Firewire chipset

[douglado]

New guy here.....no talent but desire to play around with recording......very happy to find this board as I'm sure I will have millions of problems and questions.....so look forward to a lot of noob annoyance!

Do you really need a TI firewire chip to run a Presonus Firestudio Project? I have a Dell Precision 490 that my employer provided for me and want to use it to record. I have no idea how to find out about this chip, though. I'd rather not tear the computer apart. I also posted on the Dell support board, no response yet.

[Electriclight]

Presonus specifically calls out NEC chipsets as incompatible and recommends TI and VIA. They also don't approve of combo usb/firewire cards. If you go into Control Panel> System> Device Manager you should be able to find the chipset.

http://psfaq.presonus.com/index.php?...=48&artlang=en

[douglado]

Yeah I'm aware of that page on the Presonus site, but looking through hardware devices in my control panel does not answer the question. Hopefully Dell will tell me.

[brandondrury]

I'd rather not tear the computer apart.

It ain't that bad. It's more like opening the trunk than "tearing" it shreads.

With that said, there may be an easier way. Go to Control Panels > Hardware > Device Manager and try to find your Firewire card. Most the time you'll see the chipset there.

Wait, I see you already tried that. I somehow skipped the bottom post.

Well, if it were me I'd open 'er up.

Brandon

[douglado]

Poster on Dell says it's "Intel E5000X Greencreek Chipset". Hope this works, I've already ordered this thing from MF (great deal with free Inspire and cheap condenser mic right now).

Thanks for the responses. I'm afraid this forum is gonna end up hating me eventually!

[Electriclight]

That chipset is for the motherboard. The Intel E5000X Greencreek Chipset has nothing to do with the optional Firewire card that went into the 490. But good luck.

[douglado]

Yeah I thought that sounded like a motherboard. Guess the guy didn't understand my question. I'm just gonna plug the thing in when it arrives and see what happens. I don't know what the hell I'm doing anyway so if it's not working perfectly I probably won't even realize it.

[brandondrury]

I took this approach recently and had a major problem. Do yourself a favor and head over to Newegg and order a $9 PCI Firewire card that meets your needs. It's worth avoiding the headache. Trust me! Staples wanted $50 for a PCI firewire card!

[douglado]

Well I know you're a stud when it comes to computer guts, but I'm really not. I'm sure I could install a card easily and I would if I had bought it for myself, but this machine was provided by my employer and is necessary for my work. The off chance that I might screw something up would be really bad. I'm hesitant to open up the black box and start mucking around with hardware changes etc. Plus it's a huge pain in the ass to disconnect everything and extract it from my desk.

Are you saying that if the FSP is not compatible with the firewire it might damage other parts of the comp? I figured it just wouldn't work (like Cubase wouldn't find the FSP or there would be dropouts, pops etc or something) - in which case I would send it back and get a different brand of interface or try a USB one. I don't currently use the 1394 port for anything else and have no plans to.

[brandondrury]

Well I know you're a stud when it comes to computer guts, but I'm really not.

No one who opens a computer is a "stud". They are all dorks. Every damn one of them!

In all seriousness, this is about as difficult as putting gas in your car. I'm not exagerating.

The off chance that I might screw something up would be really bad.

You are right. Because you would officially be an idiot on the level of people who have been decapitated by tieing their shoe. I'm not oversimplifying this one. I don't recommend people do things they have no business doing. This is robo easy.

1) Turn computer off
2) Take off case (usually 2 screws)
3) Slide PCI card in slot. Screw it in.
4) Put case back on.
5) Turn on. You MAY need to pu the driver cd in the cd-rom.

If I had to do this in a race, I could probably do it in about 12 seconds.

Plus it's a huge pain in the ass to disconnect everything and extract it from my desk.

Interesting. Well, you've got a long road ahead of you because recording is just one giant pain in the ass after another.

Are you saying that if the FSP is not compatible with the firewire it might damage other parts of the comp?

No. Your audio interface just won't work worth a damn.


Brandon