Telewest Broadband (UK) warning

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 8:13 am

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem . . .

I got Telewest Broadband internet 'installed' on saturday. Since re-booting my machine (or rather, my machine re-booting itself) I get the error message 'timout waiting for acknowledge dsp 0', then something like 'can't load Luna because there is no hardware'.

The IRQ manager, Device manager and Multimedia manager only show up 1 of my soundcards - Powersampler, and nothing for the other - Luna.

Also, there is the problem of my computer unpredictably re-booting itself. I re-instated the old version of Internet Explorer (Telewest give you a shiny new telewest version), bu it still does it, and can now only boot up at all in safe mode.

So, no use of Sfp, no useful internet access, no useful use of my computer. I run PC on Win98.

Anyone got any suggestions as to the problem ? Obviously I am trying to get Telewest to sort things out but they don't have any knowledge of CW or my cards (they can't even sort out the re-booting problem at the moment !)

HEEEEEELLLLLLLPPPPPP!

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 9:41 am

I have Telewest Broadband at my house, although I don't have the cable modem directly connected to my music pc. I connect via a hub to another computer which connects to the cable modem.

It sounds very much like there is a hardware conflict between the network card you have had installed and your CW cards. What motherboard and network card do you have?

I presume you have already tried re-installing SFP?

[ This Message was edited by: w_ellis on 2002-07-09 10:43 ]

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 9:49 am

The motherboard is an ASUS (can't remember which one and am at work) while the ethernet card is the standard one telewest install so probably the same as yours. One thing which might be important is that my two soundcards flank the ethernet card in terms of PCI slots. I am not now meant to touch it as then they'll say I broke it (if it is broken).

Do you mean an IRQ conflict ? I thought it might be that, but the powersampler (the one which still exists) is IRQ 9 and the ethernet card is too, so the Luna can't have been IRQ 9 (PS and Luna have to be on different IRQs don't they ?)

I hope you are on the right track though . . . if there is somethig physically wrong with the card then I'll throw the whole bloody lot (and the telewest technician) out the wretched window !

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 9:50 am

p.s. can't uninstall Sfp as it comes up with an error message due to not being able to find the hardware ! I certainly tried it . . .

[edit] also, the second technician who came round did take out the ethernet card and the same error message kept on coming up. Does this suggest that it isn't a conflict ?
_________________
one loves ones desires and not that which is desired.

[ This Message was edited by: mr_swim on 2002-07-09 11:37 ]

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 11:08 am

I'm using my own network cards, so I don't know what they install as standard. One of my colleagues had the standard network card installed by Telewest, so I'll get him to let me know what card it is. Interestingly he's always had hardware conflicts on his PC.

You'll probably find that installing SFP again without uninstalling should work, although I'm not sure. Probably best to try installing again with the network card out of the machine, as this should update the hardware drivers and will show whether that is the problem.

If you get really desperate, take all three cards out, let the PC boot up once (so it updates with none of the cards), then add the cards one by one, starting with the CW cards. Are you using an STDM cable to connect the cards?

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 11:21 am

As long as I get the go-ahead from Telewest I will definitely try the card manouvring, and will try and install Sfp tonight or tomorrow. I've never had any conflicts with the machine before so this sort of hell is all new to me !

Yes I'm using the STDM cable to connect the cards. Does that mean that there is only one effective PCI in/out ? If so, it is likely that the Luna is acting as the master card, so I might try it (somehow) the other way around . . .

Will - thanks so much for your help and interest - you may know (unlike those at Telewest, or even most of my friends) just what sort of a horrible sinking feeling I am having at the moment.

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 11:29 am

If you tell me the exact model of ASUS motherboard, and which PCI cards you're trying to use, I can tell you which PCI slots to put your cards in...

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 11:30 am

cheers Sub,

Not at home this evening (my time) but will let you know tomorrow evening if that's okay . . .
roughly 26 hrs from now !
Thanks so much for your help, both of you !

_________________
one loves ones desires and not that which is desired.

[ This Message was edited by: mr_swim on 2002-07-09 12:31 ]

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 5:19 pm

The network card is now your property, as far as I know, as you buy it as part of the installation, so I'm pretty sure you're allowed to do what you like with it.

If you do find it's a problem with the network card then make sure you read up about how to register a new network card as your Blueyonder one, as the connection is tied to the card. I don't think it's very hard to do, but you will probably want to register it before you change the card as you might not be able to connect otherwise. Check on http://selfcare.blueyonder.co.uk .

With respect to the STDM connection, I think the cards are still both going through the PCI bus (Subhuman will be able to confirm or deny this!), so both will need to be registered in the Device Manager anyway. Do you have any "Multimedia Controller" devices with a red cross or a yellow exclamation mark through the icon?

