Harman/Kardon Amplifier

Well already the warranty I purchased for my new (used) car has damn near paid for itself..  I was driving into work in the CLK, listening to my tunes when I noticed I needed gas..  I pulled into the gas station and shut off the car to fill it up..

Upon restart, my sound system wasn’t working.  It acted like it was working but for whatever reason no sound was coming out of the speakers..   Something had gone wrong..

I mentioned previously that I didn’t like used cars… this is why.  You never know how badly the car was abused by the previous owner..  With that thought firmly in mind I went ahead and paid an extra $2k to get the additional 4 year bumper to bumper warranty on the car when buying it.

Everything on the car appears to be in perfect shape — like new.  And it could well be that this was just one of those things..  Electronics fail eventually.. but seriously, this is a high quality audio system and it failed after only 2 years?   I have never had a car audio system stop working.. And none of my previous cars had anywhere near the price tag on their systems..

Makes me wonder how loudly the previous guy used to run it.. I did notice that he had the bass and treble sliders pushed all the way to maximum, which in my mind made it sound terrible.. but that’s an aside..

I took the car to the dealership and they sent me away with a little Honda CRV as a loaner car, that I can only describe to you as a good entry level POS with the most grabby brake system I have ever used.   (This car would stop on a dime… at 60mph..)   Apparently if you want the Mercedes loaners you have to setup an appointment.. Walk-ins get a Honda..  I guess it makes a certain amount of sense when you consider you could get 4 or 5 of those CRV’s for the price of one of the Mercedes..

Apparently the Harman Kardon speaker system that comes with my Mercedes as a nice big amplifier in the trunk that goes for a cool $1200..  What?!  Really?!  That’s nuts..   I’m no where near enough of an audiophile to really appreciate that sound system..  I mean it sounds good.. I wont complain.. but $1200 for just the amplifier?  Damn..

Lets hope anything else that wants to break will do so within the next couple of years while it’s still under warranty.. cause I dunno if I could afford replacing a $1200 part without the warranty..   Not often anyway..

Either way, this is the first screw up for the car.. I’m hoping there wont be many more.. I still don’t like used cars for this reason, and this sort of thing only goes to confirm my fears..  Lets hope I didn’t get a lemon..

It sure doesn’t seem like one though..

Firstly, what it’s not;

The blizzard folks over at their forums, as well as those you get ahold of on the phone.. and via email will try to blame everything on you.  The reason for this will come clear shortly, but in a way they are right and in a way wrong.

The World of Warcraft #134 error is so vague and broad in scope that it is the support equivalent to, “It broke!”…  It could be any number of things, but the thing they just about always tell you it is, is memory.  Read the forums and you’ll always see some asshat chiming in that it must be your memory..  The issue I had with that response is that I had run tests against my 4 gigs of memory both in linux, and in windows using multiple tools as well as testing each stick individually..  My memory was flawless every time.. even using the test blizzard suggested I use.

Once I proved that, they suddenly tried to blame some other facet of my hardware..  Long story short, everything they suggested WAS WRONG.  Period..

So I got to looking into why they always insisted it was memory.. And how the MPQ files which should be read-only archives of data were getting corrupted.    Why the hell was blizzard writing back to those files..

(Note: most of this is what I have gleaned while looking into it as well as relying on my own and coworkers programming knowledge.. it’s not 100% for sure, but an edjumikated guess.)

The MPQ files that WoW uses contain all the various objects, models, textures and what nots that the game needs to play.   The majority of those things are textures that the system needs to constantly load to display..  The problem is the MPQ’s are many gigs in size, and as of yet no graphics card has that much on board memory..  Nor do most systems have enough space to load the entire game into memory..  To get around this blizzard employed a technique called memory mapping.

Without going into too much detail, the addresses for the chunks of the data it needs is mapped directly to the hard drive and stuffed into the graphics card memory.. (Or more likely into main memory, then replicated into the graphics card memory.. but thats not important.)  These functions are controlled by windows entirely and out of the games control.  That’s why there is writing going on. For the most part they use this technique to speed things up other wise your computers hard drive and bus would be completely hammered trying to shuffle all the textures around.. And WoW is nothing if not texture packed..

Any time anything changes in memory, it writes those changes directly back to the file — this is simply due to the nature of memory mapping in windows..  (playing WoW in Linux will not have this problem, it will have a completely different problem if the ultimate issue is the same)

If there are no changes, then nothing gets written back — this is what’s supposed to happen as blizzard knows (or assumes) that the textures wont get changed.  But lets say something did change and blizzard knows that their client didn’t make that change.. The only thing that could have happened was something broke.

This is the reason blizzard naturally tells you that your memory is bad, and often why they say virus scanners could play a part too, or even a hard drive.. If the memory went bad then a couple bits would change forcing windows to write back to the MPQ corrupting it.. Or if there is bad sectors on the hard drive where the pagefile is, same problem.. etc..

