Emu 1820m Issues..

2011-04-21 13:47:12

I've been hapiliy using my EMU 1820M for about 4 years now, but the last couple of days the unit is acting rather strange.
When I switch the samplerate to 48khz the whole thing goes haywire, looking at the patchmix application there is suddenly a lot of noise coming from all analog inputs and channels turning red.

I'm also noticing that the Audiodock indicator in Patchmix is flashing on and off when its set to 48 khz (as if it were disconnecting all the time).
When I switch the samplerate back to 44khz everything is fine again, which is rather odd.

Could it be that the Cat5 cable between my PCI card and Audiodock is faulty, or is my EMU actually dying?   

Any help is greatly appreciated

Emu 1820m Issues..

Reply #1 – 2011-04-21 16:47:05

Hi Razenko,

I am not sure, but perhaps it is a faulty setting in the default session for 48Khz.  You can try another session than the one you are using now (usually the Product Default; if that is the case, try All Inputs), and see what happens.

Also, just to make sure, please disconnect all equipment connected...

Please let us know if that changed anything.

Regards,
Peter

Emu 1820m Issues..

Reply #2 – 2011-04-26 14:11:51

I've reset the drivers and patchmix software to its default settings, but the issue is still there.
It seems the issue has gotten worse, I'm getting some noise now on inputs even at 44KHZ.

The problem definitely seems to be hardware related, It might be that the cable between the card and the audiodock is faulty,
But I'm worried it might actually be the audiodock slowly dying on me  .

I'm not sure if the cable can easily be replaced by a standard Cat5 network cable?

Emu 1820m Issues..

Reply #3 – 2011-04-26 15:33:58

I believe you need a cat6 for it, preferably a shielded one (STP cat6).  I once tried a short regular cat5, and I received some error messages when using higher bitrates.  For a quick test on 44.1 I guess a standard cat5 will do.  Certainly worth a try... 

As the indicators in the software are showing disconnects, it could also be a failure of the PCI-card...

What I also would do is remove the PCI card from its slot, and clean the contacts (BTW, that goes for the contacts of the cable as well), and plug it back in.  If there is excessive dust on the PCI card, clean it as well (with a paintbrush or something). 

I know it sounds weird, but sometimes you can fix things by just a bit of cleaning, especially when a computer is in a dusty (and even worse) humid environment...

Let us know what happens!