Anyway, I think you've got a few things to try out now, so I shan't ramble on anymore!!

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Tue Jul 09, 2002 6:09 pm

I've read in a manual that creamware cards don't need a different IRQ. My Pulsar1 and Luna2 work fine together, both on IRQ 10.
But be sure that no other cards work on the same IRQ as your CW cards.
Good luck, Thomas

[ This Message was edited by: Herr Voigt on 2002-07-09 19:12 ]

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 3:03 am

Will - I will talk to the top-dog telewest engineer that they are supposed to be sending me about hardware conflicts with that particular ethernet card.

Voigt - if you're right then it may well be an IRQ problem, although there are no exclamation marks or the like in the Multimedia controller screen.

Well, thanks again for all your support, and yes, I definitely have some things to be getting on with, though so little time !

Cheers

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 4:06 am

fyi. my colleague with similar(ish) problems has the following network card:
NETGEAR FA311 Fast Ethernet Adapter

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 4:50 am

I'm pretty sure that is the one but will confirm this evening (UK time). Did he manage to resolve the problem, get a new card, kill telewest or whatever ?

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 7:23 am

None of the above! His computer is still very unwell. Apparently it blue screens on average about once an hour and IE gives fatal errors even more regularly than that. He's going to try out some of the same things you are, so I'll let you know how he gets on.

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 8:28 am

Did he install telewest's shiny (some might say SLIPPERY) version of IE ? I have a strange feeling that this is something to do with the problem . . . do you have their IE on your hubbed machine ? Also, does he get the re-booting problem (which I find incredibly suspicious) or 'just' the freezing / blue-screening problem ? For how long has he had the problem ?

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Wed Jul 10, 2002 12:16 pm

I'm not sure which version of IE he's using. I use a copy of IE6 downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com on all of the computers on our little network.

His problems have been there since he got his computer, unfortunately, as he had Blueyonder installed the day it arrived. He said that it doesn't just reboot itself, just the blue screen-ing.

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 2:48 am

Poor boy ! Maybe I should count myself lucky to have had nearly a whole year of trouble free music-writing.

Okay: now telewest say that they are going to take it away to be fixed. Being a bit of a control freak this idea does not really appeal, but I'm still going to try and give them as much information from you lot as possible.

So Sub: my specs are
ASUS CUSL2-C PCI133 AGP 4xMotherboard
Powersampler
Luna
NETGEAR FA311 Fast Ethernet Adapter
AGP graphics card (at least ONE less thing to worry about)
and Soundblaster PCI128 which quite frankly I don't give a damn about, so if you think it best you can order its destruction !

That is it in terms of PCI's and all runs off
384mb of RAM
PIII 733 processor.

Work your magic !

w_ellis · Post by **w_ellis** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 4:54 am

I think your guess is right, most people are going to suggest you remove the soundblaster card first. I'd agree with this, particularly given that my colleague Jim has suspicions that his problems are a hardware incompatibility between his network card and his soundblaster card.

Also, it's not really worth keeping it in there anyway, as it can only cause problems. Try that first, then without the network card.

[ This Message was edited by: w_ellis on 2002-07-11 05:54 ]

mr swim · Post by **mr swim** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 5:16 am

The only thing it is doing at the moment is giving me direct transfer from CD-ROM to CD-RW for quick burning, but I think I can live without that !

subhuman · Post by **subhuman** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 11:27 am

ASUS CUSL2 eh? nice.

First go into device manager, and delete both creamware cards from the list, the soundblaster and all it's devices, and the network card. Turn off your machine.

Put the Creamware cards in slots 1+5 (slot 1 is by the AGP slot). Leave everything else out for now.

When the machine boots, enter the BIOS (usually press "Delete" after RAM count). Assign the PCI slots 1+5 an IRQ of it's own (I've used 5 successfully on that board..) Save, exit BIOS.

When the machine is back into Windows if it asks you for a driver for the CW cards (they should PnP automatically), point it to the latest driver - it might just install them - should be no problems. Then you will probably want to rerun the SFP setup.

At this point, your CW stuff will hopefully be working again.

Slot 2 doesn't share with anything, and might be a good choice for your Soundblaster if you decide to keep it in your system. If you do, also assign it it's own IRQ number in the BIOS. If you decide to take the SB out then this is a good slot for the NiC.

Add the Nic last, on the "-C" version you may be able to get it working using slot 6 (furthest from AGP).

Take a look at the manual for your motherboard here:
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/sock370/ ... 2c-104.pdf on page 27,28 to get more info...

If you add a card back in, and something stops working, you'll now know what it is, and can experiment getting it to work. I'll just say I have had trouble with netGear cards, so I try to stick with LinkSys for the cheap Nics, which have been pretty good for me so far. I would only use a 3Com card myself... really low PCI usage.

Hope that helps.