I want an A2zs platinum drive

compunoob · Jan 3, 2006, 03:02 PM

Is there anyway to get just the drive itself without the sound card in the USA?

**dj_stick** · Jan 3, 2006, 08:58 PM

try contacting Creative

compunoob · Jan 4, 2006, 03:49 PM

I have but they do not sell the drive bay only in the USA. All other parts of the world they do but not here. I think its complete crap and hate it. I just cant seem to find the bay only anywhere.

Eck · Jan 7, 2006, 03:52 AM

They used to sell it in the on-line shop. I bought mine for $129.

Let me help. If you don't mind springing for a lot now, you can get an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro from Newegg for $120 after the Creative $100 rebate. So that's $220 now, but you print out the rebate form from a link on the Newegg page and mail that in with a copy of the printed out Newegg receipt and the cut out original UPC code from the box.

Now you'll have your current card as a backup and the new card with real midi connectors on the stand-alone box. It also adds ASIO 2.0 compliance for higher resolution recording that the normal card doesn't have.

The card is different in that you need to use the exterior breakout box since most of the connections are on there instead of the card. The normal card can be used without its interior breakout box.

I was looking around for a good price on another Platinum and almost bought one until I noticed this on Newegg. A Platinum Pro for $120 is a great deal. After I had spent a total of $229 after upgrading my normal Audigy 2 ZS I can't believe I just bought a Pro for $120.

Well, Creative must love me. I also have several of their older cards. Funny, I mostly use Via Chipset motherboards too. Heh, one of them was a KT7A (the 686B southbridge fiasco) and I mostly used a Live 5.1 on that. A couple of bios settings needed changing but it worked fine.

**dj_stick** · Jan 7, 2006, 04:14 AM

Eck, the normal card DOES have ASIO capability, all 10kX ones do, it's just a driver limitation

and ASIO has nothing to do with the resolution of the recording, all it does is allow low-latency recording and playback

Eck · Jan 7, 2006, 04:29 AM

Ummm, okay.

I had been reading up on what was different from the normal card at 3DSS and that's how it translated in my head.

So, the other cards have it, but just can't do it because of Creative software settings? I thought I read you're limited to 16/48 ASIO recording unless you have the Pro. (Or kXProject drivers?)

Anyway, I think it's a great deal for someone who wants a breakout box, even if it is external. Which is actually better, since it's shielded from the inner computer electronics. And he'll get the Steinberg Cubasis VST 4, Wavelab Lite, and Fruity Loops included in the package, just like the Platunum breakout box came with when Creative sold it on the web.

**dj_stick** · Jan 7, 2006, 05:12 AM

ASIO has nothing to do with the bitrate or samplerate
any ASIO processing is pretty much limited to 16/48, unless CL have a trick for 2channel i/o

Eck · Jan 7, 2006, 05:58 AM

Thanks for the info.

Those Foobar2000 folks over at 3DSS forums tell of something different in the recording allowed by the Pro that the regular version isn't capable of. Since I don't do anything like that, I really don't want to go back and read through hundreds of threads to find the information. It would be to prove a point I don't really understand and have no use for.

I read them say that something was betterer!

Just trying to make a good suggestion for the fellow looking for the breakout box. Heh, the only thing I use on mine is the headphone output. But that is handy! The software switches automatically when pluging or unplugging the headphones. Coolest thing since the Santa Cruz Versajack. It saves me from needing to use my Radio Shack switcher and then adjusting the Windows settings like I need to do for all the other soundcards. I still use the midi port for my keyboard.

Eck · Jan 12, 2006, 06:12 AM

dj_stick,

The box does describe ASIO differently.

The Audigy 2 ZS has ASIO drivers supporting 16/48. The Platinum Pro has ASIO 2.0 drivers supporting low latency(as low as 2ms) multi-track playback and recording at 16bit/48kHz AND 24bit/96kHz.

So that's what I read at the 3D Sound Surge forum long ago when someone asked about 24/96 recording and they were told only with the Platinum Pro.

Jeez, my SoundMAX ADI 1888 codec with the Sensaura Headphone Theatre and Virtual Ear update on my Asus A7V880 is sounding so good I may leave the Pro in the box for a bit. I'll make sure to send in for my rebate though.

Yeah, it's nice to have my MB back. I took the Abit KW7 out and put the RMA I got back into the nice Antec P160 case.

I think those retail AMD heatsink pads just wear out after awhile. That's all that was wrong with my board. It was protecting my processor from burning up. Cool!

Although they are the same chipset, the Asus board has more built in features like that SoundMAX audio (blows away the Realtec), the Marvell Gigabyte LAN, the ability to run 98SE (the KW7 disabled the PCI slots with 98), etc.

MadHowdi · Apr 26, 2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eck

Jeez, my SoundMAX ADI 1888 codec with the Sensaura Headphone Theatre and Virtual Ear update on my Asus A7V880 is sounding so good I may leave the Pro in the box for a bit. I'll make sure to send in for my rebate though.

Hi :-)

i have a ASUS A7V880 mobo too and tried now upgrdading my SoundMAX virtual theater/ear surround but the Sensaura Homepage is down and i couldnt find any driver upgrade anymore and anywhere...

Can someone help me?

thanks
Mad

Eck · Apr 26, 2007, 07:18 PM

The digibuy.com website still sells them. You go there and put Soundmax into the search field. Three products will show.

You want Headphone Theatre - For SoundMAX 3.0 and Virtual Ear - SoundMAX 3.0. The other one is for the older 2.0.

That's where I bought mine. When you buy them you'll be emailed an unlock code for each of them. Install both of them. One of them will give you an error popup for not being able to update one file but that's only the update file which doesn't exist so it can't update it. Basically it's the advertisement file that it's trying to update so it won't popup to ask you to update. That file just wasn't included in the Asus package so it's no worry.

Reboot after both installs and you'll have access to more tools than any Sensaura based soundcard ever included. In the advanced windows you can play with more stuff than with Creative cards, with simple screens that go away when you're done having it make settings. This is nice in that unlike Creative bloatware the stuff doesn't need to be running in the background all the time. Just the Sensaura System Tray and the SoundMAX System Tray icons need to be loaded. No ctloader's or DVD detector's and stuff.

I just saw the pages on digibuy and they're still up for sale.

These things will only work on Windows 98SE, Windows Me, or Windows XP. No Vista support as there's no Direct Sound for Sensaura to work with.

MadHowdi · Apr 27, 2007, 06:58 AM

Hey mate,

thanks for helping and the infos about the correct version.So i need to look after the SoundMAX 3 upgrade.

One last question.Is it a downloadble upgrade installer file or does it need to be installed directly into the system?I want to reinstall the system soon and dont want to re-buy it again...and i only can pay PayPal so i need to relay on my friend buying this update and mailing it to me.Hope that works that way...

Funny, you r running a similar system to mine :-):
ASUS A7V880/XP M 2600@2,2GHz/Zalman 7000B/Corsair 2x512MB Corsair Value Select 2,5.Gigabyte 6600GT turbo force/silent pipe lol :-).

best regards
Mad

Eck · Apr 27, 2007, 07:20 PM

The update was made before the days of activation on single system crap. So you'll be able to save the programs you download to a cdr for safe keeping.

When the programs run after setup for the first time you'll get a prompt for each of the 2 for you to enter the serial numbers. That's what you must not lose! You either type in or copy and paste the numbers from the email you'll get after buying it.

