AX860i PSU fault and (current UK/European) RMA replacement policy

[Citizen Crazed]

So my otherwise perfect (November 2016 ) AX860i has begun to exhibit the dreaded red light of death bug: Beginning *last* winter, when (and only when) the room temp was cold, the PC would very occasionally randomly shut down within the first few seconds (or minutes) of operation - and immediately restart/stop again - with the status LED now showing red. The only way to get the system running again is a full mains power cycle.

Once the system is up, it usually stays up.

It was fine during the spring/summer, but back to colder ambient temperatures of the last few weeks and the problem has clearly gotten worse - as it now happens on first start almost every day. Again, if it lasts even a couple of minutes, it will quite happily run all day without a further glitch.

It has been effectively free-standing all its life and has *never* been fixed via its attachment screw holes - so there is zero chance of the 'screw over-insertion problem' being a factor in this.

The problem is definitely within the PSU itself. Removing it from the system and starting it on the bench, either with the test button, or connecting the ATX harness and grounding pin 14, will still result in the red LED when the unit is cold.

I've also noticed that physically pushing, even lightly, on the power output connectors with a fingertip with the PSU running (whether in-system or on the bench) will result in the same shutdown/startup/shutdown/red LED behaviour. This, and the clearly thermally sensitive nature of the problem, suggests to me something like a fractured track/solder joint, or even a partial short, possibly caused by physical load/flexing of the board secondary to repeated connection and disconnection of the output cabling.  And looking elsewhere both in this forum and elsewhere, it looks like a common fault with this line of supplies too.

This leads to a couple of questions: First of all, what is Corsair (UK and Europe)'s current policy on warranty returns for these PSUs? Is the original unit repaired and shipped back, or is an exchange (possibly another model) sent? This design - when it works, is superb, and in many ways I'd love to have this specific unit back. It's 100% pristine, has lived in a clean, filtered existence all its life, one way or the other I need an iCue compatible supply, and it also fits my existing cabling system. If the option was there I'd much rather have it back than end up with an exchange unit that may have been through the mill, and may develop the same bug in future - as, per previous threads, has happened with other forum members.

However, the other problem is that I don't currently have another PSU on hand capable of running my desktop system, and can't be without it for any length of time. So if I RMA this one, I'm potentially going to have to look at buying another supply to tide me over anyway.

Can anyone (whether Corsair or outside) give me an idea on what the current form is on warranty repairs for these so I can decide how to proceed? Thanks!

 

 

 

Edited January 17, 2022 by Citizen Crazed