ASIO4ALL and Vista- anyone else with BSOD problems?

[koolkeys]

asio4all and vista don't get me a BSOD, but they never managed to produce any sound either (beyond logic) ... no driver update could solve it. it got to the point when i stopped trying.


edit: Feck me! the latest one got it workin! guess i spoke to early

thanks!

I had problems like that as well along with my crashes. Much of the time it just wouldn't work. But I don't have those issues here. So it seems like this update has the magic touch and hit all the right areas, at least so far. Doing more testing today, so I'll report if I have any issues.

Brent

[GaryG]

Cool thread, my new laptop has a few issues with A4A; no BSODs but no sound often either... In the Ext2 audio setup it tells me the outputs aren't connected, often fixed by simply restarting the app or invoking the A4A advanced settings etc.

I'll try this latest driver and see if it's any more effective.

cheers,
.g

[tonedef71]

Hello all:

I have been having the same problems. I have an HP tx2110tx machine which has Realtek HD on board. I'm trying to use SONAR 7 PE and Project5 on Vista SP1.

The latest ASIO4ALL (v4.9b4) works better than the previous version I was using (v4.8) but it still BSODs from time to time.

I lose all sound output in Sonar when I try out new audio settings in SONAR, or mess around with the Realtek control panel, or possibly when I mess around with settings in the ASIO4ALL control panel. I'm not sure which fiddling causes me to lose sound, nor am I sure which changes I make to get the sound working again.

I tried using ASIO4ALL in Project5, but the output volume sounds way too low -- I'm forced to use the standard Realtek HD driver to get acceptable output volume levels. However on SONAR 7 PE, I cannot seem to get any sound output at all from any driver other than ASIO4ALL.

So many different combinations of settings, I'm not sure which ones I've tried.

Another thing I should mention is that I initially had problems installing SONAR 7 PE on my HP Vista laptop. The MSVC71.dll could not be overwritten (I had to ignore this step) and several of my the Directshow filters (AXs and DLLs) would not register (I had to ignore the errors and then manually register them with regsvr32 after the installation). So I'm not sure if the state of my SONAR installation is compounding the problems.

ToneDeF

[eleroux]

Hi there!
So, how are things going with realtek hd and vista?

I also got a Realtek HD with my TX2510us tablet pc.
It's the first time in several years that I have a real problem with asio4all.
Until now, it has worked flawlessly in windows XP and even in a Vista PC I used to have.

It seems the real problem is the such 'high definition audio' thing. It's great, but it was an unexpected PLUS in my notebook. I was expecting plain 16-bit 44/48khz audio. (At this point I need to say I love my notebook, and Vista brings a lot of life to the tablet so downgrading to XP isn't a possibility).


I have followed directions in every forum I found. The most useful thread has been this one, so please let me explain what my problem is.


PART 1: WITH REALTEK HD DRIVERS

Asio4ALL 2.9 beta4 installs OK. Realtek HD devices are all correctly listed in the driver list (SPDIF out, stereo in, stereo mic in, stereo out, etc). No 'unavailable' or 'beyond logic' devices.

No BSOD.

But the INPUT is scrambled. All I get is a CHOPPER sound from the mic in. With or without monitoring. Tried in Ableton and in Sony Vegas.

There's no real response form the mic (i.e. it doesn't record any sound even if I scream or hit the mic - just the repeating TOKTOKTOKTOK...)

The input works correctly if set to MMX/default in Ableton. I even get the monitor feedback (with the usual half-a-second delay!) but it doesn't work if using ASIO mode.

I have tried several versions of Realtek HD drivers. Before 1.8, it doesn't work at all - no sound in windows media player or mic input. After 1.8 (to 2.07 up to date) it works but the input is scrambled.


