Help install sound card in eMachines PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred
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Fred

I need help installing a Diamond Extremesound 7.1 sound card into my
eMachines T2878 running XP SP1. This is the first sound card--before
now sound was processsed on the motherboard.

I thought that the BIOS had to be changed before installing the card,
but eMachines help said: the sound card should be automatically
detected by Windows once installed in the slot. Verify from the
sound card manufacturer on what is needed to setup in the BIOS.

The sound card's installation instructions say to enter systems BIOS
and disable the previous sound device. Since eMachines help won't help
me, can anyone else tell me how to do this, or tell me where to look
for this information. There wasn't any manual or CD that came with the
PC.

TIA.

Fred
 
Fred said:
I need help installing a Diamond Extremesound 7.1 sound card into my
eMachines T2878 running XP SP1. This is the first sound card--before
now sound was processsed on the motherboard.

I thought that the BIOS had to be changed before installing the card,
but eMachines help said: the sound card should be automatically
detected by Windows once installed in the slot. Verify from the
sound card manufacturer on what is needed to setup in the BIOS.

The sound card's installation instructions say to enter systems BIOS
and disable the previous sound device. Since eMachines help won't help
me, can anyone else tell me how to do this, or tell me where to look
for this information. There wasn't any manual or CD that came with the
PC.

TIA.

Fred
Click to expand...

Depressing F2 on the boot should get you into the bios. Look "Integrated
Peripherals", use the arrow key to highlight it and hit enter. Then look
for "Onboard Device Configuration", there you should find the audio listed
that can be disabled. Don't know if the bios is the same on yours, I'm
looking at a much newer Emachine bios.
Have to ask why your installing a sound card?
 
Fred said:
I need help installing a Diamond Extremesound 7.1 sound card into my
eMachines T2878 running XP SP1. This is the first sound card--before
now sound was processsed on the motherboard.

I thought that the BIOS had to be changed before installing the card,
but eMachines help said: the sound card should be automatically
detected by Windows once installed in the slot. Verify from the
sound card manufacturer on what is needed to setup in the BIOS.

The sound card's installation instructions say to enter systems BIOS
and disable the previous sound device. Since eMachines help won't help
me, can anyone else tell me how to do this, or tell me where to look
for this information. There wasn't any manual or CD that came with the
PC.
Click to expand...

1. Enter the BIOS by pressing whatever key the prompt tells you to.
You'll see the prompt when you first start the machine. Or look at these
links:

Accessing the BIOS
http://michaelstevenstech.com/bios_manufacturer.htm
http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/reference/biosp.htm
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000235.htm

2. Once in the BIOS, look for an entry for onboard peripherals. Each
BIOS is different so you'll need to look around. Disable the onboard
sound. Do not make any other changes in the BIOS. Save the settings and
the computer will restart.

3. Shut the computer down, unplug it, and open the case. Ground yourself
by touching something metal inside the case; the power supply or a drive
cage will do. Install the new sound card.

4. Start the computer and boot into Windows. After you get to the
Desktop, put in the CD that came with the new sound card and install its
drivers.


Malke
 
Jerry and Malke: Thanks very much for your clear information on how
to solve my installation problem.

Fred
 
Have to ask why your installing a sound card?
Click to expand...

I recently bought an Audio Technica LP to Digital Recording System.
This will let me create CDs from some of my LP phonograph records.
This device has a preamplifier and stereo input plug for the
microphone jack on the computer. Unfortunately, the microphone input
seems to be only monophonic. What I mean is that both tracks of the
stereo record get combined by the microphone input, and then play
equally monophonically in both speakers.

The sound card is to be used mostly to get separate Right and Left
inputs to produce a stereo CD.

If I've overlooked anything, or there is something to tweak in my
computer that will give me true stereo please let me know. The the
sound software is NVIDIA nForce.

Fred
 
Fred said:
I recently bought an Audio Technica LP to Digital Recording System.
This will let me create CDs from some of my LP phonograph records.
This device has a preamplifier and stereo input plug for the
microphone jack on the computer. Unfortunately, the microphone input
seems to be only monophonic. What I mean is that both tracks of the
stereo record get combined by the microphone input, and then play
equally monophonically in both speakers.

The sound card is to be used mostly to get separate Right and Left
inputs to produce a stereo CD.

If I've overlooked anything, or there is something to tweak in my
computer that will give me true stereo please let me know. The the
sound software is NVIDIA nForce.

Fred
Click to expand...

