Mac, can I change IRQ's on a Laptop?

sinbad · Post by **sinbad** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 1:28 pm

Mac, your mention in Scottiboy's thread of IRQs got me thinking that I might have a problem in that vein. I have my usb sound card on IRQ11 which is being shared by graphic card, Carddrive and loads of other stuff. It's preconfigured for conflict

. One of the usb sits all alone on IRQ5. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to assign the card to that IRQ, any ideas? I remember on my old standup pc I could assign IRQs manually, is it possible on a lappy? I'd sure appreciate some info on that, I've got an asus m6700n.
thanks

sinbad · Post by **sinbad** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 2:37 pm

I found a link to microsoft about it on another forum, it don't look none too easy.

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:49 pm

First: ARE YOU HAVING AUDIO PROBLEMS?

Like dropouts, pops, clicks, sync, whatever.

If you aren't, don't do anything. duh.

If you are, changing IRQs on a lappy is indeed a next to impossible thang. But some brands and models are easier than others and since you don't say what you've got, well. (Toshibas are known to be among the worst to try to reconfigure but there are others almost if not as bad. That is because of proprietary drivers and the like. )

I've solved the problem by changing to a different Audio Sound Device entirely, though. A Firewire solution may install on a different IRQ, or a USB sound solution would since you say you have an IRQ open for USB.

Again, if it is working, DON'T FIX IT.

--Mac

sinbad · Post by **sinbad** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 5:30 pm

I read the microsoft writeup and I think I'll keep clear of that avenue. I've been having problems ever since I moved from desktop to laptop. I had a nice system with a terratec EWS MT88 pci card, but when I went on a jobsite I decided to go mobile.

Never change a running system! My usb card doesn't like my lappy for some reason, and the only sequencer that runs with it is mts. Unfortunately even mts is prone to interruptions now and again. At first I thought it was all n-track's fault, and the move to mts seemed to support that theory, but now I think that it boils down to the crappy usb2 drivers from Behringer. They may be able to copy hardware, but they sure miss out on the software. A pity really because this box has everything you need if you're on a tight budget. I tend to have too much on my lappy as well, so fault finding is almost impossible.

I should have invested in a firewire system long ago. Thanks for your input Mac.

Mac · Post by **Mac** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:28 pm

I'm totally ecstatic about my EMU 1616M pcmcia laptop sound solution.

The price is up there, the value is obvious, though.

And the pcmcia option just makes so much more sense than USB it ain't funny.

Before that I was running a MOTU 828 II Firewire on the lappy, problem there was that I couldn't also run a Firewire Hard Drive solution for audio streaming storage and the USB external drive wasn't keeping up with the full 16 channel input. Always tradeoffs in the designs of man.

Now, I can take the laptop with EMU 1616M out to a gig and using the Firewire hard disk I can easily stream 8 input channels, adding another 8 with ADAT or the like converter if needed.

Shopping Hint: Creative has a store on EBAY where they sell refurbs with full warranty, repacked and tested, for about a hundred dollars less than anywhere else I've seen the card. Good deal.

But check your laptop specs against the minimum requirements on the EMU site first.

The audio available from this setup is incredible. Get the "M" converters, no contest there.

--Mac

sinbad · Post by **sinbad** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:54 am

You got me droolin' Mac. Unfortunately they don't ship those things to Europe (Germany). They run at about 500 euros here regular so I'll have to save my eurocents. As luck would have it while I was browsing the 1616m manual I came across the following statement:

Removing the CardBus Card
Before removing the CardBus card, you need to
select ?Safely Remove Hardware? from the
Taskbar. Otherwise ASIO channels will remain
allocated to the Digital Audio System and your
other audio applications may develop problems
or hang.

Wow

Although I normally stick to little procedures like that I must admit that I have just been switching my bca2000 card off along with my pc without paying too much attention so I figured that if emu thought that it could cause problems with their equipment then it is certainly going to with Behringer equipment! So I fired everything up and did the right thing on shutdown. When I started up again I could run everythind correctly, even n-track worked (although I will reserve final judgement on that). It would however seem that Asio drivers are very susceptable to problems in that respect. I'm quite optimistic at the moment, and I hope that I can finally get some recording done

I'll put it through its paces over the next few days and post again, maybe it could solve someone elses problems as well. I'm still droolin' over the emu though.