G400MAX dead rant

[the maddman]

Well, I had a kicking setup for a while, p3-450, G400MAX and a RR-G hung off it, but about three months ago the G400 up and died on me. Runs about 5-30mins on any of the machines I've tested it in, and then they lockup with a corrupted screen. From what I know from playing with XFree86, it looks like the video memory is clocked to high. No I don't overclock the card. I've been trying to get Matrox to RMA the card ever since then, and have gotten nothing but the run around. I'm working when they're tech support line is open, so I've tried to take care of it by e-mail. I even took a long lunch break once to go home and call in. What did I get? "Our RMA department will call you." And they never did. I'm now stuck with 2+GB's of MJPEG compressed video I can't access, and I'm pissed off. I've already gone out and bought a GeForce MX, but it does me no good for video editing. My machine has gone through three motherboards in the time it's taken me to get Matrox to admit the card is bad. I bought mine from the online store when they first became avalible to replace my G200 8meg. So now I can edit my video if I toss my G200 back in, or I can play Q3A with the GeForce, but I'm not going to pull cards in and out of my machine like that. It so sucks to run a G200 in a 1Ghz Thunderbird! I almost went and bought a ATI Radeon 64MB Vivo, but choked on the pricetag, it was close to what I paid for CPU+Motherboard+128mb ram.
Ok, I think I'm done ranting. Anyone else have any problems with a similar setup? I know I'm gonna get laughed at when I do get my new MAX, the P3-450 will spank my Q3A scores.

[Kruzin]

Did Matrox Tech Support give you any kind of RMA or reference number?
If so, I would call them back with that RMA number, and insist on your replacement card. It's still under warranty (all G400s are).
If they did not give you an RMA number call MTS back and get one.

Either way, I have no doubt this will get handled in short order. This message has been forwarded to the right people (one of the regulars here at MURC is the head of MTS North America, who has customer support 1st on his list of priorities).

[Haig]

What did I get? "Our RMA department will call you."

Tech supp will process the RMA, give you a client ID # and forward your case to our RMA dep't where they will call you within 2 working days.

Once they call, email, or fax you, they will give you an RMA# along with shipping instructions.

If they haven't called you back within 2 working days, you can contact RMA directly (have you client ID # handy) via email or call tech supp and we'll forward you to them right away.

Haig

[Kruzin]

And that RMA e-mail addy is:
rma@matrox.com

Thanks Haig, for the quick responce =)

[Rob M.]

Well, I don't want to scare you or anything, but I've gone through 3 max's, all with the same corrupted screen you mention. I live with agp 1x now, and take the crashes when they come.. oh if I only had the money to get something else...

[Rags]

Well, Rob, I think his problem is different than yours. His was working fine at one time, then something happened and now it's not. I don't think it compares very well, do you?

Rags

[Rob M.]

hmmm, well, no: I never got a RR-G, and my dealings with matrox's tech support left me thinking they were nothing short of the best.. All my cards had an initial 'life' where they wouldn't crash though.

[the maddman]

Well, other than the total death, the only problem I ever had with the G400MAX was times when I'd get the TurboGL to crash with any OpenGL games. DirectX has always worked fine. Looks like I've pushed the right buttons somewhere, hopefully I'll be getting a new G400 soon. I wonder if I've got any chance of getting a AGP 4X card this time?

[ahartman]

Gotta say it (esp. since maddman didn't).

Thanks for the quick response, Haig.

This is what keeps me using Matrox.

I've only had 1 RMA experience w/Matrox and it was a pleasant one - cross mailing and all!

[Greebe]

The maddman,

Looks like I've pushed the right buttons somewhere

That's because you don't know... Haig IS in charge of Matrox's tech support!

Just try to find another manufacture that gives a "personal touch"!

[the maddman]

The person I talked to on the phone never gave me a client ID #. He wanted me to rip open another machine and test the card again with me on the phone. I told him I'd already been through that and he asked me to forward the e-mail I had from the online support. Like I said, I was home on my lunch break, so I didn't have a lot of time to spend on the phone, and I thought it would be nicer on the tech support guys to do it via e-mail, but he sent me a RMA form to fill out and fax back, and I don't have a fax machine.
Big thanks to Haig, I should have asked here what to do with the card before. Now does anyone know if I'll be able to use my RR-G with a G800?

[the maddman]

Hang on, it was my fault it seems, I misread the instructions. I hereby retract everything bad I've said about Matrox. The first e-mail I got seemed to say either fill out the form and fax it back or call in. I've now got the RMA form in plain text to e-mail back.
Haig, since you're in charge of Matrox's tech support, I'd like to tell you that Daniel Lawrence has done a great job getting everything cleared up, and he got me the text version, since Eudora ate the HTML version alive. I'll post again once I get my up and running with the new card.

[Haig]

Glad to hear everything is sorted out. I'll pass on your compliments to Dan as well.

Haig