Cmedia sound on ASUS A7V266-E causing major freezeups!

[compuser]

specs:

XP1800+ with Volcano 6cu HSF
Asus A7V266E MB (rev. 1.07, BIOS 1006)
Mushkin value DDR RAM (2.5-3-3) set in BIOS to detect by SPD and is using the same settings as specified
ATI AIW128 Pro 16MB PCI
Actiontek 56K HW modem

WD 60GB HDD 72Krpm
TDK 24/10/40 CD-RW
Lite-On 16/40 DVD

Enhance 300W AMD recommend PSU for 1800+

Installation order: win2k -> VIA 4-in-1 dirvers 4.37 -> Cmedia drivers -> DX8.0 -> latest ATI drivers and apps -> some benchmark apps like sandra, seti, prime95, bryce etc.

--------------

I have tried every possible combination of debugging options from normal BIOS settings to trying different driver installation ordres to running multiple loops of memtest86 to test memory and has led me nowhere.

The system works great and sandra 2002 scores are above that of benchmark systems. but the only time the system causes havoc is when I play a small mpeg capture or movie or divix file or even a dvd. the system just hangs/freezes, often with sound still coming out and going on... and sometimes, even that freezes and gets into "infinite loop".

I put in the only other sound card I have (creative CT4810 - reported by win2k as creative AudioPCI (ES1371, ES1372)) and disabled the onboard Cmedia audio from bios. Win2k detected and auto installed drivers for creative card and it's been working very stable with that. however, being an old card, there is constant hissing noise (trademark of older, cheap cards) and a crackling noise almost everytime there is something playing.

few things I noticed though:
- BIOS setting is still set to PCI delayed Tx. = enabled (to support legacy PCI cards??) I think the default.
- I have disabled the ACR AC97 Audio and Modem options in BIOS (I have NO idea why they would have that option when you have cmedia onboard)

At this point, I am just fed up with this system! :| I'd like not to have to buy a new soundcard when it seems to work fine in everyone else's system but mine.

Could anyone in provide some insight if they have seen this before or can think of something else I might have overlooked?

Thanks guys.

 

[human2k]

for the price of that board, I woulda gotten a SHuttle AK31A with a TB santa cruz. BTW that volcano 6CU is a piece o crap, get a real heatsink like an SK6 or something.

 

[compuser]

Thanks human2k... but i think i'll stick to the current mb and HSF for now and try to get some help on HOW I can debug the system. not WHAT components I want to toss out because they are not "real". No harsh feelings, but it would help if you had posted something that would help fix the issue at hand rather than debate or bring up a off-topic discussion to surface.


Can anyone post what BIOS settings they have for the AC97 audio and modem controller and what PCI slots are being used for what? also, what about delayed transaction setting?

please help!

EDIT: forgot to ask, what settings do you have for control-panel -> sounds and multimedia -> audio tab -> Advanced properties -> performance? default on mine is HW acceleration = standard (recommended) and sample rate conversion = standard (recommended)

should I change this?

 

[compuser]

Update:

I just reinstalled win2k and started back from square 1.

0. in BIOS (1007 beta 1), disabled ACR LAN in Chip Configuration sect. and disabled AC97 and ACR MODEM in PCI Resources Control sect.
1. installed win2k
2. installed win2k provided drivers for the Actiontek lucent chip HW modem (never had problems with this before and need this to download SP2 express install)
3. installed sp2
4. installed via4-in-1 4.37 -> normal option -> chose IDE Bus Master Driver and INF Driver (have PCI VGA so didn't chose AGP VxD Driver)
5. downloaded and ran setup file of Cmedia sound card drivers (latest from asus site... come up as driver version 629) and installed driver

==> RESULT: same looping sound and system freezes as it's booting into windows randomly or sometimes when there is too much USB mouse movement as window loads (mouse is not always the reason)


=> uninstalled IDE Bus Master driver from 4in1 (viaarena's installation guide says this is not neededed by win2k(?) )
==> same freeze-ups when playing a random windows default sound scheme file (logon etc)

=> reinstalled 4in1s this time with quick install option (automatic install of who-knows-what drivers)
==> SAME problem

=> uninstalled cmedia drivers and installed audio driver+apps from ASUS cd instead (older rev)
==> DITTO!

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!! I desperately need help, I'm running out of ideas here!

