No constant clock...

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Thu Jun 19, 2003 7:06 pm

Hello to all!

Problems, problems, problems again!...

Well, actually I had experienced this problem again some time ago and I thought I had solved it...but now it is back with a greater frequency of appearance.

What happens, is that the wordclock of the card goes crazy! In the "Samplerate Settings" window the samplerate reading keeps blinking (between the number and ---) and all the red lights below blink as well! And sometimes I get unexpected dsp overload errors... The situation is hopeless and I cannot work...

I have checked the stdm cables and if the cards are properly seated etc... And what I have found out is that when I disconnect the I/O connections from my Pulsar, the samplerate stabilizies and the lights stop to blink... However, when I reconnect it the problems do not come back again immediately. So, I am not able to "reproduce" the problem at will... Which, means that perhaps the problem is not there, although I temporarliy cure the problem in that way.
Now, I have 2 questions:
a) Do you know where I could buy just the "I/O bunch of cables" (I dont know its proper name) for my Pulsar? I dont want the whole I/O card. Just the black spider thing. (In case mine is broken)
b) I remember that I first started to experience this problem when I bought some good quality shielded RCA cables to substitute my old crappy ones. Do you think that these cables could be causing it? And if yes, HOW?

Thank you in advance for your help!

P.S. Have a look at my other post, cause I am experiencing another problem as well!...

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 2:02 pm

hello rodos,

sorry for so many problems at once. Do you sync to and external S/PDIF device via RCA cable ?
Then it might indeed be a bad cable or connector.
I'd also suspect the solder connections where the cable whip is connected to the IO-board. The stress of (rather heavy) whip might have damaged a solder joint. It's of course difficult to verify by view, but at least worth a try. If the thing really looks suspect you might have an experienced person resolder the connector if it's out of warranty - otherwise better have it serviced appropriately

good luck, tom

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 6:06 pm

Hello Tom!

No, I do not sync to anything... The RCAs are used for the analog input and output of my card...
What you suggest is the problem sounds very logical. Where exactly are the solder joints you refer to? By looking at the pin-connectors on the cable whip, none seems to be broken. Do you mean that something on the I/O card is broken? Or inside the plastic of the cable whip?

Thank you!

P.S. ...so its proper name is "cable whip"... I learn something everyday!

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 7:09 pm

hi rodos,

I was referring to the soldering of the socket on the IO-board where that infamous 'whip' get plugged in. It is not very likely that the soldering itself is bad, but there's at least a small mechanical load which seems to have an influence according to your observations.
But since you live on an island and the IO-card is plugged to the Pulsar there's also the possibility that the more aggressive air spoils the connectors.
No kidding, I just remembered that safety bolts (as used for sports climbing) near the sea should be stainless steel under all circumstances - regular steel might not catch a fall after a couple of years - and those have 8-12 mm diameter.
The metal of the connector is possibly even more sensitive to chemical reactions cause it would be enough that just the surface gets coated with some isolating product.
If you unplug the IO-board and replug it several times, then the connection should be ok again.
The same problems might reappear after some time - then you've verified that it's most certainly the connector

good luck, tom

bassdude · Post by **bassdude** » Fri Jun 20, 2003 8:54 pm

Rodos,

How much chance do you have to try and install the pulsar cards in another PC to test? I'm suspecting the motherboard myself.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 5:37 am

Hello!

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to install the cards to another PC. My second PC is an old Pentium MMX running Windows98 with only one slot free...

But if there was a problem with the motherboard, I guess everything would be kind of problematic. How could a supposed problem of the motherboard affect the clockrate of Pulsar?

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 8:28 am

In conjuntion with your other post, this definately sounds like an ACPI issue.

SAm

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 1:23 pm

On 2003-06-19 20:06, rodos1979 wrote:
... And what I have found out is that when I disconnect the I/O connections from my Pulsar, the samplerate stabilizies and the lights stop to blink... However, when I reconnect it the problems do not come back again immediately. ...

Sam, how does that affect a mobo, bios, software setup ?
But possibly there are 2 problems with different sources overlaying each other, I'm not XP, SX and ACPI experienced enough

my 2 cents, Tom

dehuszar · Post by **dehuszar** » Sat Jun 21, 2003 5:28 pm

ACPI is a dynamic resource assigner. It's designed to de-complexify IRQ (Interrupt ReQuest), DMA (Direct Memory Access), I/O (Input/Output management), assignment and make available a slew of BIOS & Windows controlled power management stuff. For standard usage of computers, it takes all the worry out of your hands and automates changes that needs to be made regarding what aspect of your machine uses what resources.

