TC ELECTRONIC KONNEKT 24D (FireWire Audio Interface)

[c4logic]

I just got another brain dead response from TCE technical support.

 

Regardless of the engineering and product management merits of the K24D--TCE technical support is the WORST I have ever seen.

 

I mean, it is SO pitiful as to defy all comprehension. Is executive management at TCE just playing at being businessmen? Are they all so wealthy that they simply do not care anymore? I mean, really: Is anyone minding the freaking store?!?

 

There is a MAJOR disconnect between the claims of new drivers coming for this device, the song and dance that Technical Support is singing. Can all you TCE representatives please get your {censored} together and all get on the same page? Because I for one have not suspended my disbelief that this whole thread is just one big confidence game and experiment in defrauding the public.

[brianom]

Because I for one have not suspended my disbelief that this whole thread is just one big confidence game and experiment in defrauding the public.

 

I'm inclined to agree with you. I really think TC should make these beta drivers available now, for us all to test. If they can't do this, they could at least have the decency to keep us posted on the progress of the drivers. I'm really sick of the time I'm wasting on this unit, and would sell it only I wouldn't feel right selling a product I can't stand over!!

[jpleong]

I got the phone message "We're closed." I know the NAB show is going on now... strange that even the tech support staff has to go.

 

JP

[jbsee]

I have been exchanging emails with technical support. I have pops and clicks and dropouts on a windows pc. This is what they asked me to do:

 

"A few things you should try for testing purposes. First install these patches: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/885222 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/904412 Also this for dualcore systems: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896256 Optimize you system for DAW use. The following site has some great tips for DAW tuning http://www.musicxp.net/ Then check for improvements in performance - Go to the 'about' page in the TCNear control panel. - Update the firmware again - Click 'reset to default' Check for improvements in performance If there are no changes, please try the following - Go to 'Start>Control Panel>Network Connections>' - Right click and disable all available devices including the 1394 network device.(i know you have already attempted this) Check for improvements in performance and sound If there are no changes, please try the following - Go to 'Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Sound, video and game controllers' - Right click and disable all available hardware except TCNear Check for improvements in performance and sound If there are no changes, please try the following - Disable any onboard soundcards directly in BIOS - Remove any other sound related hardware from your PC - Go to 'Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>DVD / CD-ROM drives' - Right click and disable all available DVD / CD-ROM drives Check for improvements in performance and sound After trying all of these things, please get back to me with the results of each part of the test."

 

Note the last line of this: Get back tome with the results of each part of the test? Is that a command to jump through a burning hoop or what?

 

So when I responded by telling them that I had already tried all these things, they wrote:

 

"If you have already gone through them, please provide the info as instructed. Also, if the issue persist we will need detailed info on your computer system: Please provide the following information: HARDWARE - Processor (model, speed, dual or single, overclocked): - Motherboard (manufacturer, model): - IRQ Settings: - Amount of RAM: - Graphic card(s) (model, AGP or PCI, Dual/Single): - Additional PCI Cards: - Which PCI card is in which slot? - Harddrive configuration (number of drives/ATA/SATA/SCSI/FireWire): - RAID-configuration: - Soundcard/interface (model, driver version, buffer size): - Which FireWire port (built-in/on PCI-card) is in use: - Which chipset does the firewire controller use: - External USB/Firewire devices being used: - How are all USB/Firewire devices connected (what is connected to what): SOFTWARE - Konnekt software versions(from both the 'about' page and 'system settings' - OS and language (e.g. Windows 2000 / SP1, SP2 / Pro, Home): - Audio Program (version) and all 3rd party plug-Ins installed: - Audio settings in your audio program (sample rate, bit depth, audio channels, buffer size, ...): - File format (sample rate, bit depth): - Amount of used audio channels: - Have you at any point used the Konnekt Beta drivers? - 3rd party free-/shareware being used (Log-in items): Also, are you getting any error-messages - if so, please provide us with the exact wording of them."

 

THIS IS NOT SUPPORT. THIS IS HARRASMENT OF CUSTOMERS. WHY ARE THEY PUTTING CUSTOMERS THROUGH THIS IS THEY ARE WRITING NEW DRIVERS?

 

They are asking for a RAID configuration on a windows pc? Does this make any sense to anyone? I agree with c4logic that there is a disconnect between what Mike is saying about new drivers and what technical support is asking me to do.

