gbclark

The replacement video card from Dell (of which I was doubtful) did the trick and I've finally got my PC-firewire music server in order. My faith is restored!

So I got the new card, this ones a STLab F-330 with TI chipset. I get the same thing, but this time I realised it is only the graphics that is freezing. So I pulled out the NVIDIA graphics card and went back to on-board graphics, and lo and behold she's stable as a rock and performing beautifully. Dell support think it might be a compatibility issue and so have sent out a new graphics card. It just arrived this morning and it is identical to the old one - so I'm not particularly hopeful. I don't need the extra graphics power so I might just leave it at on-board graphics. Its been a long road but I think I'm finally getting there.... Just a note, I'm using the ASIO plugin in MediaMonkey. I feel I should be using WASAPI (becuase I'm Win 7) but another part of me thinks that I've achieved bit transparency, so there's nothing more to gain.

No it's classic hardware crash symptoms. Windows freezes (screen is frozen) and hitting Caps lock for example fails to illuminate the keyboard Caps indication. Only option is to do a hard reboot.

Thanks guys, although it is a low profile card I'm after... Another thing I notice with all firewire cards these days is they don't explicitly state Win 7 support. Most stop at Vista. I know Win 7 did firewire differently to Vista and I wonder if anyone can fill me in on what is different? Also any comment on sharing flac files on a NTFS formatted NAS between PC and mac hosts?

So 5 months after purchasing my new DAC, I still haven't got a trouble free music server. The story so far... Got my DAC202 and had bad experiences with old music server because I was using the on-board firewire controller which was a JMicron chipset (be warned). Managed to get it working beautifully with my Lenovo T410 using internal firewire (Ricoh) and other laptop HP with internal TI. Great, however I couldn't leave my laptops connected - and according to the manual, you must unplug all devices from the mains before connecting them . Well that's all just a bit to much of a pain in the arse for my liking. So went and got a new PC, Intel i3, Win 7 64-bit and ordered a firewire card with a "supported" VIA chipset (VT6306). That works for about 1 hour then crashes Windows. It could be a dud card or maybe my PC has some fault, anyway I guess my next step is to try another card. So I'm appealing to all, can you recommend a low profile (preferably TI chipset) firewire card known to work with Windows 7 64-bit? I know I should have gone for a mac mini, but someone told me it wouldn't be able to read the music off my NTFS formatted NAS drive. Is that right?

OK so my faith is restored. My Weiss DAC 202 is sounding great and I get bit transparency at all sample rates 16 and 24 bit (Win XP and Win 7). The chipsets that work (for me): TI and Ricoh. The one that didn't - JMicron Technology. DON'T GO NEAR THIS CHIPSET. According to Daniel, no amount of driver jiggling will help with certain chipsets who have failed in their Isochronous mode implementations. Thanks to all for comments.

Of course you are right Codifus. I expect it is the implementation of the standard that has let me down. But to be incompatible on every PC (2 laptop and my Studio Hybrid) I own, well what does that say for the standard? Is it so ambiguous so as to result in varying non-compatible implementations across manufacturers? Imagine if the same was true of IEEE 802.3. Or maybe there is a problem with compliance certification. I maintain that when I encounter a IEEE 1394 interface, I expect a IEEE 1394 interface - in full and not compromised. As for the Mac option I probably did exaggerate the price however I do resent spending even another $1k after spending $6k on the DAC. TC Applied Technologies do the Firewire driver chip on my DAC and I would love to hear from them as to why they are 'particular' about 1394 implementations. Thanks to all for the feedback.

I finally made the purchase. My new DAC. I didn't go for the cheapest. Quality is important. Bit perfect sound reproduction even more so. So it was a massive disappointment after connecting the unit to my IEEE 1394 port that the resultant sound should be horribly distorted. Sometimes it's OK, at some sample rates, sometimes not. The explanation I have been given (and am yet to verify) is that the Firewire implementation by my PC vendor is not compatible with the DAC (I need to get a Texas Instruments card or similar).... WTF - hold on. So you're telling me the port that reads "IEEE 1394" on the back of my computer should read "Attempt at IEEE 1394". Indeed when using the DAC's driver utility I am able to 'scan' my PC setup for OS and chipset compatibility and I get a "not compatible" under the support information for my chipset. I have six PC's at home - 3 with IEEE 1394 ports and none are compatible. I'm sure there are some readers right now saying "c'mon, cough up $5 bucks and get yourself a TI card". Well I would but that my media PC is a Dell Studio Hybrid which I bought because it was quiet, compact and ran off a laptop power supply. It can not be expanded. So before I go out and purchase a mac for an additional $2k (which I am told does not have these issues), I would appreciate if someone could humor me and explain how Firewire seems to have got it so wrong. Afterall we have all come to expect, nay we have faith that when we buy a USB device we do not need to consult our chipset vendor for compatibility. This is the promise of the standard.