KINGSQUEAK.ORG & KC2RGW.COM

It would seem that this is my year for buying broken items. A bit about the Behringer DEQ2496 and the two failed units I wound up with.

So the processor itself is a fantastic design on paper. This is a multi effects processor for doing signal processing of audio. Among many features it has, the unit has fantastic EQ options with a graphic style display or a parametric style display. The main reason I wanted the unit was for its ability to store EQ profiles in memory. This way I could have many different style EQ profiles and just recall them for use at a touch of a button. The unit also has downward expanders and compressors built in as well, both of which work very nicely too.

I purchased the units from GuitarCenter.com who were absolutely fantastic about handling the customer service issues I had. I’d buy from them again for sure. Fast and easy response, pre-paid shipping labels sent through email, they just couldn’t have handled it any better.

The first unit I got off the ground, patched in and programmed in about 20 minutes or so. As soon as I hit save on the first pre-set, the unit bricked. The firmware was faulty or the CPU I suspect as the unit was boot looping over and over. Multiple power disconnects and a few technical taps, the unit wouldn’t come back. So I exchanged it.

After waiting out a backorder on the unit, I finally got unit number 2. Got this one dialed in with multiple profiles, got all the features sorted out and it was smooth sailing. Then two days later, the display died on this one. The unit was functioning fully, but had no display. With the completely menu driven interface it has, this means it’s pretty much DOA.

As I said, the features are simply perfect for my use in ham radio. I had audio profiles configured so they were nearly indistinguishable from radio to radio. This is quite a feat considering the vast variations in audio front-ends from radio to radio. This is a very irritating issue to solve for those of us with multiple radios with a shared microphone between them. The downward expander is very effective and has great ranges of adjustments available. The compressor even works well and generally digital compressors are very finicky to deal with.

Unfortunately the quality control from Behringer seems to be nonexistent at this point. I did live sound and toured using Behringer equipment for a number of years. This gear took loads of abuse getting tossed around in road racks etc and never gave me a bit of trouble. It would appear in the last 10yrs or so, that Behringer has drastically dropped off in their overall quality.

The truly annoying part of this is that the DEQ2496 is the only product on the market that will store EQ profiles the way it does. The only other product I have found is in the $4k price range which is just ludicrous for my use.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Share on Facebook

So in my ongoing saga dealing with an incompatible Biostar A770E3 mainboard and AMD socket AM3 CPU bundle that TigerDirect sold me; it now appears that TigerDirect simply has no technical staff that really understand their product lines.

So after posting rants here and on Twitter, TigerDirect actually responded and escalated my issue.  The problem is, even in their best intentions, they still do not understand the issue at hand.

The short form is

The Biostar A770E3 claims socket AM3 support, and the bundle shipped with a Phenom II X6 1100T.

The motherboard ships with a BIOS too old to recognize the AM3 Phenom, so it needs a BIOS update.

However, in order to even do the BIOS update, Biostar requires booting on an old Sempron/socket AM2 CPU.  It’s right there in their own manual.  There is no other way to do the update.  So if the customer doesn’t have an AM2 CPU kicking around, they cannot make this work.  I know, it’s crazy.

So trying to get TigerDirect to understand this has been impossible.

The latest contact from them suggested they will happily trade my AM3 for an AM2 so my motherboard will work properly.  I mean really…the _entire_point_ of this new system is the CPU it all revolves around.

TigerDirect, do you really have nobody left on staff that understands your products at a technical level?

This has been going on for days now, plenty of time to have escalated this to at least *someone* who might understand.  I spoon fed the suggestion of how to escalate this on my very first phone call.  I specifically recommended they escalate this to an actual product specialist; not so much for my own benefit, but so that they wouldn’t continue to misrepresent this product combination to future buyers.  Still not getting it though.  Sadly, this is what I suspected.

So it seems that TigerDirect are trying their best to resolve my issue, heh, but ‘best’ is certainly a relative term in this context.

I should have my new Gigabyte mainboard from Newegg tomorrow, so as this simmers down, I’m just learning from my mistake and learn from it I shall.

Share on Facebook

Tiger Direct and Biostar have colluded to sell a defective product bundle designed to force a customer into hidden added hardware costs in order to effect the basic function of the bundle as sold.

The issue is the Biostar mainboard model A770E3.  Both Biostar and TigerDirect are advertising this mainboard as being compatible with the AMD AM3 series processors.  In my case specifically, TigerDirect was selling a pre-configured bundle with the Biostar A770E3 mainboard and an AMD Phenom II X6 1100T processor.  The bundle of course implies to the consumer there will be full compatiblity.

Upon building my system I discovered the BIOS revision that Biostar is shipping for this specific combo is too old to recognize the AMD chipset.  This is not very uncommon and the fix is very simple; flash update the BIOS.

Here is where their duplicity kicks in with their advertising.  In order to flash update the BIOS on the Biostar A770E3 they require that you already own an AMD AM2 series CPU in order to boot the mainboard far enough to flash update the BIOS.  It is not otherwise possible to to the BIOS update and with the AM3, the system will not recognize the CPU enough to boot at all.

This was disclosed neither by TigerDirect nor by Biostar.  The consumer will only realize this issue when it is too late.  When the consumer reaches page 6 in the mainboard manual, there is a small print note explaining the pre-requisite to own an AM2 socket CPU in order to do basic BIOS updates.

All of this wouldn’t be so bad if TigerDirect or Biostar would actually send the purchaser an AM2 with the product or disclose that it will require purchasing two CPUs to function.   However TigerDirect takes absolutely no responsibility for this deception.  They expect the consumer to either return everything they have built (which would cost easily $60+ in shipping) or to buy a new AMD AM2 CPU simply so they can do the required BIOS update to use the CPU they have already purchased.

This is direct fraud.  Biostar and TigerDirect know full well a consumer will be left in a lurch and have no choice but to have to pay for a CPU that they won’t even use.

It makes me wonder if AMD is maybe working a  deal with TigerDirect or Biostar to get rid of old stocks of AM2 processors.

So buyer beware, don’t buy the Biostar mainboard A770E3 from TigerDirect or any other vendor and beware the ‘bundles’ that TigerDirect are fraudulently misrepresenting as compatible;  shipping this motherboard with the current AM3 Phenom processors.

I have certainly learned my lesson not to do further business with TigerDirect or with Biostar.  I’ve always used Newegg and other vendors and never purchased a Biostar product until this unfortunate incident.  This has been a shameful level of deception on behalf of both TigerDirect and Biostar.

*** Update on the status of this running comedy

TigerDirect approached me via Twitter to send them my order # and contact information, so I did, including my phone number to make it easier to reach me.

They ignored my email and my contact info and as of yet have still not contacted me with any suggested resolution to the issue.

Their inquiry was March 7th, which is when I sent my email.  As of 5pm on the 8th, still not a peep from them.

***Udate  at 5pm on the 8th after another twitter posting I got a reply saying my issue was being handled, but it is still in pending status.

Share on Facebook