[jpleong]

Errr... yeah. Three Cool Edit Pro audio machines and two Avids I put together three years ago used Raid. It's actually pretty common.

 

As far as all the junk they ask for, as a former IT person, all that information is really essential for diagnosing the machine -especially since they aren't physically working with your computer. If you've ever done a Microsoft "Software Quit Unexpectedly" or Windows Update, that's the kind of information they're pulling from your computer so they can diagnose and issue updates and fixes.

 

This is also why I put my configuration in my signature, that way people can figure out where I'm coming from.

 

JP

[jbsee]

As far as all the junk they ask for, as a former IT person, all that information is really essential for diagnosing the machine -especially since they aren't physically working with your computer. If you've ever done a Microsoft "Software Quit Unexpectedly" or Windows Update, that's the kind of information they're pulling from your computer so they can diagnose and issue updates and fixes. JP

 

I'm just a user. I'm a musician. I'm not an audio geek. I thought I was buying an off the shelf tool. I don't know how to find out what kind of motherboard my pc has. I've never looked at the bios settings in my life. I'm not even sure what I'm looking at. This is BS as far as I am concerned.

 

I just want to record some music. I don't want to have to take a class in pc repair just to be able to get technical support. I thought this was a consumer product.

 

I also don't have the time or interest in trying to figure all this stuff out. I just want to play my guitar. This is the first time I have ever had to deal with a technical support issue before. My tube amp never lets me down. Neither to the tuners on my guitar. They are taking all the fun, and all the joy out of it. Maybe I should just go back to my 8 track. I just want to write some songs. I have a life, already.

[jpleong]

I thought I'd add to c4logic's good evaluation of the user interface of the Konnekt 24D.

 

I think the mixer is kind of cool but I wish there was a single page rather than having to "menu" through to adjust eq, reverb, etc...

 

When I finally got around to installing Cubase LE, I accidentally installed 1.03 over 1.10 and the only way to get it back to 1.10 was to completely uninstall the whole thing (!!!). That whole system needs to be fixed, for sure.

 

Also, I'm annoyed the light ring can't be customized beyond the seven or so things. I'm used to real programmable buttons.

 

JP

[Anderton]

Well...I almost feel guilty that I'm getting to use the K24D to do actual useful work and you guys aren't On the other hand, if the drivers had blown up my computer, you would probably be just as glad that I was the guinea pig...

 

Maybe TC should just release the drivers I'm using as a "pre-beta" or whatever, because while they're not perfect (I'm having problems using the Fabriks as insert VST effects), you can get useful work done with them on Windows, and Sonar runs all day at 128 samples as long as multiprocessing on my X2 machine is off. (Besides, IIRC correctly, when the K24D was introduced there was never any mention of using the effects as inserts anyway, so it's not like they're core functionality.)

 

As to the computer info thing...I can understand why a) you don't want to be bothered dealing with this and b) why TC needs the info. I've been communicating with the guys at Cakewalk who are freakin' code geniuses to see if my particular X2 problem might relate to something within Sonar. As they have not encountered this problem before, and they do a TON of testing, they asked me for all kinds of really detailed info about my computer. It is kind of a pain to gather this all together, but short of sending them my computer (which would probably let them diagnose the problem in a few minutes), it's worth it to me to find out if there's some problem with my setup...because if there is, it's probably some dumb, simple thing, like not disabling something that needs to be disabled.

 

The saga continues...

[jbsee]

As to the computer info thing...I can understand why a) you don't want to be bothered dealing with this and b) why TC needs the info. The saga continues...

 

Sure, that's common sense. . BUT--I guess it was naive of me to just buy the gadget based on their reputation from the old days. I may be different from some of you guys--I don't get off on haveing to learn about things I could care less about. And gathering all this information is one of them.

