FIREBOX problems... please help!

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Sun Sep 10, 2006 11:11 am

Check out that offer. I think there s gonna be a few more A100 users shortly.
Sorry its in French but specs are specs:
http://www.fnac.com/Shelf/article.asp?P ... &UID=&Fr=0

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:10 pm

just thought i'd update the forum on this in case anyone finds this thread by searching...

i'm currently thinking that the dropout culprit is the intel shared memory graphics on the laptop. note this is not the gfx card mentioned as being incompatible by presonus.

i'm going to try and swap the laptop for a better one as soon as i can get the hard disk backed up.

i just tried out an echo audiofire 4. definitely my favourite of the 4 interfaces I tried (firebox, emu1616, hercules 1612, echo). unlike the firebox it doesn't have the high-pitched whining noise earth problem - i'm sure this could be fixed by messing with the laptop power supply, but the audiofire must be optically isolated (or something) as it has no problems at all. the 1616 didn't have problems with this either, but the interface was just too clunky and odd, something funny was going on with recording levels, and it would crash the pc if you accidentally unplugged it. only downside to the audiofire is that it only has 4 analog outputs, not 6 like the firebox.

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:31 pm

[img]the%20high-pitched%20whining%20noise%20earth%20problem[/img]

This is a problem that will happen on most laptops with a UK plug.
Insulating the earth wire makes this sound disappear.
Alternatively, buy a continental lead and use it with a plug adaptor from the pound shop.

Good luck with your setup. I hope you'll be luckier with the next machine.
julien

leejones · Post by **leejones** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:54 pm

I'm using a Firebox also and read ur post...

Just a quick note about the crappy 4 pin fireport. Yeah, everytime I lifted my laptop (sony vaio VGN-TX27GP) my soundcard disconnected. I simply bought a PCMCIA card with 2 x 6 pin Fire Wire ports. Perfect. Very sturdy. (althogh, to save on bus power, the 6 pin ports dont have power, so u still need to plug in the power for the soundcard)

I know its simple solution, but some people might not know about it. well worth the £12.99

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 3:57 pm

good tip - actually though i was complaining about the pcmcia cardbus disconnecting on the emu1616, which crashes all of windows instead of just stopping the audio! this is a bit of a bummer on the emu cards, especially as the cardbus socket is flimsy and can pull out easily.

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 2:40 pm

ok another follow up to this thread, for the benefit of anyone thinking of buying a toshiba a100.

The problem is not, repeat not, with the shared graphics. I've ruled it out now. No problems with graphics

What it is is something to do with the fan. Glitches happen when the extra fan starts and stops.

I'll post again when toshiba have figured this out.

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 2:46 pm

that's strange
i don t have this problem at all with my a100

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:09 am

mrweasel wrote:that's strange
i don t have this problem at all with my a100

just thinking mrweasel - which power management do you use? do you use the windows power management set to 'always on' or the toshiba replacement for it ("toshiba power saver") which you can likewise set to maximum performance?

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 1:09 pm

ive tried both and it doesnt seem to affect performace.
at the moment, im just using the windows one

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:10 pm

ok, latest update.

I'm waiting for (fingers crossed) a refund from toshiba because I demonstrated to them that the audio glitches when the fan starts and stops.

Over at toshiba tech support, they refused to buy an audio interface to test with, so I had to demonstrate the glitches with the onboard sound (not using asio4all) with a low buffer setting.

We wondered (given mrweasel's comments that his laptop works fine) whether the ATI models exhibit the same problem. According to support, yes, they do. However there are two caveats here:

1. with the ATI chipset, the fan is on more consistently, so glitches from fan start/stop are much harder to spot.

2. of course, we are dealing with onboard sound and a low buffer setting. They can't tell me whether the ATI models have this problem with external interfaces.

mrweasel (or any other a100 users) - if you're reading this and have a moment to check, I'd be interested to know whether you get any glitches on fan start/stop with (1) onboard sound and (2) your interface, for comparison. for the purposes of testing I turned down the latency to the point where the sound crackled/distorted, then turned it back up a notch.

if you reckon the ati-based a100s really work fine, I think I'll buy one with my refund money (hoping it happens!).

cheers

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:59 am

I haven t done the test but I think its ok as far as I can recall.

One interesting thing though.
THe other day, I tried a Saffire LE on my A100 and it was popping every now and then (whatever the setting), whereas it wasn't on my friend's Dell 9300 (which is even weirder).
Anyways. I tried the Saffire on my girlfriend's A100 (same model except fro ATI X1600 graphix cards instead of X1400) and it worked fine!!!!

To this, I d like to add my Motu 828 works perfectly on both laptops!!

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:24 pm

hmm, which toshiba to buy for guaranteed stability then? the answer seems to be none.

and i can't afford a mac

mrweasel · Post by **mrweasel** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:47 pm

Id say a lot of computers work fine with Motu and RME while they would show problems with the Firebox or Maudio or Saffires.
It could be a myth but it seems there is a share of truth in this.

ciw · Post by **ciw** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:06 pm

yes, this does seem to be the case, it makes life more expensive though! I did try an echo and emu as well!

hmm, I suppose pc laptop + motu is still cheaper than mac + firebox though... might be worth considering.

tricil · Post by **tricil** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:08 pm

ciw wrote:hmm, which toshiba to buy for guaranteed stability then? the answer seems to be none.

and i can't afford a mac

ok two things for you to try:

http://www.presonus.com/faq/index.php?a ... artlang=en

the "low" setting works for me like a charm.

but i wanted to get even lower latency, so i bought and tried this:

http://centrance.com/products/id/

the latency is lower but the glitches are back! grrr.

time for a rollback and eating the 40 dollars i think. but i've only had it for a day, yet there's other drawbacks too.

seriously try the steps at the presonus site. the rightclick CPU switch was the trick for me.

FIREBOX problems... please help!

PCMCIA cards...