My old Kenwood True 72X *sob*

[bjfelger]

Anybody remember the old Zen Research stuff from Kenwood? I know it's been two years, but I need everybody to reach back there for a sec...

Mine just died. I am in grief. It ran strong for two years, the best CD-ROM money could buy, both in speed and silence. Because I had no need for any other during this period, I completely missed out on Zen Research's leaving the CD technology behind (not enough backers), and Kenwood subsequently doing likewise (my CD-ROM is no longer supported, even if it WAS still under warranty, which it isn't).

Anyhow, here's the question: is there ANYthing I can do? Any group of hardware hackers out there that can help me recessitate my True 72X? I really don't want to go back to the bad old days of quasi-56X.

*sob* I *sob* need my *sob* Kenwood back... *sob*

-- bfelger

[jrb420]

I don't know how to fix it, but Kenwood has a new SCSI 52x True x CD-ROM. I'm thinking about getting one. (I'm really starting to hate IDE.) Anyway, it's an option.

http://www.multicom-cs.com/multi-com/ucr-415.html

Bit more expensive than IDE, but definitely faster. I'm running a 16x SCSI CD-ROM and a 40x IDE. the SCSI drive accesses faster, is quieter, and actually transfers faster. I can watch a DIVX movie on the scsi and still do anything I want. If I tried to do it on the IDE, it would skip, stop, and possibly lock up my system.
If you've got the money, go for Kenwood's new SCSI CD-ROM. You won't be dissapointed. :)

[bjfelger]

jrb, I love you.

I thought Kenwood was out of the TrueX business. If it means I can keep the performance, I'll shell out the extra cash; it was $150 when I bought it 2 years ago as IDE, and it's worth the same today in SCSI. I'll definitely be making that purchase soon as I get the flow

[jrb420]

You're welcome...
Recnetly I've become of the opinion that the limiting factor in most sytems is not your processor, ram, or video card (though those do play a part) but rather your storage and retreival system. Even the speed of RAID can't compare to the speed and multitasking capabilities of most SCSI systems. I'm getting ready to convert my entire system to SCSI RAID. (Very fast, and only about $700) I'm buying an Adaptec 2100s SCSI RAID controller with 32MB cache (expandable to 128) and 2 Fujitsu 10,000rpm Ultra160 SCSI hard drives. I'm also gonna buy the SCSI CD-ROM mentioned in my last post, but that's gonna be later and I may actually go for a SCSI DVD-ROM.
All my other stuff, mobo, CPU, ram, etc.., is in good shape. Maybe not the fastest, but when you have this kind of stuff behind the scenes, it won't really matter. :D

[namrak]

Sorry to hear about your Kenwood drive conking out jrb420. I don't want to throw salt on the wound, but I just broke open the seal on a new Kenwood 72x drive that I've been saving up and installed it on my server to be. I've been asking around to see how pleased people have been with their Kenwood drives and overall, the 52x and 72x drives have been crowd pleasers. If you differ, please post and let me know. I am hoping my drive sticks around longer than 2 years though.

[jrb420]

Actually it was bjfelger whose drive conked out. I was just saying how I was going to buy the SCSI version when I upgrade my system to almost all SCSI.

[namrak]

Oops. Sorry for the wrong reply jrb420. I've even picked up some (bad?) news regarding Zen Research (http://www.zenresearch.co.uk), the developers of the multibeam technology in the Feb. issue of Computer Power User. It seems they are in financial dire straits and have laid off roughly 65% of their staff in their multibeam division. They are also no longer providing support to OEMs (Actima, LiteOn, LG Electronics) for their optical drives. This is bad news for individuals who like their technology.

[jrb420]

I'm gonna go ahead and buy one now. I don't really care about tech support. Besides, you never know when they're gonna discontinue the product again. I'd rather have a good drive with no tech support than a crappy drive with tech support.
In my experience, tech support's not much help. They always seem to find something other than their product or service to blame the problem on.

[namrak]

I agree with you on purchasing products especially when there's the possibility of it being discontinued. However, I do feel otherwise when it comes to video card driver support. Also, There's a couple of points I'd like to add on product support. First, most tech support lines dumb down the individual who's calling. As an example (my workplace purchases pcs from Dell), here is one snippet of the conversation I had in regards to a defective fan in one machine they sent.
------
Tech Support "Sir, did you verify that the pc is plugged into a working outlet?"

Yes. I've already taken a working fan from another machine you guys sent and swapped it out with the bad one to double check the...

TS "Did an orange LED on the mobo come on to verify that the motherboard was receiving power?"

Yeah. So like I was saying the swapped out fan worked on the machine that had the defective fan...

TS "Did you make sure that the power connector to the fan was seated properly?"

Yes. I turned it on a couple of times. No go. I opened up the case and found the connector to the defective fan and reseated it...

TS "And after reseating the connector, did it work?"

No. Look...it's a defective fan. It happens. Since we just bought it, just send us a new one and I'll install it. Then I'll send you guys the defective one.
-----

So anyways, if I knew it was going to be that much trouble. I would have bought a new one from a local vendor and installed it. Sheesh! There isn't really too much to be said about tech support in general. I do have to cut them some slack because not everyone they deal with is willing to break that seal on the back of the case and take a look at the innards.

[jrb420]

namrak
You're right about tech support dumbing people down. What amuses me is this: Why would they ask stupid questions, like "Is your computer plugged into the wall outlet?" , unless someone actually called and that was the problem. I'm not dissing "computer illiterate" people. Everyone has to learn somewhere and sometime.
BTW, there is a local HP tech support center close to me and I considered working for them. I have quite a bit of experience in the computer field (mostly personal which doesn't seem to count). I just don't think I could treat people like they're morons all day by asking them stupid questions. I know how much I hate it when people do it to me. :)

I also agree on the video card driver support. I spent about an hour on the phone with Gainward when I bought my GF3 and it was very helpful.

[dmoltrup]

I have never worked in technical support, only retail, but I've gotten a fair amount of people that really couldn't understand a thing. Some examples:

A lady called for printer ink. She had NO idea what kind (make or model) of printer she had, so she got flustered and screamed "I'm going to bring the **** thing in there to show you that I know what I'm talking about!"
Half an hour later, she came in with her MONITOR in her hands. She couldn't tell me a make or model, because she wore off the printing on the front of it with ajax and a brillo pad when she cleaned her screen!

I sold an entire computer system to a guy that was starting a new business a few stores down from us (in a plaza). He called later on and said the entire system was bad and he needed everything replaced. It would be quite unlikely that he got a dead computer, monitor, printer, fax machine, copier, phone, etc... (He bought ONE OF EACH, literally), so I was trying to work out what could be the problem. I ended up having to run over there, and found he was right. Everything was hooked up, plugged in, unresponsive. There were lights in the building, but extension cords everywhere, so I asked why. He said that the power wasn't on yet, the construction crew was using generators for the lights, and that he was there early trying to get the computer up and running for his new POS system!

[dmoltrup]

By the way, I just checked on eBay, at the time of this posting, there are 10 "Kenwood 72X" CD drives listed.

Most are at about $40