 

These guys are computer geniuses--how come they did not simply write a program that would tell them all the information about my computer and send it to them. Why isn't that feature built into the mixer??? They have a feature to go see if there are any new updates--so they know what version of their program you're using. There just seems to be something in the mindset of people who write software for Windows that users should be willing to dig around in the guts of the computer tweaking settings and twiddling bits or whatever. I NEVER EVER hear about this crap from Mac users. I though windows was supposed to be plug and play, these days? Ok, I plugged, now I want to play. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting a tool that just works. To throw back to an analogy that was used earlier, if I buy a toaster and the toast isn't getting toasted, and I call the Toaster maker and say, hey, its not right, if they tell me to take off the cover and give them a list of the capacitors and resistors and check to make sure every solder joint is not cold, I'm going to telle them Chuck you Farley. Give me another toaster. Am I way off base here? Off the beam? No longer plumb? C-C-Craazy? Can we just go back to the world of tubes and reel to reel and nice sweet echoplexes. Where is the freaking progress in all this? None that I can see. Enough is enough. I thought TC Electronic had a hell of a reputation in the pro world. I remember reverbs and digital delays to die for. Did they get sold to CBS or Ford or something? Sounds like their consumer division just ain't there yet. Or else their heart just isn't in it anymore.

[brianom]

I agree with jbsee. I bought my computer to a friend who knows the workings of both pc and mac platform to try to get me up and running. I can safely say I wasted 8-10 hours with him who eventually told me the drivers are {censored}. If TC are going to release a product, it should be tested by THEM. I'm bought the Konnekt purely on TC's reputation and initial user reaction to the sound of the unit. I got the same response from TC, looking for IRQ's etc. It's absolutely disgraceful the treatment we are getting from this company.

[alexholz]

Well, I just gotta say that I can't believe that crippling one's PC to make

an external device work just can't be right. 2 or more devices on the same

buss might have a conflict and I assume we've all have seen that at some time or another. But this......

 

- Go to 'Start>Control Panel>Network Connections>'

- Right click and disable all available devices including the 1394 network device.(i know you have already attempted this)

 

Check for improvements in performance and sound

If there are no changes, please try the following

 

- Go to 'Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>Sound, video and game controllers'

- Right click and disable all available hardware except TCNear

 

Check for improvements in performance and sound

If there are no changes, please try the following

 

- Disable any onboard soundcards directly in BIOS

- Remove any other sound related hardware from your PC

 

- Go to 'Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager>DVD / CD-ROM drives'

- Right click and disable all available DVD / CD-ROM drives

 

 

......... reads like some of the joke posts that people put up

when dealing with Tech Support at MS and others. You know

 

'remove the power supply and hardrives and scrub them with

a stiff wire brush in hot water. Repeat as necessary'

 

I don't suppose anyone on the this board has any idea of the

size of the user base for K24D? Unless it's so huge that the only

people having significant problems are a tiny tiny minority, this

product is probably in deep trouble. Too bad.

 

 

John

[mikews99]

Download System Information For Windows which you can use to create a complete report of your computer hardware and software to send to any vendor who requests information about your system. It creates a nicely formatted HTML file when you create a log file.

[jbsee]

Download System Information For Windows which you can use to create a complete report of your computer hardware and software to send to any vendor who requests information about your system. It creates a nicely formatted HTML file when you create a log file.

 

This is just the ticket for a slacker like me. As far as I am concerned, W-O-R-K is a 4 letter word. So is play, but I like that word. I will give this a shot, and give the support guys some completely useless information.

[jpleong]

Let me be frank about this whole setup matter... I want it to be plug and play, just like everyone else. In an ideal gadget world, everything works right out of the box exactly as we want it to.

 

What I want to try and explain is the difficulty faced by computer software, hardware, and interface companies. A lot of people aren't aware of these difficulties so I think it's worth putting them on the table so everyone can have a better understanding of why they're pissed off.

 

I am not trying to apologize for TC or any other company -just trying to help people understand why things suck at the moment. If you don't care or are already familiar with the problems faced by computers, feel free to stop reading my post because it's not written for you.

 

Okay, here we go...

 

The two problems that we face are 1) complexity and 2) choice. Computers are complex machines, no doubt. Other devices we have used to compare the Konnekt, like toasters, are not complex machines. Within any given computer there are over five hundred different components made by a few dozen different companies all to different specifications trying to work together to make a cohesive system.

