Creative GigaWorks S750 (7.1 Surround Sound System) DEAD ?!?

[Skybuck Flying]

Also glue is everywhere inside of it.

Different types of glue seem to have been used (?)

Brownish glue and white glue or maybe it's all the same glue ?

This is very troublesome and worrieingsome.

What if all of this glue becomes conductive after a while ?!

This could become a major safety issue !

Best is to dump it before somebody gets killed

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

However this glue is not only in the subwoofer, I have seen screenshots on a
review site... and the glue is also inside the speakers themselfes...

I was thinking about keeping the speakers... but now I am starting to have
doubts... maybe it's best to completely return the product and demand money
back because of faulty product.

Selling me products which are slightly defective is one thing... but putting
my life at risk is an entirely different matter especially since I lost an
aunt to a faulthy refrigarator/electronics device.

This could also explain the shock that somebody observed on the heatsink
which is covered with the same kind of glue.

Maybe that guy was extremely lucky that the glue hasn't become "super/more"
conductive yet..

Same could be said for me since I touched that heatsink a couple of times...
could have been me that got fried... something horrible I would rather not
experience.

Creative should have done a callback by now... they didn't... this means
their asses have to fry in hell for this.

This story will continue...

Goodbye,
Skybuck.

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

The glue is to keep the radial caps from vibrating back and forth and
the leads fatiguing and breaking. The interior of a subwoofer is a
HIGH VIBRATION environment. This is a proper construction technique
for the conditions.

Cool. More for me.

 

[Dr. Heywood R. Floyd]

For now I think it's safe to dismiss the "broken fuse" theory.

More like broken brain fact.

Take your retarded reports and stick them up your ass, you idiotic
twit!

 

[UpGrade]

However...

snipped retarded page full of bullshit.


How is it even possible that a total retard like this SkyTard Sinking
idiot has the time to sit and write up page after page of utter
horseshit?

Does this little twit get EVERYTHING handed to him by mommy and daddy?

Dude... keep it to yourself. Not a damned soul anywhere in Usenet gives
a fat flying **** about your stupid screw driver exercises.

 

[GMAN]

Ok,

Now I am trying to asses the damage.

First question is:

1. Is the fuse blown ? Is this the fuse ? How to open it ?

Pictures of probably the fuse:

http://members.home.nl/hbthouppermans/DeadGigaWorksS750/DamageAssesmentGigawork
sS750.htm

Bye,
Skybuck.

The fuse looks fine in that picture

 

[Archimedes' Lever]

The glue is to keep the radial caps from vibrating back and forth and
the leads fatiguing and breaking.

No shit. It's called stress imposed creep failure

The interior of a subwoofer is a
HIGH VIBRATION environment.

No shit.

This is a proper construction technique
for the conditions.

No shit. Next time ANSWER him from HIS post, not my response.

 

[Dave]

Could you please STOP cross-posting all these messages? When you post to a
zillion newsgroups, only YOUR part of the conversation is readable unless
people who reply reply to all the groups. Which they don't.

Thanks from many.

 

[Rich Grise]

Could you please STOP cross-posting all these messages? When you post to a
zillion newsgroups, only YOUR part of the conversation is readable unless
people who reply reply to all the groups. Which they don't.

Thanks from many.

The point of crossposting is in case others might be interested. It saves
bandwidth over multi-posting, and, as you say, if it's applicable to a
specific group, people have the option of setting followups to whatever
groups they feel are appropriate.

Hope This Helps!
Rich

 

[SteveH]

The point of crossposting is in case others might be interested. It
saves bandwidth over multi-posting, and, as you say, if it's
applicable to a specific group, people have the option of setting
followups to whatever groups they feel are appropriate.

Hope This Helps!
Rich

Except in the case of Skyfuck here, who would do better posting to a
newsgroup where he can get advice on removing himself from the gene
pool.

 

[Skybuck Flying]

Ok,

The pc world and the audio world are two different worlds which makes it
completely confusing for a noooob

Also the complexities/peculiarities of the X-Fi make it worse.

Fortunately the best source of information was on the creative forums, where
creative had some stickies up.

For gaming the X-Fi elite pro analog outputs must be used... since games use
EAX and only the analag outputs have this.

However it is possible to connect the X-Fi to a Receiver with a special
cable called:

"Soundblaster home theater cable".

Which I came across here where it was explained how to connect it up.

http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArticle.aspx?sid=4699

Another link:

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=16&product=14309

This seems by far the easiest way to connect the X-Fi to any Receiver.

For example many receivers look like this on the back side:

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR604-Channel-Receiver-Black/dp/B000HD7FGM

(Click little picture and zoom in... there you will see the 8 holes where
the cables go into !)

(This is called a 7.1 Analog Speaker System which should be best for X-Fi !)


