Are Creative mad?

[GNEP]

Or just overstocked with Audigy 1's?

I recently got the "EEPROM" bug (as it appears to be known in the European Audigy forums) whereby the subsystem ID on the Audigy gets corrupted meaning the computer no longer recognises it properly as an Audigy and the drivers won't reinstall.

So I got them VERY quickly to agree to a replacement.

Literally it was
ME: My Audigy is showing up as Emu10Kx in the multimedia sounds and properties box.
CREATIVE TS: Have you got the latest mobo bios and chipset drivers?
ME: Yes.
CREATIVE: OK, have an RMA then. Send us proof of purchase and we will issue an RMA number.
ME: Not sure if I can find it - this was over a year ago.
CREATIVE: Whatever... just fill in your details and send in an invoice if possible.

Anyway, I finally did send in the scanned invoice to them via email 2 days ago. It wasn't for the same card, but one I bought as a present for my brother. Whatever - they won't know the difference .

I heard nothing from them - no mention of an RMA number.

Today the replacement arrives ?!?. It looks like it might even have been sent out to me before they got the invoice by email from me.

And no mention of wanting the original back. Just a card in a box and no accompanying correspondence.

Wierd huh? Almost like they know there is a big problem and want to keep us quiet (it seems like a lot of people have been affected by this recently). Or they have far too many Audigy 1's floating about now they have launched the Audigy 2.

Oh well, I'm not complaining. Perhaps Matrox should take the same attitude with regards to banding... It's just wierd as I have had Creative be right old pains in the arse in the past - and their drivers have caused me no end of pain in the last 18 months.

Perhaps they are finally getting their butts in gear - as Gurm mentions the newer Audigy 2 drivers seem like a very positive step forwards too.

Gnep

[Slougi]

Hehe, do you still need the old one? j/k

[GNEP]

The old one actually still works and produces 2-channel sound in windows only (not games) better than my onboard sound... but I think I will keep it for the next time Creative drivers really piss me off... and take it out on the board...

Or perhaps someone might one day come up with a way of fixing this through a bios/eeprom flash...

[Kurt]

Why don't you repeatedly call them until they finally ask for the board back?

Then open shop and sell your stock

[GNEP]

Well, they might get suspicious pretty quickly if I do it... but feel free any other European MURCers to have a go if you have an perfectly functioning Audigy...

BTW at no point have they asked for credit card details (as would be usual for cross-shipment at e.g. Matrox...) so it seems no danger of being charged

[Paddy]

I emailed them about my Live! 5.1 not being SMP compatible. I argued that if a uniprocessor was REQUIRED for the card to work, then it should be stated. I have an Audigy2 in the post

[Tjalfe]

.. So let me get this right.. I email Creative, and complain about my Audigy 1 Platinum EX, not working with my SMP machine (it stutters ) then they will send me an Audigy 2 instead?.. great

anywhere in particular I have to contact to get such a response?
I am in Canada.

[Paddy]

I just emailed their tech support.
Be warned - it took ~1month of daily emails!

[WyWyWyWy]

WHAT!
Is this true?!

[Tjalfe]

Maybe I will try calling them then.... maybe faster response that way.
So the Audigy 2 does not have the stuttering problem at all, or is it just a smaller problem on them?.. I suppose either way it is an improvement

[Chrono_Wanderer]

that's not very creative...

[ZokesPro]

I wonder what kind of trade in I could get for my PCI128?

[dZeus]

keep in mind that Creative has a huge market share in the EU, and they probably want to keep it that way.

99% of all customers here have never heard of anything other than Creative Live/Audigy. When you ask them if they might be interested in a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz they'll all say 'Turtle what????'. Well there's always Terratec, but I consider their driver support to be even worse than creative....

Hercules might be an interesting alternative, but their drivers are modified/written by Jimmy the Graphics Intern (right Gurm? )

[GNEP]

Too right they won't have heard of TBSC here - it (was/is) known as Videologic (now Pure Digital) Sonic Fury...

So it sounds like Paddy is having a similar experience to me

BTW the quickest way to get things done seems to be via their "Chat" function on the Europe TS site - it even worked through my work firewall, which was a bit of a shock... You have to wait in a queue, but once connected can get things done there and then it seems.

So what are you all waiting for? Go get those free Audigies!

[Gurm]

The problems with Creative Labs are mounting.

HyperThreading kills all of Creative's sound cards dead. Big surprise there, since SMP never worked correctly.

Lots of Audigy 2's are showing up as Audigy 1's.

And their solution to every problem seems to be to make a new card, and if someone bitches loud enough send them that new card. There haven't been any substantive driver updates for the Audigy 1 since the Audigy2 was released... so unless you feel like hacking the A2 drivers to run on your A1 (which I have done) you're SOL with horrid old drivers that crash a lot.

- Gurm