Are you guys sure about this IRQ thing?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sippy Cup
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Sippy Cup

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I read another forum where a guy was using an M-Audio card, and he tried turning off ACPI, but when he changed his card's IRQ, the problem didn't go away! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to use this card; I spent too much money and time acquiring it to ditch it now, but I can't seem to find away to get around this static crap! AGH! Are you guys POSITIVE that IRQ sharing is what's causing my static sound with the M-Audio Delta 1010LT? Have you used one before? Maybe I ought to share a clip with you so you can hear exactly what it sounds like. Help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I'd say try the IRQ thing. If it doesn't work then look for more solutions, but you may already have one.
 
It changed the IRQ, but does it share its IRQ with another device?

Have you thought about turning of some fancy display settings? Like menu shadows and stuff like that?
 
I haven't tried it. I will. I'm definitely not going to try turning off ACPI anymore. When I did, I had to reinstall Windows, because it caused problems that I couldn't fix, so I guess there is no way for me to decide which IRQ it goes to, except to move it around in my PCI slots. I may try creating a new user account with which I can use a specialized hardware profile. I don't know if that will work, but it might.
 
Well, I'm using the same card without problem at all :) I'm not quite sure about your setup, but if you think the card is okay, then it must be the setup. Some certain combination of hardware might cause the noises, which needs to tweak a bit to run smooth. Can you post your complete setup again?

;)
Jaymz
 
System Summary

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer ABIT
System Model 6A69SA1B
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 1 Stepping 3 GenuineIntel ~1699 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG, 7/19/2001
SMBIOS Version 2.2
Total Physical Memory 512.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 277.31 MB
Total Virtual Memory 1.72 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.28 GB
Page File Space 1.22 GB
Page File C:pagefile.sys


IRQs

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 3 M Audio Delta 1010LT OK
IRQ 4 Realtek AC'97 Audio OK
IRQ 5 MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 10 NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 OK
IRQ 11 3Com EtherLink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX) OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK


For software, I'm using Cakewalk Music Creator Pro24 2004. I don't know if you're using that, or if you're familiar with it or not, but here are my audio settings in it:

Playback Timing Master: Realtek AC'97 Audio 1/2 (That's built in)
Record Timing Master: M Audio Delta 1010LT Mutlichannel
Number of Aux Buses: 2
Number of Virtual Mains: 4
Audio Driver Bit Depth: 16
Sampling Rate: 44100 HZ
File Bit Depth: 16
Buffers in Playback Queue: 2
Buffer Size: Safe, 350.8 msec

File System

Read and Write Caching both disabled
I/O Buffer Size: 64 kb

Playback and Recording

Driver Mode: Use Default (also has WDM/KS, ASIO, and MME (32-bit) listed)
Apply Dither: Yes
Share Drivers With Other Programs: Yes
Play Effect Tails After Stopping: No

Synchronization:
No settings applied here.

Input Monitoring:
Nothing set here.

Driver Profiles

M Audio Delta 1010LT (12 in, 10 out)
Access Driver in Mono: No
WavePipe(TM) Acceleration: Yes
Stream>16 bit data as: 32 bit PCM, left-justified
DMA Buffer Sizes (Samples): all set to 384

Realtek AC'97 Audio (1 in, 4 out)
Access Driver in Mono: No
WavePipe(TM) Acceleration: Yes
Stream>16 bit data as: 3 bytes
DMA Buffer Sizes (Samples)
16-bit/S
at 11025 Hz, 110
at 22050 Hz, 220
at 44100 Hz, 442
at 48000 Hz, 480
at 96000 Hz, 960
16-bit/M
at 11025 Hz, 112
at 22050 Hz, 220
at 44100 Hz, 444
at 48000 Hz, 480
at 96000 Hz, 960
24-bit/S
at 11025 Hz, 384
at 22050 Hz, 384
at 44100 Hz, 384
at 48000 Hz, 384
at 96000 Hz, 384
24-bit/M
at 11025 Hz, 384
at 22050 Hz, 384
at 44100 Hz, 384
at 48000 Hz, 384
at 96000 Hz, 384

I thought maybe not sharing drivers with other programs would help, but it didn't. I messed with nearly all of these settings to no avail. The only thing that really changed the quality of the recording was the buffer size. You can adjust it from fast (latency of 10 ms) to safe (latency of 340 ms). Safe sounds a lot better than fast, but even all the way over, and with Buffers in Playback Queue set to 16 instead of 2, I still get some popping and clicking, like static.

Also, the IRQ is not the problem. I messed around with hardware profiles and in BIOS until I finally got the M-Audio card on its own IRQ (IRQ 3, I disabled to COM ports, hehe). There was no change in the quality of the recording, so IRQ sharing doesn't affect this card, obviously. It is something else. Should I use ASIO drivers or something? I don't know what my default is, it's just set to "Default."
 
Did you try a different driver/
With M-audio the latest driver is not always the best.
 
:eek: WOW!
That's too much :D :D :D

Anyway, let's solve things step by step starting from most well known problem. I think the first place to look for problem lies somewhere on the AC 97 onboard soundcard. Restart the computer, go to BIOS setup, dissable the AC97 onboard sound device.
Then in Cakewalk, set Playback Timing Master: M Audio Delta 1010LT. Record Timing Master: M Audio Delta 1010LT Mutlichannel.

Driver Mode: Use either WDM or ASIO.

acidrock was right, use M-Audio driver vers. 27 or .36. Don't use .29, it has many problems.

See if that helps, and be back for more...

;)
Jaymz
 
5.10.0.5027
That is the driver version I'm using, released 4/11/2002. I'll try that other stuff right now and see what I can get out of it.
 
I disabled the AC'97 and recorded, but there's no playback. I guess I need to hook my speakers up to one of the M-Audio outputs on the back, but that sucks, 'cause I left the output dangly piece at my friend's house. :( I should be able to hear it if I save it and then restart and enable the AC'97, though.. If this works, there should be no problems with the recorded audio, I would think. I'll try that.
 
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I should have known it was the AC'97, this thing has given me trouble with just about everything.. I'm sure my friend's computer had built in audio too, probably even AC'97. That's where we tried this card first. It's now in my computer. Now all I need to do is get the output dangly thing (I wish I knew the technical term for that thing) and plug up some speakers to it to get playback. YAY! Thanks a lot, everyone. I won't be going anywhere else for help from now on. LoL.

Thanks again! :D
 
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