1394 w/Core 2 Duo - 945PM Express chipset (Dell Laptop)

[jonas_me]

Hi Everyone...
I'm supporting a proprietary software program and 1394 audio device,
but that is irrelevant to my question:

I am testing a brand new Dell Latitude D820 laptop which uses the 945PM
Express Chipset and the Core 2 Duo (T7200) 2GHz CPU. It has an
integrated 1394 controller and I'm not sure if it is part of the
motherboard chipset, CPU or some 3-rd party controller... When I click
on the "OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller" in Device Mangler,
the hardware ID shows:
PCI/VEN_1217&DEV00F7&SUBSYS_01CC1028&REV_02
As far as I can tell, VID 1217 belongs to O2Micro.

The Problem:
This piece of audio hardware can't successfully talk to the software
over the built-in 1394 port on the Dell laptop. I have tried the
MicroInnovations 1394 Cardbus adapter, and it works fine with it on the
same laptop. I am not a software programmer, so I can't provide any
details there, but we do know that it "appears" to be a communication
thing, where it might be dropping data.

We have also observed similar communication issues on a Mac Book Pro
(running XP) which is also based on the Core 2 Duo system, so we
thought this might be related to whatever the Core 2 Duo systems are
doing.

Has anyone had ANY issues so far related to the Core 2 Duo's or the 945
Express chipsets?
I am already working on having the software/firmware people look at
this, but so far, I am the first one to suspect this Core 2 Duo system
for this problem.

Again, the software/hardware works the same machines with an add-on
1394 controller.

I don't expect any solutions to this just yet, but if anybody who reads
this could tell me if they have heard about or seen any strange
FireWire issues with these types of systems, that would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Jonas

 

[Guest]

Youre Core 2 works with intel components,go to intel/downloads,locate the
chipset installation utility for the laptop,then try downloads for the
other compon-
ents (graphics,internet,etc),the chipset utility gets the others running.

 

[jonas_me]

Andrew, I know that it is using the Intel 945PM Express chipset. I'm
sorry if I wasn't clear, but the specific problem I have is only
dealing with the FireWire 1394 port, and those drivers are by design
generic (OHCI). There is a problem communicating with an audio
hardware device over the integrated 1394 port. It works over an
add-in Cardbus 1394 controller.
It only has a problem with this integrated port on these Core 2 Duo
machines.

 

[jonas_me]

I hope I was clear...(I re-read what I wrote and wanted to clarify)

I would like to know if anybody else has had FireWire (1394) connection
problems with the Core 2 Duo systems???

If you have, please let me know...

Thank you,
Jonas

 

[Guest]

Hi Jonas

I too am experiencing problems with the firewire connection on my Inspiron
6400 laptop. I have a mackie mixer connected via 1394 firewire to my laptop.
Music sounds great when playing through the mixer, but playing back after
it's recorded to Cubase SX 2, sounds glitchy with lots of pops and clicks. I
have been to the Mackie website and have been told many different things,
however I am led to believe that Service pack 2 for XP causes problems for
1394 b Firewire 800 connections. I am currently looking to obtain a 34mm
express card to support 1394 a Firewire 400 and give it it's own dedicated
IRQ to avoid any conflicts. There have been no definate answers yet to
pinpoint the problem. I am also running Core 2 duo but am unsure about the
chipset.