MiSTer FPGA Forum

Hello,

A while ago, I bought a 5.1 I/O analog board (as part of a bundle that also contained the USB hub and the DRAM expansion) on Amazon.it, from the 3rd party seller.

The board basically works but, it doesn't have any pins to connect its own USB-like port to the User port of the underlying DE-10 mainboard, making the USB connector completely useless, but I only realized that after trying to connect the Midilink from legacypixels.com, and by then I was already outside the standard 30 days return period.

Tried to contact the seller, and of course, he was completely clueless, I don't think he even understood the problem or knew what he's selling, because the only thing he did was to send a link to the generic Mister project page on Github, as if I needed some help installing it...I seems that most of the boards sold on Amazon are like that, I'm sure somebody in China must have built many of them, and "forgot" to add the pins, and sellers don't even know what the problem is, or they don't care, assuming most of users won't notice.

But that's not the interesting part. I ordered another board from a reputable seller listed on this forum, so I'm sure my problem will be fixed.

The interesting part is that I thought: if I couldn't return the board, I could AT LEAST warn other potential customers of the problem, so I wrote a feedback, explaining exactly the issue about the missing pins. After a couple of days, AMAZON REJECTED MY REVIEW.

It was the first time I ever wrote a review on Amazon, and this is what I found out:

- If a review is rejected, Amazon won't tell you exactly WHY. They only say "it doesn't meet the community guidelines"

- Even if they told you why a review was rejected, it won't matter, since you are not allowed to write a new/amended review for the same product, after the first one has been rejected

So I'm posting here, with the following suggestions:

1) Be aware of those sellers on Amazon and check the product pictures to see if you can make out the pins. Yes, they DO say the board includes the pseudo-USB user port so, technically, this can be considered a fraud, since the port is completely useless, lacking any electrical connection with the DE-10 mainboard.

2) If you really want to order the IO board on Amazon, check for the missing pins as soon as you received it, so you are inside the return period.

3) It would be best to buy from any of the reputable sellers listed here, at least they KNOW what they are selling...

May be their system over-reacted on word "MiSTer"

Sorg, can I ask.... is that avatar a picture of your cat?

Hi

Can you take a Picture from missing pin please ?

No affiliation to this seller, but I read something similar, see here.

https://ozmistermods.com/blogs/news/psa ... n-the-wild

I've never had a review rejected ever, and I've had a soldering iron burst into flames on me - that didn't lead to an overly positive review

AnthonyQ wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:44 amNo affiliation to this seller, but I read something similar, see here.

https://ozmistermods.com/blogs/news/psa ... n-the-wild

Yes, that's exactly the issue. The problem is, so many sellers on Amazon use the same images so, it's quite difficult to know in advance if you are getting one with missing pins or not.

I can confirm Virtuall's experience, I ordered the "Pinhaijing Terasic DE10-Nano IO Board Analog Video Output VGA Port for Mister FPGA IO Board Set 3.5mm Headphone Port Replacement Board" from Amazon in February. The seller was listed as Pinhaijing and it shipped from China in a lightweight cardboard box stuffed into an envelope.

I installed it and it seems to be operating fine in its job of supporting buttons, LEDs, and a fan. It came with a blue LED-lit fan that got noisy after a couple of weeks, so I slapped on the 5V Noctua fan and just got on with it.

Now that I look closely at that I/O board, it is definitely missing the P7 header pins. I never knew to look for them before, and now that I look more closely at the board I see a lot of empty locations for headers and whatnot.

I hope I'm not giving all my personal information away with this link, but the item I bought is at this page:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L7ZF27Y/

The photos are accurate -- they look just like the board I received with empty holes and everything.

I wonder if they expect to skate on the technicality of calling it an "...analog video output ... headphone port replacement board." It's' doing what I wanted it for, so I probably won't go to the trouble of trying to get Amazon to replace it. But beware! There's some marginal boards out there.

bazza_12 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:37 am Sorg, can I ask.... is that avatar a picture of your cat?

Yes, and he was quite sick, almost died couple month ago. Now he is better but still stick. So i like to have him on avatar instead of mascot.

I can relate to love for pets so much. My dog means the whole world to me.

Sorgelig wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:55 pm

bazza_12 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 31, 2021 5:37 am Sorg, can I ask.... is that avatar a picture of your cat?

Yes, and he was quite sick, almost died couple month ago. Now he is better but still stick. So i like to have him on avatar instead of mascot.

aww he looks like a real character. hope he gets better soon..

Herr Squid wrote: ↑Thu Apr 01, 2021 5:35 amI wonder if they expect to skate on the technicality of calling it an "...analog video output ... headphone port replacement board." It's' doing what I wanted it for, so I probably won't go to the trouble of trying to get Amazon to replace it. But beware! There's some marginal boards out there.

Well, the description on Amazon page includes this line:

· Expansion connector (in the form of USB 3.0 connector, but it's not USB!)

That Expansion connector cannot possibly work without the pins so I guess you can ask Amazon for a return, since the description doesn't match the item. I couldn't ask for it, because I realized it outside the return period.