However, it has a penchant to double up resources so as to make available more IRQs available. Normally, this isn't a big deal.

Steinberg even recommends using ACPI with Cubase SX, except that they aren't too knowledgable about non-RME/MOTU hardware which generally play nice with ACPI (or in the case of recent MOTU products is regulated via your FireWire card).

Creamware cards CAN run fine (I had a machine run brilliantly with ACPI for a good 6 months (my old ASUS A7M266), but if you add hardware or install/upgrade software which utilizes hardware in a specific way, ACPI will adapt to accomodate any changes it sees fit to make. This is often a bad thing.

For use with Creamware cards you generally want to have Win2000/XP set to standard computer. You can do this (or see if it's not already set like this) by going into your Device Manager (hold the Start key on your keyboard and tap the pause/break key -> Hardware tab -> Device Manager -> Computer). If it doesn't read "Standard PC" it probably should.

It's safest to make this decision during installation, though I know many (including myself) have converted post-install.

I HEAVILY STRESS THAT YOU BACK UP EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING THIS!!! Usually it's no big deal, but this is your audio partition we're talking about here.

Anyway, just go to the properties tab of the ACPI setting under the Computer section and update the driver, and select Standard PC. You're hardware and mobo components will re-install themselves upon reboot (so don't panic when it starts).

That should (in theory) give you access to your beloved low latency, crackle-free CubaseSX goodness. It's a bit of a project so I recommend you do a search on these forums for : "standard pc" as it's been discussed a whole bunch and it never hurts to have a good idea of what you're doing and what you expect to see happen before you start. And again BACK EVERYTHING UP FIRST!!!

Also, if you have the patience to do a fresh install just hit F6 when it asks you if you want to install any 3rd party/SCSI drivers (it's during the Bright-Blue ANSI, non-GUI part of the install and it disappears quick so pay attention). You'll know if you hit it because it will allow you to choose the Standard PC once the yellow bar finishes loading. It's not an immediate response unfortunately so you have to be patient to see if you hit F6 in time.

Hope that helps,

Sam

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:17 am

Hello my friends!

It is not definately an ACPI issue, cause I had installed XP in Standard PC mode... Furthermore, everything used to run very smooth (low latencies, no crackles)... I dont know what might have gone wrong...

Post by **garyb** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 2:04 pm

inspecting the whip for shorts is probably a good place to start....

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:31 pm

What are the "shorts"? And how can I inspect for them? [forgive my limited knowledge of English!

]

Post by **garyb** » Sun Jun 22, 2003 10:11 pm

"continuity" would be a more appropriate word....make sure that signal flows by using a continuity tester.(a couple of wires,a light bulb and a battery would do....)be sure to wiggle all the wires and connections when you test them to find possible intermittant breaks.

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:20 pm

Where/how should I place the 2 wires to check for continuity?

P.S. I have not experienced the problem for the last 2 days... But I am sure it will reappear again in the future...

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 6:27 pm

Check case temperature. It could be.

Post by **garyb** » Mon Jun 23, 2003 9:53 pm

check for continuity across the pin on the dsub and the appropriate part of the connector on the other end.

noname · Post by **noname** » Sat Jun 28, 2003 4:59 am

Hi rodos!!!

i have the same problem here... i think tom is right. It's a ground problem or a bad connection of a component in the IO board...

best.
Noname

rodos1979 · Post by **rodos1979** » Sat Jul 05, 2003 10:20 pm

Yes, Astroman was once again right!

The I/O card was not properly connected to the Pulsar board. For some strange reason (maybe extreme humidity, maybe extreme temperature (41C now in Greece!), who knows?) the it was a bit loose. I pressed it firmly on to the board and I tightened the screws. Voila! Problem solved! A whole week has passed and the problem has not reappeared!

BTW, this time that I was having this hardware problem with my Pulsars, I realized how much they mean to me! I have seen many audio cards recently that when I saw them I thought "I d like to have this card" (for example, Lynx Two)... Then as this no constant clock problem was not going, I declared my Pulsar broken and I was thinking of buying a new audio card.... I really had the opportunity now to buy a new audio card now... And then I realized how much addicted I have become in the amazing routing possibilities that SFP offers (not to mention all its other great features!)... So, I was considering buying a new Pulsar or even a PowerPulsar to substitute for my "broken" Pulsar. Thanks God, finally I didnt have to spend any extra money again!

Ouf, long post! Peace!

Tony B · Post by **Tony B** » Thu Jul 10, 2003 4:39 am

I am having the exact samplerate problems but with one of my Luna 11. I have two Luna 11 cards. One is working fine but the other one seems faulty. Any suggestion anyone?