Any Q10 users out there using PCI ethernet card? CONFLICTS!

[SQconstable]

I see alot of Aardvark users here, not to mention Ben and Thomas from the company - hey guys, you seem to be here on the forum more than I can get in touch with you on the phone. Oh well... I understand you got a smaller business with an excellent product and are in need of better driver programmers! I think it could really serve your company well. I mean, this Q10 is the best device I have EVER heard and used WHEN it does work. I think the only thing holding your company back is the drivers. Ok, so you may say that they are stable for alot of people, but let's go for every consumer/professional paying you for a product designed to perform. I feel happy that I got something with so many features and is great sounding, but it bothers me that I have conflict with my ethernet card(s) - four now have been tried and the problem continues...

Anybody out there listening, I could really use your help on this problem. I already emailed aardvark-pro with this email:

My OS: WinXP Pro
My Motherboard: Abit BD7-RAID
My Processor: P4 1.6a (oc'd to 2.51 GHz)
Ethernet card: 3Com 3C905B-TX (probably the most common, you might have one)

"I CAN use the Q10 with an ethernet PCI card installed (without having to physically remove it) provided that:

1.) The computer must be booted with the network adapter already DISABLED under the Device Manager in the System control panel. When the desktop appears, the "normal" 15 second lag that shows the card is initializing occurs and the Aark Manager will now work (as well as any audio software). OTHERWISE, if the PC is freshly booted with the ethernet adapter ENABLED as well as the Q10 also ENABLED, the ethernet takes precedence and will work but the Q10 won't. Maybe the ethernet card is initializing first as I enter the Microsoft networking password before the Aardvark drivers can start in the desktop mode!! Somehow the net adapters are conflicting by being allocated resources that the Q10 host card needs (which ones, I have NO clue).

2.) After the Q10 is initialized, I then may go back into the System Device Manager and re-ENABLE the ethernet adapter. After a couple seconds, the net card will now transmit and receive and my internet connection is perfect. Most of the time this method works and the Q10 and ethernet work simultaneously. HOWEVER, system freezes are more frequent to where sound stutters infinitely, even when closing all sound applications, the Aark Manager, or aardvark.exe by using End Process. It hangs so I have to reboot or mute that output group in the Manager that is bussing that annoying stutter to get it to go away. Sometimes my input devices freeze too so I must hold the power switch down for 5 seconds to shutdown the PC.

3.) The ethernet adapter MUST be disabled prior to rebooting. Of course, this is sometimes difficult to do since I cannot anticipate when the system may totally freeze to where I can't End Process on the problems.

I wonder if the aardvark drivers could be rewritten to override the net card and delay it's initialization while the Q10 does it first. I can't use the computer for 15 seconds anyway when the desktop comes up cause the Q10 is already trying to start (you know, that annoying mouse freezing that makes you feel like that fast processor you bought isn't allowing you to take advantage of using your PC ASAP?).

Let me say that I know what you're thinking... my processor is overclocked so much that the PCI card is going nuts.... WRONG. I've got the PCI bus speed fixed to 66MHz and my system is very stable (has NEVER crashed prior to getting the Q10 working in conjunction with the 3Com card). I've ALSO tried the default 1.6GHz processor speed and the same problem exists.

No, there aren't any IRQ conflicts, Memory Address Range conflict, nor are there I/O address conflicts (of course)!

Seems to be just a timing issue between initialization of the net card and the Aark host card. Tug-of-war! And I don't see the rope!!!!!!!!!!!

[SQconstable]

And no, I still do not think that sending you one of my ethernet cards is going to help you recreate the issue. Either alot of people don't use an ethernet card on their DAW, or it's specific to Abit mobo's.

Someone once inquired why the heck one would want to even install a net card on a DAW.
Well, think about transferring files between PC's in a studio, or one of my jobs - webpage music and soundeffects.

I surely hope this is not the arguement of the developer(s) of the Q10. PC's are darn cheap and powerful enough to multitask all that.

[Rv-Sound]

Man, I don't want to defend aardvark but those 3com cards not only have problems with aardvark cards. I've also seen issues with some of these and echo/M-audio products.

[joemix]

So everything is ok without the ethernet card? Try a different card. That's a lot better than my scenario, I need a whole new system cause my 533fsb, 2.26 PIV - RDRAM machine is not compatible with the Q10 http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif

[SQconstable]

I said I've used four different ethernet cards.