One hint to getting the SoundMAX driver working better with multiple speakers is the pcper.com forum's A7V880 thread's link to one file from an updated version of the driver. I forget what it's named but you either replace the file after the install or replace it in the driver's setup folder before the install. If you do it before the install you'll need to answer to install anyway when a Windows warning message appears saying the file is not the exact one the inf is referring to. It fixes some skippyness in the audio and also makes the multispeaker tests work properly. I think its actually the .sys driver file itself.

I actually miss the SoundMAX Sensaura stuff. I enjoyed messing with it and the different Virtual Theatre sounds I got. I used to install a full Yamaha S-YXG50 as it improved upon the midi synth SoundMAX gives you.

I have been just using the Epox board with an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum as I got tired of the Asus board 3D game freezing problems. Funny, it didn't do that for the first year and a half but started having problems later. Epox has a more recent Bios design and the 8237R chip. Never tried the Realtek onboard audio as I heard it wasn't as good as SoundMAX.

MadHowdi · Apr 28, 2007, 02:43 AM

Hi Eck,

are you referring to this thread,mate

?

Code:

http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=348891

Yeah, I found it a couple of days ago and tried the driver and did exactly everything Stirling said in his post and restarted the system.After reboot i got a "ADI codec driver not installed" error and had to remove that driver again.But okay, i will try it again the next days when i have some nervs to it

.

I had some crackles with the original ASUS HP 5.01.12.3663 drivers and struggled with ASUS support for a solution.In the end i found out to disable BassBoost which then eliminates the crackles in mp3 and audio cds.

During that time i had in mind to buy a Creative Audigy 2 ZS (which someone told me is the best mid priced soundcard with good quality).And now finding out about the upgrade and reading your positive comment about the superb SoundMAX audio quality and good features i am back on fixing this problem and not spending money in another PCI card which blocks one of my PCI slots.I am quite happy this SoundMAX sound isnt that bad as criticised on many pages "the first Soundchip that crackles" and other comments.Got frustrated reading such comments and great to hear that there a working solutions to this prob.

Mate, did you ever used the SPDIF out jack under the PS/2 keyboard/mouse connectors?Do i need to buy this digital SPDIF ASUS module or does this output jack works already?

sincerely
Mad

Eck · Apr 28, 2007, 07:38 PM

That smwdm.sys is all you need, not the whole driver. I extracted the zip for the 3663 driver from the Asus site and replaced that file with the newer one. I then ran setup which gave me a popup when encountering that file asking me whether I wanted to use it and I just tell it to use it. I didn't get the errors on bootup that you did. The driver on the Asus site is the same as on the cd, but if you want to use that file you need to either replace it during install and run it all from your hard drive or try replacing it afterwards. I never tried that.

With that one file I could use bass boost without problems. I usually kept it on for normal stuff and muted it for music listening. I would turn on the Virtual Headphone Theatre EQ for DVDs and mp3s. I lowered the bass a bit and raised the treble a bit in the EQ. And I created a virtual ear profile, setting it to plus 1 in all the wizards choices. Made the thing sound like the Santa Cruz, but better! Settings would be different I guess for speakers, but when I use DVDs or music I use headphones. I use a Radio Shack switcher so I don't need to unplug them all the time. Of course, with the Creative card I have the breakout box, so I don't use the switcher. With SoundMAX, I also need to change the setting to headphones, unlike Creative which does that automatically.

I haven't tried that SPDIF out but as long as it's turned on in the SoundMAX panel and Windows volume control then it should output fine. Just to have a complete setup with SPDIF in and out I did buy that Asus SPDIF addon (had to call Asus RMA Dept and give them the exact title from the manual, then they charged it to my card by my faxing back my signature). Just so you're aware, DRM players sometimes cut off the sound to SPDIF. And with SoundMAX I think it will only output stereo (2 speakers) and the Sensaura EAX stuff won't be used. Only with the regular analog outputs will you be taking advantage of the SoundMAX advantages.

Keep in mind there's no ASIO support or EAX above 2.0. But that's really all I felt I didn't have. Even the midi stuff in and out works fine. But that is another difference. I needed to get rid of the keyboard in delay by either using a Roland Virtual Sound Canvas program (great) or the lower cost WinGroove. Those programs have a latency slider. Either one worked fine with stuff like Digital Orchestrator Pro, Teach Me Piano, etc.

For sound quality from 16/48, 16/44.1 sources I saw no difference between my Audigy ZS cards and the SoundMAX. And with the additional software I was able to get the functionality I needed for my additional activities. However I did find that I also enjoyed all the built in to Creative software stuff and the support for higher resolution formats in the Audigy series very nice as well. Hardware midi synth and ASIO is nice to have.

So there are plusses and minuses to each choice.

MadHowdi · Apr 29, 2007, 03:41 AM

Hi Eck,

i first realised those crackles by listening to Nightwish - "walking in the air" on my Logitech R-20 2.1 system.Which is okay for the price cause a 5.1 system wasnt handy for my little home office room and this system looked quite solid made and sound is clear and had good bass.

Funny enough, those crackles especially in that song where always at the same position

so i contacted a hifi friend to check that song but there where none crackles visible in Steinberg WaveLab at all.Then i contacted ASUS support and theyve send me a single driver but said, its only working for stereo and it did without crackles.Hmm i thought...not a satisfying solution at all...it turned out to be the bass boost which causes all this trouble.Though some other A7V880 users experienced the crackles to be caused by the wave-slider and/or the cd-line slider,those sliders definitly played no role on my system.I checked it with that song and only the bass boost was messing up that song and also some old DreamTheater recordings with low khz+bitrate.

- !such a weird thing!-

Although i hardly ever used bass boost while listening to audio cds on my pc i wasnt happy with this flick so i started googling for solutions and found this site about the replaced sys file.

I am setting up my compi again in the next days when the upgrades arrives and i will check out this sys modified driver again.So you basically only copied this single sys into the driver/inf folder?

What worries me a bit was the smwdmAL3.inf which was mentioned later on in that driver-fix which is not the same as the smwdmVI3.inf.So the 5.1 worked only with this sys driver exchanged?What did you mean by "theres no ASIO support for EAX with 2.0"?Forgive me asking, i just found out about all this extra audio stuff.Does it mean the new 3.0 driver is buggy or is it maybe because of this tweaked different driver sys?

I want to follow your path and need to get sure to do it the same way...if youre still running that mobo it would be interesting to know if it plays fine on your system.Please contact me via PM.

thanks for all your help, Eck.Best regards and happy weekend
Mad

Eck · Apr 29, 2007, 06:15 PM

Okay, I've sent a couple of PM to you. First regarding the MB and SoundMAX and the 2nd regarding what you PM me about.

I forgot to explain that ASIO is what folks generally use for recording for music creation these days and some use it even to output music that bypasses the Windows mixer for a truer sound reproduction. I've used it but didn't like the resource hogging it did for normal music listening and my recording for music creation is usually using older style software midi stuff that doesn't use ASIO.

Mostly, if you don't know what it is you won't miss it.

EAX is Creative's use of Direct Sound to create a surround experience in games. Only their soundcards offer EAX versions above EAX 2.0. Games run fine without any EAX and some folks don't like it so turn it off altogether, but most folks love it and so purchase Creative soundcards to get the higher versions of EAX.

