Drivers for Audiophile 2496

[Mark isaacs]

I have just got an Audiophile 2496 which I plan to install under Vista.

The Delta Series driver disk in the software box is labelled version: 102004 (I don't know how new it is).

The lastest Vista 32-bit driver on the M-Audio site is Version 5.10.00.5069v3

Which is the latest version?

If it's the one on the site do I simply not use the driver disk that came with the software at all, and install from the downloaded drivers?

[JA]

Only install the latest driver from the website.

[Mark isaacs]

Thanks JA. Drivers installed fine.

I notice the Delta Control Panel has far fewer options and different tab names to those described in the manual.

Does the new downloaded driver only offer a scaled-down Control Panel?

[JA]

The old control panel was not compatible with Vista so the latest drivers have a new control panel design, however, the functionality is the same. We have an FAQ to provide an overview of this new control panel:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=8afcce81d0497cd75e842fe26a5b6f81

[Mark isaacs]

Thanks JA for your help.

Just with the installation. I understood I had to install the downloaded drivers before installing the card, so it said on the website. After the card was installed when the drivers were being brought on board it asked me for the disk. Thinking there was something needed on the disk that wasn't in the download I inserted it as asked. It then told me that the disk was incompatible with Windows, which I now realise is because the disk is for XP only.

I bailed out and I'm pretty sure I ran the downloaded driver intallation .exe again with the card in place.

Everything seems to be operating OK, but should I be concerned by what occured in the procedure getting there.

[Mark isaacs]

Sorry, another question.

I seem to be getting occasional faint pops or crackles on CD playback and other, they seem to be only in the left channel.

Following advice in this forum I have checked IRQ sharing.

The only device sharing the same PCI number as the M-Audio card is "Intel(R) ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938". The number is (PCI) 21.

The Knowlege Base cites graphics/video cards or network controller conflicts as being the source of IRQ conflicts.

Could the conflict I have also be the culprit and what to do about it if so?

I put the M-Audio card in the same PCI slot that Dell put the original Creative sound card in that came with the computer that I have dispensed with.

[Tellskog]

Hello Mark!

I have a Audiophile 2496 and I´m running Vista Ultimate 64 SP1.
When I first installed the 2496 the Contol panel was blank.
No inputs, no outputs, no nothing. In the device manager there was nothing.
I tried to disable the mobo (ASUS P5Q) internal sound with no result.
Then I tried this in the following order:

1. Remove soundcard (with computer turned off)
2. Turn on computer and uninstall driver
3. Restart comuter
4 .Install driver
5. Turn off computer and insert the soundcard (Use PCI with no shared IRQ)
6. Turn on computer

Now you will see a small window (by the clock) that tells you that a driver is beeing installed and it turnes out to be your soundcard. Status: Working.

I think that pops and crackles often is caused by IRQ conflict and if you have a PCI port that don´t share IRQ it surely would solve your problem.

Also check your ASIO Buffer size. I have experienced pops and crackles due to wrong buffer size, and (of course) the use of too much CPU.

//Tellskog

[JA]

Generally USB Controllers aren't problematic for sharing, however, on a virtual IRQ (16 and above) it' still possible that the card is sharing resources with another device. Have you tested disabling any devices such as Ethernet and Wireless? Even when not directly sharing, these devices can still interfere.

Also try increasing the buffer to see if that has any effect on the performance.

[Mark isaacs]

I don't seem to be having any noise problems with the card now. Perhaps Vista was hogging my CPU temporarily as it often does with indexing etc. I am not using Ethernet or a wireless card (it's a desktop) unless by "Ethernet" you simply mean my connection to my cable modem.

If it is not good to have an IRQ above 16 should I look at moving the card in any case? As I said I put the card in the same slot as Dell put the previous Creative Soundblaster.

[JA]

Cable Modem's do generally attach to an Ethernet port; however, if you're not having problems at the moment I wouldn't change anything.