 

Choice further compounds this problem because it introduces even more complexity amongst computers. If you take, say, the five hundred different components that make up a computer and multiply that by the number of different PC manufacturers we get an even more daunting picture. Add to that the fact that PC makers don't always use the same components even within the same model line and *boom!*

 

Companies have tried to rectify and compensate for this problem in a number of ways. Apple, for instance, reduces complexity and choice by offering only six models of computers at any given time. Because the only way you use a mac is by purchasing from Apple, they have complete control over what hardware/software works and they know, without having to ask a gazillion questions, what hardware you have in your computer. It's a very efficient way to work but also costs the end user quite a bit more in dollars. When Apple tried to make their stuff cheaper by allowing more complexity and choice (anyone remember Mac-clone companies like Power Computing?), the quality of their product suffered as a result and they went back to their six-computer model. [And for the record, I've had many more Mac interface issues than I've had PC -if you've ever worked with Epson and HP and Canon printers on Macs, you'll know what I mean!]

 

Digidesign/AVID reduces complexity and choice by making Pro Tools only compatible with hardware they approve and, then, only on specific systems. Once again, they retain control over what components work with what. It costs a pretty penny, too.

 

RME reduces complexity and choice by completely developing their own firewire technology in-house. Every other company outsources some other semiconductor company to develop their firewire. RME's method is wicked expensive but very effective.

 

People want choice -choice of design, choice of brand, and choice of price. Unfortunately, when you make a compromise of price with your choice... well, you're making a compromise.

 

Most computers and operating systems are not designed for audio work. They are designed for business processing tasks, gaming, and entertainment. Kept to those narrow constraints, any computer can perform decently. When you start asking it to do things it wasn't designed to do, it gets complicated and hard.

 

Does that excuse TC? I don't think so. PR has been bad, support has been iffy, and the end user is left scratching their head. But, the end user can try and help the process as much as possible (ie, trying to provide as good and thorough an answer as they are able). I think understanding that TC is not in the regular computer business will help how we view this situation. Their support, obviously, was wholly unprepared for computer peripheral support. Great for a rackmount delay that's not ping-ponging, sure, but not for something like unstable drivers.

 

Anywho, feel free to push-back. I'll probably end up editing this post, too.

JP

[jpleong]

This is just the ticket for a slacker like me. As far as I am concerned, W-O-R-K is a 4 letter word. So is play, but I like that word. I will give this a shot, and give the support guys some completely useless information.

 

LOL!!! You should print it out and show it to your friends and try to brag. My wife always gives me a look when I talk about anything computer related.

 

JP

[designerthumbs]

JBSee: If your expecting to deal with music tech items (computer based)without knowing about computers your going to have to be either a)minted or b) willing to learn more because nothing just works out of a box anyway.

A new car may get a puncture but you either change the wheel or pay someone to do it.

 

The whole Mac thing is that they designed a box that is easy to use. Windows works smoothly if you know how it works in detail and is more tweakable. The pricey Mac centres are setup for those who cant.

[c4logic]

Anywho, feel free to push-back. I'll probably end up editing this post, too. JP

 

My only push back is this: Windows has an api and an architecture called .net. The hardware platform also has a specification that allows the manufacturers of expansion adapters to develop hardware that can integrate with the published interface specifications of the platform. What this means is that windows on an Intel chip architecture is based on standards. I always hate it when there is any kind of suggestion of mystery or voodoo with respect to software to hardware interaction. Software emulates a mechanical process of pushing and popping numbers in and out of registers. And the hardware electronics use voltage differential waveforms to represent 1's and 0's.

 

So--TCE develops a piece of hardware that uses a 1394 interface to communicate with the motherboard, and a piece of software that interfaces to the operating system to control the communication session enabled by the hardware device. This is not such a big freaking deal. Other companies have done it, and do it all the time. I have been writing shrinkwrapped communications software for 20 years. This notion that technical support would think that their device is failing because of a video card or a network card or a piece of software running in the background is just a bunch of nonsense. And it is obvious that technical support is pushing back on jbsee because they refuse to accept responsibility, and if they give him a bunch of busy work to do, maybe he will just go away. We are way past the days of irq conflicts between adapters on an ISA bus--or memory conflicts in upper memory among TSR's. Windows XP is a plug and play OS.

 

Mike has already announced that product management was so concerned about the performance of the drivers that they are rewriting them. Craig has already tested the Alpha versions of that rewrite and they are still debugging. I personally, found an issue using a logitech wireless mouse and keyboard. Technical support is jerking this guy around.