Ones I've tried:

3Com (tried two of the 3C905B-TX's)
SMC (SMC1208T - "EZCARD10")
Linksys (EG1032)
Hawking Technology (Gigabit NIC 10/100/1000)

All these cards were installed separately and used WinXP Pro's drivers upon identification on startup. With the exception of the SMC, the other three worked perfectly on every computer I have used and built. All work fine with the Layla, Delta66, and the Delta1010.

I've got no reason to try more cards. Certainly and obviously this is not the fault of my ethernet cards.

Special thanks to Metrowerks of Austin (Motorola) for the testing of the Hawking and the Linksys cards.

[SQconstable]

OMG! That must be horrible. I feel more fortunate to have these failures over yours!! I was planning on building another producer his DAW a 533FSB with RDRAM (that's what he said he wanted, not DDR) and said he liked my card... what motherboard you got? Maybe it's one of those specific things?

One of my friends with an Athlon system and his Delta1010 insists that Abit mobo's just plain suck and are buggy, but then you hear that about everything! He has an Asus and I feel his could be better too, but I didn't design his system http://www.audioforums.com/forums/wink.gif

Oh man.... computers...

Someone please go apply for driver designer at Aardvark.

[Nick Driver]

For what it's worth, I've got the Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 (does this use the same PCI card as the Q10?) in a rambus machine (ASUS P4T-E) and an Intel Pro/100+ nic and it's working very well together, with the exception of the big delay in starting up Windows Media Player, Winamp, etc (universal problem right now). Works fine with Sonar 2.0 XL, Samplitude "Project", Fruityloops and Reason demos.

If you could get your hands on one of these Intel nics (Pro/100, any model with the 8255x chip on the nic), it'd be worth trying out. I've found the Intels to have the fewest compatibility problems of any nic on the planet.

Are you in Austin TX?

[This message has been edited by Nick Driver (edited 07-29-2002).]

[SQconstable]

http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif

I am in North Austin (Pflugerville).

I hear the same thing about Intel NIC's being less problematic. It's hard to say if your card would work fine on my mobo (still alot of variables, and I don't know if the 24/96 has same host card or not). I'd be willing to try one though. I'll see if I can get one from the techies at Metrowerks.

But still... how the heck did Midiman and Echo get their stuff working on my PC and the Q10 doesn't? Hmmm... bad drivers...

You from Austin?

[SQconstable]

Like this one?


"PILA8461 Intel PRO/100+ PCI Management, WOL, Intel 82558B Chipset
PILA 8461 OEM Compaq,
Spare part# 323556-001(Part - PILA8461)
$14
$9 shipping, FedEx Air"

Pretty inexpensive!

[joemix]

Nick, did you run the WMP patch? Still hang huh?

The patch DOES actually work(no more delay!) if you happen not to be using the i850/e chipset, and are using an Athlon(that's what Aardvark uses for testing, and I believe they find out about other platform compatibility mostly throught their customer's experiences). Not sure how well the i845 DDR fairs, but judging by this thread, I'm not apt to try one! LOL

How do your RAM bandwidth benchmarks look before and after disabling the Aardvark? If it's like my i850/e systems(8IHXP & TH7II), it's pretty rough..There's obviously some inherent compatibility issues.

I realize some people don't care about Windows Media Player, and RAM bandwidth, but I've got a lot invested in my DAW, and feel that there's no reason it shouldn't perform as advertised.

Thanks!

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

LOOK SQconstable!!!! - Why dont you check the IRQ sharing?

AGP and PCI-1 share an IRQ
PCI-2,PCI-3,PCI-4,PCI-5 and PCI-6 dividedly used an IRQ.
Manually assigning the IRQs is possible in BIOS
"PnP/PCI configuration" submenu,
PIRQ_0 is for AGP and PCI-1
PIRQ_1 is for PCI-2
PIRQ_2 is for HPT 372 Chip.
PIRQ_3 is for reserve.
PIRQ_4 is for PCI-3
PIRQ_5 is for PCI-6
PIRQ_6 is for PCI-5
PIRQ_7 is for PCI-4
I have the same system - but use the realtek RTL8139 nic.
No probs at all.
Disable anything you dont use in the bios to free up resources.

[Nick Driver]

Originally posted by SQconstable:
http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif

I am in North Austin (Pflugerville).
You from Austin?

