Removing and refitting soundcard

C

Caveat

Registered User
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Hi

Bought a good after market soundcard for my last PC which was fitted at the place that custom built my PC (now closed)

This PC has now gone into retirement so I need to fit the soundcard into my new PC - apart from updating drivers (Win 98 to XP) is it a big job to remove and refit this soundcard - should I expect any unusual physical connections or should the card come out of, and go into the bays easily?

Thanks

C
 
Should be straightforward assuming that, for example, it is a PCI card. I don't think that there should be many (any) additional internal connections to make although maybe one from a CD drive to the card? Can you post more details about the card itself and the old and new PC (makes and models or motherboard details etc., connections that you can see etc.)?
 
Thanks ClubMan

Soundcard is the E-MU APS E-Card - some details here:

http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/hardware/item.cfm?threadid=107&lang=0

It serves my needs very well but would probably be regarded as old technology at this stage - can't actually find out all that much about it on line, but I can tell you that it is a PCI card.

Old PC: Win 98; P3 933 Mhz; 40G HD; 256 RAM; Intel 815E m/board.

New PC: Win XP; P4 3 Ghz; 150G HD; 1 Ghz RAM...

...It's a Dell Dimension 8400 - if that's any help.

Regarding any physical connections, I haven't attempted to undo or remove anything yet - I'll probably take the outer casing off the old base unit later and have a look.
 
Try this link to an installation guide with pictures



If you are having difficulties or are afraid you might damage your PC and prefer a pro to do the job try the following www.iccm.ie

Carl ( ICCMhosting.com Staff )
 
Good timing cOOlcarl

Have just removed outer casing of old PC. Your link with pictures seems useful but, it doesn't seem to mention any wiring.

My soundcard seems to be directly wired from it's PCB to the CD drive - there don't seem to be any further connections except for the screws in the bay etc. Is this wiring normal?

I'd really prefer not to get a pro in, but if I'm going to be out of my depth (which I feel perilously close to being) I'll probably have to.

Anyone any suggestions?
 
Caveat said:
My soundcard seems to be directly wired from it's PCB to the CD drive - there don't seem to be any further connections except for the screws in the bay etc. Is this wiring normal?
Click to expand...
Yes. I did mention the possibility of the soundcard being connected to the CD drive in my first post.
 
All you have to do with the cable from the PCB to the CD drive is unplug it from the CD....remove the PCB from the old PC and when you install PCB in your Dell XP machine this cable can be pluged into a CD/CDRW or DVD/DVDRW drive or left disconnected. The cable was needed in Windows 98 to play CD audio but it is no longer required in XP as technology for playing CD audio has changed. Make sure the card is in the slot fully and when you start the computer and Windows opens you should get a message that new hardware has been found....have the drivers for XP downloaded from the website and install.
 
ClubMan said:
Yes. I did mention the possibility of the soundcard being connected to the CD drive in my first post.
Click to expand...

Yes - missed that.


Thanks battyb - I'll give this a go tonight.
 
Right, back again.

Have detached card from drive and it's practically out of PC - only to notice that it is also attached via a ribbon type cable, from a terminal marked 'game port' on the card, leading to a 15 pin serial socket on the back of the PC.

I don't understand the point of this. It's easily disconnected of course but does anyone know what's going on here? Will this same type of connection also be necessary on the new PC?

As always, appreciate any guidance/reassurance (!)
 
A game port is usually for a joystick/joypad. If you don't use either of these things, I wouldn't worry.

Unless, that is, you decide you want to change career to be a commercial pilot!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
yoganmahew said:
Unless, that is, you decide you want to change career to be a commercial pilot!
Click to expand...

Might as well consider it. As you can see my IT career is off to a great start

So do you reckon that the game port connection shouldn't even have been made? I presume it's only available for games that want to utilise the capabilities of the card - irrelevant to me then.
 
Caveat said:
Might as well consider it. As you can see my IT career is off to a great start
Click to expand...
LOL!

Caveat said:
So do you reckon that the game port connection shouldn't even have been made? I presume it's only available for games that want to utilise the capabilities of the card - irrelevant to me then.
Click to expand...
I would guess that it performs the same function for the game port as the CD-ROM cable did for the, er, CD-ROM (as Clubman and battyb alluded to above). Should you need to use it, XP should recognise it.

Note, you will probably get multiple 'new hardware found' wizards starting in XP as it finds the sound card, various musical devices, and the game port. It *should* be able to recognise them all. (Finger's crossed, anyway!).
 
OK, thanks to all.

But unfortunately, a bit of googling on this card has yielded the almost unanimous verdict that it only really works satisfactorily on a PC running Win 98.

There appear to be loads of problems on anything later and whilst the product itself, despite being a bit outdated, is still regarded as a good buy - the customer service from E-MU is by all accounts, appalling.

So, I guess I'll just stick the card back into the old PC then

Thanks again.
 
Bummer! Is there any way you could put XP on the old PC just to see if the soundcard works okay? (I presume you are scrapping the old PC?). Alternatively, maybe one of the brands of linux on the old PC would let you get some more life out of it? (Then you could be in the happy position I am of never knowing which computer you've stored something on!).
 
yoganmahew said:
Bummer! Is there any way you could put XP on the old PC just to see if the soundcard works okay?
Click to expand...

Sorry, don't understand what you mean. I know it works (on 98 anyway) my goal was to install and use in the newer, more powerful XP machine. But if it doesn't work well (or at all) with XP why would I install XP on old PC? I would need to get new drivers etc installed as well.

yoganmahew said:
(I presume you are scrapping the old PC?).
Click to expand...

I'm not sure. Not necessarily. The problem with the old PC is that the CD drive isn't working so any music I make cannot be 'created' as it were.
And I don't have broadband in case you're going to suggest emailing large music files!

So, maybe the most straightforward thing would be to keep old PC, with soundcard, purely for my 'music' and get drive repaired/replaced. Use new PC for everything else.
 
A new basic sound card will cost you about €20 - e.g. see [broken link removed].
 
ClubMan said:
A new basic sound card will cost you about €20 - e.g. see [broken link removed].
Click to expand...

Thanks - I know. But a basic one is no good to me. I need one that is of suitable quality/spec for home recording (guitars/mics etc).

I would be expecting to pay anything from €250 upwards for what I need.
 
OK - I didn't look at the card link that you posted earlier and assumed that you just needed a basic soundcard.
 
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