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Topic: Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card (Read 5657 times) previous topic - next topic
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Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Hi everyone! I'm not exactly new to Hydrogenaudio forums, I read it from time to time since I recognize it as _the computer audio authority on the web_, but I never posted before. Today I have a problem which I cannot solve on my own and I'm hoping you can help me. <the_pretty_please_smileyface_icon.png> :)

I recently bought a M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI sound card which "disables" my existing on-board soundcard the moment I plug it in a PCI slot. My existing sound card disappears from Windows Device Manager and therefore cannot be used. This happens before installing any drivers and/or software for my new (M-Audio 2496) card. The problem did not occur when I was using M-Audio Transit (USB) with the same on-board soundcard. Any ideas on how to "fix" this?

(If you are wondering, I would like to use my on-board soundcard for "system sounds", like email notification and such, while using my M-Audio for music playback - via Foobar2k (and headphones), just like I did/could with the M-Audio Transit which I previously owned).

I'm using Windows XP with ASUS K8N-E deluxe motherboard - the on-board soundcard is Realtek ALC850.

The ~somehow related answer on the M-Audio Knowledge base  only confused me and didn't really answer my question. As I understand it there should be no problem for Windows to detect and use both soundcards, and after all it worked with the M-Audio Transit (which is different, but still).

Thank you in advance.
-pera

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention - Reinstalling the on-board soundcard drivers did not work. If I remove the M-Audio from the PCI slot the on-board soundcard works again, as usual.

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #1 –
I have read that some motherboards will only allow one sound card, will disable all but one. This has nothing to do with the OS. This seems like a very peculiar "feature" as in "why in the name of whatever you believe would someone do that?" I also don't know how that would even be detected on the hardware level. Perhaps you have evidence that this is more than a rumor. If nothing else you might consider the MB manufacturer as a source of possible information.

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #2 –
I have ASUS k8n-sli premium (nforce4) with ALC850 integrated and M-audio 2496 and Audigy2 ZS and ALL cards worked fine simultaneously (I disabled integrated card and keeping Audigy for games and m-audio for movies and music) Try different PCI slot maybe ?

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #3 –
I had a similar problem with ASROCK motherboards and M-Audio 5.1 and 7.1 sound cards.

It turned out to be a two part problem: IRQ conflict and motherboard BIOS.

I disabled my serial and parallel ports to free up some IRQ's, and updated the motherboard BIOS, and finally I could use an M-Audio card and the onboard sound at the same time.  I could even use two M-Audio cards if I wanted to.

Just disabling the ports or just updating the BIOS by itself did not work. I have two identical motherboards and spent some time play with different combinations.

it may depend on the motherboard or the chipset used for the onboard sound - I don't know.

Hope this helps.
EAC secure | FLAC  --best -V -b 4096 | LAME 3.97 -V0 -q0 -b32

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #4 –
AndyH-ha,
this problem did not occur when I was using M-Audio Transit (and other soundcards too) with the same motherboard/on-board sound card, so I'm not too sure about that... Howerer they were all external, USB cards...

crni & UrbanVoyeur,
yes, I do suspect some kind of IRQ conflict, however:
- disabling serial / parallel ports and unused devices did not help
- I cannot manualy assign IRQs (using ACPI)
- switching PCI slots did not help (5 different slots)

I am a bit reluctant to flash my BIOS, since new BIOS release notes do not mention anything about fixing such conflicts, and poking around BIOS when all other "things work" is just asking for more trouble 

Thanks for all your answers, I still hope someone has more/other suggestions/comments because it really seems to be "just a  configuration conflict".

Cheers.
-pera

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #5 –
have you had a look in the bios to see if the part that enables the onboard sound is set to enabled not auto?

This is from the manual for your motherboard.
Who are you and how did you get in here ?
I'm a locksmith, I'm a locksmith.

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #6 –
Quote from: pera on
Hi everyone! I'm not exactly new to Hydrogenaudio forums, I read it from time to time since I recognize it as _the computer audio authority on the web_, but I never posted before. Today I have a problem which I cannot solve on my own and I'm hoping you can help me. <the_pretty_please_smileyface_icon.png>

I recently bought a M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI sound card which "disables" my existing on-board soundcard the moment I plug it in a PCI slot. My existing sound card disappears from Windows Device Manager and therefore cannot be used. This happens before installing any drivers and/or software for my new (M-Audio 2496) card. The problem did not occur when I was using M-Audio Transit (USB) with the same on-board soundcard. Any ideas on how to "fix" this?



This may be system-specific, because I had a 2496 and a Creative card in my XP2 Home PC (Dell) and i always had the option of choosing between them

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #7 –
PROBLEM SOLVED!

Dear A_Man_Eating_Duck,
You are the king of all predators! I just started performing the human sacrifice ritual for you. How do you prefer your men,  well-done, medium or rare?

IT did it!
Yesterday, I already noticed "Audio CODEC interface" in the manual, but I had it all ready set to "Auto" (like suggested in the manual) and the "Disable" didn't make a difference. I guess that "Auto" really works as "Disable" since the "Enable" option which I just tried (thanks again A_Man_Eating_Duck) solved the problem. I'm really glad. Thanks guys, I knew I could count on you

PROBLEM SOLVED! Thanks to all who responded.

-pera

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #8 –
Sweet as, glad to help.

The AUTO option must check if you have a PCI soundcard installed, if it is installed then it disables the onboard. Enable forces it to be on.
Quote
How do you prefer your men, well-done, medium or rare?
whats wrong with eating duck
Who are you and how did you get in here ?
I'm a locksmith, I'm a locksmith.

Using M-Audio Audiophile 2496 along with my on-board sound card

Reply #9 –
Exactly. The manual is misleading, it should say something like... "Audio Codec Interface Enables/Disables the on-board audio. The Auto option automatically disables the on-board audio when other audio devices are detected." My mistake to blindly believe the manual. Thanks again!

I thought you were a man-eating duck. Duck on duck violence must stop!
-pera