Actually I'm just a wee bit further north of there (Wichita Falls), but I will be flying down (got my own little airplane) to visit some friends who live on Lake Travis either this weekend or the next. I have a spare Intel Pro/100 nic and would offer to trade you for the 3Com/Linksys/whatever, unless that's too long to wait. Email me (nicdriver at toast dot com) if you're interested.

The Compaq spare you quoted is a good one at a darned cheap price, but its funny that Fedex shipping costs almost as much as the nic itself http://www.audioforums.com/forums/biggrin.gif.

joemix: I did install the WMP patch and it might have helped a small amount, but WMP/Winamp/whatever still takes around 10-15 seconds to start up when I click on an mp3 file.
I haven't run anything to test system benchmarks since I installed the Aardvark. I did benchmark the system when I first built ita couple months ago, and it was one screamin' monster then.... I'll run the tests again tonight and see what's up.

mrs FuDpUcKeR's advice on not sharing any IRQ's on critical hardware is a good one. I made sure to install my XP Pro as "Standard PC" and my motherboard has bios settings to disable plug and play and select the interrupt controller as "PIC" mode, not ACPI. I made sure the Aardvark host card was plugged into a non-shared PCI slot and I reserved a nailed IRQ for it, and for my disc controller card too... my nic is using the shared IRQ 9 and has no problems with that. The on-board AC97 audio is disabled by a hardware jumper as well as also in the bios screens.

[Rv-Sound]

Ths is cetrainly very very strange, as I'm using even a VIA kt-133a chipset (known to be a good daw hater), and my direct pro 2496 is working just fine sitting a long a cheap $30 NIC. And I never had any problems when installing drivers and the like (well, I always did like to start from a fresh OS install when switching drivers).

[SQconstable]

Originally posted by mrs FuDpUcKeR:
LOOK SQconstable!!!! - Why dont you check the IRQ sharing?

Disable anything you dont use in the bios to free up resources.


There are no shared resources or IRQ conflicts. I did manually try to force IRQ 5, 10, 11, and 12 to the Q10. Cool thing is that XP saw the newly connected device in those IRQ's... but the moment I install the Aardvark driver, it sets it to IRQ 17 (even if the BIOS is set to Manual and an actual IRQ# for that PCI slot). Every combination of things I have tried (am not computer illiterate at all) and still, I have to initialize the Q10 first before the net card. What a pain.

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

There are no shared resources or IRQ conflicts. I did manually try to force IRQ 5, 10, 11, and 12 to the Q10. Cool thing is that XP saw the newly connected device in those IRQ's... but the moment I install the Aardvark driver, it sets it to IRQ 17 (even if the BIOS is set to Manual and an actual IRQ# for that PCI slot). Every combination of things I have tried (am not computer illiterate at all) and still, I have to initialize the Q10 first before the net card. What a pain.
Well I think I know where the problem is!!
Disable APIC - search to find more about it.
DO NOT use ACPI!! F5 when installing XP.
LOOK I know a lot of people just install normally - MIGHT WORK ON SOME BOARDS - NOT THIS ONE. You wont have twice as many IRQS as normal but you problems WILL be over!!
I,ve had the probs you described when using APIC&ACPI - I am using the same mobo.
Although you have twice as many IRQS using APIC & ACPI they can share memory addresses.
My System:
0 - system timer
1 - keyboard
6 - floppy
8 - cmos
9 - ACPI
12 - mouse
13 - numeric data
14 - prim ide
15 - sec ide
3 - AARDVARK Q10 [DE100000]-[DE10FFFF]
5 - matrox g550
7 - santa cruz
9 - SMBus controller (sharing with ACPI not used)
10 - realtek nic
11 - adaptec scsi

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

[QUOTE]Every combination of things I have tried (am not computer illiterate at all) and still, I have to initialize the Q10 first before the net card. What a pain.[QUOTE/]
IRQ 17?
NOT EVERY COMBINATION EH????????

I did'nt mean to imply that you were computer illiterate, but this WILL work - or you can bring it to me and I'll sort it out!!!

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

Hey I am computer illiterate, when it comes to typing, sorry!

[joemix]

http://egosys.net/1-pro/help/acpi_standard/readme.htm

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

joemix! What's all that crap about?
LOOK how old that is - Win2k? 1999?!!

Dont confuse the poor fellow!

Got nothing to do with real life applications on the ABIT BD7 RAID mobo using XP.

