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Dewdman42
Where can I find the latest SoundMax driver that will work on the P4PE?
The one on Asus website is not very up to date.
??
The one on Asus website is not very up to date.
??
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P
Paul
Dewdman42 said:Where can I find the latest SoundMax driver that will work on the P4PE?
The one on Asus website is not very up to date.
??
The way this works, is a sound driver contains code for a particular
Southbridge AC97 interface, and for one or more codec chips, like
the AD1980 chip on your board.
We got lucky on the AD1985, in that people with older boards got
to use the 5150 driver that was found in the P5P800 download folder.
That board uses a ICH5 Southbridge and the AD1985 codec, just like
some other Asus boards. It meant it was possible to try that driver,
with some odds it would work.
On the P4PE, the AD1980 combined with ICH4 Southbridge is
pretty unique, so you are not likely to find another board
just like that. It shouldn't stop you from searching, but
don't hold your breath.
For any given SoundMax driver you download, after it is
decompressed, look in the SMAXWDM folder. Then in W2K_XP
folder. If there is a "smwdmCH4.inf" file, that INF is
intended for ICH4 motherboards. Inside you will see lines
like this - one of these lines has to match your hardware,
and you can hack lines like this for experimental purposes.
%*WDM_AC97AUD.DeviceDesc%=WDM_ODMA188, pci\ven_8086&dev_24C5&subsys_80B01043
%*WDM_AC97AUD.DeviceDesc%=WDM_ODMA188, pci\ven_8086&dev_24C5&subsys_810D1043
%*WDM_AC97AUD.DeviceDesc%=WDM_P4GBV, pci\ven_8086&dev_24C5&subsys_81011043
%*WDM_AC97AUD.DeviceDesc%=WDM_S5, pci\ven_8086&dev_24C5&subsys_18231043
%*WDM_AC97AUD.DeviceDesc%=WDM_J2, pci\ven_8086&dev_24C5&subsys_18031043
The code 8086 stands for Intel corporation. The 24C5 for the
ICH4 southbridge. (24D5 would be ICH5.) The 1043 is the code
for Asus. The other four digits identify the motherboard (or
perhaps a particular jack configuration which is used over and over
again).
I haven't figured out how to identify which codec chips are
supported in a downloaded file. It could be one chip or more
than one chip. There are plenty of comments in INF files,
that may not be valid comments - a comment doesn't affect
the execution of the installer, so the software developer
doesn't have to keep any comment up to date. Don't take a
comment as proof that a particular codec is supported, as
it is not strong enough proof.
The reason you may not succeed by going to MSI, Giga-byte, or some
other manufacturer's web site, is the subsys field won't match
your board, and I don't know if the driver will install in that
case. Removing "&subsys_80B01043" from a line, would mean
the subsys wouldn't be checked for a match, if you want to
experiment.
Other options might be to use a Realtek driver, but I'm not up
on the details of exactly how that hack works. I think some
number of registers in the AC97 spec may be standardized, and
you may be able to get stereo sound by using a "promiscuous"
Realtek driver. That doesn't mean you'll get all features, or
that the sound would be good. I just happen to have seen this
mentioned often enough in the private forums, to say people
are using a hack like that for some reason that I cannot
fathom.
Sorry I cannot be of more help - it really looks like selecting
the latest one in the download page for P4PE is the best you
can do. Unless, of course, you like endless experiments.
HTH,
Paul