Creative Audigy 2 ZS Notebook!!!!!!!! - Page 5

No prob. I got them here:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/ftp/pcm...mcia_D4XEV.exe

Whadaya know. My rig is the 4380, so the link on Sager's site takes me to this file:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/ftp/pcm...mcia_D4XEV.exe

However, j4ever, I believe in another thread you mentioned you have the 4750? The link for that machine's ENE controller points to this file:

http://www.sagernotebook.com/ftp/pcmcia/PCMCIA_D4XK.exe

Interesting...

I love my Echo Indigo cards (I bought 2 of them) really good sound quality through my in-ear monitors and as mentioned, the analog volume control is smoooooth. I'm not gonna complain about $100 for a very good PCMCIA soundcard when my phones cost between $350 and $600 a piece.

j4ever, let us know if you see a change with a new card.

Installed the newer ENE drivers. Changed nothing.

One question:

How does the audigy coexist with the onboard audio system. Is it easy to switch back and forth.

I have an app that requires an audio card and won't work with the 9860's onboard audio. BUT I would like to use onboard audio in certain instances.

thanx

hey guys. I thought I would just write a quick review on the new creative pcmcia card. I received it yesterday from newegg and I hooked it up immediately. It was easy to install, and I compared it with some friends the sound quality difference. Believe me, there is a difference. One of my favorite song has alot of hissing in it and the creative sound card definitely eliminated that. But was it worth $130? No, because I just returned it, I have logitech z-2200's (2.1) and an acer travelmate 8002, and the speakers are kick-ass and the sound card made just a little difference. It was definitely louder and you have so many options with the equalizer and the other stuff (EAX). So I would recommend that anyone wanting to buy this should wait until the price dips to about $80, cause it really is a great product, but the price should go down, which it will pretty soon, and buy it.

I've been reading some frightening info about the ENE 1410 chip. Echo and Hammerfall have both had problems with it. Those HP drivers don't help at all. One place I found mentioned the chip lacks PCI bursting, so I'm thinking our pops and missing sounds are caused by shitty bandwidth, because it's a piece of cheap garbage they've put in our notebooks.

I emailed ENE about getting a copy of the register specs so I could try tweaking the controller in WPCREDIT. No response. I think we got shafted by our laptop builders. They picked a cheap ass chip that works fine for things like ethernet (though it would probably barely be capable of that) but now that we REALLY want to use it to its potential, it can't handle it.

BTW, Cardbus is PCI. A Cardbus slot should have the same bandwidth as PCI. Cardbus has been around for around 10 years now. It should be one VERY refined technology. And, we have these notebooks with P4s and A64s which can't hack it. How infuriating is that? I'm in need of a chill pill for sure.

I'm not even sure Creative CAN fix this problem. If its hardware related, cuz of that ENE chip, we're screwed. New notebook needed.

If you are having problems, I want you to go over to Creative's site and hit them with a tech support email. Or call them. They need to know people are having trouble.

Creative responded to me twice now. Initially they said to update drivers, which of course I've already done (and undone, lol, to test).

I responded with that info and some specific examples of my troubles, and some details about the ENE nonsense.

Then I got another reply stating they would look deeper, and to give my specs (eMachines 6805).

So we'll see. I'm glad I got a response, and they seem concerned.

Odd, which notebooks have this ENE chipset controller? My 8790 uses the TI 1410 chipset. It works fine for PCMCIA, but its firewire capabilities are very limited.

Why not try out an Xitel 16bit DAC? I use it instead of the onboard audio and it works fine for removing all of the computer noises. They even make a 24bit version for $100 or so. You still might want an amp for your headphones, but speakers will be fine.

Check out the first post in this thread from another forum: http://www.amd64notebooks.com/phpBB2...49b6dbef5ee017

So it seems to support bursting as long as we use the newest drivers and don't put our machines into standby.

I read somewhere on the 'net that this Texas Instruments controller is indeed closely related to the ENE 1410, if not the same.

I think swaaye is right in saying that as many of us as possible should alert this problem to Creative. We should do the same with Sager, since apparently they are a huge buyer of ENE hardware, and Sager is sure to be concerned about the quality of the machines they build. They would probably have much greater success in working with ENE on this issue than any individual with just one controller.

That's IF Sager were to pursue this...

I've tried every driver I can find for the ENE CB-1410 chip. I actually have only found 3 different ones, after downloading over a dozen zip files from various manufacturers. Dated 09/12/2001, 08/14/2002, and 10/28/2003. Some come with a special filter ENECBPTH.sys driver, but usually it's just a stupid INF file that looks to just tell Windows what to call it.

None of them has done anything to improve the sound problems.

Here's a link to my compilation of the ENE CB-1410 drivers

edit1:
You know, TI obviously is more behind their products. I mean, check out their website: LINK. ENE's site looks like a company who doesn't want to give out any info on their chips. They have no resources to download and only a small bullet list of features. LINK. I have a STRONG feeling we've gotten the lowest bidder in our notebooks. I am becoming so pissed off over this.

edit2:
Ok, Creative just replied to me again. They are being very helpful. The fellow who is working with me has decided to look more into the ENE CB1410 concern I've expressed.

Well, much to the chagrin of ENE I'm sure, I've found a datasheet for the CB1410 chip thanks to someone who hosted it.

Link to Datasheet

Now to dig into this.....will be interesting for sure.

edit:
I just got a response from my tech support email to eMachines. Basically they disclaimed themselves from being able to offer any support for a 3rd party PC Card. Lol. I guess it was but a dream. Let me say that if Creative comes back and says the ENE 1410 is a POS, I'll be promptly replying to eMachines.

I had a chance to try the Audigy Notebook out in my friend's Sager 8890 which has the TI PCI-1520 cardbus chip in it. Guess what? The Audigy performed totally flawlessly. I didn't even update the drivers or the apps with Creative's updates. I didn't update the TI controller's drivers either, it was just using the Windows default drivers.

Gone were the strange pops that I get before and after every Windows sound. Gone was the static in Jedi Academy when I turn on EAX4.

Well. This sucks. I guess the only hope is that Creative can figure something out. I've even been trying to hack the registers of the ENE controller because I managed to find the spec sheet for it. I found that the chip already has PCI Burst enabled, Write posting enabled. PCI Burst being disabled was my best guess as to our problems. But, now I can see that that is not the problem.

Perhaps Creative's drivers just need some tweaking for the ENE chip......I hope.