Logitech Customer Service FTW!

So today I got a brand new TV, a 40" 1080p Samsung. Nice, right? Well when I go to set it up and hook all my appliances to it, namely PS3 via HDMI, no sound was coming out. Sure, it was coming out of the stock speakers, but not my Logitech z-5500 surround sound speakers! I was so upset. 

The Setup: HDMI to TV,  and Optical directly connected from PS3 to Logitech center console (receiver). PS3 settings were set for Video out -> HDMI and Audio out -> Optical.

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After testing the many possibilities of this audio problem, I almost gave up. Suddenly, when I went to turn off my Logitech center console, I noticed that instead of it reading "Optical - No Data Found," I got some random assortment of words - something like "Otcl - Dtaa Ntt Fond."

I knew something wasn't right. As it turns out, the receiver was malfunctioning and therefore was unable to output any sounds whatsoever, aside from a few speaker crackles here and there.

I went on eBay to find a used working receiver and found a few going for $50+. Before I bid, I thought I might call Logitech Customer Service first.

The Call...

After waiting about ten minutes to get a CS rep from Logitech technical service, I told him my situation. He responded by asking me for any proof of purchase. Since I had bought this from eBay brand new from a regular vendor, and had later deleted my eBay account, I had absolutely no way of proving my purchase. I thought I was screwed.

I told him all that, and after a while of some back and forth bickering, he put me on hold to speak with his manager. Upon returning, he asked me to give him the product ID number on the back of the center console. After I gave it to him, he put me on hold again to look up the PID. He came back and said that my prodect was still under the 2-year warranty! Yay!

Thinking that they were going to send me back a new receiver, he tells me that Logitech will send me the Z-5500 unit in its entirety - speakers, subs, remote, and center console...everything! All I had to do was ship out the broken receiver.

Now I have a brand new extra set of speakers/subwoofer! Thanks, Logitech!

GameCube Backup Launcher for Wii Made Easy!

A little dated news here, but WiiGator, the brilliance behind the Wii Backup Launcher (now in version 0.3 Gamma), has made an excellent backup launcher that can launch GameCube games.

The news here, however, is that the launcher has been constructed so it can launch a multiboot disc. This means that .gcn and .iso files alike can be combined into one single .iso file.

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A user of Bitsoup has made this process very easy. His latest contribution has been the uploading of an array of Gamecube games, 4 at a time, packaged with the Multigame ISO Creator. Here are a couple images:

Image taken from Bitsoup.org

This is the MultiGame ISO creator. As you can see, you can add ISO and/or Gamecube files and it displays the logo, size, name, and gives you the option to shrink. Shrinking is not advised, as it may mess up the game and give the Wii a disc read error.

This newer version now allows you to choose a DVD5 (4.7 GB) or DVD9 (8.5 GB).

After you have all your ISO's desired, simply cick "Create MultiGame ISO. It will ask you beforehand to specifiy its save destiniation, so I recommend making a separate folder on your desktop labeled "Multi ISO" or something so you don't confuse the new ISO with the individual old ISO's.

Burn using ImgBurn or other and put it in your Wii!

I am hoping that in the near future WiiGator makes the GCN backup launcher CHANNEL, just like the BackupLauncher 0.3 Gamma Channel. But for now, you have to access the GCN launcher via Homebrew Channel. From there, you can press left and right on your GCN conttoller to pick your game. Pressing A, B, Z, X, and Y depends on how you want to launch the game...but pressing A auto detects the version and boots from there, which is recommended. Here is a demo of me using the launcher from start to end. Enjoy!