The EAX above 2.0 is only used by games in the last couple of years so you won't notice any difference for any games older than that with a soundcard solution that takes advantage of EAX 1.0 and 2.0, like the SoundMAX does as provided by Sensaura. If you're a fragger you will notice a slight speed loss when playing while using a non-Creative solution as only Creative does it in hardware. The Sensaura such as is provided by SoundMAX is a software based EAX. However any computer made in the last 5 years or so with a decent processor speed handles this fine in software, unless you're in some kind of fragging contest on the net. Sensaura offers supurb EAX.

So, yes there are advantages to using a PCI soundcard over on-board. But the SoundMAX solution is one of the best implementations of on-board audio and for many it satisfies just fine.

MadHowdi · May 2, 2007, 01:42 AM

Hi Eck,

sorry for still hogging onto this prob and coming up with new questions but did you get my last PM related the songtest?

BR
Mad

Eck · May 5, 2007, 07:58 AM

Sorry about the delay. I just got back on the net after switching computers and reinstalling Vista and the ton of drivers, software, my files, security, etc. Sheesh, that takes a long time!

I just read all your PM's. I have the board but at this point won't be installing it, so have no way of testing the song for you. I switched computers to another one with the Epox EP-8KRAIPRO (I have 2 of these). I wanted to switch my videocard from the ATI to NVidia to see the difference that makes in Linux. Yeah, I could have just swapped the videocards but the Epox in the other computer has a slight USB hub defect that the one in this box doesn't. I worked around it by using a Belkin 4 port USB 2.0 hub. The only problem with it was the top 2 USB connectors. If I use either of them the other one doesn't detect any plugged in devices. But if I use the Belkin hub in one of them then I get 4 ports out of that 2 port hub instead! So it worked out okay, but the other computer already had all the hardware setup so I just needed to install the OS's and am now using a board that doesn't have that defect. And, the NVidia card is on here too.

I don't remember what happened as far as what file versions showed in Device Manager, but I recall it worked fine.

You don't lose EAX with SoundMAX 3.0. You get the same EAX 1 and 2 that previous versions of SoundMAX's Sensaura gives you. You just don't get EAX 3 and 4 or higher with anything except a Creative solution. That Analog Devices AD1888 chip on the A7V880 and the SoundMAX software IS SoundMAX 3.0. Their older software wouldn't install on it anyway so don't even worry about that. I assume you've read the info on soundmax.com?

You shouldn't get skipping if you turn off that Bass Boost. I didn't, anyway. The point of substituting that one file is that that driver file fixed that skipping with Bass Boost problem and also updated the 5.1 support. At least the tests were fixed, anyway. You'll notice that with the older file the 2 front speakers play on the surround tests but the others did not. With the newer file all the speakers can be tested. Since I only used 2.1 or headphones I don't know whether the problem was only in the tests. But the simulated Surround in the tests work fine with the newer file as the sound seemed to come from behind me (with only 2 speakers or headphones). Sensaura was cool! In any case that one newer file was betterer!

MadHowdi · May 7, 2007, 03:04 AM

Hi Eck,thanks so much for coming back to me

.I will try that driver tuesday latest when the money is availible on my friends credit card *happylookingforwardtoit*.

As for the USB, there are still big problems with power voltage management even on newer systems.I noticed it on my fathers machine (some new ASUS 64bit board) where as when you plug in three USB devices, one lost power

.Thats always a pain...espacially when the hubs doesnt work the way they should.Sometimes i have also problems installing the ASUS A7V880 USB Hub drivers which come with the driver CD.I figured its a matter of which driver is installed first.Best is to first install the LAN,then USB.Otherwise sometimes the installer hangs

.Glad you fixed the Epox USB Hub problem.

Thanks so much for nice communication and talkin´

greets
Mad

Eck · May 7, 2007, 06:02 AM

No problem. Don't neglect to check out the Marvell website and the Via Arena website for updated Via Hyperion's, Via USB, and Marvell Yukon LAN drivers. The stuff on the cd is really old.

But don't even bother installing any USB 2.0 drivers if you're on XP SP2 or Vista. They're not needed as they come with XP SP2. They're only needed for Windows 9x or Windows 2000. XP before SP1 needed them but they were added into the XP SP1.

And the Marvell Yukon LAN driver installed by Windows Update is better than the old one on the Asus motherboard cd. If the one on Marvell's website is newer then you can install that but otherwise you don't need to do anything except Windows Update for that either. Windows Update will have a pretty recent one in the optional drivers section when you check for updates. You have to select it yourself as it's not considered a Critical Security Update. If you want the additional software tools that are on the cd then get the updated versions from Marvell rather than using the cd ones. I mean that Virtual Cable tester and diagnostic stuff. You really don't need them though.

The most important one is the Via Hyperion Pro. The just previous version 5.10 is recommended for XP as the newer one works well in Vista but has caused some problems on XP. They'll install a much newer design of the IDE and SATA controller drivers. If you get them, uncheck the Via Sata/Raid Configuration Utility unless you use a Raid configuration. It just puts itself in startup and your system tray and is pretty useless unless you do Raid. It also sometimes doesn't startup properly and interferes with other things trying to startup. You can also likely uncheck the Sata hot-plug utility unless you intend to unplug and plugin Sata drives all the time.

MadHowdi · May 7, 2007, 01:04 PM

jeez,bud.Really need your help on this.I´ve never been to those sites and i am totally lost with all that drivers and stuff which popp´d up at Via and especially Marvells website...

I am running win2k...please help

Eck · May 7, 2007, 05:20 PM

Nah, you're not lost. You just need to select your operating system, then the chipset driver, and then you'll see the drivers listed and a big Drive Station button on the left which you click to download the Hyperion's. Until they come up with the next version that fixes stuff you don't download the latest 5.11, but the just previous 5.10 Hyperion's.

Then you extract them with your right click Extract, and run Setup.exe from the folder it extracted to. You basically do the install automatically, but like I said when you get to the screen with the list you uncheck the Sata/Raid Configuration Utility and the Sata Hot-Plug driver. Since you're on Windows 2000 you'll be installing the AGP driver in addition to the main inf, the IDE driver, and the Sata/Raid driver.

Since you are using Windows 2000 you should also go back into the Via Arena Driver menu to select the USB 2.0 driver and download that one as well. It is more up to date than the one on your cd and Windows 2000 doesn't have one to install so you do need to get that.

After you've installed the Hyperion's and rebooted, you install the USB 2.0 driver.

Again, with Windows 2000 you don't get the Marvell LAN driver so that you download from the Marvell website. Just like with Via, you select what you're looking for in the drop down menus, in this case the Marvell Yukon series, your operating system, and then from the list they give you select the latest one. Sometimes they offer one that has a Windows Installer. That's updated less frequently than the one you extract and direct Windows Device Manager to but should still be okay if you want to make it easier on yourself. Then you just extract the package and run setup.exe from the package or perhaps the Windows 2000 folder within the package.

Otherwise, if you use the package without the installer, you extract it to a folder like C:\LAN and in Device Manager you right click the LAN driver or Question Mark that's there, choose to uninstall the driver, and restart the computer. When Windows comes back it will detect a new device and you just browse to the Windows 2000 folder within your extracted package and have Windows install the driver from it. After restarting the computer you'll have internet. You might need to run the Internet Connection Wizard and tell it you're always connected. That sometimes helps Outlook Express and Windows Media Player know you have a connection, even though you're already connected anyway.

