1 Topic by Jimmy Foknows (edited by Jimmy Foknows 2011-12-07 17:37:21)

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Topic: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Hallo.

I have serious problem with audio streaming via Firewire.

My setup:
- RME FF800 audio interface
- Dell E6520
  i7-2720QM
  8GB RAM
  NVIDIA NVS 4200M
  SSD #1: OCZ Agility 3 (60GB)
  SSD #2: Samsung 830 (256GB) - installed in optic drive bay
  no DVD drive
- WIN 7 Pro 64-bit

I have pops and dropouts even with high set buffers (over 512).
The same artifacts are heard at low buffers (64).
It's heard every few or several seconds.
Tested on Cubase 5, Live 8 and Aplitube 3 Standalone.

Dell's tech service claims E6520 uses Foxconn firewire chipset.
DPC Latency Checker doesn't indicate anything wrong (green peaks even when dropouts and pops are heard!).
The same with LatencyMon - everything seems alright. No red peaks during dropouts.

I've tried so many things to solve this.
Few examples:
- updated drivers (including BIOS)
- set high performance power plan
- disabled unnecessary services
- disabled Aero and any other effects
- disabled NVIDIA PowerMizer
- disabled every possible device in Device Manager (e.g. WLAN, LAN, SmartCard Reader, ACPI compilant batteries, swipe sensor, bluetooth, integrated HD audio, MMC/SD controller, Touchpad, USB controllers)
- disabled few things in BIOS (e.g. Optimus, Camera, eSATA, ExpressCard, CPU SpeedStep, Hyperthreading, TurboBoost, DVD drive, modular bay [#2 SSD], LPT and serial ports, and few more)
- disabled CPU core parking
- tried Win7 default and legacy FW drivers
- tried newest and older FF800 drivers
- updated FF800 firmware
- tested on both SSD drives (when on Agility, second <optical drive> SSD removed and disabled in BIOS)
- ...and many, many more

IRQ seems to be shared with other components:
http://i42.tinypic.com/xdcdwk.jpg


I haven't tried to install third party ExpressCard TI Firewire yet, but I'm afraid it won't help because it seems ExpressCard is controlled by the same chip that controlls FW. I don't know this for sure.

Such an expensive, powerful laptop - useless.

I desperately need your help.

Best regards,
Jimmy

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Hi Jimmy,
Have you disabled the video card?
Try that and let the system run in standard VGA mode.
The FW chip I think being used on the Dells are either, J-Micron, Ricoh or Agere.
The Agere or Ricoh "should" work OK but don't always hold up to well under a heavy load.

If disabling the video card makes no difference then the next thing I would try is using that TI expresscard.

Also it is pointless to disable Core parking. Both your applications work with it correctly. If Cubase were negatively effected by Core Parking then you definitely have some BIOs performance issues. Leaving them disabled will effect the CPU temps abit which on a laptop can make a difference.

Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

I already tried to disable one of two available video cards, to let OS run only on one of them (NVIDIA or Intel HD 3000).
I was disabling them in devices manager.
Did you mean that or something else ?

Jimmy

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Hi Jimmy,
Make sure they are both disabled.

Another thing to try is re-enabling them and installing the latest HD Graphics and Nividia drivers from Intel and Nividia's web sites not from Dells.

Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

5 Reply by Jimmy Foknows (edited by Jimmy Foknows 2011-12-06 10:42:37)

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

I have already installed the latest video drivers (both nVIDIA and Intel HD 3000).
As I said, it was one of the first thing I did. I always look for latest driver on particular peripheral manufacturer's website.

Also, yesterday, I checked power supply theory (grounding).
Disconnected AC Adapter (working only on battery) and next removed battery and running only on AC adapter.
Nothing changed.

Here is how it sounds:
SoundCloud

Chris, don't know how to disable both video cards. What do you mean ? How is OS supposed to run with both video cards disabled ?
I tried this method: F8 while booting, then Enable low-resolution video (640×480) option. OS is starting in that low resolution, but reverts to native FullHD resolution when desktop shows up.

Please don't give up on me.
I need to work on it.

sad Jimmy

update:
Dell's tech service claimed today that Agere, Ricoh or J-micron chipsets are used on E6520 mainboard.
Still don't know which exactly is installed on my mainboard - waiting for feedback from Dell.

