Issues with the BPPC2 and GND Plane

[jackflash]

I decided to ask them on their Facebook page if it is true about the boards being faulty, that the ground plane is missing. Their response was to delete my question and block me. Totally unacceptable, companies that treat potential customers with such contempt deserve to go out of business

[Chucky]

And also that means they do not have a single board with GND..
I mean.. how easy would it be to takea PCB and a multimeter and show?..  especially when he said he would have production started in November.

so..  unless I am proven wrong (of the facts that he doesn't have a single BPPC board with GND):  do NOT do any kind of prepayments.

My boards was still sold as tested.. and no GND. but they are old and could be a pre-production error.- (in that case he would send me new working pcbs as that was our deal)

Anyway..  history will show.. my guess is thar mr. Salvador will soon be in his next bankruptcy..   sad..  so sad..

[HammerD]

And also that means they do not have a single board with GND..
I mean.. how easy would it be to takea PCB and a multimeter and show?..  especially when he said he would have production started in November.

so..  unless I am proven wrong (of the facts that he doesn't have a single BPPC board with GND):  do NOT do any kind of prepayments.

My boards was still sold as tested.. and no GND. but they are old and could be a pre-production error.- (in that case he would send me new working pcbs as that was our deal)

Anyway..  history will show.. my guess is thar mr. Salvador will soon be in his next bankruptcy..   sad..  so sad..

BTW, in your conversations with him he said "his" boards were tested working and booting....well I totally do not believe that.  I have seen no evidence of any of his new version "2" boards booting.  And I don't think anyone has.  In fact I have only seen photos on the facebook page with unpopulated boards.

If I am wrong, someone please point me to a video showing his version "2" PCB's booting...otherwise I file this in the "BS" category.

[HammerD]

I decided to ask them on their Facebook page if it is true about the boards being faulty, that the ground plane is missing. Their response was to delete my question and block me. Totally unacceptable, companies that treat potential customers with such contempt deserve to go out of business

Again, this is not how to handle the situation.  Deleting your post after asking a valid question (it is public knowledge now what happened) just shows he is trying to cover this up and hope it will go away.  Well it won't, it's too late for that now.  Doubling down on his (incorrect) decision will make things worse, not better.

The best thing he could have done was admit he made a simple mistake, corrected the situation quietly and quickly with Chucky, fixed the error and moved on.  This all could have been done privately between him and Chucky.  The entire fiasco could have been avoided.  Now all of us will look on this phase5 re-birth with even more scepticism and doubt.  

We know how many false starts and scams there have been over the years regarding Amiga...too many I forget them all.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I saw the thread about this over on the Amiga Facebook page the other day... it had around 500 comments at the time.  All I can say is, OMG, people are ridiculous.  :angry: :angry: :mad: :angryfire: :madashell:

[CodePoet]

Hahaha uh oh... Someone forgot to restore a shelved polygon before going to print! If he was competent, he would have run a DRC prior to exporting the Gerbers. This is standard procedure, especially for a board this complex. It would have warned him about the missing ground plane (would be detected as an un-routed net or net antennae)

...UNLESS, all he has are the Gerbers, and not the source files? Or maybe he switched the DRC warnings off entirely?

[gregthecanuck]

Hi Chucky -

The guy seems to have a reputation as a flake and yet you carried forward and spent money with him? And now you have a bad purchasing experience. Surprise?

What other outcome could have been expected? All the gnashing, videos, copies of email conversations, etc... is just a lot of drama.

This thread seems like a cry for attention on your part more than anything.

Feel free to flame me, but this is my knee-jerk opinion.

[amiadudeorwat]

Hi Chucky -

The guy seems to have a reputation as a flake and yet you carried forward and spent money with him? And now you have a bad purchasing experience. Surprise?

What other outcome could have been expected? All the gnashing, videos, copies of email conversations, etc... is just a lot of drama.

This thread seems like a cry for attention on your part more than anything.

Feel free to flame me, but this is my knee-jerk opinion.

Or he's actually trying to tell other people why they should not buy a broken product.  And then demonstrated why it is broken quite clearly.  He purchased this 9 months ago when the seller was showing newly built pcbs, the part that he actually needed.  

Unless you're specifically against telling others why they shouldn't buy a falsely advertised and deficient product?

[CodePoet]

Or he's actually trying to tell other people why they should not buy a broken product.  And then demonstrated why it is broken quite clearly.  He purchased this 9 months ago when the seller was showing newly built pcbs, the part that he actually needed.  

Unless you're specifically against telling others why they shouldn't buy a falsely advertised and deficient product?

+1

[gregthecanuck]

Oh good grief. The phase 5 guy has a reputation as fake5. That has been going on for quite some time now.

It's like buying a car from a used car salesman on a street corner with no license or retail premises who says "trust me" and then acting all surprised when it breaks down 10 miles down the road. And then warning others not to do the same? Duh. And then making a video?  And copying/pasting email exchanges? drama.

I am in no way defending fake5, but at the same time this whole episode is a bit silly.

[Chucky]

Hi Chucky -

The guy seems to have a reputation as a flake and yet you carried forward and spent money with him? And now you have a bad purchasing experience. Surprise?

What other outcome could have been expected? All the gnashing, videos, copies of email conversations, etc... is just a lot of drama.

This thread seems like a cry for attention on your part more than anything.

Feel free to flame me, but this is my knee-jerk opinion.

Well. He aparentlty had the data..  so I would't expect him to fail to produce the PCBs. just export the gerbers and.. presto.

also. remember there is a reason I told him that they must pass qualtycontrol and ship tracked.  so I had any possability to go back to him.

I never belived he would be able to produce a working card. (yet less the complete p5 line..  why even try?)


And.  well.  yes!  IF it would fail. I finally had real data to stop his madness. and when I was tealking to him and seen his talk it was more and more clear that he actually doesn't know %&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@! about this. So it was time to see if the board would ever work..   I wouldn't expect such a extreme fault as a missing layer..

but then also. we have now a full story how he would handle an issue with a custumer. any issue like a DOA?  bah!  got your money!  go away.

It was a risc I was taking.  so for me it is not really about the money. I can take it. but now we all know he is a fraud.

[Chucky]

Aaand I was really hoping to get this damn blown bppc to work..

[gregthecanuck]

Hi Chucky -

Thanks for the gracious reply. I can put my flameproof gear away. Drat.

If anything you have definitely removed any doubt as to the quality of the "flake5" product. They (he) can't even get a PCB manufactured. Good grief.

Shame about the bppc... that was an expensive investment.

Looking forward to seeing what other hardware projects you come up with. I have plans (evil plans) for the I/O ports on the Vampire 4.

Cheers!

[utri007]

New "Phase5" seems actually have product, no matter that it has a problem. I was 99% sure that they can't actually offer anything.

[Chucky]

Thing is.  people asked if I was an employee of P5..

IF I was.. they would have booting version of every card provided the data was correct.  OK I cannot solder BGA.  But give me proper tools and a week and that BGA would sit ther like a boss

[Georg]

I have no clue about this stuff whatsoever, but how do such gnd planes on a pcb look like? Is there always a single gnd "island"/"blob" or can there be multiple isolated islands/blobs on the gnd plane? Such that before installation of pcb component gnd blob #1 and gnd blob #2 are not connected, but after installation of it the blobs are connected.