Brandnew Notebook, Audiofire2 crackles !

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 4:44 pm

HEy guys,

i am going crazy....

Dont know what to do anymore.
Its an Audiocard-problem, less an Ableton problem,
but i hope that somebody can help.

I got a new DELL Laptop Latitude D830
2x2,2 Ghz 2GB Ram, 160GB HD, nice unit.

If i want to use my external audio device, i got crackles over crackles while playing audiofiles from my liveset. (crackles too, if i play tracks with quicktime) If i use the internal audio, its working !
The Audiofire2 runs great with my old laptop, no problem.
Now i am thinking about some XP/Windows specific options, they are not correctly adjusted ?! I am using Audio-software since 10 years, and i never had these crackle-problems. I configured the System, optimized for audio (musicXP.com) and i don´t know what to do more...
hope somebody has an idea.

Thanks

System:

Dell Latitude D830
T7500 Intel Core 2x2,2Ghz
2x1024GB Ram
160GB HD / 7200upm
Windows Prof. SP2
Ableton Live 601/701
Echo Audio Audiofire2 (latest driver)
UC33 Evolution Controller 2x

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 9:49 am

Nobody an idea ?

If i deactivate the DVD/RW, it works !

But thats not the solution!!!
What kind of Notebook is it, when i always have to deactivate the DVD-Drive to get a clean audio signal ?

Dell sucks or what ?

BASSbüro · Post by **BASSbüro** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:19 am

it's always a bit tricky to configure a proper set-up. how about to deactivate your internal network-card? does that help?

Bunky Freaks · Post by **Bunky Freaks** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:16 am

Is the dvd drive connected via an internal usb controller? I saw that implementation on some notebooks. Maybe the usb controller of the dvd drive shares an interrupt with the firewire controller. You can look this up in the device manager (-> view -> sort ressources by connection).

Which brand is the firewire controller? A lot of problems of firewire based audio interfaces are related to the fw controller. Texas Instruments controllers are the most reliable, with differents brands (Agere, VIA,...) ymmv.

Clearscreen · Post by **Clearscreen** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 1:13 am

firstly, are you using the latest drivers for everything? [edit - whoops, just noticed you mention you're using the latests driver...] and have you adjusted the soundcards latency settings? maybe tried the asio4all driver (http://www.asio4all.com) to see if that changes things?

strange that disabling the dvd drive fixes it though - that does make it sound like an IRQ problem which may be a difficult thing to fix...

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:08 am

hey guys,

thanks for your posts.

It seems to be a incompatibility-problem with Santa Rosa and some other components, drivers affecting audio-output via firewire.
I really tried EVERYTHING:
New XP Clean Installation, all XP tuning tips, Bios Settings (deactivation wlan/int.sound/bluetooth), IRQ ok, latest Driver, firmwareupdate...and so many more...
I spoke with the Echo-Support, Ableton Support, Dell Support,,,,
a odyssee...Nothing helped.

I found this thread but all these ideas won´t help too.
I decided to send the LATITUDE back.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=73829

I Found "musikcomputer.de" - a german store. they are building and optimizing notebooks especially for AUDIO ! Think, thats what i need...
(recommend from ableton)

Greetz&THX
A.

Bunky Freaks · Post by **Bunky Freaks** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:57 am

would be nice if you could let us know how your new laptop works out, seems like a nice company and their customization rocks!

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:34 pm

i will !!

oddible · Post by **oddible** » Sat Feb 09, 2008 1:26 am

Having similar problem with a Dell notebook and a FW410 - heard recommendations to get a cardbus FW card... looking into it, can get em pretty cheap.

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:36 am

unfortunately "musikcomputer.de" is not the solution.
they are only using glare (mirroring) displays.
Think is horrorable in a club ?! Or am i wrong ??

Don´t know which Laptop i have to buy, think NO new one with SANTA ROSA, better AMD ? Who knows....
I ordered a 200GB for my old Inspiron6400 and i hope this will be MY solution for now

Dont understand why this problem is not more public.
It seems to be a incompatibility-problem with Intel and firewire !

cheers...

Bunky Freaks · Post by **Bunky Freaks** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:30 pm

i dont think that glare type displays would be that of a big problem. At least if the rest of the machine works smoothly i wouldnt hesitate to try it out. Dont they have some kind of 30 day refund policy or something? You could easily test it for yourself then.

But its true, finding a reliable machine that's working perfectly out of the box is quite a task, thats why i am still gigging with my 4 year old dell tank

. It worked perfectly from day one and still does...

rocker101 · Post by **rocker101** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:59 am

what about AMD processors ?!
this could be a solution ?!Its much more cheaper and i think its running like a intel (without problems) ?!