Another broken RapidRoad ?

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hello,

    My RapidRoad just died. It was received last Monday, plugged and working fine from the beginning until some minuts ago. What could have happened ?

    I can´t know what I was doing when it was broken, I discovered when I connected a pendrive and it didn´t work. I have opened the computer and the led was off.

    Reading the forum I have seen that the problem could have been the Meanwell RT65B PSU that and I am using. Is that true ? I am using the Meanwell psu for one year with my A500 plus and Vampire 500 V2+ without problems.

    Any help will be appreciated if I can do something before return back for repair.

    Thank you very much.

    Ricard

  • Reading the forum I have seen that the problem could have been the Meanwell RT65B PSU that and I am using. Is that true ?

    Yes, that's true. I haven't found the actual source of the problem, but the amount of RR's that die on Amigas that are powered with this PSU chassis is fairly high, so just by statistics, I kindly request you to get a better power supply. I'll do the repair for free if you make that promise.

  • Hello Jens,

    You are the expert and I promise never to use the Meanwell again. Apart from this PSU I only have the original lightweight PSU part number 312503-03 Made in Taiwan (4.5A at 5V). Can I use this without risks ? If I have to buy a new one, which one is the most appropriate ?

    Thank you !

  • Hi Jens,


    Greetings from Massachusetts! I could write in German, but for everyone else's benefit I'll stick to English. Just wanted to let you know that I had purchased a Rapidroad USB from Amigakit about a year ago. Around the same time, I had purchased an Elbox Back Tower, an Elbox 1200TX PCI boardI etc. I finally found time to install the Rapidroad inside the Elbox tower using the Clock Port connector. I downloaded and installed Poseidon 4.5, configured everything - and voila, I was able to mount a USB stick, read and write files... everything worked for several days.

    A few days ago I powered on the Amiga tower and when the Workbench came up, I noticed my USB stick didn't get mounted. I checked the Rapidroad - no white LED. Tried rebooting, checked connections... no change.

    Based on the various threads I found in this forum, it sounds as if something like this might be a somewhat common occurrence? Any way to prevent something like this in the future? Could the PSU in the Elbox tower be the problem? As I wrote earlier, everything worked just fine for about a week.


    I'm planning to ship the Rapidroad to you sometime tomorrow. I'll insure it and get a tracking number. Would you be able to test and repair it, if necessary? I would appreciate it if you could lease let me know.


    I have since ordered a Spider USB PCI card for the Elbox tower, but would still like to get the Rapidroad repaired for one of my Amiga 1200 Desktop computers.


    Thanks for your continued support for the Amiga!


    Andre

  • it sounds as if something like this might be a somewhat common occurrence?

    As common as "alternative" power supplies are, yes. We have a statistical clustering of RapidRoad defects with MeanWell-based power supplies, just like we had a statistical clustering of failed Buddha controllers around 2001/2002 in Elbox-towers.


    Could the PSU in the Elbox tower be the problem?

    Absolutely, yes. I have investigated the Buddha problem 17 years ago even on-site with a customer in England, and found that the PSUs that were shipped with the Elbox towers back then were the cheapest cr*p that overstock sites had to offer.


    Elbox did not want to hear my suggestions for improvement, and since I didn't want to leave customers with a defective product, I replaced/repaired the units. I'll be doing the same for yours if you promise to make sure that the PSU is replaced with one that has low ripple and proper regulation on the 5V rail (and please make sure that the 5V rail is really the main regulation rail!).


    I'm planning to ship the Rapidroad to you sometime tomorrow. I'll insure it and get a tracking number.

    Please make sure to have the original proof of purchase (copy of the invoice or PayPal transaction) and a declaration of "return goods" accessible from the outside, so customs don't have to open the parcel. If they don't have all this paperwork accessible in one of these transparent envelopes on the outside, they hold the parcel and I need to drive to the customs office, which is a 2-hour journey round-trip.