What it actually was;

What they fail to tell you about is.. what if the memory on your graphics card is bad? That’s much harder to test..

My problem ended up being a bug with the EVGA built nVidia 8800GTX graphics card. Apparently the fan on the graphics card wouldn’t correctly auto-increase in speed which meant my graphics card over heated at some point.. (You can download the EVGA Precision tool to fix this manually) Which ultimately meant the memory on my graphics card started to corrupt.. It only got worse as time went on because the heat problem continued to be an issue, eventually causing the card to die completely.

The 8800GTX was a great card and it worked for me flawlessly for 2 years before this issue showed up so I can’t complain about it at all.. The main issue with it was it routinely operated around 80 degrees Celsius.. With an operational ceiling of 105… that’s pretty slim margins and almost begs to overheat..

But, In a weird way, the blizzard folks were right; it was a memory issue. Just not in the way they were insisting it was.. What they didn’t realize and probably still don’t realize was that it wasn’t system memory that was causing the corruption. More over, none of the tests they suggest would have ever revealed any of those issues.

From my perspective, my system was working flawlessly because unless a software package actually tried to use any of the faulty memory on the graphics card, everything appeared to work perfectly. I still have the 8800gtx card and can plug it into a system right now and so long as you don’t try to play a game on it, it works perfectly in windows and linux.

For me the fix meant I had to replace my graphics card.. I pop’ed the 8800gtx out and installed a nVidia GTX 285 and everything works peachy.. My system is back up and happy and so am I. For a while there I was dreading playing the game because I knew it would crash any second..

My new card under full load operates at 51ºc (thirty degrees cooler than the 8800 at idle) and all is well…

The thing I really take out of this is how poorly I was treated by the blizzard support folks. I’m actually aghast at how bad their support is. Not because they couldn’t come up with a fix, this was a tough one.. but because they were so nonchalant about it and didn’t seem to remotely care.

After all, I’m just one of eleven million subscribers.. who gives a crap if I’m happy right?

If you’re having #134′s, check to make sure your system isn’t over heating.. Run the various memory testers, but keep in mind that you have memory on your graphics card that as far as I know, you can’t test and it could be the culprit. If you have tried everything else, try swapping in a new graphics card..

Good luck.

So, to sum up; Windows XP Service Pack 3, wont install unless you hack your into your registry.   That’s the short of it.

Microsoft’s official stance is to say that “some programs change the system access control lists (SACL) in the Registry so that administrator accounts cannot alter them. The service pack installer runs under the user (admin) account and not under the SYSTEM account. Failure to update a registry key causes the Setup program to fail.”

Wait..  You mean Administrator isn’t root?  Why does the root login for my box not have root access?!  Who’s the jackass that thought that was a good idea?! 

And Microsofts official stance is that you must edit your registry.. something that if you don’t do 100% correctly, you’re boned.  I swear they developers at Microsoft are the biggest bunch of asshats..  I’d love to hear why this is acceptable and how this got through QA.. Someone MUST know — Please chime in..

What’s jacked up is on their website it actually says that this is for advanced users only and if you’re not comfortable then here is our support link where you can pay us to help you.. (I’m paraphrasing.)

They give instructions on how to fix it, then below the instructions they say that they aren’t responsible if these instructions don’t work.  Awesome..  Gotta love good customer support on top of a huge snafu.

To save you the trouble, here are the steps to fix it;

1. Backup your registry.
2. Download Microsofts Subinacl.
3. Download this file and double click it.
4. Install Service Pack 3 from the FULL install.

It works.  Step 1 is vital just in case, 2 is a microsoft tool that enables the script that is step three.  Step three is just what passes for a shell script, feel free to read it via notepad.  Also, step three takes about 10 minutes to run so go have a coke and a smile.

 I had actually been considering installing Vista just to test out DX10 on a different partition, now screw that.  Install Vista? Accept/Deny… Denied.

Game developers please.. start releasing your games for Linux..  Let’s make Microsoft shape up or get the hell out of the market..

I’d rather have higher prices on products that actually work, rather than deal with your shit..

Why would you do this? If customer A buys a $100 joystick, takes it home and tries to use it – only to find out that there is a short in the cord making the joystick unusable – a two part joystick that requires power to both devices is oddly not very useful if one of the devices doesn’t get powered – it’s perfectly reasonable for him to take it back and get another one. Probably happens all the time. When he returns it they always ask what the problem was – why do you ignore it?!

No no.. just box it back up, maybe some other sucker will buy it..

In steps me, customer B – as in Boob – who purchases the new joystick blissfully unaware that it had been previously purchased and stuffed back into the box god knows how many times..

Fry’s USED to put stickers on the box saying that “this product has been previously opened”.. yeah they don’t do that any more.. Now they dress up the box as it was and stick it back on the floor, obviously with out doing ANY checks what so ever.. And not disclosing in any way what so ever that they item you’re purchasing as NEW, isn’t.
So when I got home – 55minute drive ONE WAY – and opened my new joystick, the bags and twisties and what not inside were all akimbo and clearly not how the factory would have packed it. Not a good sign. My first thought was; Well shit – this has been previously opened.. even though they sold it to me as if it were new.. Bastards..

