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(More customer reviews)I recently bought a second computer and wanted to use both of my (Windows XP) computers in my home office at one time. Since space on my desk is very limited, I wanted to share as much as possible with both computers.
The online and on-the-box advertising literature for this expensive KVM switch made it sound ideal. It would supposedly let me share one monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and Internet connection, plus two USB printers, with both of my computers. I am not a computer technician, so installation needed to be straightforward.
When the KVM switch arrived from Amazon.com, I spent a lot of time routing cables behind a bookcase and carefully making all of the connections. Nevertheless, when I turned out the two computers, I had nothing but problems. One computer would not work with the KVM switch at all. The other one would work poorly, with the keyboard only reproducing some characters and randomly repeating others. The mouse had a delay between when I moved it and when the cursor moved on-screen.
Since IOGEAR's technical support is only available Monday through Friday, during business hours, I tried to get things working on my own. I spent many frustrating hours on Saturday reconnecting things and trying various workarounds, but to no avail. Both computers worked properly when I disconnected them from the KVM switch and hooked them up directly to the keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Today, Monday, I called IOGEAR. Their technical support person (who said she is outside the U.S.) did not sound especially knowledgeable about the product, but eventually pointed to a problem with the NVIDIA product described in the Properties window that she had me call up on my monitor. She started to suggest modifying my computers with the addition of some sort of internal card, to enable their KVM switch to work.
Rather than start adding internal computer hardware to address an incompatibility with NVIDIA products, I asked to speak to someone else. After keeping me on hold quite a while she said she'd have to get them to call me back. After waiting a little while, I called back to IOGEAR's customer service and spoke to someone else, in Irvine, CA. After asking me some questions about my computers, he said that the problem was indeed due to an NVIDIA product -- but not on my monitor. Rather, he said it was due to the NVIDIA product on my new computer's motherboard. He said it has a known (to IOGEAR) incompatibility issue with this KVM switch, and that to work around it I would need to install some sort of card in my brand new, very expensive,computer. I asked but he said that they would not pay for the card or the labor to do this, and would not accept responsibility for not letting potential customers know in advance that this serious incompatibility with NVIDIA -- a common and widespread brand of computer hardware, exists.
That is not acceptable to me. I will be returning the KVM switch. I strongly recommend that readers of this review contact IOGEAR before purchasing this product to make sure, in advance, that it will work with their computers, since IOGEAR says nothing about any possible, potentially serious incompatibility issues in their advertising literature for this product which I read online at their Website and at Amazon.com, and then based my purchase decision on. Note that the printed system requirements on the product's box completely matched both of my computer systems specs.
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IOGear 4-Port MiniView Symphony Multi-function KVM Switch with Cables GCS1774Product Description: IOGEARs Symphony multi-function 4-Port KVM Switch represents the new wave in KVM technology. The Symphony allows you to control four computers using a single VGA monitor, USB keyboard and mouse. In addition, it has a built-in USB 2.0 hub, Ethernet 10/100 switch, and audio sharing capabilities. With its built-in USB 2.0 High Speed hub, slow transfer rates are a thing of the past. Fully compatible with USB 2.0 standards, this KVM allows you to share your USB peripherals and transfer data at up to 480 Mbps. In addition, the audio ports allow you to connect one set of speakers and microphone, and share them among your computers. To complement your KVM setup, IOGEARs Symphony KVM sports a full-featured Ethernet 10/100 switch. This built-in Ethernet switch allows you to easily network and share internet with your computers. Among its many features, it supports auto-sensing, 10/100 Mbps speed, and is fully compliant with 802.3 networking standard.
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