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Hi,
Ho to device manager and disable the display adapters you see listed.
The system will then use the standard VGA driver.
The screen resolution will be smaller but you should be able to set it to at least 1024x768 which will be enough for testing.

If the chip is JMicron you will need to use an firewire express card to bypass the jmicron.
You can usually tell if the chip is jmicron by looking at the device name of your card reader and network controller.
If one or both are jmicron then most likely your FW is also jmicron.


Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

7 Reply by Jimmy Foknows (edited by Jimmy Foknows 2011-12-07 17:36:52)

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

As far as I remember I was trying to do what you advise, Chris.
I was trying to disable both video cards in device manager. The result, after disabling the second one, was... a black screen wink Needed to reboot and then one of the cards was switched on again.
Tomorrow I will try it again, maybe disabling them in a different order.

A new E6520 BIOS update was released yesterday, so I think it's also worth trying.

When you mention about card reader's manufacturer, do you mean smart card reader or SD/MMC reader ?
O2Micro OZ600XXX MemoryCard - this is the driver I found on E6520 driver download section, so I assume that my memory card reader's manufacturer is o2Micro.

My LAN device is Gigabit, I suppose (according to driver's name taken from E6520 download site).

I was thinking about trying external ExpressCard like that one:
http://www.siig.com/it-products/firewir … scard.html
It's based on The Holy and The One and only, TI chipset. Also it has both 400 and 800 ports.
I own two interfaces: RME FF800 (FW 400 and 800) and Presonus Firepod (FW 400).
Do you know SIIG ExpressCards ? Any opinions about them ?

But, what if ExpressCard and FW port are controlled by the same chipset ? Is this common ?

Jimmy

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Today I found a local store, that gave me an opportunity to test Lindy ExpressCard.
It's an expensive TI based card.

Link:
http://www.lindy-international.com/fire … 51499.html

I will know if this helps, today.
The moment of truth.

Jimmy

9 Reply by Jimmy Foknows (edited by Jimmy Foknows 2011-12-07 23:38:02)

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Lindy 51499 ExpressCard works perfectly with my E6520 !
What a relief.
It is still a shame that built-in firewire port is useless, but what the hell - I can finally get to work now.
48 samples buffer with absolutely no problems. Still not tested on bigger projects but it seems everything's going to be alright now.

Dell's E6520 onboard fw port issues remain unresolved, but I think I'm done with it.

Tomorrow, one last try - service mainboard replacement. We are replacing it for another reason, but maybe it will also fix onboard IEEE1394.
If it fails, I'll stick with Lindy wink

Thanks Chris,

Jimmy

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Hi Jimmy,
Great news.
mainstream laptop manufacturers have zero concern if the cheap firewire port they put in the system works with some esoteric pro audio device. That's probably 0.0001% of their market. smile
They only tend to react when things like printers, drivers and cameras are effected.

Lindy is a good quality device on par with the Siig so you should be fine.

Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2011-12-05
  • Posts: 11

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Yesterday, I connected my Presonus FP10 to Dell's E6520 onboard firewire port, and surprisingly, everything seems fine. Lowest FP buffer is set and there are no issues at all.
I'm confused, because I thought FP10 will have bigger problem with Dell's built-in port than RME hardware.
It seems RME is more moody when it comes to IEEE1394 quality.
Presonus wins this competition.
It's much cheaper and represents a different quality league but therefore is less moody (?).

Regards,
Jimmy

12 Reply by Masaaki (edited by Masaaki 2011-12-11 19:15:06)

  • Registered: 2011-05-04
  • Posts: 249

Re: Dell Latitude E6520 & FF800 - dropouts. Need Help !

Jimmy Foknows wrote:

It seems RME is more moody when it comes to IEEE1394 quality.

Not necessarily true. With my Thinkpad W520, which has Ricoh chip, RME UFX works just fine, but not with Focusrite Saffire 24. On the desktop side, where I tested TI, VIA, Jmicron, and Ricoh 1394 chip, UFX always worked except for Jmicron. But Saffire 24, and another firewire interface Profire 2626 didn't work well with Ricoh, Jmicron. They worked only with TI and VIA chips.

This is really confusing, but TI chip expansion card is often the solution.
Btw, using firewire on PC laptop is a well known "bad combination" at least for a year or so, but great you've figured out how to make it work.