Make sure you install the Hyperion's first. Then the USB. Then install Internet Explorer 6 SP1. Then install a firewall. Then the LAN. And install Direct X. Then you reboot and only then do you install your videocard drivers. Make sure you install the Hyperion's, Internet Explorer, and Direct X before the videocard drivers. And get those from you videocard makers website, whether it's ATI or NVidia. At this point I would install the SoundMAX driver from your cd or the downloaded one from Asus (same one). If you want to do that one file trick then you need the downloaded one so you can replace the file before running the setup. That worked on 98 and XP but if it doesn't work on Windows 2000 you may have to replace the file after the driver is installed.

Windows 2000 is a bit different as it needs service packs to really work properly, so Windows Update is really important to do as soon as you can. I hope you realize it is no longer getting further security updates. I might even do Windows Update and install those service packs right after you get on the internet. Even before you install the videocard drivers. Windows 2000 is a bit tricky. Keep going back to Windows Update until you get everything.

MadHowdi · May 7, 2007, 05:42 PM

Hi,thanks.There seems to be no VIA USB 2.0 driver for VT6420/8237 only for USB 2.0 (VT6202, VT6212, VT6214/L) ( VT6214 VT6212 VT6202 )

...please help with Marvell LAN driver...there are some single drivers but no installers or single drivers *confused*

sincerely

Eck · May 8, 2007, 01:18 AM

The 2.70p Via USB 2.0 Driver is the one for the A7V880. Just make sure your Windows 2000 is updated to Service Pack 4 before installing it. Don't worry. The one on the motherboard cd is for the same family of chipsets and works fine but is older. I used the 2.70p USB 2.0 driver on 98SE and Windows XP and it worked perfectly. If you had XP you could even install them over the Microsoft driver and it would, according to the Via info, improve performance. I used to do that. I still would, even with the Epox board, but using Vista I don't need to.

At Marvell.com, you hit the driver link at the top, choose PC Connectivity in the drop down, choose Yukon in the drop down, and choose Windows 2000 in the drop down.

The 9.12.3.3 driver is listed there as Marvell Yukon Win2000, etc, English Installer. That's what you download and run. No need to do that Device Manager stuff I mentioned, as this is an installer. If it's zipped up you extract it and run the installer. If it's not zipped up you just run the installer. After rebooting you'll be up and running on the internet. Just make sure to install a firewall before this so you'll be protected as soon as you're connected.

MadHowdi · May 8, 2007, 12:18 PM

You saved my day

One thing i noticed that i actually never installed the 4in1 driver package.Maybe thats do to conflicts after installing that one on top of the specific drivers. Okay, got everything down

Thanks for clearance

Hey cool NEWS.I was able to purchase and download the Virtual Theater upgrade now and installed it.After restart it says something about 30days trial and i entered the emailed serial to register the upgrade.Like youve said,there was some error about some update file but it continues with the installation without problems...but...somehow the virtual emulation does not seem to work properly.

I am clicking on the headphone symbol in soundmax system panel (underneath virtual theater settings) and the virtual theater option menu pops up.So far everythings works fine.

Enabled Headphone Theater in "Configuration" and set Input to "Universal" and output to "Headphones".Now,with all set,doing the Speaker Tests results in awful rushing and electronic crackling sounds out the Front Left and Front Right speakers.Headphones worked fine so far.The other speakers are dead-line as you mentioned in your previous posts.The problem is i cant update the new driver because if i do it results in a "ADI codec driver not loaded" error.Last time i had this error,i needed to set up a fresh system.Because i plan to do so in some days anyhow the seems to be no way around it by now :-( .So you had those two speaker only while testing too with the old 3663 drivers?Okay, so thats the reason to it...

MadHowdi · May 10, 2007, 08:11 PM

i got the Intel swmd.sys driver working now.When i first installed the patched 5.12.01.3663 driver Windows did not showed the whql driver message as it should.Now after uninstalling the 5.12.01.3663,re-booting and installing the driver with the fixed 4520 sys Windows finally prompts for whql driver.After re-booting no "ADI codec driver" error appears anymore and crackling in "Nightwish - Walking in the air" disappeared.Also 5.1 headset test works now

In system panel for the installed driver it still lists 5.12.01.3663 to be installed but thats likely because of the wrong 3663 inf entry.

One last question still needs to be covered.When doing the 5.1 headset test,i dont get music or any nice tone but some weird electronic rubbish-sound.Is that the awful test sound as it appears on your system, too?

greets
Mad

Eck · May 13, 2007, 07:50 AM

The electronic rubbish is probably the sample music not playing correctly. I think there were 2 sets, one is white noise and the other is a cool music track. And there was a selector for you to pick which one would play. This was a long time ago so I hope I'm remembering correctly. Whatever, with the original file from the 3663 driver you're correct that the sound in the test only plays on the front 2 speakers. When you replace the file with the one from the driver for the other system the test then plays all around. But it should be some nice music, not electronic rubbish so somethings wrong there. Unless of course you have it set to white noise. If there is a choice, I'm sorry but I really don't remember. White noise would seem like rubbish though!

You didn't install that whole newer driver, did you? You should only replace that one file but have the rest of the 3663 setup do the rest. You don't update in Device Manager to it but rather just put the file in there yourself, either in the folder before you run setup or afterwards by overwritting the same file that I think is in the Windows\System32 folder. But the SoundMAX installer that you run is the 3663 one.

You probably did that right but I didn't understand whether you did from your post. Anyway, the Virtual Ear upgrade is there too you know. That is amazing for headphones as you can either set something up in the wizard or directly control the seperation. You can make several profiles that are selectable from the system tray icon. It also effects normal speaker listening but isn't as noticable that way. You can also turn it off if you're wondering. That Virtual Ear was one big advantage for headphone listening that Sensaura based soundcards had over the Creative cards, at least before Creative bought Sensaura. Later Creative drivers have good headphone sound because they now incorporate the Sensaura technology. AudioConsole's "Maximize 3D Effects When Using Headphones" basically turns on Sensaura Virtual Ear on the Audigy 2 ZS. But it's just a default setting. No user adjustment is available like in the SoundMAX or other Sensaura cards.

That Virtual Headphone Theatre can be even more noticable if you turn on the Equalizer it has. Just make sure you lower to zero or mute the Bass Boost as it should be used by itself without interference. Bass Boost uses its own algorythm to do its own EQ. The two don't mix well. Try it on some DVD's or mp3's.

I'm sure that there's a test there that has music available in addition to the White Noise. I just don't remember whether its the SoundMax Control Panel test or one of the Sensaura upgrades that has it.

MadHowdi · May 13, 2007, 01:29 PM

Hi Eck,

i am with my parents in the moment but will check that "white noise" setting again.I think i tried it and it didnt changed the music though and was placed in the SoundMAX options.Anyhow,its great you remember lots of that Sensaura stuff

.I am really impressed about the great individual ear settings Sensaura offers

.

One question,i downloaded VirtualEar3_V107.exe (7.970.692kb) v1.07 and found a forum entry of someone posting info about version v1.09 (7.6mb).Do you remember weither you had version v1.07 or v1.09?!

best regards
Mad

Eck · May 13, 2007, 06:49 PM

The two SoundMAX upgrades sold on digibuy were the only versions I installed. The 107 and 109 things were not specifically designed to be integrated into SoundMAX like the ones sold on digibuy and I have no idea what versions those were. I remember that the 107 and maybe 109 ones were available as free downloads and I did that but was too afraid to try installing it since it didn't specify SoundMAX anywhere, just a generic Sensaura label. I think they may have been for Realtek audio but I'm really not sure.

