in a 1,1 Mac Pro I'll pull the trigger on it (assuming it does in fact show up as x8 and not x4).
I may try it out, since it's only $300 after tax (plus another $60 or so for the SFF-8088 -> 4x eSATA breakout cable since monoprice carries no such beast). It even has auto-passthrough mode so I can just plug and play my current SSDs without reformatting, and when I get more Vertex 3s for a RAID 0, I can do that too.
Oh, and it apparently uses the Marvell 88SE9485 running at x8 instead of the crappy 88SE9128 which is inexplicably used for a 6Gbps drive but has only an x1 link width for a max of 5 Gbps before overhead.
Once OWC replies with what the card shows up as in a 1,1 Mac Pro I'll pull the trigger on it (assuming it does in fact show up as x8 and not x4).
For what you want to do, it should do the job.
As per the product itself, you will of course be a guinea pig, but it appears to be Marvell's reference design, so it should work (unless the drivers or firmware are really fouled up).
As per Monoprice, they do carry what you need here for under $10 (type in "breakout cable"). Cheapest I've ever seen a MiniSAS breakout cable (usually see them for ~$30).
Marvell makes good controllers (I much prefer their products to LSI's). As per the 9128 being crap, it's not. But it is a budget part, and they had to make compromises to create it (why it's only 1x link).
BTW, ATTO's R6xx cards are built from the Marvell 94xx series, which can be slaved (= true 1:1 port count on their 16 port cards rather than a single LSI and a SAS expander as is the case with the Areca 1880 series).
Which is one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of LSI's products for high performance RAID systems (performance tends to lag behind ATTO and Areca's offerings, particularly when they were using Intel IOP's + Marvell SAS or SATA controller chip based designs; ATTO R3xx series and Areca's 12x1ML and 1680 series cards for example).
Unfortunately, I suspect this issue is with your MP, not the cards themselves.
One thing I can think of (if you have the time and inclination), is the Slot Configuration Utility isn't working properly in newer versions of OS X, so you could try moving back to the original version of OS X, and run that version of the utility. Then see if it works. If so, then upgrade the OS to a newer version, and see if it still works.
Not sure if this will do what you need, but it's something you can try.