hi guys

ive been a long time sufferer of the 'No HDD Found, Contact Support' syndrome on my Mk2a empeg, mainly due to poor solder joins on the IDE connector on the motherboard... ive fixed most of them myself (different 'legs' of the connector seemed to break off the motherboard from time to time, like every few months another one would seperate... strange) so ive fixed a number of the solder joins, but recently it suddenly failed again and after spending hours checking all the joins they all seem good but the unit will not pick up the drives.

i tried contacting support (emailed to carsupport@sonicblue.com, as directed in the FAQ) but its approaching 2 weeks with no response. i was wondering what the normal turnaround time was for support to get back in touch with users via email (i have contacted support before when David was there, he sent out a replacement cable quite promptly - i heard back from him in about 3 days...) im guessing there have been some changes there since he left so do you think i should wait longer/send another email/contact a different address?

im all the way in New Zealand so i am really dreading the long downtime (the gaping empty sled in the car is a painful sight too)!


thanks alot for any tips guys

ok... i may look like a bit of an idiot here now. i understood from the past that the support team were being reorganized... and i remember there was a new person who posted here on the board who was replacing David. i remember members here welcoming him to the team and kidding with him about the big shoes he had to fill in Davids absence.

i havent been frequenting the board as much as i used to so ive obviously missed something. has the support for empeg been completely terminated? so therefore, theres no one i can send my unit to for repairs... repairs that im willing to pay for! i would have thought that something like this would be made very bold in the FAQ - but it seemed to confidently point to 'contact support' all thru it so i figured there must still be some support for our empegs??

seriously frightened now as i potentially have a very expensive and now very dead device on my hands

assuming there is no official support team left... is there anyone here who might care to look at my unit? its in relatively good nick other than the poor IDE connector... and the paint coming off the fascia that i painted to match my interior! help!

i havent been frequenting the board as much as i used to so ive obviously missed something.

Yes, you've missed something. I'm too lazy to go find all the relevant threads, but to recap:

1) Sonicblue hit bankruptcy.
2) They were purchased.
3) Purchaser is keeping Team Empeg, but decided not to continue with customer support (i.e. repairs).
4) Team Empeg is/was negotiating to keep customer support around via some sort of external contract.
5) There has been no word on the success or demise of (4).

Edited to remove suggestion of DIY repair, as I misread the first post that said you've already done that.

in addition to what CanuckInLA said,

it has been strongly implied that Rob Schofield will continue to be the support guy.

It's worth making a posting here regarding the support situation.

I took over support from David in the middle of January, working for SonicBlue. Around this time, all the warranties offered with the original and later Riocar players expired, and there was a massive rush of warranty work in February, March and April. We ran out of spares (notably cables) a couple of times, and some of the repairs were pretty difficult ones to sort out. The work was part time, and I rapidly discovered I just was not able to keep up with the work as effectively as David.

In April, SonicBlue was put up for auction and the result was that car player support activites were killed. Period. A number of outstanding repairs were on the books, and there was still a large backlog of emails needing answering, some dating back several months. No excuses for this.

I'm currently working on completely clearing the backlog of email and repairs dating up to the end of the support period, and will continue to do so until it is clear, even if it costs me money to do so.

I am attempting to take it over as a private undertaking, and I am currently setting up a small company to be able to do it. The main delays at the moment relate to the acquisition of a VAT number, which is delaying things.

The intention is still to provide spare parts and do repairs, at relatively low cost. As for email support, I'm not decided as yet.

I am aware that response times have been slow, and for this I apologise. It is difficult to juggle the responsibilities of looking after my family during the day, looking for a job (I've been unemployed for around a year now) and trying to work on support issues. I suspect I have simply over-reached myself.

There will be an announcement soon regarding what will happen as soon as the mechanisms are in place.

Thanks for the update Rob. I hope you are able to make a viable business of this and appreciate your efforts. Your priorities are on track, starting with your family.

My two MkIIa players just keep working. I keep my fingers crossed.

Michael

Sorry to hear about your player problems. I am in Auckland and have a MkIIa player working fine. I have only opened a player to replace a defective HD cable. Fortuntely I have not needed to be so adventurous or brave as you in soldering loose pins!

In any case, I would be glad to help if I could. I am not much at hardware repair but if you need a unit to compare yours to let me know.

Michael

Great effort Rob i hope it all works out

just hope i don't have to contribute to your business success but next time i drop the empeg i'll think of the benefit it may bring.

Hi Rob,

can you confirm you received my email? One was bounced back to me so I just wanted to know if you'd received the resend as it explains what's going on.

Thanks,

Ben (Lippa)