As long as you bought the two from digibuy (the SoundMAX Virtual Headphone Theatre and the Virtual Ear for SoundMAX 3.0) then you have the ones that integrate perfectly with your SoundMAX. Anything else and your just butchering them in and it may not work correctly.

Jan 3, 2006, 03:02 PM	#1
compunoob DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 104 Rep Power: 0	I want an A2zs platinum drive Is there anyway to get just the drive itself without the sound card in the USA?

Jan 7, 2006, 03:52 AM	#4
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	They used to sell it in the on-line shop. I bought mine for $129. Let me help. If you don't mind springing for a lot now, you can get an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro from Newegg for $120 after the Creative $100 rebate. So that's $220 now, but you print out the rebate form from a link on the Newegg page and mail that in with a copy of the printed out Newegg receipt and the cut out original UPC code from the box. Now you'll have your current card as a backup and the new card with real midi connectors on the stand-alone box. It also adds ASIO 2.0 compliance for higher resolution recording that the normal card doesn't have. The card is different in that you need to use the exterior breakout box since most of the connections are on there instead of the card. The normal card can be used without its interior breakout box. I was looking around for a good price on another Platinum and almost bought one until I noticed this on Newegg. A Platinum Pro for $120 is a great deal. After I had spent a total of $229 after upgrading my normal Audigy 2 ZS I can't believe I just bought a Pro for $120. Well, Creative must love me. I also have several of their older cards. Funny, I mostly use Via Chipset motherboards too. Heh, one of them was a KT7A (the 686B southbridge fiasco) and I mostly used a Live 5.1 on that. A couple of bios settings needed changing but it worked fine. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Jan 7, 2006, 04:29 AM	#6
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	Ummm, okay. I had been reading up on what was different from the normal card at 3DSS and that's how it translated in my head. So, the other cards have it, but just can't do it because of Creative software settings? I thought I read you're limited to 16/48 ASIO recording unless you have the Pro. (Or kXProject drivers?) Anyway, I think it's a great deal for someone who wants a breakout box, even if it is external. Which is actually better, since it's shielded from the inner computer electronics. And he'll get the Steinberg Cubasis VST 4, Wavelab Lite, and Fruity Loops included in the package, just like the Platunum breakout box came with when Creative sold it on the web. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Jan 7, 2006, 05:58 AM	#8
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for the info. Those Foobar2000 folks over at 3DSS forums tell of something different in the recording allowed by the Pro that the regular version isn't capable of. Since I don't do anything like that, I really don't want to go back and read through hundreds of threads to find the information. It would be to prove a point I don't really understand and have no use for. I read them say that something was betterer! Just trying to make a good suggestion for the fellow looking for the breakout box. Heh, the only thing I use on mine is the headphone output. But that is handy! The software switches automatically when pluging or unplugging the headphones. Coolest thing since the Santa Cruz Versajack. It saves me from needing to use my Radio Shack switcher and then adjusting the Windows settings like I need to do for all the other soundcards. I still use the midi port for my keyboard. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Jan 12, 2006, 06:12 AM	#9
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	dj_stick, The box does describe ASIO differently. The Audigy 2 ZS has ASIO drivers supporting 16/48. The Platinum Pro has ASIO 2.0 drivers supporting low latency(as low as 2ms) multi-track playback and recording at 16bit/48kHz AND 24bit/96kHz. So that's what I read at the 3D Sound Surge forum long ago when someone asked about 24/96 recording and they were told only with the Platinum Pro. Jeez, my SoundMAX ADI 1888 codec with the Sensaura Headphone Theatre and Virtual Ear update on my Asus A7V880 is sounding so good I may leave the Pro in the box for a bit. I'll make sure to send in for my rebate though. Yeah, it's nice to have my MB back. I took the Abit KW7 out and put the RMA I got back into the nice Antec P160 case. I think those retail AMD heatsink pads just wear out after awhile. That's all that was wrong with my board. It was protecting my processor from burning up. Cool! Although they are the same chipset, the Asus board has more built in features like that SoundMAX audio (blows away the Realtec), the Marvell Gigabyte LAN, the ability to run 98SE (the KW7 disabled the PCI slots with 98), etc. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Jan 4, 2006, 03:49 PM	Thread Starter #3
compunoob DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 104 Rep Power: 0	I have but they do not sell the drive bay only in the USA. All other parts of the world they do but not here. I think its complete crap and hate it. I just cant seem to find the bay only anywhere.

Apr 26, 2007, 07:18 PM	#11
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	The digibuy.com website still sells them. You go there and put Soundmax into the search field. Three products will show. You want Headphone Theatre - For SoundMAX 3.0 and Virtual Ear - SoundMAX 3.0. The other one is for the older 2.0. That's where I bought mine. When you buy them you'll be emailed an unlock code for each of them. Install both of them. One of them will give you an error popup for not being able to update one file but that's only the update file which doesn't exist so it can't update it. Basically it's the advertisement file that it's trying to update so it won't popup to ask you to update. That file just wasn't included in the Asus package so it's no worry. Reboot after both installs and you'll have access to more tools than any Sensaura based soundcard ever included. In the advanced windows you can play with more stuff than with Creative cards, with simple screens that go away when you're done having it make settings. This is nice in that unlike Creative bloatware the stuff doesn't need to be running in the background all the time. Just the Sensaura System Tray and the SoundMAX System Tray icons need to be loaded. No ctloader's or DVD detector's and stuff. I just saw the pages on digibuy and they're still up for sale. These things will only work on Windows 98SE, Windows Me, or Windows XP. No Vista support as there's no Direct Sound for Sensaura to work with. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Apr 27, 2007, 06:58 AM	#12
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hey mate, thanks for helping and the infos about the correct version.So i need to look after the SoundMAX 3 upgrade. One last question.Is it a downloadble upgrade installer file or does it need to be installed directly into the system?I want to reinstall the system soon and dont want to re-buy it again...and i only can pay PayPal so i need to relay on my friend buying this update and mailing it to me.Hope that works that way... Funny, you r running a similar system to mine :-): ASUS A7V880/XP M 2600@2,2GHz/Zalman 7000B/Corsair 2x512MB Corsair Value Select 2,5.Gigabyte 6600GT turbo force/silent pipe lol :-). best regards Mad Last edited by MadHowdi; Apr 27, 2007 at 07:50 AM.