  • Hi Jens,

    I shipped the Rapid Rad back to you yesterday (Tuesday). Monday was a holiday here in the U.S. However, the postal employee would not let me include an invoice copy in the clear plastic pouch with the customs form in it. I told them I had to. The lady at the post office insisted that itwas not needed and including additional paperwork only causes problems. I included a copy of the invoice inside the package, and the customs form on the outside of the package has the 'returned goods' box checked. I wrote something about defective computer parts and returning for repair next to it. Keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it through customs.

    Thanks for your help with this!


    Andre

  • However, the postal employee would not let me include an invoice copy in the clear plastic pouch with the customs form in it.

    Funny. Another return from the US arrived today, and that had the invoice in that pouch, as German customs require.


    Let's hope that it just slips through.

  • Hi Jens,


    Hope all is well! I'm writing because I had sent you my defective Rapidroad back at the end of May. I can't find the tracking information right now, but I remember checking back June and according to the tracking information on the U.S. Postal Service website it had been delivered.

    I forgot about the whole thing for some time. In part because I haven't really had time to play with my AMIGAs. I finally remembered a couple of days ago and realized that I hadn't heard from you nor received the repaired Rapidroad back since then.

    Could you please let me know if you were able to repair the device and when you sent it back to me?

    I'm going to be in Munich next week and in case you haven't shipped it back yet, perhaps you could mail it to my address in Munich. Would probably be cheaper and would avoid having to fill out customs forms etc.

    I would appreciate it you could let me know when you have a chance. Thanks much!


    Andre

  • Hi Jens,


    Thanks for your reply! I found the USPS receipt and tracking information. USPS tracking number was CH069987447US. According to their website the package was delivered on June 3:


    (https://tools.usps.com/go/Trac…tc_tLabels1=CH069987447US)

    Tracking Number: CH069987447US


    Your item was delivered in GERMANY at 3:05 pm on June 4, 2019.


    Status


    Delivered


    June 4, 2019 at 3:05 pm

    Delivered

    GERMANY


    Sender was me - Andre Kuehnemund from Manchester, Massachussets. Rapidroad was originally purchased from Amigakit on Feb. 8, 2018.


    Hope this helps.


    Cheers,



    Andre

  • this is weird - could you please request the signature that was given for this parcel? We have no incoming record on that day and no address record that matches your name.

  • Hi Jens,


    That's unfortunate. I'm about to hop on a plane to Munich. I'm sure there's a way to request a copy of proof of delivery through their website. I'll do that once I'm in Germany. Will keep you posted. Thanks for checking and for the quick response!



    Andre

  • We do have a record of an incoming RapidRoad on june 6th, and that has been shipped back to Leaman computing later that month. This is standard procedure if the unit was not purchased directly. If you have the warranty ID of the unit, we could confirm that this was yours.


    The reason for the different date could be customs: Sometimes the tracking shows "delivered" when it's been handed over to customs.


    CONFIRMED: Your unit was sent back to Leaman Computing (AmigaKit) on june 26th, 2019. Please ask why they haven't shipped it back to you yet.

  • Hi Jens,


    Just to give you an update... I e-mailed Matthew at Amigakit on Sept. 14. I have yet to receive as much as an acknowledgement. I just followed up with another e-mail. Makes me very much appreciate how responsive and on top of things you are. Thanks and keep up thew great work you do!


    Andre

  • Jens,


    I want to let you know that I received the Rapidroad from Amigakit a week or two ago - so we got it all straightened out. So, thank you very much for repairing it and for helping with getting it back to me. I haven't had the time to install it in my A1200 Desktop. Still working on getting my 1200 Tower fully up and running. Speaking of... I must be going blind, but I can't seem to find the P96 driver package in your online shop. I was able to get the Radeon 9200 to work with the older P96 shareware drivers, but I would like to purchase and properly license the newer version. Would you mind letting me know where I can find that software? Thank much! Happy Halloween!


    Andre

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.