And guess what.. its broken to boot – completely unusable. The device had nicks and scratches on the outside of it and the cables had very clear shorts in it.
So now I’m forced to return it – JUST LIKE THE FIRST GUY!

Why do this Fry’s? All you’re doing is pissing off customers..

Do you just count sales? I mean does this count as 2 sales for you .. whoo hoo… Never mind the fact that it was returned twice so the bottom line is still zero.. no no.. its two sales we can report! Go us! is that it?

Or do you expect the customer to troll the rest of the store and buy other things while returning their defective product? ’cause here’s a clue.. they don’t. They are pissed off that you have inconvenienced them and forced them to come when they didn’t want to.. so the last thing they want to do is buy something else from you that they probably will just have to return again..

IT’S BAD BUSINESS! And if it happened only once or twice.. I could forgive that.. Hey people are just human and make mistakes.. woops that one got put back on the shelf by mistake.. but no.. this happens CONSTANTLY at Fry’s.. It’s got to be part of your store policy or something; “We only return stuff to the manufacturer if its been returned to the store 10 or more times.. ”

Well guess what – you’ve lost a customer forever. Others that I know have also sworn off your crappy store and if you keep this up no one will want to shop there.

There are quite a few other stores that do what you do – only better. Your low prices aren’t worth the bullshit of having to return everything, and I do mean everything. With the exception of a pair of memory sticks that I got at Fry’s (also had been pre-opened) I have had to return everything because it was defective.. Never again. I’d rather pay the extra one or two percent and know that the product I got was worth a damn..

Today I will return this joystick and demand a refund, at which point Fry’s.. You’re dead to me.

Why can’t people discussing intelligent software solutions from different paradigms agree to disagree on this point.. and move the hell on?!

It drives me insane that you always have these hard core zealots that spout about how their OS is the best and that Microsoft sucks. You should use Linux cause it is better than Microsoft.. No no.. You should use a Mac because a “Wintel” machine sucks.. No the Amiga was the best! (I miss my Amiga).. etc etc.

I hate it.. Everyone hates Microsoft..

Do a search for “windows sucks” on Google and see what you get.. Good luck sifting through it all.. Everyone of them hard core Microsoft fans.. All of them are completely unbiased I’m sure..

Firstly.. ALL OSes are crap. None of them have got it right. They all have problems. It bothers me though that any time I have any kind of problem with my computer, which may or may not be completely unrelated to the OS, some sycophant from another flavor of “craptacular” will chime in and tell me that the problem is due to the OS I’m using, and that specifically Microsoft sucks.. if I just switched to {enter other shitty os name here} all my woe’s would be solved.

Ya know what there sport, if that were true don’t ya think it would have happened already? I’m pretty sure I don’t need you to tell me which way the wind blows. If your OS was so much better, I bet I would have noticed by now..

I use Linux, everyday.. No thanks – it doesn’t fit the bill, I don’t like it.. and I find it largely a pain in the ass..

I’ve seen and used a Mac.. No thanks – it doesn’t do what I need. Again, good for some things, but doesn’t do everything I want.. Etc..

No no.. that’s not enough.. They must convert me!

Even now some asshat is reading this just waiting for the end so they can dive off into their pre-scripted rant about how if I just tried their OS it would be better.. OR, even more infuriating, about how I just don’t understand and I must be some drooling sub-par computer half-wit who barely knows how to flip the I/O button to make the flashy lights go..

Clearly since I like Microsoft or in my case because I tolerate it, I must be one of those sad pathetic people who don’t know better. Pity me – For I am lame.

Here’s the 411 people..

I don’t “like” Microsoft or Windows. I use it. I use it because it’s all I got. At best, I tolerate it. And when something stupid goes wrong for no reason what so ever, I have same psychopathic desire to kill small animals just like everyone else.. It’s what I got.. So I use it.

Linux has stupid, crappy and jacked-up issues with it, just like the Mac.. just like Windows.. Get over yourself.

But to keep it simple for you people, I can sum it all up to ONE reason. I have ONE reason why I use Microsoft over any other OS – One reason that NO OTHER OS can beat; GAMES.

That’s it. I believe I have won that argument. You lose.

The games that I play, I can only play on a windows machine.

Dos, Linux, BSD, AIX, Mac, IRIX, Solaris, FreeBSD, BeoS, CP/M, CLI, LCARS. Whatever operating system you choose.. they don’t have the games..

None of them do.

Stop telling me that my OS sucks.. Thanks.. I got it.. Shut the fuck up..

My OS may suck, but I got the games baby..

And until your OS, whatever it may be, has those same games.. It’s with windows I’ll stay. Suck or not.