 

I just wish I could find the words to express the contempt that I have for TCE and the disgust that I feel regarding this whole pathetic debacle and the way they handled this. Technical support did nothing for me but waste my time and piss me off. They have treated many of their customers very shabbily, a lot of people are very unhappy, they have a lot to answer for.

[jbsee]

JBSee: If your expecting to deal with music tech items (computer based)without knowing about computers your going to have to be either a)minted or b) willing to learn more because nothing just works out of a box anyway. A new car may get a puncture but you either change the wheel or pay someone to do it. The whole Mac thing is that they designed a box that is easy to use. Windows works smoothly if you know how it works in detail and is more tweakable. The pricey Mac centres are setup for those who cant.

 

You can't compare a nail in a tire to bad software engineering. That is a BS analogy. I've never needed to learn anything about 'tweaking' windows before--I use office, browsers, cd burners, email just fine. Every windows computer I've ever worked on works fine out of the box. So yer talking a load of {censored}e. And your comment about Mac users is both false and insulting. You clearly have an agenda and don't know what the {censored} you are talking about.

 

Go peddle it to someone else. I ain't buying any of it.

[designerthumbs]

You're the one having problems.

As you were.

[jpleong]

designerthumbs, as a Konnekt 24D user who was having problems early on (with the unit and tech support), you're not being particularly helpful nor supportive of the folks who are still having problems. It's great yours is working and all but there are definitely still issues that need to be sorted & patched and users who still need help. Insulting attitudes don't help, regardless of which side they come from.

 

JP

[jpleong]

c4logic, I sent you a PM.

 

 

And your comment about Mac users is both false and insulting.

 

 

Agreed.

 

JP

[jbsee]

You're the one having problems. As you were.

 

Hey Bud--what's yer problem??(to quote the venerable Jeff Spicoli)

 

I'm not having problems, beyond some misguided numbskull trying to give me some abuse. You think knowing how to adapt to poor design is a badge of honor? That sounds mighty masochistic to me. Yes-- I am complaining (rightfully so) about the excessive demands of technical support regarding an engineering failure with one of their products. They {censored} up--but I am the one that is supposed to put on work gloves and break a sweat? Is that the privilege I bought for 500 clams?

 

Said failure is not related or particularly relevant to my knowledge or ignorance of the tweakability of windows. And you know how I know I am right? Because their freaking user guide doesn't provide an index on tweaking windows to get their product to work successfully.

 

So save your computer platform pontifications for someone who gives a {censored}.

[jbsee]

 

That's kind of my point from above, actually. 99% of computer users use their computers for exactly what you've described. That's what every Dell, HP, Gateway, etc... is designed to do and most do it fine (most... I've even had problems installing anti-virus software on a brand new computer). The problem with what we (the other 1%) do is that it stretches the computer and operating system far beyond the intended limits of the software and hardware. If the everyday general computer was up to the task of audio and video production work right out of the box, we shouldn't even need to buy an external interface, right? JP

 

 

Like I said, I have never contacted technical support before. Never needed to. Never had any problems I am aware of, other than having to replace a bad hard drive once or twice over the years. I've been using midi interfaces and editor/librarian software since Windows 3.0 and never had any problems. The platform is INTENDED to be a utility. Oh, I hear people talk about problems--but, frankly, that is boring. It's like complaining about a problem with your garbage disposal. As far as the 1% you mention, I dunno--why do they sell their stuff if its so dicey? And why did Craig test new drivers if its up to the user to tweak their system? I agree with c4logic that, when I start to think about it, it doesn't all add up. Oh, I will give them the information they asked for--buts its boring, it sucks. I know other people with audio interfaces from other outfits that work fine on windows--they haven't been put through this ordeal.

[jhebert]

I have to agree and disagree with some of this.... and I'm in a bitchy mood.

 

1. Windows or Mac, it doesn't matter. WHY would you be forced to dig under the hood for details and specs that are *not* easily found by the average user, for something that has been on the market some 6 months?

 

Would you put up with your auto maker if you had this much trouble with a car? Now, a car and an audio interface aren't the same kind of equipment, but that's not the point here.

 

The point is: my auto maker doesn't force me to understand every nuance of what's under the hood when I show up with a problem. He doesn't ask me to find out the exact chemical formulation of the fuel I use, or exactly how the oil MFR processed the 10-40W I put in last month, or discern the asphalt content of the roads I drove last week.

