Firewire issue affecting all the Dell Core Duo notebooks

[MrYatzy]

Nobody has been able to explain to me.
WHy my express card is not detected.

The express card or the express card slot may be broken.

Have You tried another express card?
Have you tried the MST-T2A2 in another computer?

// MrYatzy

[JohnyCash]

Hello everyone,
lucky to find this forum. It gave me a great deal of help while resolving my issue with Dell notebook and firewire soundcard. Now I would like to share my solution. I had recently an issue with my Dell Latitude D630 and M-Audio Firewire 1814 / Solo, but not anymore

Problem description: While playing audio through external firewire soundcard connected to onboard firewire controller, there were dropouts (pops and clicks) in the sound. Sometimes it sounded almost like radiation detector near nuclear device. But latency check was perfectly fine ( < 100 us) and there were no freezes in the sound.

Problem cause: The problem was caused by integrated onboard firewire controller from O2Micro (namely OZ711EZ1) - tested on three different machines with this firewire controller, all showing same symptoms.

Problem solution: I have bought PCMCIA (Cardbus) firewire controller ST-LAB C-120. Though it has NEC 874 chipset (instead of recommended TI), it works like a charm and cracks are gone.

[Ratona]

[QUOTE=timizere;3797378]

I bought a Dell Studio 17 notebook to use with my Motu 828 mk3 firewire sound card. TOTAL CRASH! This setup could not even play a wave or mp3 file without audio dropouts and producing weird high frequenzy sounds. I tried to disable just about everything without any success.

In the end I installed Windows XP and WOW! A totally different reality. Xp perform so fast on this thing it is amazing and the Motu card together with the Ricoh card can handle my productions without any problems at all.

This is EXCELLENT news! i just ordered a latitude e5500 to run with my 828mk3 and then found this thread... shat myself thinking 600 quid was wasted! strange you are having no probs on the Ricoh chipset, its well documented that this doesnt work! lucky you!

So is everything working out still? I have the Motu 8pre firewire and am looking for a new laptop to replace my Insprion E1505. Just thought i'd ask.

[Ratona]

I took the time to register so if this finds someone in need of help i hope i can give back.
I have a dell m1330 fully loaded, (7200rpm drive 2 gigs ram etc, rev12 bios). i could get close to perfect multitrack recording on my firestudio tube interface and the built in 1394 dell card (ricoh?) but not perfect. every minute or so i could get a very light audible pop intermintantly.
I disabled everything including dvd, wireless, network etc..i mean everything!
still had odd light pop intermitantly.
i bit the bullet and bought the siig 34mm expresscard 1394 400 2 port adapter
NN-EC2012-S1 fits in the m1330 54mm slot no problem.
guess what, holy crap for a change something worked out painlessly. plugged it in (xp ser pak2) and it was recognized fairly quickly, drives loaded from windows. i rebooted and ran cubase4
no pops with 5 continous tracks for 5 min with everything even enabled again (though i left wireless and blue tooth still disabled, will test later)
amazing!
i hope this helps someone, i sure could have used it!

R.

Are you still using your laptop? Does it work out good still or have you upgraded yet. Looking myself for a new laptop. I use the motu 8 pre firewire. I am looking to replace my inspiron e1505

[Solecist]

I guys. I recently bought a DELL INSPIRON 1545 for my band, i have a MOTU TRAVELER MK3... and PCI EXPRESSCARD 34 LINDY and another one generic. Nothing works...im having the same problems as you guys had. I made 2 days tests here and i cant get this to work. Yes i updated the bios, nothing works well. i can send a detailed report for all who wants by mail. I think im going to kill myself here too...

[bleeb]

Vostro 1710 and a Presonus FP10 suffering from the plague.

If you have bought a pcmcia firewire expansion that fixes the problem, please post the models. I didn't find the one suggested earlier from the local stores. I would prefer one with TI chipset, just to be sure this time, but if it works ...

Problem solution: I have bought PCMCIA (Cardbus) firewire controller ST-LAB C-120. Though it has NEC 874 chipset (instead of recommended TI), it works like a charm and cracks are gone.

[JohnyCash]

Vostro 1710 and a Presonus FP10 suffering from the plague.

If you have bought a pcmcia firewire expansion that fixes the problem, please post the models. I didn't find the one suggested earlier from the local stores. I would prefer one with TI chipset, just to be sure this time, but if it works ...

PCMCIA (Cardbus) firewire controller
Manufacturer: ST-LAB
Model: C-120
Specs: NEC 874 chipset, 3xIEEE 1394a 6-pin ports, 1xPower Jack (DV 12V, 1A)

You will have to do some research on local markets as the availability of specific brands varies (I was unable to find almost any of PCMCIA expansion cards suggested previously in the thread on local markets in my country). I suppose that any card with TI or NEC chipset should do the work

[cachemoney]

Wow, so I just realized how long this thread has gotten, this is for anyone who had the issues stated in about the first 10 pages of this thread...

(Short version)

The Intel® Chipset Software Installation Utility (INF Update Utility) solved my playback issues using the 945GM chipset and a firewire audio controller.

Download can be found here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...D=816&lang=eng

(...end short version)
(Start long version...)

Using the following setup:
Dell Inspiron E1705 (945GM chipset)
Integrated 1394 controller THEN the SIIG 2-port 1394 Expresscard (TI Chip)
Presonus Firepod

When I originally had issues with the integrated firewire controller, I used a USB device for the output while continuing to use the Firepod for input. No issues there. When I decided to finally get a 1394 Expresscard (prior to finding this thread, unfortunately), I had even worse problems. My system would lock up on the Windows splash screen if I had the card in prior to startup, the audio was very glitchy (slow and distorted). ASIO4All didn't help.

After installing the INF update, audio works fine, the Expresscard and Firepod can be connected on boot and I don't have any issues.

Oh man I hope this works. I too have a Dell Dual Core and MOTU Traveler and have the same damn problem (poor performance, horrindous glitchy buffers, loud obnoxious screeching. MOTU support had no idea about the driver problem. Let's see!

PS: I have tried pci express firewire card to no avail. Running my applications (ableton) in XP compatibility mode helped alot. MOTU's drivers don't work very well with Windows 7 / Vista shell.

[andycad]

I've just bought a Dell latitude D420 dual-core notebook with a FireWire socket, and hoped to connect an M-Audio FireWire Audiophile audio interface. Having uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers many times, and updated the bios, and motherboard drivers, I've never reached the point where the plugged in device is detected by the computer. To check whether the FireWire socket was working I tried a camcorder which was fine.

I primarily want high quality sound output. I've seen simple USB to FireWire adapters for sale. Is there any chance I can use one of these to feed my M-Audio with a USB out from the computer?. There is also a slot for a PC express card - I can get a FireWire card for about £15, which has 6 pin (powered) FireWire sockets unlike the 4 pin one already on the computer, but am I likely to have exactly the same problems I've had with the existing socket?.
Any advice would be appreciated

[PJ@y-Z]

Get DPC Latency checker. Also try it on another PC.
SIIG 2-port firewire 400Mbps expresscard is good too.
Try checking other devices with the same IRQ of your firewire port and disable them.