Now the only thing I need to figure out is how to connect my
satelites/speakers/boxes (which I already have from the dead gigaworks...)
to it...

This is a matter of compatible plugs... I would guess they would fit into
them... but I am not sure...

So tomorrow or so I will go to a local store which I already visitted... The
dude was clueless about the pc soundblasters... and he said I should by a pc
speaker system... but I don't want to do that... I want to re-use the
satelites... but I didn't tell him that... I was still confused so I went
away...

But now that I know what to do I will return... not so much to tell him
off... or to correct him... but if I do meet him I will tell him about this
special cable so he learns something interesting

The store probably only has crappy 5.1 home theater systems... and maybe
crappy 5.1 receivers... but at least it will allow to check out if my
satelite cable will fit into those holes... which I already took a look at
at the store...

I also consulted the manual from the x-fi but no tutorial on it... also the
spd/if thing that many people mention is crap...

If it's "digital" it's crap... ok... the digital output is bullshit... it's
only for 2.1 unless external decodes blablablabla trust me it's all crap for
now.

You definetly wanna go analog for games and 7.1 !

Now ofcourse I do need to make sure that the final receiver that I buy has
similiar holes so that I am sure that everything will connect properly.

It's a bit of risk since I don't know if the satelites still good but they
probably are

The only thing I then need is a sub woofer to replace the dead gigaworks
subwoofer (it's not really dead but can't use it anymore).

So I need to buy that special cable.

All in all a bit expensive to buy all this new stuff... but I think it's
gonna be worth it... I also hope the sound will be slighty better than the
gigaworks... since I will be spending big bucks on the receiver... like 400
bucks or so ?! so it better output diamonds like the gigaworks did or even
better

Also I think the satelites 70 watt and 8 ohm... not 100% sure so must make
100% sure... and then I should have a nice 7.1 gaming setup soon again.

I look forward to playing Street Fighter 4 with it... and Company of Heroes
which is not that impressive for surround sound but still nice to hear stuff
fire in the distance... I will also then give Call of Juarez 2 another try
just to hear how it sounds...

And ofcourse I should then be able to enjoy my music much better again...
since the old 2.1 speaker system makes it sound like crap !

Now I have to go select a good receiver which I like... has a nice menu...
has good reviews... and doesn't become to hot and has this good analog
connection option ! and is not too big... and can be ordered over
internet... not sure if I am gonna buy via internet but probably

Would be a bonus if I could buy receiver, subwoofer and this special cable
all from the same store !

Bye,
Skybuck.

 

[rocxylemmon]

Have same problem with my Creative Gigaworks s750 Surround Sound System and finally went ahead and took it apart and looked for swollen capacitors and found some but for the most part the parts on the Power Supply board are still good so I replaced those Capacitors with the same kind but by a different company and they stand a bit taller then the original Black ones by X something.

I then noticed when un-soldering those out there was a smaller Capacitor that is green and it was brown looking so I replaced that one and replaced them all and after putting it back together in case it decided to blow up I was protected and glad I did. I turned it on with the switch on the back and I heard pop zizzle, zizzle and the control pod was on so I was like okay I guess that was nothing hehe.... so I turned the pod on and the unit kicked on and then everything went out and blew my fuse so I was like well I guess I missed something.

I took it all back apart dreading it while doing it hehe.... it's a lot of work to do creatives work, lol but I can't complain cause these things lasted me like 3 yrs which is really good on creatives part... lol... but I always had a popping sound coming from one channel and then it spread to center so I figured I would have some work with these guys.

After looking over everything it all looked good, I did not really see anything burnt or blown up so I used my DMM and started probing and noticed a MOSFET that had gone closed and no longer was working like the others were testing because the others were probing at ohhh... 20K ohms the Drain and gate side was at about 4 ohms and the drain was 3 ohms and it looked like there was swet like substance around that area where it mabie was heated up so bad in that one spot from the short that it heated up that flux around the area and all the others were fine and the specs were Okay I guess....

I am no means a electrician or should be doing this but I have been studding this kind of thing for awhile before I wanted to work on these and so when I was ready this was my second project from a Nintendo DS and a PSP which went well so I know what I am doing now but I am always learning more about this stuff with the hands on instead of the books.

So when I get the new MOSFET or NPN Transistor in and soldered on to the board along with a new Relay that I think went bad from the bad transistor not working like it should have I will try it again after inserting a new 6 Amp fuse and see what goes out next.....lol.... but thank god for these fuses because it could have taken out a bit more components if it was not for that fuse.

As im working on this I have a receiver apart and have to replace some Amplifier ICS that have shorted out from a friend pushing way too much from it. After I get it working he said I could just keep it.

So I will get this Plasma fixed after this. but thought I should share my 2 cents on my walk of life