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Topic: Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers (Read 528274 times) previous topic - next topic
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Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #150 –
I've re-read the FAQ but I'm not sure how to get the non wavert version to work 

I've manually copied the cmipci.sys (non wavert) over the existing cmipci.sys file but I can't get Winamp to play. I've also tried setting SPDIF as the output device but that didn't help either as it only seems to be useable for non PCM formats (?) which my DAC doesn't accept.

When manually installing the nonwavert driver I got a crash. I'll e-mail the minidump. EDIT: this may have been caused by unloading the Terratec driver as you mention in the documentation.

BTW, will a future version of the control panel be usable to manage two CMI cards in the same machine...?

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #151 –
Quote from: wdekler on
EDIT: this may have been caused by unloading the Terratec driver as you mention in the documentation.

WinDbg spits out:
Code: [Select]
Probably caused by : ntkrpamp.exe ( nt!PnpUnlinkDeviceRemovalRelations+d2 )

This leads to the conclusion that either the terratec/cmedia driver crashes when it is unloaded or my driver does. I haven't got crashes from loading/unloading my driver in eons which gives reason to the same suspicion: the terratec/cmedia drivers caused the crash.

Quote
BTW, will a future version of the control panel be usable to manage two CMI cards in the same machine...?

I tried this in one of my test machines and the second instance can't access the registers of the second card for some reason. This behaviour is reproducible on Linux/FreeBSD, so this doesn't work due to the incapabilities of the hardware.

Btw, you can delete drivers from the repository of Vista from the shell/command prompt with the tool pnputil.exe

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #152 –
Hi Dogbert,

Thanks for the fantastic drivers! The best I've used yet!

I'm running the latest 1.1.2 drivers on Vista, and outputting SPDIF to a Pioneer AV receiver that decodes DD, DTS and WMA Pro.

Everything works great, except for the following two issues:

- In the Vista control panel, under the "Supported Formats" tab, there is a "test" button where you can check if the soundcard will pass through DD, DTS and WMA Pro. This works perfectly for DD and DTS, but for WMA Pro I get an error message "Windows was unable to play the test tone". But if I enable it anyway, WMA Pro passthrough works perfectly. Only the "Test" feature is broken.

- If I'm running Media Center and put the PC into standby, sound doesn't work correctly when resuming from standby. Sometimes I get silence, and sometimes I get really loud crackly static. If I close and reopen Media Center, it normally starts working properly again (I'm using the latest 1.1.2 drivers with the power management stuff included).

If you could fix these two issues, then these drivers would be perfect for me!

Let me know if I can help with any testing or debugging.

Cheers
Chris

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #153 –
I'm going to give these drivers a go shortly, like the idea of it switching between 44.1 and 48khz automatically as thats a real PITA to do.

Now, since I have to change it to 2 channel to get spdif out working, but need it on 5.1 to be able to use the analog outs, is there any way to do this from the commandline? Also, is there a way to get foobar2000 to change it back to 2 channel before playing so that the DD and DTS output will work ok?

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #154 –
Quote from: cbemoore on
- In the Vista control panel, under the "Supported Formats" tab, there is a "test" button where you can check if the soundcard will pass through DD, DTS and WMA Pro. This works perfectly for DD and DTS, but for WMA Pro I get an error message "Windows was unable to play the test tone". But if I enable it anyway, WMA Pro passthrough works perfectly. Only the "Test" feature is broken.

Thanks for the report - I don't have a receiver which can decode WMA Pro so testing is a bit difficult - I'm guessing that the playback software passes through the WMA Pro stream as AC3/dolby.

Quote
- If I'm running Media Center and put the PC into standby, sound doesn't work correctly when resuming from standby. Sometimes I get silence, and sometimes I get really loud crackly static. If I close and reopen Media Center, it normally starts working properly again (I'm using the latest 1.1.2 drivers with the power management stuff included).

Already reported and this is gonna be fixed in the upcoming version 1.1.3.

Quote
Now, since I have to change it to 2 channel to get spdif out working, but need it on 5.1 to be able to use the analog outs, is there any way to do this from the commandline?

Yes - cmicontrol.exe can be controlled from the command line (/enable51Mode, /stereo). However, changing the channel configuration from 5.1 to stereo and vice versa only works under XP/2k - there were some intentional changes made in Vista which prohibit access to the channel configuration by any application.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #155 –
Quote from: Dogbert on
Thanks for the report - I don't have a receiver which can decode WMA Pro so testing is a bit difficult


You shouldn't need a receiver to test this. The "Test" button simply outputs the WMA Pro signal via SPDIF if the soundcard will allow it, regardless of whether your receiver can decode it.

