[Danny T]

On Oct 25, 8:51*am, mcp6453 wrote:
When I got up this morning, my M-Audio Audiophile 2496 sound card was doing some
funky stuff, including looping the audio inputs back to the outputs. Rebooting
the computer was no use, so I shut the computer down to make sure that power was
totally removed from the card in case it needed to reset.

After the computer shut down, the card went into perpetual motion. It was
farting through the external speakers every second. It sounded as if the noise
was diminishing with time, but it was going on for at least 5 minutes when I
restarted the computer to see if the problem with the card cleared.

It seems to have cleared, but I suspect a pending failure on this card. So I
went to the M-Audio website to get their tech support phone number. It turns out
that you cannot call them for tech support unless it is within 30 days of
purchase (it's not), or unless you pay:

"Calls are charged at $2.50 per minute; $35 maximum per session. Payment can be
made via VISA, MasterCard, or Discover."

Yeah, like I'm going to pay $2.50 per minute for tech support for a defective
card. Needless to say, I done with M-Audio. (Want to buy a couple of Sputniks?)
I have no interest in companies that hold their customers hostage for tech
support or force you to deal with idiots on their company forums.

I can probably return the card for a refund, which I may do. That puts me in the
market for another decent PCI card in the $100 range. Suggestions?

Long ago I had maudio and thought they had great support. Not long ago
I ran into your same issue with another product of theirs. I no longer
buy m-audio either!