I cannot find good quality info for your system, but I did pick up
a suggestion that the machine uses a FIC AU31 Nforce2 motherboard.

So the following is pure guesses on my part.

There are two jacks on the front of the computer. Microphone and
headphones might be the labels on there.

On the back of the computer, there are three jacks. The computer is
5.1 output capable, but if you set the sound preferences to "stereo",
then the back jacks turn into LineIn, LineOut, and Microphone.

The rear jacks in such a system, are referred to as "multiplexed".
They are all output jacks, if you select 5.1 audio output. That
might be suitable for playing DVDs, for example.

But if you change the sound setting to 2 channel stereo output,
the rear jack definition changes. Two jacks become inputs (LineIn and
Microphone), and one jack is an output (LineOut).

On such systems, there are a couple "tricks" in the built-in sound
audio control panel. The microphone should have a selection, to
select between "Microphone1" or "Microphone2". That is how you
select between the front and rear microphone jacks. So, switch the
speakers to stereo (two channel mode), and then you gain a microphone
jack on the back.

The characteristics of the jacks, is a function of the CODEC used. Some
CODECs have stereo front and stereo rear microphone. Others have only
monophonic front microphone, but stereo rear microphone. The rear jack
is the one you want.

The second trick, is the "20dB boost" button. The microphone has a slider
for gain, but there is also a button. The button adds extra gain to the
microphone jack.

In terms of characteristics, the microphone jack is probably too weak
to properly pick up a dynamic (moving coil) pickup from a turntable.
Even with the 20dB boost engaged, there might not be enough signal
from the ADC, to make a nice recording. If the cartridge on the turntable
was a ceramic one, that has a higher level output, and that might work.

The turntable you bought, has a switchable preamp. If the preamp is
enabled on the turntable, you should be able to connect the
turntable to the "LineIn" on the back of the computer. LineIn accepts
somewhere in the vicinity of 1Vrms or so signal level.

So you should have a number of possibilities:

1) Set built-in audio to 2 speaker (stereo) mode.
2) Use rear jacks
3) Set microphone selector (MIC1/MIC2) to select rear microphone
It should be stereo capable. I don't think I've seen a rear mic
spec that is only mono.
4) Set microphone 20dB boost, if you are not receiving enough signal
5) If the turntable preamp is being used, it is possible that
the LineIn would work as an input option as well. LineIn is stereo.

Quality wise, a preamp external to the turntable and computer, might
do a better job, than say the internal preamp that came with the turntable,
or using the microphone 20dB boost button on the computer. It generally
pays to do the "gain" function in a more quiet place, so a clean high level
signal can be sent to the computer.

Those are the options I'd explore, and then if all else fails, add a
new sound card.

Paul
 
Paul--

Your research paid off. I use the LineIn socket and the nVidia
sound controls through the Pyro5 (included with the turntable)
software and got a reasonable CD out of a phonograph record. Pyro5 has
some controls to reduce record hiss and clicks and pops. I've fiddled
a bit with them with good results for the hiss. More to learn about
the rest.

Although the CD sounded good, I'm wondering whether the
electronics of the Daimond sound card and/or its included software
might be better.

As you can tell I'm pretty inexperienced in this, so I would
appreciate any comments about whether is a substantial improvement to
be gained.

Lew
 
Fred said:
Paul--

Your research paid off. I use the LineIn socket and the nVidia
sound controls through the Pyro5 (included with the turntable)
software and got a reasonable CD out of a phonograph record. Pyro5 has
some controls to reduce record hiss and clicks and pops. I've fiddled
a bit with them with good results for the hiss. More to learn about
the rest.

Although the CD sounded good, I'm wondering whether the
electronics of the Daimond sound card and/or its included software
might be better.

As you can tell I'm pretty inexperienced in this, so I would
appreciate any comments about whether is a substantial improvement to
be gained.

Lew
Click to expand...

The noise floor on a separate PCI sound card should be pretty good.

I'd expect, in terms of performance deficits, the player (cartridge)
is likely to be the weakest link in the setup. If there was a
grounding problem, that might introduce hum, but you'd probably
notice that right away if it was a problem.

Since the turntable has an analog output, you should also be able to
plug it into your stereo. Then you can do an A-B comparison, by
listening to the playback of the vinyl first, then try the computer
version and see whether the recording is good enough or not.

A hiss filter could be trimming the high frequency content. Which could
wipe out both signal and noise. Hiss should be an uncorrelated noise,
something that the software cannot surgically remove, and so
frequency shaping is more likely to be the chosen method.

Paul
 
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