Sonar3, Aardvark 24/96, Win XP Just Isn't working.

  • Thread starter Thread starter stratton
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stratton,

I haven't been following this thread (because other than Sonar I don't run an Aardvark), but I just had a thought... All of your descriptions of the computer talk about your sound card.

What other components do you have in your PC & what power Power Supply are you running (watts)? If you aren't running a powerful one to accomodate for your computer that might cause some issues of the card not working. I mean, if you are running 4 HDD's (which can be done), 2 CD drives, Video, Sound Card, Network Card USB components firewire etc, you might not have enough power to run everything!

Just a thought,

Porter
 
stratton said:
I did finally put the card in another PC, the one I used it with for about 3 years. It worked fine.

I'm beginning to suspect the mainboard, am Abit IC7. Ya never know. Do I swap it out? Return the Abit as being defective? How do I know it is defective, and not the Aard being marginal?

Ken
Click to expand...

It is looking like that could be the cause.... I do remember that there was an item in the Aard FAQ's which talked about incompatibility with a certain BIOS, but I thought it was a Via chipset, so the Abit....

Hold the phone, I just looked at that FAQ - here is a quote -

"Motherboards:
Chipset is generally the best predictor of compatibility and performance, but it's still wise to stick to a well known manufacturer when purchasing a motherboard. Companies like Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, Intel, and Tyan are usually safe bets when selecting a motherboard. "

So much for that theory....

The only other thing that I could suggest would be to see if Abit have a BIOS update for your board. Who knows, it is possible there may be some obscure PCI bridging bug in your BIOS rev. which is causing the problem.

Tell Aardvark - see what they say.

:) Q.

P.S. Did you try a complete, new, fresh install of XP? There may be some registry SNAFU in your Ghost image.....
 
"What other components do you have in your PC & what power Power Supply are you running (watts)?"


What he said. I'm actually even less concerned with the supposed "wattage" of the PS as I am about the make and model of it. A shady branded 400w PS is total garbage compared to, say, an Antec TruePower 380 (or even a Surepower 350, for that matter).

Actually, could you walk us through the entire setup? I mean, RAM (brand and model), HD(s), everything please. Also, what slots are you using in your M/B and with what cards?

The IC7 uses Intel's i875 chipset, which IMHO is the best chipset they've made since the late, great 440BX. I doubt it's that.
 
OK, here's the rig, which by the way, is fully supported by Aardvark.

Power Supply: Antech TruePower 430W
Motherboard: Abit IC7 w/Intel 875P Chipset BIOS rev. 17 (latest)
Intel 2.8Ghz P4 800 Mhz FSB
RAM: 2X Kingston PC3200 DDR400 512MB
Video: ATI Radeon 9000 128MB
Hard Drives: Ultra ATA Maxtor 80GB + Western Digital 120GB
Floppy: Sony
Burner: OptoWrite combo DVD-RW/CD-RW
NIC: OEM D-link DFE-530 2
CPU Fan: Zalman CNPS7000
Case: Nexus iStyle
Case Fan: Zalman ZM-F2

Q, I haven't yet tried re-installing the OS.

Ken
 
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Nice rig, at least I can't harp on you for component choice. And yes, that PS should be more than adequate.

Have you tried removing the NIC as well? Qwerty alluded to that, but I don't think (unless I'm not reading the thread right) you mentioned if you tried that yet. You might want to try using a different PCI slot for the Aardvark as well.

Qwerty also mentioned a truly fresh (not Ghosted) OS. Worth a try, for sure.

Also, are you doing any overclocking? If so, go back to default speeds for the CPU and try again.

Once you've tried those options (and presuming they didn't help), I'd have to say it's probably the M/B.
 
Thanks Marquis.

No overclocking, stock setup on everything. From a trouble shooting standpoint I supoose it is worth checking out a fresh OS install. Hmm. Think I'm going to call Abit, too.