Apr 27, 2007, 07:20 PM	#13
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	The update was made before the days of activation on single system crap. So you'll be able to save the programs you download to a cdr for safe keeping. When the programs run after setup for the first time you'll get a prompt for each of the 2 for you to enter the serial numbers. That's what you must not lose! You either type in or copy and paste the numbers from the email you'll get after buying it. One hint to getting the SoundMAX driver working better with multiple speakers is the pcper.com forum's A7V880 thread's link to one file from an updated version of the driver. I forget what it's named but you either replace the file after the install or replace it in the driver's setup folder before the install. If you do it before the install you'll need to answer to install anyway when a Windows warning message appears saying the file is not the exact one the inf is referring to. It fixes some skippyness in the audio and also makes the multispeaker tests work properly. I think its actually the .sys driver file itself. I actually miss the SoundMAX Sensaura stuff. I enjoyed messing with it and the different Virtual Theatre sounds I got. I used to install a full Yamaha S-YXG50 as it improved upon the midi synth SoundMAX gives you. I have been just using the Epox board with an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum as I got tired of the Asus board 3D game freezing problems. Funny, it didn't do that for the first year and a half but started having problems later. Epox has a more recent Bios design and the 8237R chip. Never tried the Realtek onboard audio as I heard it wasn't as good as SoundMAX. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Apr 28, 2007, 02:43 AM	#14
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi Eck, are you referring to this thread,mate ? Code: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=348891 Yeah, I found it a couple of days ago and tried the driver and did exactly everything Stirling said in his post and restarted the system.After reboot i got a "ADI codec driver not installed" error and had to remove that driver again.But okay, i will try it again the next days when i have some nervs to it . I had some crackles with the original ASUS HP 5.01.12.3663 drivers and struggled with ASUS support for a solution.In the end i found out to disable BassBoost which then eliminates the crackles in mp3 and audio cds. During that time i had in mind to buy a Creative Audigy 2 ZS (which someone told me is the best mid priced soundcard with good quality).And now finding out about the upgrade and reading your positive comment about the superb SoundMAX audio quality and good features i am back on fixing this problem and not spending money in another PCI card which blocks one of my PCI slots.I am quite happy this SoundMAX sound isnt that bad as criticised on many pages "the first Soundchip that crackles" and other comments.Got frustrated reading such comments and great to hear that there a working solutions to this prob. Mate, did you ever used the SPDIF out jack under the PS/2 keyboard/mouse connectors?Do i need to buy this digital SPDIF ASUS module or does this output jack works already? sincerely Mad Last edited by MadHowdi; Apr 28, 2007 at 05:13 AM.

Apr 28, 2007, 07:38 PM	#15
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	That smwdm.sys is all you need, not the whole driver. I extracted the zip for the 3663 driver from the Asus site and replaced that file with the newer one. I then ran setup which gave me a popup when encountering that file asking me whether I wanted to use it and I just tell it to use it. I didn't get the errors on bootup that you did. The driver on the Asus site is the same as on the cd, but if you want to use that file you need to either replace it during install and run it all from your hard drive or try replacing it afterwards. I never tried that. With that one file I could use bass boost without problems. I usually kept it on for normal stuff and muted it for music listening. I would turn on the Virtual Headphone Theatre EQ for DVDs and mp3s. I lowered the bass a bit and raised the treble a bit in the EQ. And I created a virtual ear profile, setting it to plus 1 in all the wizards choices. Made the thing sound like the Santa Cruz, but better! Settings would be different I guess for speakers, but when I use DVDs or music I use headphones. I use a Radio Shack switcher so I don't need to unplug them all the time. Of course, with the Creative card I have the breakout box, so I don't use the switcher. With SoundMAX, I also need to change the setting to headphones, unlike Creative which does that automatically. I haven't tried that SPDIF out but as long as it's turned on in the SoundMAX panel and Windows volume control then it should output fine. Just to have a complete setup with SPDIF in and out I did buy that Asus SPDIF addon (had to call Asus RMA Dept and give them the exact title from the manual, then they charged it to my card by my faxing back my signature). Just so you're aware, DRM players sometimes cut off the sound to SPDIF. And with SoundMAX I think it will only output stereo (2 speakers) and the Sensaura EAX stuff won't be used. Only with the regular analog outputs will you be taking advantage of the SoundMAX advantages. Keep in mind there's no ASIO support or EAX above 2.0. But that's really all I felt I didn't have. Even the midi stuff in and out works fine. But that is another difference. I needed to get rid of the keyboard in delay by either using a Roland Virtual Sound Canvas program (great) or the lower cost WinGroove. Those programs have a latency slider. Either one worked fine with stuff like Digital Orchestrator Pro, Teach Me Piano, etc. For sound quality from 16/48, 16/44.1 sources I saw no difference between my Audigy ZS cards and the SoundMAX. And with the additional software I was able to get the functionality I needed for my additional activities. However I did find that I also enjoyed all the built in to Creative software stuff and the support for higher resolution formats in the Audigy series very nice as well. Hardware midi synth and ASIO is nice to have. So there are plusses and minuses to each choice. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

Apr 29, 2007, 03:41 AM	#16
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi Eck, i first realised those crackles by listening to Nightwish - "walking in the air" on my Logitech R-20 2.1 system.Which is okay for the price cause a 5.1 system wasnt handy for my little home office room and this system looked quite solid made and sound is clear and had good bass. Funny enough, those crackles especially in that song where always at the same position so i contacted a hifi friend to check that song but there where none crackles visible in Steinberg WaveLab at all.Then i contacted ASUS support and theyve send me a single driver but said, its only working for stereo and it did without crackles.Hmm i thought...not a satisfying solution at all...it turned out to be the bass boost which causes all this trouble.Though some other A7V880 users experienced the crackles to be caused by the wave-slider and/or the cd-line slider,those sliders definitly played no role on my system.I checked it with that song and only the bass boost was messing up that song and also some old DreamTheater recordings with low khz+bitrate. - !such a weird thing!- Although i hardly ever used bass boost while listening to audio cds on my pc i wasnt happy with this flick so i started googling for solutions and found this site about the replaced sys file. I am setting up my compi again in the next days when the upgrades arrives and i will check out this sys modified driver again.So you basically only copied this single sys into the driver/inf folder? What worries me a bit was the smwdmAL3.inf which was mentioned later on in that driver-fix which is not the same as the smwdmVI3.inf.So the 5.1 worked only with this sys driver exchanged?What did you mean by "theres no ASIO support for EAX with 2.0"?Forgive me asking, i just found out about all this extra audio stuff.Does it mean the new 3.0 driver is buggy or is it maybe because of this tweaked different driver sys? I want to follow your path and need to get sure to do it the same way...if youre still running that mobo it would be interesting to know if it plays fine on your system.Please contact me via PM. thanks for all your help, Eck.Best regards and happy weekend Mad Last edited by MadHowdi; Apr 29, 2007 at 04:43 PM.

Apr 29, 2007, 06:15 PM	#17
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	Okay, I've sent a couple of PM to you. First regarding the MB and SoundMAX and the 2nd regarding what you PM me about. I forgot to explain that ASIO is what folks generally use for recording for music creation these days and some use it even to output music that bypasses the Windows mixer for a truer sound reproduction. I've used it but didn't like the resource hogging it did for normal music listening and my recording for music creation is usually using older style software midi stuff that doesn't use ASIO. Mostly, if you don't know what it is you won't miss it. EAX is Creative's use of Direct Sound to create a surround experience in games. Only their soundcards offer EAX versions above EAX 2.0. Games run fine without any EAX and some folks don't like it so turn it off altogether, but most folks love it and so purchase Creative soundcards to get the higher versions of EAX. The EAX above 2.0 is only used by games in the last couple of years so you won't notice any difference for any games older than that with a soundcard solution that takes advantage of EAX 1.0 and 2.0, like the SoundMAX does as provided by Sensaura. If you're a fragger you will notice a slight speed loss when playing while using a non-Creative solution as only Creative does it in hardware. The Sensaura such as is provided by SoundMAX is a software based EAX. However any computer made in the last 5 years or so with a decent processor speed handles this fine in software, unless you're in some kind of fragging contest on the net. Sensaura offers supurb EAX. So, yes there are advantages to using a PCI soundcard over on-board. But the SoundMAX solution is one of the best implementations of on-board audio and for many it satisfies just fine. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 2, 2007, 01:42 AM	#18
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi Eck, sorry for still hogging onto this prob and coming up with new questions but did you get my last PM related the songtest? BR Mad Last edited by MadHowdi; May 3, 2007 at 11:16 AM.

