Product Registration, Warranty and Returns Procedures

General

Eyetech-supplied products are warranted against defects of manufacture for 12 months from date of purchase on a return-to-base basis. In addition to basic warranty facilities, other support services are available to you from Eyetech after receipt of yo our Product Registration Card shipped with your goods. For the sake of clarification any defects in your A1200 motherboard or limitations imposed by accessories used with your A1200 which you have not purchased from Eyetech are not covered b by the product warranty, nor do they entitle you to a full or partial refund. In addition it is your responsibility to ensure that an adequate and properly earthed power supply is used which is capable of delivering the peak current requirements - at all l voltages used - of your A1200 and all simultaneously connected accessories.

Please note that we will need to have received your Product Registration Card - by post or fax - before these services are available to you as they give us details of your setup which help us to identify any difficulties that you are having, and sugges st a suitable course of action.

A1200 motherboard revision levels

When the A1200 was designed there were - as is common in designs of that complexity - some 'bugs' in the chip designs. Many of these were corrected by the time the main production runs started, but some were not, and in fact several bugs still remain i in the latest revisions of the AA chip sets.

The main production board issued in the UK - Rev 1.D.1 - had onboard provision for hardware workarounds to fix the main bugs, notably bus timing problems in the Gayle and Budgie chips. In general these boards work fine with most combinations of expansi ion hardware and are the boards which we use to test A1200 expansion products on before shipment.

The later revisions of motherboards - particularly the revision 1.D.4 and 2.B are a different story however. These boards revisions were designed to take corrected versions of the Gayle and Budgie chips - and therefore were designed without provision f for the earlier hardware workarounds. However, revised versions of the custom chips were never produced and as a consequence all but a few of the last of the AT/Escom manufactured motherboards were shipped without either bug-free chips or hardware workaro ounds.

In general these 1.D.4 & 2.B defects only make themselves felt when the A1200 is expanded by the addition of an '040 (or above) accelerator, high performance IDE hard drive/CDROM subsystems, Zorro slots or I/O expanders (PortPlus etc). Often any o one such accessory will work, but two or more will not work in combination. Typical symptoms are an accelerator exhibiting instability problems, a graphics card failing to be recognised or a CDROM failing to show disk icons.

In response to these problems, and in conjunction with Amiga International, Eyetech has developed a set of hardware modifications applicable to 1.D.4 and 2.B motherboards. These modifications bring the 1.D.4 and 2.B boards up to 1.D.1 specifications an nd result in the correct and stable operation of the A1200 with most permutations of performance-enhancing accessories. If you send us your A1200 motherboard (on its own or in its metal shield - but not in the A1200) we can undertake these modifications f for a fixed charge of £30 + return carriage. Alternatively we can make the modifications and fit and test your accessories at the same time - please ring for details.

Eyetech-supplied Amiga International Magic Packs

Like several other Amiga dealers Eyetech has been supplying Amiga 1200 Magic packs since the became available from Amiga International in late 1997. Where applicable these packs bought from Eyetech have had the 1.D.4 and 2.B modifications already carri ied out. There are however two design limitations on these Magic Pack computers which were not present in the earlier Commodore-manufactured A1200's. These are design limitations rather than manufacturing defects and the rectification of them - although u usually possible - is specifically excluded from all warranty provisions.

These limitations are as follows:

• Some copy protected games software uses floppy disk drive signals which are not present on the Magic Pack floppy disk drives. This software - which is in a minority - will not run on the Magic Pack A1200's without the addition of Eyetechs EZ-D DF0 floppy drive interface.
• Changes to the A1200's video circuitry to meet new EC interference emission standards means that some monitors exhibit horizontal 'tearing' of the screen image when using the PC-compatible screen modes of DBLPAL, DBLNTSC, Super72, Productivity etc. (Standard 15 kHz screen modes work fine). Eyetech can undertake a (charged) modification to the A1200 main board to replace these suppression components with ones which allow the vast majority of PC-type monitors to function perfectly. However do check fi irst - you may find that your A1200 functions fine with your monitor in these screen modes without further modification.

Please contact Eyetech if you experience these symptoms and would like to arrange for your motherboard to be suitably modified.

Technical support

Provided the Product Registration Card has been correctly filled in and returned to Eyetech within 14 days of your receipt of the product, the following support services are available from Eyetech:

• Phone-in technical help line on Eyetech products you have purchased or are considering purchasing. This line operates free of charge for registered users of Eyetech products between certain designated times most weekdays. Please ring t the regular sales lines to confirm the free support line operating times. You will need your customer code and registration details to hand when ringing the Eyetech Technical help line. The free technical help line is available to customers within 6 month hs of product purchase.
• Mail-in technical queries on Eyetech products you have purchased or are considering purchasing. Please provide a return stamped, addressed envelope for your reply and leave at least half an A4 page below each question for our engineer rs to write in their reply. We will do our best to respond to such enquiries within 5 working days of their receipt. Please give a contact telephone number together with your Eyetech customer code and relevant invoice number along with your request.

