Trying to reinstall ME5.4

[karlsaal]

I'm trying to reinstal ME 5.4 on one of our computers and it's giving me fits. The original user complaint was that the SMPTE sync was not working (Showed red instead of blue on panel?) I have tried to reinstall both the software and the Krystal board with great frustration. If I remove the Krystal board (listed as other devices? in Device Manager) and restart the computer it finds a new PCI device and trys to install it but gets stuck trying to find a device driver. I've tried pointing it towards the Medit folder but it doesn't find what it wants and I end up exiting the hardware installation. It shows up as "Other Devices ?" with an exclamation mark on it. It also says it is not running proprly and needs the drivers updated which as I've said it can't find. I've looked at our othe 4 MTUs and they all show up in Device Manager as "Other Devices ?" but it says they are running properly and the driver tab says that no drivers are installed or needed. So, what am I doing wrong in the installation, is there a specific order that I am violating, and how do I get the SMPTE sync to work? We have P1 166 machines running 95 (please hold your laughter) and the SMPTE cable is hooked up to analog LTC (SMPTE) time code. Any help would be appreciated.
Karl Saal
ICCA Ft.Mill SC
803-547-9200 ext 2488

[geezer]

As my primary MTU computer is still a PI 166 (Win95), I'm not laughing at all....This is still the most stable format for this rig, but I have started to see the computer lock up more and more over the last 2 years.

Your initial problem was with SMPTE, which requires the MicroSync board be installed correctly in one of the non-PCI slots (ISA?)....I don't see any reference to this in your un-install/install process, only for Krystal, which I assume you have disconnected from MicroSync.....Both cards obviously have to be thoroughly connected to work and communicate.

My memory of this whole process in Win 95 is a little vague, but there certainly was some issue about cleaning the old program off, and you certainly needed to designate interrupts for both cards, and you should see testing and recognition for whatever I/O box you have as well as the MicroSync.....I don't remember the MicroSync software being separate from the primary Medit software, so this should all be one process.

If a thorough re-install of both cards does not work, you might try putting either of them into your other computers to see if either of the cards themselves have died.

[geezer]

Do you have 5.4 on your other computers with MicroSync?.....I am recalling something about the lack of support for MicroSync in one of those final versions of Medit.....Even though I purchased the 5.4 and 5.5 upgrades, I don't believe I ever installed them on my older computer (with MicroSync)....


Hey MTU! Was this an issue?

[karlsaal]

Well, medit has been fine for years but they haven't used the msync. I got hold of Bryan and checked the IRQs and sure enough both xtal and msync were on IRQ 11. I put Msync on IRQ 5 and totally uninstalled Medit,Mchange, and MicroCD and tried reinstalling and it came up saying that it could not find the Msync board or it was in use by another application. OK, so I put it back on 11 and reinstalled everything and it still gives me that same error. Next I took the cable apart and resoldered the wires (one by one) and tried again. Still it won't see the Msync board. About the only thing I've got left is to go into BIOS and switch the PnP on IRQ 5 to Legasy ISA and hope for the best. Our other 5 MTUs are in use so I can't get a look at those (you have to take it apart since the Msync board won't show up in device Mgr so you have to look at the jumper setting) but all act differently. Some work fine but device mgr says "other devices" not working properly or needs the drivers updated. Some have a yellow "!" on them and some are just listed as "other devices" no driver present nor needed. It would be nice if I could have all of them looking the same.

[geezer]

You seem to imply that this is the first time you have had MicroSync on any of your MTU systems....Or that this is the only system that you have ever had MicroSync on (either of which should not preclude you checking it on another working machine).


If this is the case, there has to be more going on here....I don't seem to remember MicroSync ever living on IRQ5 on my PI 166...which is basically the same ( though upgraded) system I have had since 1994.....I remermber IRQ 10 and 11, but not 5....I may be able to power up my old thing and check tomorrow, but it really sounds like some sort of bad interrupt config or a dead card to me.....Did this Microsync card ever function on this computer before? Did you just buy this card from MTU?


These are really questions (and answers) for Bryan and Dave, not me.....I just got suckered into this role because I sort of care about this old system and used to use it exclusively...

In any case, if the card is dead, soldering the leads ain't going to help....

[Rich LePage]

I think Geezer is right about M/Sync not working with IRQ5 in most machines. Ideally, you should try to make say Krystal run on IRQ 10 or 11 and Microsync on whichever of those Krystal is NOT using. Krystal and M/Sync both need exclusive use of a sep IRQ for each I am pretty certain, espec with W/95.

I run one Microsync system and several other non-sync ones with Win95OSR2 and with Win98SE and WinME. The M/sync one is not at the site I am right now, but am pretty certain it is running Win98SE, a Pentium 133 with Intel Endeavor M/board which has a couple ISA slots so can use M/Sync.

Does your machine's BIOS allow you to select exclusive use of an IRQ by a PCI slot and/or an ISA slot? That was key in getting M/sync to run with Krystal originally. With the Intel m/board, I had to use a 3rd party BIOS (MR-BIOS) to get it to do that-- the stock Intel BIOS did not offer that feature.

Hope this helps you.

[karlsaal]

Thanks for all the replys. I'm in a holding pattern right now until the editors get off of the units. I'm starting to think that the sequence of the install has some bearing on what is going on. Another tech added Yamaha CDRs on 3 DAWs and on all 3 they landed on IRQ11. I tried switching them off to a different IRQ but it would not let me. What I'm going to try is to uninstall the CDRs, go into BIOS and change IRQ 11 from PnP to Legacy ISA then try to reinstall the CDR. If this works it should see IRQ 11 as occupied and put the CDR somewhere else thus leaving IRQ 11 open for the Msync board.

[Rich LePage]

Are they SCSI Yam CDRs? If so, try moving the SCSI controller's IRQ to 5- that has worked for me a couple times. Another option is to disable a serial or printer port in BIOS which will free an IRQ which you can try putting the SCSI controller on.

If the CDRs are IDE, then it's the IDE controller taking the IRQ, it's not the drives themselves. You can try changing the IRQs in BIOS, Windows, or both (98 is easier about this and there are some notes in the Win98 version of the MTU manual about that- which Bryan could maybe get you). This would perhaps be the case if you have added these recorders to the SECONDARY IDE controller on the machine. If that is the case and things do not work out, you could consider moving the CD recorder to the PRIMARY IDE controller and pin it as the SLAVE. This may -- or may not -- solve things. Of course, if you have two drives already hooked up there then that ain't gonna work! But you could disconnect one if so and try it as a test situation.

Most especially with the older systems I have found that using SCSI CD recorders works better than anything else. But of course you need a SCSI controller like an Adaptec 2940 or a Tekram DC-390, DC-395 or DC-315-- and those are getting hard to find.

I have SCSI controllers in all our systems to allow for tape backup of data (usually to DDS3 data DATs), but increasingly with the newer ones I've been archiving to DVD via either USB2 or Firewire-- of course the old machines don't know from that - and trying to get an adapter card in those to work well can be a real bear-- with all the same kinds of IRQ problems and other conflicts you are having with M/Sync right now.