May 5, 2007, 07:58 AM	#19
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	Sorry about the delay. I just got back on the net after switching computers and reinstalling Vista and the ton of drivers, software, my files, security, etc. Sheesh, that takes a long time! I just read all your PM's. I have the board but at this point won't be installing it, so have no way of testing the song for you. I switched computers to another one with the Epox EP-8KRAIPRO (I have 2 of these). I wanted to switch my videocard from the ATI to NVidia to see the difference that makes in Linux. Yeah, I could have just swapped the videocards but the Epox in the other computer has a slight USB hub defect that the one in this box doesn't. I worked around it by using a Belkin 4 port USB 2.0 hub. The only problem with it was the top 2 USB connectors. If I use either of them the other one doesn't detect any plugged in devices. But if I use the Belkin hub in one of them then I get 4 ports out of that 2 port hub instead! So it worked out okay, but the other computer already had all the hardware setup so I just needed to install the OS's and am now using a board that doesn't have that defect. And, the NVidia card is on here too. I don't remember what happened as far as what file versions showed in Device Manager, but I recall it worked fine. You don't lose EAX with SoundMAX 3.0. You get the same EAX 1 and 2 that previous versions of SoundMAX's Sensaura gives you. You just don't get EAX 3 and 4 or higher with anything except a Creative solution. That Analog Devices AD1888 chip on the A7V880 and the SoundMAX software IS SoundMAX 3.0. Their older software wouldn't install on it anyway so don't even worry about that. I assume you've read the info on soundmax.com? You shouldn't get skipping if you turn off that Bass Boost. I didn't, anyway. The point of substituting that one file is that that driver file fixed that skipping with Bass Boost problem and also updated the 5.1 support. At least the tests were fixed, anyway. You'll notice that with the older file the 2 front speakers play on the surround tests but the others did not. With the newer file all the speakers can be tested. Since I only used 2.1 or headphones I don't know whether the problem was only in the tests. But the simulated Surround in the tests work fine with the newer file as the sound seemed to come from behind me (with only 2 speakers or headphones). Sensaura was cool! In any case that one newer file was betterer! __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 7, 2007, 03:04 AM	#20
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi Eck,thanks so much for coming back to me .I will try that driver tuesday latest when the money is availible on my friends credit card happylookingforwardtoit. As for the USB, there are still big problems with power voltage management even on newer systems.I noticed it on my fathers machine (some new ASUS 64bit board) where as when you plug in three USB devices, one lost power .Thats always a pain...espacially when the hubs doesnt work the way they should.Sometimes i have also problems installing the ASUS A7V880 USB Hub drivers which come with the driver CD.I figured its a matter of which driver is installed first.Best is to first install the LAN,then USB.Otherwise sometimes the installer hangs .Glad you fixed the Epox USB Hub problem. Thanks so much for nice communication and talkin´ greets Mad

May 7, 2007, 06:02 AM	#21
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	No problem. Don't neglect to check out the Marvell website and the Via Arena website for updated Via Hyperion's, Via USB, and Marvell Yukon LAN drivers. The stuff on the cd is really old. But don't even bother installing any USB 2.0 drivers if you're on XP SP2 or Vista. They're not needed as they come with XP SP2. They're only needed for Windows 9x or Windows 2000. XP before SP1 needed them but they were added into the XP SP1. And the Marvell Yukon LAN driver installed by Windows Update is better than the old one on the Asus motherboard cd. If the one on Marvell's website is newer then you can install that but otherwise you don't need to do anything except Windows Update for that either. Windows Update will have a pretty recent one in the optional drivers section when you check for updates. You have to select it yourself as it's not considered a Critical Security Update. If you want the additional software tools that are on the cd then get the updated versions from Marvell rather than using the cd ones. I mean that Virtual Cable tester and diagnostic stuff. You really don't need them though. The most important one is the Via Hyperion Pro. The just previous version 5.10 is recommended for XP as the newer one works well in Vista but has caused some problems on XP. They'll install a much newer design of the IDE and SATA controller drivers. If you get them, uncheck the Via Sata/Raid Configuration Utility unless you use a Raid configuration. It just puts itself in startup and your system tray and is pretty useless unless you do Raid. It also sometimes doesn't startup properly and interferes with other things trying to startup. You can also likely uncheck the Sata hot-plug utility unless you intend to unplug and plugin Sata drives all the time. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 7, 2007, 01:04 PM	#22
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	jeez,bud.Really need your help on this.I´ve never been to those sites and i am totally lost with all that drivers and stuff which popp´d up at Via and especially Marvells website... I am running win2k...please help

May 7, 2007, 05:20 PM	#23
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	Nah, you're not lost. You just need to select your operating system, then the chipset driver, and then you'll see the drivers listed and a big Drive Station button on the left which you click to download the Hyperion's. Until they come up with the next version that fixes stuff you don't download the latest 5.11, but the just previous 5.10 Hyperion's. Then you extract them with your right click Extract, and run Setup.exe from the folder it extracted to. You basically do the install automatically, but like I said when you get to the screen with the list you uncheck the Sata/Raid Configuration Utility and the Sata Hot-Plug driver. Since you're on Windows 2000 you'll be installing the AGP driver in addition to the main inf, the IDE driver, and the Sata/Raid driver. Since you are using Windows 2000 you should also go back into the Via Arena Driver menu to select the USB 2.0 driver and download that one as well. It is more up to date than the one on your cd and Windows 2000 doesn't have one to install so you do need to get that. After you've installed the Hyperion's and rebooted, you install the USB 2.0 driver. Again, with Windows 2000 you don't get the Marvell LAN driver so that you download from the Marvell website. Just like with Via, you select what you're looking for in the drop down menus, in this case the Marvell Yukon series, your operating system, and then from the list they give you select the latest one. Sometimes they offer one that has a Windows Installer. That's updated less frequently than the one you extract and direct Windows Device Manager to but should still be okay if you want to make it easier on yourself. Then you just extract the package and run setup.exe from the package or perhaps the Windows 2000 folder within the package. Otherwise, if you use the package without the installer, you extract it to a folder like C:\LAN and in Device Manager you right click the LAN driver or Question Mark that's there, choose to uninstall the driver, and restart the computer. When Windows comes back it will detect a new device and you just browse to the Windows 2000 folder within your extracted package and have Windows install the driver from it. After restarting the computer you'll have internet. You might need to run the Internet Connection Wizard and tell it you're always connected. That sometimes helps Outlook Express and Windows Media Player know you have a connection, even though you're already connected anyway. Make sure you install the Hyperion's first. Then the USB. Then install Internet Explorer 6 SP1. Then install a firewall. Then the LAN. And install Direct X. Then you reboot and only then do you install your videocard drivers. Make sure you install the Hyperion's, Internet Explorer, and Direct X before the videocard drivers. And get those from you videocard makers website, whether it's ATI or NVidia. At this point I would install the SoundMAX driver from your cd or the downloaded one from Asus (same one). If you want to do that one file trick then you need the downloaded one so you can replace the file before running the setup. That worked on 98 and XP but if it doesn't work on Windows 2000 you may have to replace the file after the driver is installed. Windows 2000 is a bit different as it needs service packs to really work properly, so Windows Update is really important to do as soon as you can. I hope you realize it is no longer getting further security updates. I might even do Windows Update and install those service packs right after you get on the internet. Even before you install the videocard drivers. Windows 2000 is a bit tricky. Keep going back to Windows Update until you get everything. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 7, 2007, 05:42 PM	#24
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi,thanks.There seems to be no VIA USB 2.0 driver for VT6420/8237 only for USB 2.0 (VT6202, VT6212, VT6214/L) ( VT6214 VT6212 VT6202 ) ...please help with Marvell LAN driver...there are some single drivers but no installers or single drivers confused sincerely Last edited by MadHowdi; May 7, 2007 at 05:51 PM.