Teething troubles

If having installed your Amiga accessory you find that it doesn't function as planned, you should:

• Ensure that you have returned your product registration card to Eyetech to validate your entitlement to technical support.
• Reread all the installation notes which came with your product, including any specific troubleshooting guides supplied at the time or subsequently.
• Recheck that all connectors are properly orientated and fixed in place and well pushed down.
• Delete any previously installed software which could clash with your new peripheral (eg CDROM filesystems, device drivers, startup commodities etc) by temporarily renaming the relevant files and drawers (WBStartup to x-WBStartup for example). You wi ill find these files in the c:, l:, devs:, libs:, devs:dosdrivers and s: drawers of your boot partition. Then reinstall the driver software relevant to your new peripheral and reboot.
• Make sure that any existing peripherals are properly reconfigured to take account of your revised setup. This particularly applies to hard disk drive jumper settings and their RDB (HDToolbox) software settings. If you do not have the specifications/ /settings for your hard drive you should obtain a set from the relevant drive manufacturers 'Fax-on-Demand' service. If you are using a CDROM with a buffered interface try connecting the CDROM on channel 2.
• If you are using more than one power supply to power your Amiga and its accessories, or if you have peripherals - including hard drives, CDROMs etc housed in free-standing cases you must ensure that a common earthing wire runs between all metalwork and the A1200 chassis.
• Remove all other non-essential accessories from your Amiga (eg second hard disks, CDROMs, accelerators) and see if the new peripheral now functions. Try using the 'early boot' screen (reset and hold down both mouse buttons) to disable the CPU caches s. If the new accessory now functions add the other accessories back one at a time to determine the rogue item. Note the results of all your tests.
• Check the revision of A1200 motherboard you have. (The revision level is written in white on the top surface of the motherboard about 3 cm inboard of the trap door edge connector. You may be able to read it through the holes in the metal shielding, or you may need to remove the shielding to check properly.)

Eyetech 100% test all Amiga products before shipment and guarantee A1200 products to work properly on a Revision 1.D.1 A1200 motherboard - the most common (and most stable) A1200 board sold in the UK - as well as with revision 1.D.4 and 2.B motherboard ds which have been modified by ourselves.

Should I send it back for checking?

If you still have no success and you believe that there is a defect with the product you have purchased you may request a Returns Authorisation Number (RAN) so that you can send the product back to us for checkout and/or replacement. You should ring, w write or fax the Eyetech technical support centre with details of your problem to request a returns authorisation number or - if appropriate - to arrange to have your Rev 1.D.4 or 2.B motherboard modified as described above.

Before contacting technical support you must have the following information to hand (it must also be included with any correspondence):

• Your invoice number, Eyetech customer code and date of invoice.
• The name and (if applicable) serial number of the product that you have purchased
• A list of all main components in your system including:
  • The manufacturer of your A1200 (Amiga International/Escom or Commodore)
  • The revision level of the A1200 motherboard
  • The make, model physical size and capacity and supplier (as relevant) of all hard drives, CDROMs, accelerators, I/O expander cards, Zip drives etc used with your A1200
  • A list of any third party driver software loaded as default by your operating system on startup (eg SCSI, scanner, printer, CDROM drivers, MCP, MUI etc)
  • A list of all the tests that you have conducted - as recommended above - and their results.

Organising a product return

The returns procedure works as follows:

• You ring Eyetech for a Returns Authorisation Number (RAN).
• You pack the goods in the original packing material in which the goods were shipped to you - or better - and write the RAN clearly on the address label. Any goods in transit damage due to defective packaging is your responsibility.
• You send the goods to us using an insured, confirmed delivery service (such as registered post) or ring Eyetech to arrange a collection. Note that any collection arranged by us under an RAN procedure will be charged to you under all circumstan nces and must be paid before your goods are returned, or will be deducted from any refund made.
• Eyetech's engineers will check out the returned goods using a revision 1.D.1 motherboard and a configuration as close to your own as we are reasonably able to put together.
• If a fault is found then:
  • if the goods are returned within 90 days of purchase the goods will either be repaired or replaced and returned to you carriage free. You should allow a turnround time of up to 10 working days from the date of receipt by us to subsequent despatch.
  • if the goods are returned outside 90 days of purchase but within 12 months of purchase they will be returned to the original manufacturer for repair. In this case Eyetech makes a standard scale charge to cover the carriage and administration costs of handling the warranty claim with the manufacturer on your behalf. This fee is normally between £10 and £30 per item, plus return carriage. As part of this charge, and where we currently hold an identical or functionally similar item in stock, we would normally replace the defective item directly to eliminate the inevitable repair delays that you would otherwise have.
• If no fault is found then we will contact you to ascertain the most appropriate course of action. This would typically be:
  • you return the rest of your system to us for any required motherboard modifications and for us to install and configure the new product together with any other A1200 accessories you wish to be installed at the same time. This is a chargeable servic ce.
  • we return the tested product to you for you to reinstall. In this case a small charge will be made to cover the costs of technical resource spent configuring and testing the product and for return carriage. This fee is normally between £10 and d £30 per item, plus carriage, depending on the value of the item and the complexity of the testing routines undertaken.
  • (exceptionally) we authorise a refund - less our administrative and technical costs - for the product purchased. As none of our products are sold on a trial basis this course of action will only be considered where: the product (including any assoc ciated literature and packaging) is returned unmarked and in fully resaleable condition and any known motherboard deficiencies have been rectified (at your own expense) and the product has been returned within 30 days of purcha ase under an authorised returns procedure. The refund is based on Eyetechs latest published retail price for the product on the date that the refund is agreed, less the testing/restocking fee. This fee is normally between £10 and £30 per item de epending on the value of the item and the complexity of the testing routines undertaken prior to restocking. For the sake of clarification you should note that carriage and/or credit card clearance fees are non refundable. These fees are reduced by 50% if you wish to exchange the goods for others of an equal or higher value to reflect our lower administration costs.