Of course!! YOU'RE the idiot who keeps complaining to Thomas of Aardvark about those wonderful drivers.

Need a good slapping if you ask me.

[Nick Driver]

Originally posted by joemix:
How do your RAM bandwidth benchmarks look before and after disabling the Aardvark?


joemix,

I ran my PCMark-2002 benchmark tests last night, with the Aardvark "service" shutdown in the services applet, and with the device disabled in device manager and did indeed see that when the the device is enabled, my machine takes a pretty unhealthy performance hit in both CPU and MEM scores. Just turning the service on or off doesn't change much but disabling the device sure does. As long as I can still record/play/mix plenty of simultaneous tracks, I'll be happy with the Aardvark, but if it starts to give me any serious grief, I'll consider ditching it for something else. Right now it's doing the job I need it to do, and I can always disable the device in an alternate hardware profile to boot up when I want to play 3D games on the PC.

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

SQconstable - By the way, I'm glad you overclock that sucker, thats the way it should be. http://www.audioforums.com/forums/wink.gif
I can only get full stability @2.2ghz http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif

[joemix]

mrs Fudpacker, what? you're the one saying he needs to reinstall Windows XP and "press F5" to disable ACPI.

The link above shows basically the same steps you would use in Windows XP to disable ACPI, WITH OUT reinstalling the OS.

[This message has been edited by joemix (edited 07-31-2002).]

[SQconstable]

True, that link does demonstrate the method of disabling it in win2K, but the same options are here for me (no difference at all) in XP Pro.

So. Thanks for reading my post and helping! I thought I was the only audio person with this mobo, but it's a good mobo! I get so much better performance than other boards I've tried.

Question... Will disabling this also help my buddy that has the newer, BD7II-RAID to solve audio clicks with his Delta66? It was bad at first - clicks would happen all the time even at almost any latency. The ONLY time it would not occur was when dragging a window or holding the mouse button down. And then we removed the USB devices.. and now it's the opposite, so it clicks only when dragging a window (now that sounds more like a latency issue doesn't it?). Yet no clicks at 3ms using a handful of VSTi's with audio tracks. So the problem seems like it may be this ACPI/APIC thing OR it could be that his ATI RADEON 8500 AGP card is just hurting the performance of his machine. For one, I did notice that my graphics on an older Nvidia MX400 were much faster at drawing (Counterstrike games esp.). Then with audio, I have few problems with dragging window pops (mine happen at much lower latencies with his).

I do know this about that Radeon card - even eith the PCI bus fixed at 66MHz, that his BD7II-RAID with a 1.8a chip could barely be OC'd past 2100 without some serious stability issue, WHEREAS my BD7-RAID with 1.6a can get to 2.51GHz with absolutely NO problems (it runs SO much smoother). I did even find out that Video BIOS caching enabling does result in faster desktop drawing from startup plus quicker popups of GUIs within Cubase SX.

I am wondering if his problem with the clicks is the video card. It already causes slower stable OC'ing and less gaming quality, so I wonder if it might have a connection... Again, his ACIP/APIC is still enabled.

What other problems went away, or were there any changes noticeable with processing speed or multitasking (RAM-hungry tasks) when you disabled your APIC????

[Nick Driver]

I've got the Radeon 7500 in my DAW, did have a bit of problem with clicks and static while dragging windows and opening menus, but that all went away when I turned off the "Show Window Contents While Dragging" option in the Display Properties of the desktop. I recommend disabling the ACPI just because I prefer to be in positive control of my machine's IRQ assignments and demand that my critical cards such as audio interface & raid controller have nailed, dedicated IRQs of either IRQ5, IRQ10 or IRQ11, that way they are handled thru the lean & clean classic PIC pathway and not thru a potentially messy bunch of cascaded re-mapping stuff in the ACPI hardware/firmware/os drivers which I do not trust.

SQconstable: I'll be in Austin this weekend (near Lakeway on Lake Travis), if you're interested in swapping for the Intel Pro/100 ethernet card (I'd trade it for any other 10/100 card that'll work in Linux box) let me know and I'll bring it down with me. Email nicdriver@toast.com for contact info if you want it.

[SQconstable]

My friend disabled the "Show Window Contents While Dragging" option and it doesn't click at 6ms, but he is seeing that anything at a lower latency on his computer is just not stable and gets clicks with 4 VSTi's and some effects. I've got more or less the same mobo and tried his Delta66 on mine and got decent results at about 3 or 4ms and loaded it plenty.