 

[Z24]

I am having a similar problem with the new P4B266 and onboard cmedia sound

The only way I can get the onboard sound to function without locking up my computer is to remove all other PCI cards.

I have tried the drivers on the Windows Update, Asus CD, and Asus Web site


Trust me, I know how you feel. My SB Live works flawlessly though (but I've already promised it to someone).

 

[compuser]

phew!! at least someone who is experiencing the same horrors! z24, sorry to hear that and i hope this is some driver/software issue in a rare type of system setup that triggers the freezes.

one thing though, i am guessing you have an agp card and not a pci video card. am i correct?

what debugging options have you tried? (i know p4 vs xp - there are some differences in approaches to debug this problem but still...)

thanks!

 

[Z24]

Well, rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a copy of what I sent to Asus technical support (hey, a long shot -- but I'm desperate)

------

My configuration is as follows:

-Windows XP Professional
-P4B266
-Intel Pentium 4 1.6A
-256 MB DDR PC2100 (1 stick)
-VisionTek GeForce3 Ti200
-Intel PRO/100+ Management Adapter (NIC)
-Realtek TRL8139 (NIC)
-Creative Modem Blaster v.90

Everything is running at default settings.


My problem is that I cannot get the onboard audio to work. I'll outline a couple of things I've tried that have not worked:

-Fresh install of Windows XP with all hardware in the computer
-Windows XP does not have built-in drivers for c-media chip, so it is not enabled as of yet
-computer works perfectly, but without sound
-use the windows update to install the drivers for the c-media onboard sound.
-reboot
-upon restarting, as soon as the computer plays the windows startup sound, the a hard lockup occurs.
-if i use safe mode to disable the windows sound scheme (so no startup sound is made) the computer will work perfectly until some program tried to use the sound card -- at which point the computer will hard lock.

I have repeated the above procedure using the Win2k drivers on the Asus CD, and the latest drivers on the Asus website. There is no difference.

Now, at this point, if I use the BIOS to disable the onboard sound, the computer goes back to working normally.

OR, if I leave the sound enabled, and remove all of the other PCI cards (Intel NIC, Realtek NIC, and Creative v90) the computer works with sound. From this point, I took the Intel NIC, and tried it in the various PCI slots (with no other cards but the video installed) and the computer would lockup when any sound was made again.

The ONLY way I can get the onboard audio to work is when NO other PCI cards are present in the system.

Also, as an aside, a Creative Labs SB Live card works flawlessly.

 

[compuser]

great! this is pretty much how i would have written up my email... only i used the phone instead of the keyboard. offices closed and i left a message.

however, your post further confirms the same exact things i have oberserved: differences are - (1) i have win2k (which you have tried as well) (2) P4 route vs XP route BUT same MB and sound chip companies.

one thing you might want to check though is if your bios has option for setting both the "onboard sound" (cmedia) AND "AC97 sound". aparently no one has posted regarding this showing up in the KT266A mb bios.

do you have this AC97 audio listed anywhere as an option? also, it'd be great if someone here at AT could explain what this is for and why this would be included when on-board sound is present already.

 

[Allen7]

try this, disable the onboard Cmedia when you installed win2k. after you finish all drivers, explorer6 etc... enable it and install the driver.

This is how I got my P4B266 w/cmedia to work, but I am using WinXP now.

Allen

btw, WinXP sucks if you have SCSI160

 

[compuser]

hmm... that's something i didn't think of at all... conflicts b/c of cmedia from the get-go... possible.

thanks Allen7!! i'll give that a shot and post the outcome.

 

[AA0]

I don't use the onboard sound, but I tested it, and it was fine. Have you tried the beta bioses? There are some out there you can get.

What drivers are you using for the cmedia? I've noticed the ones on the windows update aren't the same as on the cd, and the ones on the cd were better, imo.

 

[EMAN]

You should try Iwill faq. It has had problems since it was born. In dxdiag set your sound accleration to standard acceleration.

 

[compuser]

Guys, thanks a lot for your suggestions and help! I think I am getting somewhere now but still some of the same issues are present...

AA0, I have been having this problem with the shipped 1004b(?), 1006 AND now with 1007beta1 bios as well.

EMAN, thanks for the dxdiag suggestion... following are my findings based on your and Allen7's suggestion:

first I just tried what Allen7 suggested... I had already installed win2k with just the old creative card and on-board sound was disabled from the begining. almost all major issues I had in the past (ATI TV would not work complaing sound was in use, freezups at windows soundscheme playbacks/video playbacks, even system fans staying on during standby) WERE GONE with cmedia sound disabled.

