What is UA tech supp supposed to be like? I crapped out

[Staccato]

twice in a row over the phone. Once I was promised a callback that never happened, the next time, the guy did not seem to know his stuff. I seriously thought I knew more about UAD-1 in a multi-processor PC environment than he did. Then he told me that's why he uses a MAC, to avoid problems like mine.

I was looking for UA known info about the operation of the UAD-1 in a multiprocessor environment and the discussion here regarding the Interrupt filter. I am experiencing intermittant stutters and mild popping at low latency with a FF800 and I am looking to fine tune my system a bit.

All in all, the card is fantastic and runs good counts for me at the higher settings of 512 samples.

I tried an email to support, regarding driver versions with respect to the software release 4.2, I'll see how that shapes up.

Thanks in advance for any info, tips, knowledge!

ASUS A8R-MVP (yes, the CROSSFIRE), AMD x2 4400, 2GB

 

[Staccato]

Well, am I just naive?

 

[Guest]

I am surprised that the UA tech acted so unprofessionally. i would just call back and ask for a PC tech. When i have talked with UA they have always been much more helpful than that.

it amazes me that some people think MAC's are so much more trouble free.
my PC's hardly ever give me trouble. i frequent the MOTU forums and have seen all the MAC problems, that tech was full of shit.

 

[Doublehelix]

I hate to say this, but I had almost the *exact* same experience.

I called three times with promises of callbacks...nothing.

I finally got ahold of someone on my fourth call, and the guy sounded like a 14 YO kid, and knew absolutely nothing, but blamed my problems on my machine, and there was nothing that they could do to help me troubleshoot things.

I finally sent an email outlining the problem, and got someone that seemed like they wanted to help, but after a couple of suggestions that did not work, he has disappeared off of the face of the earth as well (nothing has worked to solve me problem so far).

I am six months into this \"issue\" and still no resolution. This is the first time I have had to use the UA support in about 5 years of using their products, and I must admit that I am disappointed.

 

[Staccato]

Thanks for the replies, just wanted to put my expectations in perspective. My latest email question to support is: what are the current drivers? (as opposed to software release)

In my device manager, it says ver 4.1.0.0 for both the card and the Powered Plugins Driver.

 

[daves@uaudio.com]

Hi Staccato,

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with support, please contact us again, using this information, and I or one of the other guys here would be more than happy to help you out.

Phone Support
Toll-Free in USA!
Customer Service & Technical Support: 1-877-MY-UAUDIO (1-877-698-2834)
Business & Sales: 1-866-UAD-1176 (1-866-823-1176)
International: 1-831-466-3737
Fax: 1-831-466-3775:

Email Support
Windows: pcsupport@uaudio.com
Macintosh: macsupport@uaudio.com
Online purchases: onlinesupport@uaudio.com

Support Hours
Our product specialists are available to assist you via email and telephone during our normal business hours, which are from 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday, Pacific Standard Time.


Thanks!

David Sheffield

Universal Audio

Customer Service Team

http://www.uaudio.com

Daves@uaudio.com

Service Hours: 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri PST



Business & Sales: 1-866-UAD-1176

Customer Support: 1-877-MY-UAUDIO

International: +1-831-466-3737



Registration/Store: my.uaudio.com

Information : http://www.uaudio.com

UAD Forum: forum.uaudio.com

Webzine: http://www.uaudio.com/webzine



Universal Audio Inc.

330 Encinal Street

Santa Cruz

CA 95060, USA

 

[Staccato]

My recent email to UAD support was answered in a timely manner. However, I found the response to be incorrect in my case and I hope others will chime in to see if their driver update process under XP is the same.
The question to support was regarding my driver versions.

\"If I am current on 4.2 software, what should my driver versions be? They show 4.1.0.0 in device manager, dated 12/20/2005. Is that current?\"
The response:
Hello,

Open the UAD-1 meter located on your desktop.
If at the top it says \"UAD-1 performance meter V4.2.0\"
then you have the most current drivers.

Regards,
Universal Audio
Customer Service Team
http://www.uaudio.com
support@uaudio.com
Service Hours: 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri PST

I do have 4.2, from that suspicious response, I decided to do a driver update from within Device Manager. My version went from 4.1.0.0 to 4.2.0.0.

A correct response, in this case, would have been: you have the drivers available, but you still need to do a driver update from within Device Manager.

Evidently the UAD software installer places the drivers in the proper location for Windows to find them when you update from within Device Manager but the UAD software installer does not automatically update them.

Again, this is what happened in my case. Am I missing something here?? Are there any others who might care to chime in with their experiences updating UAD-1 drivers in Windows?

Mitigating factor: I did not specifically tell support what my OS is, however I did send the email to pcsupportatuaudiodotcom. If their reply can be considered a general response then I stand corrected.

 

[flynn]

My drivers in devicemanager also shows older versions. (seems to be the one when the cards where installed. I got three different versions, one for each card, the oldest is 3.6!)

The UAD meter shows the correct version, and I haven't experienced any problems. But maybe it's a good idea to update in devicemanager aswell?
(Im on XP pro SP2)

EF

 

[MarkE]

Hi, this 'problem' has been known for almost as long as the second uad-1 drivers were released. It's not a problem and the true installed driver version is as reported on the uad performance app.

The only way to get everthing to report the same version is to uninstall the drivers via add/remove programs first followed by unistalling the stuff in the device manager and then installing the latest drivers. I do do this as I like things neat 'n' tidy but it doesn't really matter.

If I remember correctly it's something to do with Microsofts hugely expensive signed driver stuff.

HTH
Mark

 

[Staccato]

Thank you both for the responses. Flynn, yes, I think XP is reporting the file version of the driver in use by the OS at the present time. This is a large part of the thrust behind this post...if I'm onto something others may benefit from, or if I'm all wet, so be it, I'm only human. (just like UAD TS) But expectations are higher for UAD TS.

Wouldn't that be something if this has been overlooked and users are unwittingly using outdated drivers? Not knowing the revision history and/or the fixes that implemented in them kinda makes me wonder if the drivers themselves are really updates or if they might be the same driver with a different version branded on them.

At least I know that in my case, the drivers did not update automatically when I installed S/W ver 4.2.

 

[Staccato]

Hi, this 'problem' has been known for almost as long as the second uad-1 drivers were released. It's not a problem and the true installed driver version is as reported on the uad performance app.

The only way to get everthing to report the same version is to uninstall the drivers via add/remove programs first followed by unistalling the stuff in the device manager and then installing the latest drivers. I do do this as I like things neat 'n' tidy but it doesn't really matter.

If I remember correctly it's something to do with Microsofts hugely expensive signed driver stuff.

HTH
Mark

I see what you're saying here, remove the device in DM, and uninstall the S/W via the Add/Remove programs and then the subsequent reinstall of the new version will update the drivers! I think this is correct. Thanks again. I see this does not follow the specific instructions from the UAD site:

About the UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins Software Installation Process

It is very important to follow the installation procedure exactly.

If you are installing UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins on your system for the first time, we recommend you install the software first before inserting the UAD-1 card(s) in your computer.

If you are upgrading, or wish to install additional UAD-1 cards, it is not necessary to remove the previous version of UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins software or the UAD-1 card from the system.

If you are installing additional UAD-1 cards, install the software first before inserting the additional UAD-1 card(s) in your computer.
Instructions for installing the UAD-1 PCI card follows the software installation instructions.

So you're procedure also differs.

 

[MarkE]

Hi, no, what I'm really saying here is, that it doesn't matter, there is no problem.

HTH
Mark

 

[foreverain4]

i have had a very good experience with UA tech support over the last week. my uad1 has been on the outs. we narrowed it down to something is wrong with my card. i am sending it back to UA and they are sending me a brand new one free of charge. even though i am 2 years out of warrantee. big thumbs up here.

 

[bulls hit]

I'm running V4.2.

Device Manager shows Driver Version 4.0.0.0, but clicking on Driver Details... shows File version 4.2.0.

So it looks like the Device Manager is aware of the correct version