He's complaining that his G3 was able to do more.


As far as my PC goes...I just rebooted after changing the Uniprocessor PC to Standard PC. Here's the IRQ's now...looks alot better and seems that the grouping of similar IRQ's are at least simplpe controllers (do they still seem to conflict?):

0 - System timer
1 - Easy internet keyboard (usb)
3 - COM2
4 - COM1
5 - Nvidia MX400
6 - floppy disk controller
8 - RTC
9 - Direct Pro Q10
9 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443
10 - 3Com
11 - HPT372 RAID Controller
11 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2442
11 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2444
12 - PS2 mouse (usb)
13 - Numeric Data Processor
14 - Primary IDE channel
15 - secondary IDE channel


The aark manager still does not work when booting with the net card enabled.
If there's something else i need to do, please let me know!

[This message has been edited by SQconstable (edited 08-01-2002).]

[SQconstable]

Ok, I found the APCI disable function in the BIOS. IT's interesting that it lets all those manual changes to IRQ's actually work!

I switched my Q10 and my AGP card's IRQ's to test it and this is what I get:

0 - System timer
1 - Easy internet keyboard (usb)
3 - COM2
4 - COM1
5 - Direct Pro Q10
5 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443
6 - floppy disk controller
8 - RTC
9 - Nvidia MX400
10 - 3Com
11 - HPT372 RAID Controller
11 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2442
11 - Intel 82801 BA/BAM Universal Host Controller - 2444
12 - PS2 mouse (usb)
13 - Numeric Data Processor
14 - Primary IDE channel
15 - secondary IDE channel


It appears that hose controllers follow certain devices around and cannot be avoided. Should the Intel 82801 BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443 be bound to the Q10's IRQ?

Either way, this does not resolve the original issue of the net card conflicting when enabled upon booting the PC.

I don't know what else it could be other than every single one of those netcards I tried conincidently just do NOT work with the Q10. But that's hard for me to believe. I wonder if Nick Driver's Intel card has something different about it. Nick, are you connected to a cable modem service (via DHCP server) constantly? I'm on Cox Cable connection and am just wondering if it might get some weird receiving data that interrupts something?
Nick, what are you using your netcard for specifically? Networking locally or internet or both?


I really wish Thomas, Ben, or Dave H. would buy this motherboard and test it. Return policies are good for that stuff fellas! Until you do, I will continue to hassle for an answer. In a sense, I paid you (your company) to give me a device that would work.

[Nick Driver]

I use the network card in my DAW for both internal network and for surfing the Internet. I've got a DSL full-time connection to a DSL router and my home's entire network sits behind that router. The router does NAT and all the computers in my home have RFC1918-style IP addresses (192.168.x.x). I have fixed IP address assignments, both inside the house and on the exterior DSL port of my router. My ISP's owner happens to be an old college buddy who gave me a fixed address for no additional cost instead of the DHCP addresses like the rest of his DSL residential customers get http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif

[Nick Driver]

SQconstable: something's still not quite right with your IRQ's. The Direct Pro Q10 should be the solitary item on a single IRQ value, not sharing the IRQ with the SMBus controller (part of the USB controller?) or anything else. Have you made sure it's in a non-shared PCI slot, and not the one next to the AGP slot, and also disabled Plug-n-Play in the bios and say "Yes" to reset the PNP config data (whatever verbage to that effect in the bios screens) and manually assigned a dedicated IRQ value (5, 10, or 11) to the Aardvark card's PCI slot?

[studio912]

I just stumbled across this post and I can't believe this is still going on. This may be a none Aardvark technical issue, but it seems they always steal the scene when it comes to things not working right when installed. I want to feel bad for everyone but after more than a year of seeing people post all the problems they have with aardvark I think it's just bad research on the persons part that buys their crap.
I did love Aardvark had the Aark 24 but the support and drivers area a joke. I bought an RME 9652 and a Creamware Ultra 16 and have never had an issue from the moment i installed it. My advise is to cut your losses get an RME or something thats proven stable and make music. enough is enough. Just my 2 cents.... good luck.

[Aardvark]

Jonathan,

Your situation is unique. Contact me with your phone number and we will get it straightend out.

