Bored of non support !!!

What OS, what Windowblinds version, how can IP cause problems, what sort of graphic card, are you running the latest drivers .... and all that stuff??
And have you RTFM?

wombat_1, i've already answer to those question on the IconPackager newsgroup ...hold on i search ...

and here it is :

[copy on]
Problem found and fixed... was a win9x issue only. There should be a new
build showing up soon.

Thanks,
Brian

"PhilIP" wrote in message
news:$prpQnUdDHA.132@prospero.stardock.local...
> Yep, of course i tried a lot of things : Un-installing latest version,
> reboot, stop PC, re--install and so on ... and still the same problem
> ...
> So i finaly go back to 2.12b.076 and everything's goes well ...
>
> Running under Win98 2nd
>
> --
> PhilIP
> [enlever ~X007 pour répondre]
>
>
>> Strange, there are no issues with the common file dialogs, nothing has
>> changed regarding those. The only issues are those listed in the
>> release notes. Are you still having problems? have you tried
>> rebooting? what OS are you using?
>>
>> Brian
>>
>> "PhilIP" wrote in message
>> news:N7taQGQdDHA.1760@prospero.stardock.local...
>>> Salut à Kris Kwilas [Stardock] qui tapotait avec ses petits doigts
>>> musclés :
>>>
>>>> There are some known issues with this beta. The open package file
>>>> dialog doesn't display .theme files by default and I don't know how
>>>> to force a featured
>>>> ip package to the top of the queue on WinCustomize so its opening
>>>> to a blank page right this minute.
>>>>
>>>> Kris
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> IP 2.19
>>>
>>> I don't know if it's what you mean by "there are some known issues
>>> with this beta, but here what i find :
>>> - Open package
>>> - Save package as
>>> - Zip Package
>>> - Install new package - from disk
>>> don't work anymore ...
>>>
>>> Perhaps others but when i see that i didn't get further ...
>>> Why uploading a new version if u know there are issues ??
[copy off]

euh, what's RTFM ???

RTFM is 'Read The F***** Manual'......a famous quote in shell-swapping circles....

shell-swapping circles

Try saying that after a few beers!

Is that how manuals get copied

'Read The F***** Manual'...

is it written is the "F**** Manual" who's in charge of coordinating the support ????

If you got no answer from support@stardock.com at all then we didn't get it.  There is an auto response that has tons of info sent in it with instructions on the bottom that state how to get support if you did not get the answer to your problem in the auto response.

Newsgroups are read by first and second level support and the developers.  The newsgroup post that was quoted had Brian (the developer) answer your question.  What other company gets you directly in contact with the developer?

There was an email from you from the 28th that was not answered because the answer was in the info supplied by the auto-reply.  (You may want to actually read the auto reply and the support page, as it has a vast amount of info on it). 

The WindowBlinds issue that you are referring to was responded to (the last time) on 9/3/03 without a response received back from you.

I have no record of an ObjectBar issue being reported to support@stardock.com.

Saying that you "get no answer of all that ... " is obviously not true.

Get XP, everything will be ok.

Morphium, it's not an option for everybody or every budget.

by Admin KarmaGirl - 10/2/2003 6:56:54 AM If you got no answer from support@stardock.com at all then we didn't get it

Yep i got response, but not resolving trouble response ...

The WindowBlinds issue that you are referring to was responded to (the last time) on 9/3/03 without a response received back from you.

??? the last response i got and i send a response is effectivly from the 9/3/03

[copy on]
From: "Philippe PAQUET"
To: "Stardock Support"
References:
Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with server
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 18:33:44 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0007_01C37249.E7E92060"
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4922.1500
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4925.2800

C'est un message de format MIME en plusieurs parties.

------=_NextPart_000_0007_01C37249.E7E92060
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Hi, i've the latest version avaible for Win98 2nd (WB 3.51.053)
It was not installed over an old version as i change my hard disk not =
long time ago and anyway, before each update i un-install previous =
version first ...

So ??

Philippe PAQUET
----- Original Message -----=20
From: Stardock Support=20
To: Philippe PAQUET=20
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 4:44 PM
Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with =
server


Are you running an old version of WindowBlinds? What version are you
running? We used to (a long time ago) connect and report the "most
popular skin". But we have not done that since WC was developed. If
you installed over an old version, you may not be actually using the
new version if it did not overwrite WBload. I would suggest
uninstalling, rebooting, then installing the newest version of
WindowBlinds in Stardock Central.

