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Early MAXX recorders need power modification


cory

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Anyone have any reliability issues with Maxx??? This was obviously extremely unsettling.

One of the Dean's at one of the schools I teach at has a plug-in electric car, and she had the same thing (equivalent) happen to her when the car locked up, and had to be towed to the dealer...

that was extremely unsettling...

I've had to restart computers (Windows and Mac) when they got a bit verklempt.

I've had to perform the double secret, ultra master reset sequence many times, and some of thosde were extremely unsettling.

 

I think that a more suitable analogy in this case is something like when car companies need to recall their cars because a known defect may cause them to spontaneously combust. Yes, "CRAP HAPPENS" but part of dealing with that is trying to be as prepared as possible.  This post will hopefully help prevent others from having to go through the same thing that my friend did, because, armed with useful knowledge, they will be able to take preemptive action.

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just a thought why don't SD and Zax have an email list for updates? I didn't know the 664 had an updated and had an issue at a job that wouldn't had happened if I'd known of the update sooner.

This particular situation sounds like serious design issue. My band has an email list, obama has an email list, why can't our favorite gear companies send out update news letters?!

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after a discussion earlier this year, i thought the email update list implementation was accomplished, A note and link was put out to "sign up" and "register" serial numbers and list of owned gear. I signed up, listed my gear and serial numbers, but have yet to receive a single email. Is it reasonable to ask if this idea is still being worked on?

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"known defect may cause them to spontaneously combust. "

yes, major safety issues (as in life threatening) get wide publicity... I don't think this applies to a sound mixer fuse blowing...

I have had several recalls on my cars over the years, by mail + email.

now let me ask you: did you return the warranty card, or register it online ??

I completely agree that communications about updates is appropriate, and valuable...

and it often is linked to the warranty registration...

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just a thought why don't SD and Zax have an email list for updates? I didn't know the 664 had an updated and had an issue at a job that wouldn't had happened if I'd known of the update sooner.

 

Seth, Sound Devices sends emails directly to registered product users with news of firmware updates and product bulletins. However, the number of users who register is very few.

 

The most recent 664 direct communication was regarding CF cards from Delkin, sent last week. If you didn't receive that, your unit isn't in our registration.

 

http://www.sounddevices.com/support/registration/ is the registration page.

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UPDATE:

 

Just spoke to Glenn at Zaxcom. Transistor issue indeed seems to be the problem, and he suspects mod would have prevented it. However, this apparently has caused more issues than other models and needs more than the "normal" fix. But talk about amazing service and care- their team is staying late today and coming in tomorrow (Saturday) to make sure we get Maxx back ASAP.

 

 

"known defect may cause them to spontaneously combust. "

 

now let me ask you: did you return the warranty card, or register it online ??

I completely agree that communications about updates is appropriate, and valuable...

and it often is linked to the warranty registration...

 

Hey Senator, good question. Everything is as registered as registered can be. However, I don't believe that Zaxcom sends out direct communication to folks about updates/recalls for MAXX and Nomad (instead opting to do their communication through dealers)-- though I definitely think that that would be a good idea for them to do both.

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I am the first few Maxx users, who experienced Maxx blackout on location. My case was the first thing in the morning, when the interviewee was about to arrive. Turned on Maxx, only few LED lights lighted, repeated lots of times... Almost lost the job;(

Now, no matter what situation, Nomad is the main recorder, and Maxx is in my pelican for in case situation.

 

Hiro

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This was actually mentioned in the very long Maxx thread, but was so downplayed as to sound like not urgent or important, so I ignored it (posts 625 - 9, if you're interested). I do think they could have done more to warn people about it, but I guess they didn't want to sound a note of alarm. Certainly not many people would have noticed it buried in there, and no dealer I know of was aware of it. It wasn't even on their own forum, to my knowledge. Verdict: could do a lot better.

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Every dealer was notified on this. The notice went out 3 months ago for dealers to do the modification on their inventory and to let the customers know directly. This modification was not urgent but it must be done on every unit that was in the field at that time. If you have a unit older than 3 months it needs to be done if it has not been. It takes 15 minutes at a dealer.

 

Glenn

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The first thing I thought of when I began to read this thread -

 

Did something occur, via the DIT transfer,  to the card that was re-inserted ??

Sometimes I find unusual additions (files) to my data cards after they come back to me -

 

It's too late now, but I wonder if using a different CF card might have made the machine wake up...

 

Just a thought -

 

MF

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Every dealer was notified on this. The notice went out 3 months ago for dealers to do the modification on their inventory and to let the customers know directly. This modification was not urgent but it must be done on every unit that was in the field at that time. If you have a unit older than 3 months it needs to be done if it has not been. It takes 15 minutes at a dealer.

Glenn

Hey Glenn, I think that this forum shows that multiple lines of communication to owners could be extremely useful. Why not have an email list for registered users? Even if many people aren't registered now, updates would be a great incentive -- plus it would be a lot harder to blame Zaxcom if all a Maxx or Nomad owner needs to do is register their device to stay informed...
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It's a moot point whether dealers have the time or energy to get in touch with past customers. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they have a ton of other, more pressing concerns. Putting the onus on them seems unfair to me. Better to flag it up prominently on the zaxcom forum and here, and maybe email too. Informing customers directly is surely better than hoping dealers have either the time or motivation to do so. This applies particularly to overseas customers and dealers.

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With something like this it is impossible for us to know who the units were sold to and which units were modified by the dealer before the sale. Only the dealer would know this. 

 

We asked the dealers to contact the affected customers so the mod could be put in at no charge to the customer.  Only a direct contact from the dealer to the customer made any sense on this and that is what was done.

 

Glenn

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Only a direct contact from the dealer to the customer made any sense on this and that is what was done.
That only makes sense if you don't want to contact other Zaxcom owners. But I don't think it'd be a big problem if all Zaxcom owners found out about every "recall". Also it's very easy, technically, to set up mailing lists specific to each product. The beauty is, each buyer would add themselves to the list, so once the system is up and running you have no work with it. OTOH if it's between this and fixing the frame edge thing (see other thread about conforming), I say choose the latter
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