Thomas Adler
Aardvark
734-665-8899

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

LOOK !!! There are far too many of you IDIOTS that use their flippin' DAW PC's for other mundane office, game type applications.??????
What the heck do YOU want COM ports and PRINTER ports enabled for? Or USB for that matter? What about RAID? - How many of YOU USE IT?
I DO, but not on my DAW. Mainly because of the scsi&Highpoint issue. We have to make a little sacrifice, would you not agree?

LOOK !!! My Q10 is on IRQ 3. Does that give YOU a clue???

Plus I have more in this tower than you would think possible. (brag brag) All powered by enermax 550watt psu. Which is another issue a lot of you fail to recognise - are you STILL using the pathetic PSU that came with your case.

THOMAS!!! Your helpful comments to others in trying to assist them setup Aardvark soundcards,(a simple procedure for most)is highly appreciated by many including myself.
But most of all I admire the way you calmly reply to some, who just have not got a clue, and in their frustration, put down a SUPERB PRODUCT such as the Q10, which in my opinion, is one of the FINEST out there.

[SQconstable]

Why would a studio need a printer? There are many necessities: receipts, track sheets, lyric sheets, contracts, notices, schematic printouts for electronic repair, and daily life.

COM ports... wonder what you need those for?
how about digital camera connection for uploading artwork for jewel cases. Or for upgrading the Kernal or LinuxOS in the RioCar.

USB?!? How about a wireless transport that works across my room as well as the mouse!
A webcam so I can take a break and visit with my parents whom I never spend time with.
USB 2.0 is a big thing, ya know?

I've never heard a law that said you shouldn't use these things because your audio interface will not be able to handle it. Maybe you just don't have alot of peripheral devices you actually have uses for in the studio environment?

RAID performance is subjective for you if you don't have tools to prove well in benchmark tests. So I can understand how you feel.

Yeah, kinda crazy to settle for a noisy poorer quality PSU that comes with cases, but Directron.com sells alot of their stuff with the PSU you have. Mine's an Enermax and is nicely quiet.

Your clue of IRQ3 is vague - sounds like your PCI bus just decided to install it there, an action of your specific motherboard. Nice research there! How applicable to everyone else's scenario.

A superb product like the Q10, if really superb (well it is) shouldn't have to operate under such bare circumstances (no USB, COM1, COM2, RAID). Ask Your Greatest! You're making the Q10 sound as if it has a crutch.

[Aardvark]

sQconstable and I talked on the phone tonight, we are going to talk again next week.

In almost all cases, you dont need to jump through hoops to get the Q10 to work right on your system.

In his case, the problems he is experiencing appear to be related to a motherboard incompatibilty and 'not' anything to do with Aardvark's drivers, ACPI, IRQs...etc.

We are completely 100% compatible with NIC cards, as all of our testing systems in the office have the 3Com NIC cards that peacefully coexist with our audio cards. In this case, the Q10 works fine on the m/b when the NIC card is removed, but put the NIC card in and it doesnt work. Thats a pretty unusual situation to be sure.

So...this being Windows based PC audio...with a gazillion different motherboard manufacturers using a dozen different chipsets, with their own twist on PCI architecture and their own often poorly written drivers.

End result: Incompatibilities are rare but do sometimes exist.

We state confidently that we are compatible with the 850 chipset, and I know we are. But are we compatible with the particular motherboard/NIC combo that sQconstable is using? We will figure that out, and if it is not...then we will not recommend it, and also make note of it in the technical support section of our website.

Thomas Adler
Aardvark
thomas@aardvark-pro.com



[This message has been edited by Aardvark (edited 08-03-2002).]

[joemix]

mrs Fudpacker,

All you've done is reiterate the points Nick Driver has made(who is obviously more qualified than yourself). I don't think anybody really cares what IRQ port, or PSU you're using, or what you think of the Q10 for that matter.

BTW Thomas, the BD7 has an 845 chipset http://www.audioforums.com/forums/wink.gif

[mrs FuDpUcKeR]

joemix!!! It seems to me that you just WHINE about everything, I doubt if you could get a printer installed (LPT1)let alone a decent soundcard, on ANY mobo!! - So I will not even consider your pathetic comments. (SLAP SLAP)

SQconstable!!! Nobody uses COM ports for digital camera (or anything else) - get a USB 5in1 reader and stick it in your other PC, and whilst you're at it, install your printer there too (for your jewel case artwork!!)
USB 2? - It's NOT on the BD7 RAID!!