Thank you,
Angie

[copy off]

and here the previous exhange :

[copy on]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 18:13:01 +0200, Philippe PAQUET wrote:

>see the answers in your mail
>
>Philippe PAQUET
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stardock Support
> To: Philippe PAQUET
> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 4:00 PM
> Subject: Re: error message : WBload unable to start communication with server
>
>
> To better assist you, we need a bit more information. Specifically,
> we need to know:
>
> 1) Your subscription/serial number
> OD-XXXXXXXX- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>
> 2) Your hardware configuration (video card and CPU are the most
> important ones)
> Video card : Hercules 3D prophetII MX
> CPU : Intel Pentium 3, 667 Mhz, 640 Mo SDRAM
>
> 3) What version of Windows you are running
> Win98 2nd
>
> What has to do my config configuration and the OS i'm running with the fact that WBload has to connect to any server ????????? at any time, without i know about it ????????
>
>
> Thank you,
> Angie
>
>
>
> On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:03:29 +0200, Philippe PAQUET wrote:
>
> >From times to times when i stop (or reboot) the PC, i get that error message : "WBload, Unable to start communication with server" + a button [OK], then unless i click OK or press CTRL+ALT+DEL to stop WBload, the PC don't reboot or stop
> >
> >Does it mean Stardock is connecting on my PC all day ?? (to look after which skin i use for example ...)
> >
> >BUT i NEVER saw any advertissment from Stardock about that practise even when i installed it the first time !!!
> >
> >Anyway, how can i disable this feature ??? (or have control on it ?)
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >Philippe PAQUET
>
>
> ===================================================
>
> Stardock Support
> 17292 Farmington Rd
> Livonia, MI 48152
> United States
> Phone:
> (734) - 762 - 0687
> FAX
> (734) - 762 - 0690
>
> For best results, use Stardock's news server:
> news://news.stardock.com and visit the appropriate news group.
> https://www.stardock.com
>
>

[copy off]

I have no record of an ObjectBar issue being reported to support@stardock.com.

I said it was posted on the newsgroup ... and it was not about an issue but about a question i asked to how do some thing ...

Saying that you "get no answer of all that ... " is obviously not true

where do you see a valid and correcting answer to the question i asked ???

There is a difference between saying that you have not resolved an issue and saying that you have not received an answer.  The title of this thread is about non-support (as in nobody responding to you). 

You do realize that I am "Angie" don't you?

There is no record of your last email being received by Stardock.  During that time there was a virus that hit Stardock's support system and email was not received (or was destroyed by the virus).  If you would like support, I would suggest that you email support with all information that you have with the title of "NOT RESOLVED".  As stated many times, this board is *not* the proper place to post support questions.  You may also note that your response did not indicate if you followed my instructions of uninstalling WB, rebooting then reinstalling using Stardock Central.  Please perform that task before contacting support again.  Your report is extremely unusual and we have not been able to reproduce it.  Again, please use support@stardock.com to receive support.  This is *not* a place to receive support.

Based on this and the fact you can't get SkinStudio to function I suggest requesting a refund. Your system and desktop enhancements don't seem to get along very well.

euh, nope, i didn't know you were "Angie" ...

I know this board is not the place to get support, but as i said i tried all the different ways given to me ...

If i made a cut and paste of my last mail response, it was obviously because i was thinking you'll say i didn't answer; so you can see i did ... and you may also note i FOLLOWED your instructions (even if it's not written in this mail - but it was said on the newsgroup or/and on the help board here, i don't remember ...) and i still get the same trouble from times to times ...

Anyway i'll forward the whole exhange to support @ stardock.


But what we're talking about is just ONE point concerning WB ... What about IconPackager trouble asked since 9/7/03 on the newsgroup (see #2), what about a question asked on the ObjectBar newsgroup on the 8/26/03, what about a question about Winstyles i asked to support @ stardock on the 9/28/03 ... (and i'm not speaking about the big problem with today's new SkinStudio version i posted both on newsgroup and on the news main page ...)

Frogboy - 10/2/2003 8:50:38 AM Based on this and the fact you can't get SkinStudio to function I suggest requesting a refund. Your system and desktop enhancements don't seem to get along very well.

sorry but i'm not sure to understand what you mean ...
the latest version of SkinStudio and IconPackager are getting me in troubles not the previous one ... and my system and desktop enhancements goes fine, don't you see those nice screenshots i uploaded ???

I'm just saying I don't think your system is cut out for desktop enhancements. If you're having this many problems with these programs then my recommendation is to get your money back. I don't think support is going to be able to help you resolve these problems.