May 8, 2007, 01:18 AM	#25
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	The 2.70p Via USB 2.0 Driver is the one for the A7V880. Just make sure your Windows 2000 is updated to Service Pack 4 before installing it. Don't worry. The one on the motherboard cd is for the same family of chipsets and works fine but is older. I used the 2.70p USB 2.0 driver on 98SE and Windows XP and it worked perfectly. If you had XP you could even install them over the Microsoft driver and it would, according to the Via info, improve performance. I used to do that. I still would, even with the Epox board, but using Vista I don't need to. At Marvell.com, you hit the driver link at the top, choose PC Connectivity in the drop down, choose Yukon in the drop down, and choose Windows 2000 in the drop down. The 9.12.3.3 driver is listed there as Marvell Yukon Win2000, etc, English Installer. That's what you download and run. No need to do that Device Manager stuff I mentioned, as this is an installer. If it's zipped up you extract it and run the installer. If it's not zipped up you just run the installer. After rebooting you'll be up and running on the internet. Just make sure to install a firewall before this so you'll be protected as soon as you're connected. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 8, 2007, 12:18 PM	#26
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	You saved my day One thing i noticed that i actually never installed the 4in1 driver package.Maybe thats do to conflicts after installing that one on top of the specific drivers. Okay, got everything down Thanks for clearance Hey cool NEWS.I was able to purchase and download the Virtual Theater upgrade now and installed it.After restart it says something about 30days trial and i entered the emailed serial to register the upgrade.Like youve said,there was some error about some update file but it continues with the installation without problems...but...somehow the virtual emulation does not seem to work properly. I am clicking on the headphone symbol in soundmax system panel (underneath virtual theater settings) and the virtual theater option menu pops up.So far everythings works fine. Enabled Headphone Theater in "Configuration" and set Input to "Universal" and output to "Headphones".Now,with all set,doing the Speaker Tests results in awful rushing and electronic crackling sounds out the Front Left and Front Right speakers.Headphones worked fine so far.The other speakers are dead-line as you mentioned in your previous posts.The problem is i cant update the new driver because if i do it results in a "ADI codec driver not loaded" error.Last time i had this error,i needed to set up a fresh system.Because i plan to do so in some days anyhow the seems to be no way around it by now :-( .So you had those two speaker only while testing too with the old 3663 drivers?Okay, so thats the reason to it... Last edited by MadHowdi; May 9, 2007 at 01:15 AM.

May 10, 2007, 08:11 PM	#27
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	i got the Intel swmd.sys driver working now.When i first installed the patched 5.12.01.3663 driver Windows did not showed the whql driver message as it should.Now after uninstalling the 5.12.01.3663,re-booting and installing the driver with the fixed 4520 sys Windows finally prompts for whql driver.After re-booting no "ADI codec driver" error appears anymore and crackling in "Nightwish - Walking in the air" disappeared.Also 5.1 headset test works now In system panel for the installed driver it still lists 5.12.01.3663 to be installed but thats likely because of the wrong 3663 inf entry. One last question still needs to be covered.When doing the 5.1 headset test,i dont get music or any nice tone but some weird electronic rubbish-sound.Is that the awful test sound as it appears on your system, too? greets Mad Last edited by MadHowdi; May 11, 2007 at 03:53 PM.

May 13, 2007, 07:50 AM	#28
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	The electronic rubbish is probably the sample music not playing correctly. I think there were 2 sets, one is white noise and the other is a cool music track. And there was a selector for you to pick which one would play. This was a long time ago so I hope I'm remembering correctly. Whatever, with the original file from the 3663 driver you're correct that the sound in the test only plays on the front 2 speakers. When you replace the file with the one from the driver for the other system the test then plays all around. But it should be some nice music, not electronic rubbish so somethings wrong there. Unless of course you have it set to white noise. If there is a choice, I'm sorry but I really don't remember. White noise would seem like rubbish though! You didn't install that whole newer driver, did you? You should only replace that one file but have the rest of the 3663 setup do the rest. You don't update in Device Manager to it but rather just put the file in there yourself, either in the folder before you run setup or afterwards by overwritting the same file that I think is in the Windows\System32 folder. But the SoundMAX installer that you run is the 3663 one. You probably did that right but I didn't understand whether you did from your post. Anyway, the Virtual Ear upgrade is there too you know. That is amazing for headphones as you can either set something up in the wizard or directly control the seperation. You can make several profiles that are selectable from the system tray icon. It also effects normal speaker listening but isn't as noticable that way. You can also turn it off if you're wondering. That Virtual Ear was one big advantage for headphone listening that Sensaura based soundcards had over the Creative cards, at least before Creative bought Sensaura. Later Creative drivers have good headphone sound because they now incorporate the Sensaura technology. AudioConsole's "Maximize 3D Effects When Using Headphones" basically turns on Sensaura Virtual Ear on the Audigy 2 ZS. But it's just a default setting. No user adjustment is available like in the SoundMAX or other Sensaura cards. That Virtual Headphone Theatre can be even more noticable if you turn on the Equalizer it has. Just make sure you lower to zero or mute the Bass Boost as it should be used by itself without interference. Bass Boost uses its own algorythm to do its own EQ. The two don't mix well. Try it on some DVD's or mp3's. I'm sure that there's a test there that has music available in addition to the White Noise. I just don't remember whether its the SoundMax Control Panel test or one of the Sensaura upgrades that has it. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro

May 13, 2007, 01:29 PM	#29
MadHowdi DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 20 Rep Power: 0	Hi Eck, i am with my parents in the moment but will check that "white noise" setting again.I think i tried it and it didnt changed the music though and was placed in the SoundMAX options.Anyhow,its great you remember lots of that Sensaura stuff .I am really impressed about the great individual ear settings Sensaura offers . One question,i downloaded VirtualEar3_V107.exe (7.970.692kb) v1.07 and found a forum entry of someone posting info about version v1.09 (7.6mb).Do you remember weither you had version v1.07 or v1.09?! best regards Mad

May 13, 2007, 06:49 PM	#30
Eck DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 154 Rep Power: 0	The two SoundMAX upgrades sold on digibuy were the only versions I installed. The 107 and 109 things were not specifically designed to be integrated into SoundMAX like the ones sold on digibuy and I have no idea what versions those were. I remember that the 107 and maybe 109 ones were available as free downloads and I did that but was too afraid to try installing it since it didn't specify SoundMAX anywhere, just a generic Sensaura label. I think they may have been for Realtek audio but I'm really not sure. As long as you bought the two from digibuy (the SoundMAX Virtual Headphone Theatre and the Virtual Ear for SoundMAX 3.0) then you have the ones that integrate perfectly with your SoundMAX. Anything else and your just butchering them in and it may not work correctly. __________________ Epox 8KRAIPRO/Asus A7V880 Crucial 3200DDR 512x2 Sempron 3300+/AthlonXP3200 Gigabyte NVidia 6600GT/ATI Radeon x850PRO 250GB Maxtor Sata/250GB Maxtor ATA Audigy 2 ZS Platinum/Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro