PC Peripherals Urgently Calling Veteran Mx 5021 Owners : Help/advice Needed

Spacescreamer

Spacescreamer

ex-Mod
Hi ...

My MX 5021 had been sent for repairs as i had mentioned here a few weeks back here.

The wired control pod wasnt showing any signs of life and it did required a check up .. So i called my comp guy and asked him to take the speakers to the Altec Lansing Repair center..
The set was out of warranty ...

When the speakers came back i paid a fee of 700/- which my comp dealer told me had accrued.
Wen i connected the speakers, the satellite speakers were giving me a ZAPP ! Sound after few random intervals and i was kinda sure that the speakers were not properly looked upon.

I again called up the guys to take my comp and today i recd a call from my comp guy that the Integrated Chip in the woofer had got fried and that ll have to be replaced and wil cost me another 1500/- Rupees.

I am baffled and furious now as the speakers went away with the problem that the set was basically Dead.. and this problem with the Zapping sound started only wen they came back from the Altec Lansing Center..

My Questions:

1)Is this comp guy of mine taking me for a ride ??
2)Shd i bear the charges and get the speakers repaired or shd i give him an earful ...? (If yes i wd like to get my hands on few Technical arguements which i wd then use to decimate him ... pls do tell me sch stuff..)
 
All I can help you out with is giving (Some really abusive words, in English/Telegu/Hindi)

Let me know you pick!

Jokes apart!

Sorry to hear your problem!

All the best!
 
I have a feeling this guy doesn't even know his head from his butt. If your chips were fried you would get no sound at all. I think you need to go to the service center yourself and see what they say. At worst you'll need a new mainboard - even if it costs a couple of thousand bucks, you should go for that as it is the safest solution.

The ICs in the woofer however, can not cost more than 400 bucks - with shipping. They use two power chips, one for the sats and another for the sub. The other expensive chip is the Vol/Bass/Treble chip which is not really available openly (I checked). The rest of the chips are cheap little 4558s, which cost 5 bucks each.

You need to find out what exactly happened. There is no guarantee that if you pay the money, you will get a functional set back. You need to visit the service center yourself and figure out what is going on. Post the exact conversation here, and we'll see if we can decode the problem.

And in their defense, they did (kind of) revive a dodo, so I would give them a chance, but not without first finding out what the exact problem is. It doesn't sound like a dead power chip to me, not by a long stretch. It may be the control chip however, so you need to find out what you're paying for.
 
Yea exactly my point ... just wanted to have a few things under my belt to confront him regarding the ICs ..

thank u all .. and esp sangram for the details .. (u been living inside that sub woofer til u had it .. didn u ... :p)

I ll post back word to word Convo with that dork as and wen i do it ...

Thanks again ..
 
What I'd suggest you is to get the speakers checked by Altec service center and get the confirmation from them if they really operated upon it. If yes, then how come they sent it to your dealer with the defect. That might confirm if your dealer sent the speakers to them in the first place.
 
Hehe, no I just spent half a day on the entire thing. Talk to them, once you show them you know your stuff they'll think twice before messing with you.
 
Ask him if he is doing it from an authorised service centre. If he says yes-then ask him which one and you want to have a word with him. If that didn't work out, then take the speakers away from him and go to authorised service centre, tell that this is what happened with the seller. Show him the bill and repair invoice if any. The reason i am saying this because this will be in their records. Then keep your fingers crossed.
 
Yea the service center is authorised one at Okhla ...

i confirmed abt that.. and have asked him to get the details out which friggin part he got replaced/repaired and then speak to me abt this new bill thingy ..

Edit :

Just Spoke to Mr Comp Guy... here are the Excerpts:

Mr Comp Guy: Gudevening Sir.

Spacey: Gudevening, Now tel me wot was the problem when the comp was sent as a dead unit..?

Mr Comp Guy: Sir the transformer had conked off due to fluctuation in the voltage supply. And we were told that the IC mite have been effected too. The ppl at Service Center didn had a spare of the satellite's with them and as we hadnt taken urs from ur place they cudnt verify the working capacity of the IC. Sound wala IC jo hota hai na...

They did said that the IC mite have gone weak and it mite or mite not work at the owner's place.

Spacey: So u didn got the IC number noted down with u ..?

Mr Comp Guy: Sir we dont keep all sch details with us.

Spacey: U should be.. i am paying money and a good one at that. I cant afford to blindly hand u over the money just like that. Money aint coming cheap these days :)P .. Neat line no?)

Mr Comp Guy: (with a definite dip in his voice) : Sir i can let u know abt that tomorrow only..

Spacey: So do that by all means and tel me tomorrow.

End Of Call ...

Experts Comment pls..
 
Spacescreamer said:
Mr Comp Guy: Gudevening Sir....
Spacey: U should be.. i am paying money and a good one at that. I cant afford to blindly hand u over the money just like that. Money aint coming cheap these days :)P .. Neat line no?)
.....
Experts Comment pls..
Click to expand...

The Epochal Battle of Spacey Vs The Comp Guy. :D

Go Spacey Go! :D

(I love these forums!)

Payne

PS: Apologies for the completely OT post. Couldn't help.
PPS: All the best with those speakers. :)
 
All right me buddies... i had my second convo with him today ...

and i m not feeling too good abt the whole thing ..

The speakers were sent at the Altec Lansing Service Center (Okhla) only the first time round and that too cuz it wasnt confirmed that if MX 5021 came with one year;s warranty or two.

Once the service centre ppl confirmed that the warranty was no more, the Comp guy sent the woofer to Nehru place for the transformer repair.

The justification he gave was that the Service center wd charge money for the parts as well as the service charge, whereas this local fixer wd charge only for the Parts as he gets his stuff repaired from him .. So he has some setting with him.

Now for the IC.

I asked the Comp Guy wot IC is being replaced and get me the details abt the IC, and his reply was:

"Sir there is no identification mark for the IC, they just kno what IC it is and the guy doesnt kno the details, he says that the IC is on the main motherboard and so he ll replace the IC as he has the same new IC. "

I was obviously enraged at the stupid reply that he gave and i fired him for making sch a comment, to which he replied that the local service guy said ki if u want to get it repaired at some other place u can take the woofer away but he hasnt got mch detail/knowledge abt the IC and can only replace the IC nothing more than that.

I nearly blew my top off by the reply that i got but i was stil composed and told him that i wd be telling him wot to do with the IC by evening..

Hell, i wanted to shoot dat bloody idiot for concealing the fact that the woofer was being replaced at a local shop and now sch a nerdy reply that i got from him abt the IC type.

Wot do the experts got to say on this ...??

wd it be better to pay for the 'Extra' charges of the service charge and get the woofer repaired at the Altec Lansing Service center only ..??
 
I had a similar experience at the nehru place service centre when my atp3 set had a nonfunctional satellite (Out of warranty). After numerous trips to the service centre and arguing with the non techy babu or so-called service engineer on why the satellite had a crackling noise, I slipped in 200 bucks to the guy :ashamed: and he happily obliged and gave me a brand new satellite from his spares.
You may try this route if everything else fails.
 
Now for the IC.
I asked the Comp Guy wot IC is being replaced and get me the details abt the IC, and his reply was:
"Sir there is no identification mark for the IC, they just kno what IC it is and the guy doesnt kno the details, he says that the IC is on the main motherboard and so he ll replace the IC as he has the same new IC. "
Click to expand...

I'm hearing this the first time, that a person can tell u what IC is this just by looking at it even when it doesnt have any # or identification mark.
The only electronic stuff that doesnt have identification on 40-50% of there products are china products and other small scale companies based in india and around.......... [This dude is taking u for a ride for sure].

Getting it repaired at Altec Lansing Service center will cost u much than this guy as there service charges are way too high & they charge 50% - 75% more on the parts. But u will have peace of mind and i guess they will even provide u a month or so warranty after servicing it........

Best of luck with the spks
And i'm enjoying The Epochal Battle of Spacey Vs The Comp Guy.

I'm on u r side buddy, but in the end u have to decide what to do...........
 
He is trying to take you for a ride. There is no IC in the world that does not have an identification mark. There are 4 types of chips on the motherboard. There is one TDA7265 which is the satellite amp, one TDA7295 which is the woofer amp, about 10 or 12 LM4558, and one chip (whose number I don't remember) for volume, bass and treble control.

I doubt he is telling the truth. If he doesn't know what the IC identification is, how does he know he has one of the same type, and what will he change it to?

You should have it taken to the service center for repairs, and see what they have to say. The replacement transformer may be the problem if indeed he's replaced the transformer, it's not a conventional transformer as the satellite amp runs at a lower voltage than the woofer amp, and overvolting it will cause the chip to blow or its protection circuitry to kick in (which may have been causing the zapping sound). This may happen if the new transformer has only one winding (common in Indian transformers).

I would tell the guy to have it taken to a service center. It's either a small amount of money for a questionable repair, or a little more for peace of mind. He is the guy who's screwed up, and he needs to give you a functioning set. I think you should have a strong conversation with him and ensures your bidding is done. Don't fall into the trap of taking it away and getting it done by yourself. Let him sweat it out a bit.
 
I did called the Comp guy up to get the progress report out and here it is..

Comp Guy: "Sir, the repair guy is askin wot is to be done regarding the woofer, wether to get it fixed or is it gonna be recalled"

Spacey: "He stil aint giving out the details for the IC"

Comp Guy: "Nahi Sir, he says the 1500/- is for the IC and SOME COMPONENTS"

Spacey: "Wot components now??"

Comp Guy: "Sir he says some components are to be changed too ... and he told me just this only."

Spacey: "Wot the hell r u trying to say, the components are to be replaced and which ones, u dont kno one friggin detail of .. and then the IC was never revealed either. U think m a complete fool to get stuff repaired like this ...."

Comp Guy: "Sir we can do one thing then, we ll recall the set back .. and wen u have time we ll send a person along with u so that u can ask the details all by urself and be satisfied, cuz he aint telling us for sure."

So either the Local Fixer or Mr Comp Guy for some God damned reason aint ready to divulge the details abt the IC the "some defective components"

i really am hard pressed for time as my exams are approaching and the thought of loitering around with the woofer tucked under my arm is giving me some serious goosebumps..

I think i shd recall the set back and then go myself alone frst to this local center or the altec lansing center at okhla and get the details out that wot exactly is malfunctioning ...
 
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