One thing - you THICK idiots miss the point about quality power supplies - its NOT how noisey the FAN is!!!!??????

Can't you understand??? - to free up resources improves stability - which is the whole point, and applies to ANY soundcard by any manufacturer.

After all, to quote Thomas - "So...this being Windows based PC audio...with a gazillion different motherboard manufacturers using a dozen different chipsets, with their own twist on PCI architecture and their own often poorly written drivers" - I rest my case.

[Aardvark]

joe mix said 'BTW Thomas, the BD7 has an 845 chipset'

Yes that is correct. Thats an inexcusable typo on my part, considering all of the research that Ive put into the BD7. Even so, the 845s are compatible too...but in that particular board with a NIC? Thats what we need to determine.

Thomas

[SQconstable]

Let's make sure we understand that my card WILL work when an ethernet card is physically installed, but it must fresh boot with the connection disabled (Start Bar > Settings > Network Connections > disable the "Local Area Connection" icon).

Today I took my Q10 and installed it in my friend's Asus CUV4X-E mobo, 933MHz, with 655MB RAM. The NetCard being used here is the LinkSys LNE100TX.
He is using Win2K. I installed the "Full Instalation 7.0 Drivers" from the website. Really smooth installation. I didn't even have to use the Maintenence patch to make WinAmp load up quickly! ALSO, I did not experience those 6 little mouse freezes that occur on my system when the desktop appears after booting. Further, I did not need to disable the NetCard's connection (as previously described above) to make the Q10 functional. Now check this $hit out - I went to System Information to see what IRQ was assigned to the Q10 on my friend's machine....

You wouldn't believe that there are SEVEN IRQ CONFLICTS ON IRQ 9 ALONE!!!!!!!!!!! One being the Q10. Let me tell you that APIC is ENABLED, so his PC auto assigned this stuff. Here's the list of all devices on IRQ 9:

Microsoft ACPI Compliant System
3dfx Voodoo Series Driver
VIA USB Universal Host Controller
VIA USB Universal Host Controller
CMI8738/C3DX PCI Audio Device
LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter
Q10

Interestingly, the Q10 was installed in the SECOND PCI slot, so the Voodoo AGP card should not have grouped IRQ's with the Q10!

I feel like alot of problems that people experience have got to deal with the motherboard. I've had no other problems with the BD7-RAID I've got, and another board I've tested this on, the BD7II-RAID, exhibits the same problems. I feel bad though, having bought a motherboard that works on everything else but this device. I still don't know whether or not it is XP related since the BD7 and BD7II both had XP Pro, whereas the success was in the ASUS board, but having Win2K. It shouldn't matter though, since the 7.0 driver is for win2K and XP.

This kinda changes my method of building nice overclocked PC's with my favorite line of Abit boards...might look into Athlon boards now (maybe the dual processor ones). Until then, I will have to find a way to sell a used motherboard http://www.audioforums.com/forums/frown.gif


I will now try a test with my brother's ASUS board, with XP Pro installed

[SQconstable]

I haven't tried my brother's PC yet, but am wondering if you feel the issue might be OS related? I'm just so stuck to my motherboard and want a second opinion. I love the Q10 so much that I want to make my system fit it, but it takes more money and time and stress to do this. Does anyone want my motherboard? It's only used for about 4 months and never taken out of the case once installed. Thomas, would you consider buying the mobo from me so you can use it for your company's testing, perhaps to help make drivers that work around the issues? I really don't know what the issue could be........ Or should I ask Abit to buy a Q10 so they can help Aaardvark's customers? Do you think Abit would care? Of course, they would try to point at Aardvark saying it's their fault. This sucks. I had been saving up all my money to purchase components to get my DAW going, my sights on the Q10 the whole time. Now, ironically, I am stuck and life blows now. Do I have more money to blow? Hell no.

[Nick Driver]

SQconstable: I left that Intel network card down in Austin at my friends' house. Check your email for directions how to get there. It would be worth trying it before giving up on the BD7 mobo + Q10 before having to resort to trying a slooooooooooow USB 10BaseT network interface.

[This message has been edited by Nick Driver (edited 08-04-2002).]

[nosushi00]

this may not help but it won't hurt even on a non-DAW machine.
make sure you go into the network hardware area and remove all the nic's you don't have anymore.
this can mess things up on standard computers.