NOW,
-> i enabled cmedia in bios
-> booted to windows and cancled cmedia hardware detection-driver installation routine
-> rather I uninstalled soundblaster card from windows
-> shutdown
-> removed the SB card
-> booted up
-> entered bios to set the PCI resources pool
-> rebooted into windows & installed cmedia drivers from asus cd
-> rebooted
-> asked me if i wanted to go ahead an also install cmedia audio apps (I cancled that to add any extra variables of uncertainty)
-> double clicked on E drive and... BACK TO SAME problems system freezes up !!! ARGHHHH!!! :|

I have not changed hardware acceleration (left at standard), nor anything else after driver installation.
HOWEVER, when I ran dxdiag, it gave me the same error as it did before: "Problem getting extra sound info, result code = 0x8878000a (The request failed because DrectSound resources, such as the priority level, were already in use by another caller.)"

I have a feeling this could be (1) b/c cmedia drivers conflict with some other setting inherently (but if that were the case, i would have seen many complains about it). or (2) might have to do with me disabling the AC97 audio option in bios (different from option for cmedia sound).

any ideas what this might be due to? anyone ever see this dxdiag message?? Thanks.

i didn'

 

[compuser]

Yet another shot at start from scratch... this time not even the modem was put in the system or installed in win2k.

WITHOUT MODEM, EVERYTHING WORKED FINE AND NO FREEZEUPS!!! FINALLY...
WITH MODEM installed, CHAOS!

Strange!

Now this is the same HW modem that has been used in a 95 and a 2k system. (the win2k system was on an ASUS K7M mb as well).

So I tried moving the modem from slot5 (shared with slot1) to slot 2 and then to slot 1 (neither should give a problem b/c I have a PCI video card and not AGP which means slot 2 is not shread either). ===> STILL FREEZEUPS.

So I have a feeling there is some resources conflict (nothing shows up in device manager) between modem and the cmedia audio card. Still in the process of debugging but wanted to post the critical observations to help in any assistance I can get from you guys.

Ok, this has got to be the most annoying debugging I've ever needed to do during the building of ANY of the rigs in the past!

 

[Z24]

So, it sounds like other people are having the exact same problems as I am. Why is there no official mention of this problem anywhere???

This is really turning me off any product that uses cmedia.

 

[compuser]

My modem FW was not useable for win2k. As a result, I updated the FW by starting from scratch <yuck!> and installing win98 since FW update for modem worked in every OS BUT DOS and Win2k!! :| So much for Lucent HW modem staying on top of things when it comes to technology!!

I updated the modem FW, installed win2k, used cmedia without modem, it worked fine but again, with the modem in there, WITH the latest drivers and FW off of ActionTec's site, system went back to lala-land.

Z24, sounds like either no one else has bothered to post the same type of problem if they've had this before, or they have just gotten very lucky. I can't think of anything else I could do differently in installing Win2k, via 4.37s, ATI drivers& apps + DX8, finally cmedia and modem drivers. Yet it dies with the combination of both cmedia and modem in the system.

 

[tjdavis1138]

I had the exact same problem on an Asus p4b266. I sent it back and ordered the Epox mb.

 

[RanDum72]

It might be a bad mobo ( or the sound chip or something maybe bad).

 

[Mltsao]

CMedia sucks hard. Ever since i installed a cmedia based sound card on my ECS K7S5A i have been getting errors on start up and cracking sound when i play games.

 

[compuser]

hmm... return the trusty asus. that's an option if they accept returns after 30 days are up at newegg. besides, i've already jumped the "soyo-dragon-plus-boat" onto the asus boat. sounds like SB live/audigy is the way to go at this point. sucks! (i mean the fact that you pay for a feature and not just does it not function but it renders your system useless due to poor HW/drivers/application support)

oh well. anyhoo... with the current sb cheapo card i have (mentioned above), i have major crackles and i know this is a function - not of cmedia or creative - but of the PCI bus and the way it's handled by good ol VIA. i have been holding back on getting a live card just out of the fear that i would have to return it if i got crackling with that as well.

how are audigy/live cards or even the hercules fortisimo sound cards with respect to quality (crackles, hissing etc), compatibility and stability on these VIA based athlons and more specifically, on the A7v266-e?