I don’t suppose you lazed some PVC by mistake maybe? The other components on the PCBA are showing signs of corrosion, too. That gunk isn’t debris from material you’ve lasered, it’s the tinned leads and plastic packaging of the component being attacked. You can see signs of corrosion on a number of other of the connector pins, too. In that first new picture, the tinge of green on the top of the rightmost connector pin (if it’s really there) is clear evidence that something’s eaten through to copper. But pretty much all the pins look a bit rough.
Unfortunately, I need to revise my earlier assessment. This needs a lot more than just one connector pin to be resuscitated. I think you’re going to need to get GF to sell you a replacement board… you should also inspect whatever else you can get to for similar signs of corrosion. I think that the controller is positioned near the inlet and ought to have been saved from a similar fate, but I don’t remember what else is on the left side of the machine which is where the exhaust fan is pulling all the gasses…
Good point on checking the rest of the machine. I only ever have used PG stuff aside from the popular BB and tiles people grab from home Depot. I worked in cellphone repair and it also looks a lot like mineral buildup from water damage. There was a point when I came in and the machine was full of condensation, and I don’t mean a little, I mean the entire everything was covered in it. This was almost exactly a year ago. I take a lot better care of the machine now, like not leaving the house hanging out of the window over night.
Photo for example. I’ve cleaned the fans and what I could a ton of times since I’ve gotten this machine and haven’t noticed any other damage, but I haven’t checked the electronics very closely, l definitely give them a peak. As for where the pin resides, it looks like junk from my prying with my tweezers and xacto knife.
And yeah, that’s actually something that ought to be in the instructions - don’t leave the hose out the window when you’re not cutting. Especially if you live in a humid area and your house is air-conditioned. You’re turning your GF in to a dehumidifier for the outside, and you’re making every surface inside the GF in to a moisture condenser.
Previous record I had was over a week. I’ve come to the conclusion that email illicits a quicker response, but I had posted here to get the community’s insight. Had I not posted here, I wouldn’t have pulled that part myself, so I’m grateful for that, but I’m not grateful for the lack of any kind of response from support. I’ve said it before, but an acknowledgement that a problem has been seen would be helpful. I get that it may be obvious that it has been “seen” as the other posts from this time period have been closed, but this zero communication thing they do is unprofessional.
Imagine this level of support in any industry. Every customer service job I had, I had to acknowledge a customer’s presence within the first 10 seconds of them being there. I’m not saying I demand immediate resolution, but for there to be nothing after nearly a week is crazy. It’s been over a year and a half since the last time I’ve experienced their service this badly, but that it’s identical to then is not great. How has there been so little improvement in their support department that problems like this are still not even replied to?
They do it in email all the time, but won’t do it here, and it’s that double standard that reflects poor customer service. I’m just to assume that my problem is being worked on instead of having it confirmed? Clear communication should have been established within 24 hours, but that’s rarely the case. After the company being established for this long, they need to get it together when it comes to their support.
This isn’t about the length of resolution, I get that my problem here is asking for a part that probably doesn’t fail often, and especially not usually user replaced. My issue is the lack of communication. If you’re waiting for a reply from the factory, let me know. If you’ve passed the issue on to a supervisor, cool. For all I know, my issue is something that has been posted to someone that has forgotten about it. There’s no follow up, and that’s what I need addressed.
I must say, you appear to be keeping quite calm about it. Bravo. I assure you I’d be over my boiling point by now.
TOTALLY!
You can’t simply assume somebody has seen this. You can just as easily assume nobody has.
Indeed.
Listen… As far as I’m concerned, you’re not asking for anything fantastical here. Just a rather simple “We’ve seen your problem and we’re working out how to solve it for you.” And then a follow-up in a reasonable amount of time is also required… even if to say “We don’t have an answer yet. Still sorting it out.” At least you know it hasn’t been forgotten.
Well, you have my sympathy on this. And I’m afraid that’s all I can offer at this point. I hope things get better for you on this today!
I usually give them a week, then recontact them. But I’d also recommend changing the title of your thread to something more descriptive. Like "Replacement Circuit Board Needed " It gets their attention and they know how to proceed, and how to direct your problem to the folks who can help the fastest.
Ehh, I’m with @Tom_A on this, titles shouldn’t affect the efficacy of whether this is responded to or not. I’ll change it just so they know not to intentionally overlook it due to it’s ambiguous current title. Also, I doubt you
that should be excessive for anybody looking to have something responded to. Like I said, I didn’t expect to have my problem resolved, just replied to. With 30 replies in this thread, it should already grab the attention of staff, let alone it’s an open problem on the brink of being a week old. There must be some policy set in place that makes it so they can’t respond until they have information, but it’s detrimental to user morale. I’m not going to repeat all of my points from my last comment, but they all still stand when reflecting the professionalism of a company.
Actually mine was by email. Eight days, 4 hours for an account question…
Based on that, I feel it might be someone takes a look then has to find the right resource. I certainly think that could be the case here, because you already provided all the info.
If you ask me, this is pretty effed up. I’m seeing staff responses to cases opened days after this one. Clearly not a first-come first-served system. Maybe there really is something to the “If your title is interesting enough for them they’ll respond” concept? Whatever “system” they’re using, it’s clearly biased by something or someone.
Noticed that too, Did this thread start in P&S or possibly get moved in here where no ticket was created? I know they have said SPAM filters prevented responses but seems this was was just forgotten or ignored. Even if someone from GF did read it, it does not take but a few seconds to acknowledge it. Guess maybe create a new post asking for this post at least be acknowledged?
Reasonable question. The requestor is a Regular, so I’d presume he created it here.
Sure looks like it! Man… I’ve worked with a lot of request systems over the years. I’ve never seen one that would allow you to simply ignore requests. Well, I mean… They tend to have their own default First Response Time, and those are usually adjustable… I suppose they could disable them completely. But why the hell would they?!
I’m so sorry that we missed this thread and that it resulted in you receiving a delayed response. Thank you for the detailed information about the issue you ran into. This isn’t a component which we have in our inventory as a spare part available for purchase. I’m going to close this thread and I’ll be in touch with you very soon via email to work on this with you.