 

So why does my audio interface maker do that? Worse, without providing (or referring me to) a tool that makes this as painless as possible?

 

If I am expected to perform in-the-field troubleshooting, testing, tweaks, some rather extreme disabling of functions or hardware that currently work perfectly well together, and report back in detail, there's got to be something in it for me OVER AND ABOVE the reasons I plunked down my money for a working product.

 

Lest we forget, we haven't achieved working product yet, TCE, so don't go asking me to invest a substantial amount of my time without giving me something more to work with here. I've built and fixed enough machines in my life that troubleshooting like that is no longer a fun challenge, it's work, even when you know what you're doing. So the bottom line, crudely put, is: At this juncture, what's in it for me over and above the promise of a working product? You have trod too much on my trust and faith by now. I expect more than just that. What can you do this time around?

 

Oh, I forgot. You prefer to remain silent.

 

2. XP has been around for 6 years. USB and Firewire have been around longer. WHY would a product developed on this platform, with these standards, have so much trouble? Either the hardware engineer(s) on this product were idiot savants capable of thinking up incredibly cool features but incapable of designing a stable platform or the software guys are unable to control the raw power behind this beast. Problem is, the bronc is bucking wildly now, and the rider is still nowhere to be seen.

 

We are still facing unknowns from the customer's side of the fence... Frankly, I don't care who's screwed up. I want to know what you've found, what's going to be done about it, and I want to see some genuine progress in the "by leaps and bounds" category. A teaspoonful of both isn't enough to fill the pool and make it fun place to play, boys. We're still scraping our knuckles raw in the 99% unfilled part.

 

You can do better than that, or you can keep hiding. Since you don't respond here through Mike, you might be standing back there with two thumbs up saying "We're gonna fix it, for sure!" -- only from this distance it kinda looks like those are middle fingers instead of thumbs. Because the message isn't clear, we can only guess.

 

Care to clear that up?

 

Oh, shoot, there I go asking a direct question again.

 

Anecdote: Here's a story of a company with integrity in name and in deed: Sennheiser.

 

Several years ago I worked with an AV firm in the US installing Sennheiser's GuidePORT wireless audio tour guide system for a museum. This install required nearly 1000 receivers, and had dozens of "stops" where audio was played back when a patron neared a hidden trigger signal in the vicinity of an exhibit item. It was mighty slick.

 

Less than 1 month into the install, the day before opening day, receivers began failing, and they failed massively. We had units go from perfectly fine to brain-dead DOA useless in seconds, and we lost over 300 working units in one day alone. No apparent cause. No consistent pattern. Just a sudden pattern of flashing lights, like a VCR blinking 12:00 after a power outage, and no further operation possible.

 

It nearly canned the opening. It nearly closed the museum.

 

But inside of 1 week, Sennheiser had found the problem, faxed us electron microscope views of the issue (a faulty batch of chips had some sort of "coating" on their pins, causing them ultimately to separate from the IC board where they had been mounted during manufacturing). The act of charging a receiver unit warmed the board, and they cooled afterward once charged. The expansion and contraction caused by warming and cooling caused the separation. In the end, some 90% of the original units failed.

 

My point is this: while Sennheiser was a much bigger company than the problem, they took it seriously. They acted immediately, found the problem at the electron level, and then were open, honest, admitted they were at fault (though it was, in fact, a supplier), showed us the problem, asked what they needed to do to make it right, and followed through. The replacement units, rushed into production overseas and shipped in under a few weeks, never failed. I would go to my grave swearing on Sennheiser's integrity. They *showed*me how important I was to them. They showed me they were the kind of business I would want supporting me, employing the kind of people I would want to work with.

 

TCE has the chance to open a floodgate here, or continue to hold it shut.

 

Either way, the water's rising... and I'm thinking that this 24D is *not* gonna work as a flotation device.

[jpleong]

jbsee, I hear you. I've done computer support for so long that I oftentimes over explain things to people who just want the darn mouse ball cleaned. I wasn't sure if a better understanding of the computer conundrum would help? If you're bored by what I say, please feel free to ignore me!

 

A funny story -- I once worked on Windows 98/ME (remember that awful OS?) machines trying to get a TDIF PCI interface working when it blue screened. I stared at it, puzzled, as it read, "Please contact your administrator for assistance" and then cursed when I realized I was the administrator.

 

JP