If you get the message "Windows was unable to play the test tone", this means it was rejected by the soundcard. If you get the message "Did you hear the test tone?" this means it was sent successfully, even if your receiver couldn't decode it.

As I've already mentioned, playback works perfectly when you play a WMA Pro soundtrack. Its just the "Test" button that seems to have a problem.

Quote from: Dogbert on
- I'm guessing that the playback software passes through the WMA Pro stream as AC3/dolby.


I believe WMA Pro is a completely separate codec from Dolby Digital or DTS. I've had a quick Google, and this link looks relevant:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/wmadrv.mspx

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #156 –
Quote
You shouldn't need a receiver to test this. The "Test" button simply outputs the WMA Pro signal via SPDIF if the soundcard will allow it, regardless of whether your receiver can decode it.
If you get the message "Windows was unable to play the test tone", this means it was rejected by the soundcard. If you get the message "Did you hear the test tone?" this means it was sent successfully, even if your receiver couldn't decode it.

It's not that simple: the question is whether WMA Pro is transmitted correctly if I implement explicit support for it - there are some differences im comparison with AC3/DTS, and it's possible that the codec which sends the WMA Pro-stream as AC3 stream down to the driver does some kind of preprocessing which might be required in the driver itself if WMA Pro passthrough is explicitly supported.

Quote
I believe WMA Pro is a completely separate codec from Dolby Digital or DTS. I've had a quick Google, and this link looks relevant:

Correct - the least common denominator is that all three codecs require passthrough and that there are definitions for KSDATAFORMAT_SUBTYPE_DOLBY_AC3_SPDIF for both AC3/DTS (and even WMA Pro) _and_ explicitly KSDATAFORMAT_SUBTYPE_WMA_SPDIF which makes me suspect that some extra stuff needs to be implemented for WMA-Pro.

Quote
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/audio/wmadrv.mspx

This document is outdated. The interesting stuff should happen in the ChannelConfig property handler and DataRangeIntersection of the wave miniport driver, and that's where the documentation is scarce. There aren't any examples for WMA-Pro over SPDIF-passthrough in the DDK, so I better keep my hands clean for now.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #157 –
I didn't realise it was that complicated!

In any case, WMA Pro passthrough seems to work well with your latest drivers, even though you haven't implemented explicit support.

If you decide to add explicit support in the future, then I'm happy to help with any testing that may be needed.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #158 –
Quote from: cbemoore on
In any case, WMA Pro passthrough seems to work well with your latest drivers, even though you haven't implemented explicit support.


I take that back - it doesn't work quite as well as I thought.

Using Vista, with the "WMA Pro Passthrough" checkbox ticked in the Sound control panel, I get the following results:

- The "Test" feature in the sound control panel reports "Windows was unable to play the test tone".
- Windows Media Player downconverts the WMA Pro soundtrack to stereo, and outputs PCM via SPDIF.
- Windows Media Center passes through the WMA Pro soundtrack correctly, and its decoded correctly by my receiver. But after playback has finished, the mixer settings aren't restored correctly. I need to restart Media Center to fix the problem.

This isn't a complaint, since WMA Pro isn't supported in the driver. But I thought I'd write down my findings in case anyone reads my previous comments and gets the wrong idea.

Dogbert, maybe it would be useful to update your web page to mention that WMA Pro isn't supported?

Chris

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #159 –
Hey! I have the Diamond XtremeSound 7.1 and I installed the latest version of these CMI drivers. They installed fine and the output runs fine, but nothing is detecting the analog input. I triple checked to make sure that S/PDIF-in is disabled. It still doesn't seem to be working. Any idea what the problem may be?

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #160 –
Quote from: Krylon on
Hey! I have the Diamond XtremeSound 7.1 and I installed the latest version of these CMI drivers. They installed fine and the output runs fine, but nothing is detecting the analog input. I triple checked to make sure that S/PDIF-in is disabled. It still doesn't seem to be working. Any idea what the problem may be?