Ken
 
stratton said:
Thanks Marquis.

No overclocking, stock setup on everything. From a trouble shooting standpoint I supoose it is worth checking out a fresh OS install. Hmm. Think I'm going to call Abit, too.

Ken
Click to expand...

But have you tried swapping your PCI Card around? Like both Qwerty and Marquis have suggested?

Porter
 
Porter said:
But have you tried swapping your PCI Card around? Like both Qwerty and Marquis have suggested?

Porter
Click to expand...

And the NIC!

:) Q.

Don't you just love PC's??
 
Qwerty said:
And the NIC!

:) Q.

Don't you just love PC's??
Click to expand...

I should have said PCI cardS

Hah.. love PC's .. um, no, but they keep me employed ;)

Porter
 
Porter said:
But have you tried swapping your PCI Card around? Like both Qwerty and Marquis have suggested?

Porter
Click to expand...

Yep. Yes. Should have mentioned that. Aardvark suggested the same thing.

This drama is almost over, as I will figure it out in the next day or so, or replace the motherboard. Pretty sure it isn't the Aard card

Ken
 
My motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP - with the 875 chipset. It has built in ethernet and firewire and 4 parallel ATA connections and SATA connections and USB2, etc. etc.

I run with hyperthreading disabled, and no ethernet active and it works like a charm. It should be compatible with your CPU and memory.

Newegg.com has it for $209.

Just a thought,
-lee-
 
laptoppop said:
My motherboard is the Gigabyte GA-8KNXP - with the 875 chipset. It has built in ethernet and firewire and 4 parallel ATA connections and SATA connections and USB2, etc. etc.

I run with hyperthreading disabled, and no ethernet active and it works like a charm. It should be compatible with your CPU and memory.

Newegg.com has it for $209.

Just a thought,
-lee-
Click to expand...

The senior tech at Aard uses that board. I think that'll be my next step.

BTW, Abit provides this little utility app that let's you monitor system performance, processes, volatge, etc. I looked at the voltage pane and the PCI bus was indeed running low. As I underdstand it, the PCI bus is supposed to see 3.3V, and the numbers read 3.29V at idle.

There doesn't appear to be much margin.

Thanks Lee..
Ken
 
3.29v is really not a problem. I would also inspect it under load as well. I think you'll see, unless there is something wrong with the PS, that the voltages will either stay the same or actually go up (not a lot, like .1 or .2v). This is, of course, exclusive to active PFC power supplies like the Antec TruePower line. However, if you do see it drop significantly, there could be something wrong with the PS.

As for motherboard type, it's obviously your choice. But I'm sure there are no inherent incompatibilities with respect to the IC7.
 
Well, Marquis, you're right, I did check it under load and it didn't change. After all, what's .01V among friends?

But I'm running out of things to try. This afternoon, I tried disabling ACPI and performance was even worse. Thnaks to the XP sys restore I was able to get back right away.

Ken
 
F**k it. I'm out. The Aard goes back into the 550 PIII/Win98 machine where it was happy, and I've cancelled my order of an LX6 in favor of the M-Audio Firewire 410.

Maybe now I'll be able to talk about SONAR3 Producer!

Thank you all for the help, you had some great ideas. Aard support, while pleasant enough, blows. Drivers are clearly behind the curve. I envy you if you have a system that works the Aard stuff, though. I still think their hardware is the best.

Ken
 
Addendum..

I installed the M-Audio Firewire 410. Plug and play. Out of the box, installed and working in less than 10 minutes.

Initial impression is that the box doesn't have the quite the sparkle and sweetness of the 24/96, but at least now I can get back to work.

I was poking around the web looking for stuff about Aardvark compatibility, and I saw a post from a guy who's studio was down for two months trying to get the Aard working. He did finally, but I don't want to have that hanging over my head for another 60 days.

I *may* try again when, umm, IF Aard releases real XP drivers.

Ken
 
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