Saab Dastard
26th Jun 2009, 15:40
I decided to upgrade my newest PC with a replacement sound card for the on-board sound device that was definitely not well - lots of crackling where the peaks should be.
So I sniped an Audigy 2ZS and an X-Fi Live-Drive front panel (had to be black to go with the PC case) on ebay for the princely sum of £27 inc. postage. I was actually pleasantly surprised that they both arrived safely today (usual crappy jiffy-bag packing) and both work.
I took the opportunity to clean out the case (where does all the dust all come from?) and insert a SATA disk that had been sitting around for ages, because I found the connectors for it while searching out other bits for the sound card.
I had to re-jig the order of the PCI cards in the case so that the sound card wasn't at the bottom - so the DAB radio card and the wifi network card both had to shift.
Quelle surprise - Windows XP had to re-install the drivers for both, causing a loss of wifi network connection. It's unbelievable that changing the slot loses the entire network config, but it does. Sorted that, then downloaded the Creative drivers.
Network and sound now working, but SATA disk on SATA1 steadfastly refuses to appear in the BIOS. Tried both legacy and SATA power interfaces (not together, of course), but no joy. Tried SATA2 interface, but still no cigar. Tried enabling and connecting to the Marvell SATA RAID interface and at least the disk was seen in the BIOS. Investigated the ASUS website, and discovered that a BIOS update "added support for additional SATA disk manufacturers".
Downloaded the BIOS update and was happy to use the Windows-based BIOS update tool which worked fine, but obviously reset BIOS to defaults. Finally re-configured the BIOS, got the SATA drive plugged in to SATA1 and - finally - we have SATA disk.
Into Windows to set up the disk - I was surprised that it could only be configured as a dynamic disk, not a basic disk. Apart from that it's fine, and now hosting the page file. Such is the sum-total of my experience of SATA devices to date!
Finally sat down to set up the sound - so much better with the new card! Configured for 5.1 sound (actually 4.1, as the RR speaker is too much trouble to connect up) the full dynamic range is audible again! One CD / DVD drive is connected via analog cable to the sound card, the second via CD SPDIF, which is perceptibly better - recommended if you can achieve it, as the CD drive DAC is bypassed. You wouldn't think it, though - it's a poxy little 2-wire connector!
That all took about half a day, but worth it in the end. It is so good to have decent sound again.
SD
So I sniped an Audigy 2ZS and an X-Fi Live-Drive front panel (had to be black to go with the PC case) on ebay for the princely sum of £27 inc. postage. I was actually pleasantly surprised that they both arrived safely today (usual crappy jiffy-bag packing) and both work.
I took the opportunity to clean out the case (where does all the dust all come from?) and insert a SATA disk that had been sitting around for ages, because I found the connectors for it while searching out other bits for the sound card.
I had to re-jig the order of the PCI cards in the case so that the sound card wasn't at the bottom - so the DAB radio card and the wifi network card both had to shift.
Quelle surprise - Windows XP had to re-install the drivers for both, causing a loss of wifi network connection. It's unbelievable that changing the slot loses the entire network config, but it does. Sorted that, then downloaded the Creative drivers.
Network and sound now working, but SATA disk on SATA1 steadfastly refuses to appear in the BIOS. Tried both legacy and SATA power interfaces (not together, of course), but no joy. Tried SATA2 interface, but still no cigar. Tried enabling and connecting to the Marvell SATA RAID interface and at least the disk was seen in the BIOS. Investigated the ASUS website, and discovered that a BIOS update "added support for additional SATA disk manufacturers".
Downloaded the BIOS update and was happy to use the Windows-based BIOS update tool which worked fine, but obviously reset BIOS to defaults. Finally re-configured the BIOS, got the SATA drive plugged in to SATA1 and - finally - we have SATA disk.
Into Windows to set up the disk - I was surprised that it could only be configured as a dynamic disk, not a basic disk. Apart from that it's fine, and now hosting the page file. Such is the sum-total of my experience of SATA devices to date!
Finally sat down to set up the sound - so much better with the new card! Configured for 5.1 sound (actually 4.1, as the RR speaker is too much trouble to connect up) the full dynamic range is audible again! One CD / DVD drive is connected via analog cable to the sound card, the second via CD SPDIF, which is perceptibly better - recommended if you can achieve it, as the CD drive DAC is bypassed. You wouldn't think it, though - it's a poxy little 2-wire connector!
That all took about half a day, but worth it in the end. It is so good to have decent sound again.
SD