PART 2: WITH WINDOWS ON THE BOX HD SOUND DRIVERS

I installed windows on the box as suggested. It's very weird...
Sound output seems OK. Sound input 'WORKS' with asio4all or in MMC/default mode. I can use 256 samples or less so the latency is minimal.
But it records a constant HISS noise and the actual mic input (voice, etc) is very low. This hiss is more than ambient sound - it's like a very high pitch frequency which is constant, and the rec levels are always very high near the top - even if the noise isn't that audible. And this noise is present even if I turn off the microphone. (a mute input).

I see the recorded waveforms and I see they are drawn above the normal wave "center line". i.e. normally when we open an audio channel in most apps, we can see the wave amplitude grow and shrink from a center 'zero' line in the middle of the channel. Well, this ZERO line is ABOVE the expected center of the channel.

I am starting to imagine things. A voice in my head tells me there's a problem with the bitrate, and the unused bits of the audio input create this constant hiss.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any help on this...

Thanks!

eleroux

[BertKoor]

it records a constant HISS noise and the actual mic input (voice, etc) is very low. This hiss is more than ambient sound - it's like a very high pitch frequency which is constant, and the rec levels are always very high near the top - even if the noise isn't that audible. And this noise is present even if I turn off the microphone. (a mute input).

I see the recorded waveforms and I see they are drawn above the normal wave "center line". i.e. normally when we open an audio channel in most apps, we can see the wave amplitude grow and shrink from a center 'zero' line in the middle of the channel. Well, this ZERO line is ABOVE the expected center of the channel.

Mic inputs on most PC's are notorious for excessive amounts of background noise and DC offset. You can blame the poor quality mic preamp for this and nothing else. Try recording the mic input in an application that doesn't require Asio (e.g. Audacity) and if it occurs there also then you know for sure this is not due to Asio4All.

Better concentrate on getting the regular line input working (if your soundcard features one at all)

Bottom line: if you want to get good recordings, better invest $100 in a USB audio device with proper ASIO support.

[eleroux]

Thanks for your reply!

The notebook has only 1 mic input, no line. But i honestly think this quality with the microsoft HD drivers is more than just static noise. It is not due to asio4all - i just think the drivers are not 100% compatible with the realtek HD built in sound.

I was really thinking about an usb device but I am a little afraid of buying and then having problems with vista. The model I could buy here is teh Behringer UCA202 - Do you know that one?
Yet it only has RCA inputs, no mic. Other devices, like Edirol's etc, aren't available easily here.

I am also thinking about a cheap usb sound 'card, because they are really cheap (little money to risk - some $8 or so) and maybe I can do some cleaner recordings with asio4all.

I'm a hobbyst and i'm somewhere between: i don't want to spend money, and I don't want THAT hiss.

[eduardo_b]

No BSOD, but ASIO wouldn't work consistently, and seemed to be in conflict with the HD audio drivers Dell/Microsoft use in Vista. There would be no sound, and the driver, while working properly, was idle. It was so-so in Sound Forge, but Audition was hopeless. No sound most of the time. Lots of restarting Vista, maybe sound, but then it would stop again. I deleted ASIO (v4.9x) and Audition, and am running Sound Forge with the regular audio driver. Everything works. Even system sounds, which weren't working when these other issues were in play, are functioning. I don't know what the problems are from, but I'm living with the solution.

[ciruja]

I'd like to thank wuschel for the suggestion of replacing the Realtek drivers with the Microsoft Vista in-box drivers. They work fairly well with quite low latency. That got rid of the BSOD I was getting consistently every time a program tried to access the WDM or Asio4all drivers.

The only functionality I lost is that the headphone jack sensing works partially with the Vista in-box driver. The headphones are recognized and work, but don't disable the speakers when plugged in. Does anyone have the same problem? Workarounds? Thanks!

[eduardo_b]

The headphones are recognized and work, but don't disable the speakers when plugged in. Does anyone have the same problem? Workarounds? Thanks!

Hmm. I always thought when the headphone jack was being used it simply interrupted the signal to the speakers. A wiring/circuit thing, not a driver function.