Frogboy : the issue i get with the last IconPackager version is a known issue on WIN 98 2nd which may be solved with the next version (has it was told to me) i think it's a similar problem with the very today's SkinStudio version (which is stil in beta ...)

If i follow you, there was a long time i should have gave up with Stardock products and i'm just using Object Desktop since 1999 i think ... (the other things i was talking about - ObjectBar, WinStyles, Tab LaunchPad also, were just informations i wanted to know on how do some things with these softs and were not issues ... )

breath....

neophil, have you been to the News Groups, Chat server and or posted in the WC-Help section?

I understand that you might be upset, but the inference the title of this thread lends is one which gained the exact reaction I would expect anyone to have.

Official Support is through Stardock, public support is through the public channels.

Trouble shooting dynamic complex issues across so many different vendors hardware with an operating system designed on one side to demand conformity and on the other hand an certain amount of anarchy in driver design is not a simple task.

It could be as easy as turning off the caching of bios regions in your computers system BIOS, setting your Video in your BIOS to auto detect instead of having it set to PCI or AGP.
Or even a erratic HP Printer driver leaking all over your memory, to an actual issue with the ODnet programs or a select few.

You say that an older version works fine, I would roll back to that and wait to see if a newer release fixes the issue if you are fed up with trouble shooting your specific issues.

If by chance it does not and you do not want to update your OS (speaking of such have you installed all updates and patches from MS?) you might want to stick with what works and switch over to a WinC subscription if that is a possibility?

anyway...

You and SD would be best served to deal with official support issues in official channels.

If you like, my email is in my profile and if I can help in any way I am more than willing to try, but I would keep up with tech support because I am sure that they are the best source for this...

P.S. do you run an AMD cpu? because there was an issue with the AMD chip and AGP video cards and there is a registry patch for this on the AMD web site...




[Message Edited]

IPlural, of course i've already posted on the "normal" places, newsgroups and support @ stardock (my posts on Sardock Newsgroup are signed as PhilIP ...)

You say that an older version works fine, I would roll back to that and wait to see if a newer release fixes the issue if you are fed up with trouble shooting your specific issues.

I'm not talking of older version but on just THE previous version as to say IconPackager 2.12b.076, and SkinStudio 3.95c[b].002. These are not ancestral
versions and of course i've re-installed those versions which are not giving issues ...

In fact the problem may be just relative to any other alpha or beta versions of softwares... As i said i'm using Object Desktop ODNT since 1999 i think, so i've seen a lot of alpha's and beta's versions of the different softs which were not running and which were getting issues ...

N.B: I'm not running an AMD CPU but INTEL PENTIUM III with 512 Mo SDRAM and everything's is running fine...

good deal... hardware wise it shouldn't be an issue and it will probably be addressed with future release without a doubt.

I'm curious about the Win98 updates and such, if you've applied them yet?

Also, sometimes the MS provided drivers for video cards work better than the vendors driver and vise versa for some odd reason. I think it is because the stability issues are addressed with the MS drivers and speed/video enhancements are the focus of th vendor releases and updates...

I'll read the groups and see if anything pops into mind and let you know if it does.
Here's hoping it comes about as soon as possible...

Although the newsgroups are available and SD staff do cruise through there (the OB inquiry apparently was posted in the newsgroup), the newsgroup is still not the same as emailing SD support directly. As far as I can tell, the question re: OB was not emailed to SD support.

It's not entirely fair to flatly state that one is not receiving support when one does not go through the official support channel with one's issues and (apparently) does not follow up via that same method.

Manuals? Read them? Like the one in the glove box of your car that you discover two years after you bought it!?

I'm curious about the Win98 updates and such, if you've applied them yet?

euh, don't worry all my system is up to date and works perfectly . as i said somewhere, i'm giving tips and so on the french Microsoft newsgroups of WIN 98, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express .... and on hardware also, so i think i know a little what i'm talking about when speaking about Windows ... even if no one can pretend knows everything, i think i can tell i'm a very informed user ...

sig101, i think a lot of issues on successives versions of any kind of Stardock softs since a few years have been resolved through the newsgroups and not through support @ stardock, but maybe i'm wrong .....

Users run into things that they figure out that tech support might not run into or might not have run into yet at time. Newsgroups, message boards and chat channels are a very good source of information and possible problem resolution, but in the end tech support is something one should always follow up with without a doubt. As with any tech support one finds that there is some time involved with finding the right solution and with the revisions (if your running betas) it can add to things.

I've not run into any situation where I needed to contact them and do not know if that will ever come about, any questions I have had so far have been answered here on the board or on the irc chat.