Not sure if this replies is of any help (found it in the thread)

Quote
... u can turn off the digital interface by selecting a multi channel configuration in your "sounds and audio devices" control panel applet (number of channels >=4).
The problem you will run into is that the driver "forgets" the channel configuration after each restart.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #161 –
Quote from: Krylon on
Hey! I have the Diamond XtremeSound 7.1 and I installed the latest version of these CMI drivers. They installed fine and the output runs fine, but nothing is detecting the analog input. I triple checked to make sure that S/PDIF-in is disabled. It still doesn't seem to be working. Any idea what the problem may be?

what input are you trying to record from? microphone? you might want to enable the +20dB boost and unmute it.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #162 –
Quote from: Dogbert on
Quote from: landsome on

Hi! PC keeps locking up when I try your drivers; everything works fine until the installation - whether manual or with the installer - tries to copy the control panel file. Then it locks. Tried several driver versions (including 1.0.9) and the behavior is identical. Works fine on my htpc though. Any suggestions anyone?


I'd like to ask you for the minidumps for further analysis - Windows creates a minidump in C:\windows\minidump each time it crashes with a BSOD.


Hi all

Same problem here, with Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard, a cmi 8768, and Athlon X2 4400. No BSOD but a freeze which corrupt system and need a winXP reinstall. Win is a SP2.

I think the problem is with this model of motherboard.



Without reinstall, other device drivers like DVD-reader are corrupted / not activated with an IRQ problem.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #163 –
Quote from: Koji_kabuto on
Same problem here, with Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard, a cmi 8768, and Athlon X2 4400. No BSOD but a freeze which corrupt system and need a winXP reinstall. Win is a SP2.

I'd like to ask you for the minidump files then.

Quote
Without reinstall, other device drivers like DVD-reader are corrupted / not activated with an IRQ problem.

You can always roll back to a state before the driver was installed - that should "repair" the multimedia subsystem.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #164 –
Ok I'll backup my Win directory and see with a new try if I can send you minidump.

Edit: Sorry but no minidump has been generated. Freeze come just after copying CMICONTROL.EXE, perhaps during driver initialisation.

I tried to install without cmicontrol, but it's lockup anyway.

I'll try to install it with dvd-r unplugged to see.....

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #165 –
No..... Always same freeze, even all other cards and dvd-r unplugged.

Also tried with a fresh install of Win XP but nothing better...

It seems that this motherboard isn't compatible..... 

On the other hand, the wavert version didn't freeze, but system can't initialize the driver (code 37)

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #166 –
The WaveRT version isn't compatible with XP.

Is the gameport enabled in the BIOS by any chance? Also, are there I/O resources available in the region 0x300 to 0x330?

I suspect that the system freezes up during the gameport initialization - this might be caused by a bug (?) in the ULi chipset. If you're still brave enough, I can provide you with a version that doesn't enable the gameport.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #167 –
No, motherboard's gameport is disabled. There's no gameport on the soundcard.

In fact, to avoid reinstall of my XP, I've reserved an old hd with fresh install for my different tries.
Then no problem to test different solutions.

For the resources, I've also tried without any other card (except graphic) plugged, but no change.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #168 –
Quote from: Koji_kabuto on
No, motherboard's gameport is disabled. There's no gameport on the soundcard.

From the driver's point of view, there's no way of telling whether a MPU401/game port is actually there on the card or not, so the initialisation is always tried.

Quote
In fact, to avoid reinstall of my XP, I've reserved an old hd with fresh install for my different tries.
Then no problem to test different solutions.

System restore _should_ work if you create a restore point, reboot, try to install the driver and go back to this restore point if it doesn't work.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #169 –
Quote from: Dogbert on
System restore _should_ work if you create a restore point, reboot, try to install the driver and go back to this restore point if it doesn't work.


It doesn't work always. Sometimes, files are corrupted in Windows\system32 directory after reboot, and system can't be restored as it was before.
But that's not a problem for me to have a clean directory to restore. It's pretty fast.

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #171 –
Quote from: Dogbert on
Quote from: Koji_kabuto on

It doesn't work always. Sometimes, files are corrupted in Windows\system32 directory after reboot, and system can't be restored as it was before.
But that's not a problem for me to have a clean directory to restore. It's pretty fast.


have you already tried the debug version I sent you?


  It works !!!!

Well done and Thanks for the "patch".

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #172 –
Hello, I tried to use the gameport on 8738 on windows xp sp2, but it does not work.
I could not use it with the official c-media drivers too.
I bought another card with the 8738 chip, and again it does not work.
Can you give me some advice ?
Thank you.
 

Homebrew CMI 8738 drivers

Reply #174 –
So the gameport is actually not functional, and it is on the card only for delusion
I have to buy a MIDI-USB cable    ?


I am using a cable like this one, which goes from a digital piano into the 8738, but I recieve no data at all.