Digitalization PC setup

Cortez · #1 09-05-2021, 04:01 PM

Greetings my fellow forum members,
now i can spend some time for my other passion again. I would like to finish my PC's configuration once and for all. I am thinking about the OS, drivers in the first place.

I made earlier a research to find the perfect configuration for my gears for the best possible quality. I made restore points by every modification (installed driver, committed setting, etc.) to investigate the result and roll back when it's needed.

First, let me introduce my resources:

Dedicated PC's configuration based on the digitalfaq forum members suggestions:

Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 Rev2.0 motherboard
Intel Core2 Duo E7600 CPU
2x2 GB DDRII 800 Mhz Kingston Memory
ATI All-in-Wonder 9000 64 MB AGP VGA
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz PCI Audio card
StarTech PCI-Express firewire card
500 GB IDE HDD drive
2 TB SATA HDD drive

The ATI All-in-Wonder AGP video card with Turtle Beach Santa Cruz audio card combo is preferred on this forum. I found only this Asrock motherboard that supports AGP and SATAII. Somehow works with 4 GB memory but doesn't boot every time. E7600 CPU has the highest frequency (3.06 Ghz) per core that i can get. Firewire card is for miniDV transfer. IDE drive is for OS and digitalization application. SATA drive is for the digitalized materials. Windows XP supports only 2 TB maximum.

20210706_085047.jpg

For the OS:

Only Windows XP SP2 is suggested and i have two installers:

Genuine Windows XP SP2 (legal copy with license key)
Windows XP without any service pack (got it from a forum member with service pack installers also)

I don't have any issues with the other driver, only with the AGP card. I downloaded multiple installers from the forum, i just list them below with their "ID":

180_V01060_100
180_G01445_100
180_G01445_200
180_V01106_100
181_G01116_100
180_V01084_100

I burned them to CD because in that case i don't need emulator to mount them and from CD the installer wizard worked. I realized that this was total useless because none of these worked on any OS version. I got various error messages or the driver just didn't installed:

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ATI XP Driver Error 1.JPG

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The only way i could install the driver is to update the driver from the device manager. Default i didn't have any VGA installed on SP0:

ATI XP Driver Error 2.JPG

Multimedia Audio Controller is for Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, disappeared after i used audio driver
System Interrupt Controller is for motherboard, disappeared after i used motherboard driver
Universal Serial Bus Controller doesn't matter
Video Controller i think this is the secondary display because the video card has a secondary display output.
Video Controller (VGA Compatible) is the main adapter.

From the error message, first i tried to install the motherboard's VGA driver (VIA AGP), but nothing changed. Maybe there are motherboards with the same name but with built-in VGA.

Using only the video card drivers (two worked) the VGA disappeared as Unknown Device and appeared as Display Adapter.

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This also worked on SP0 and SP1. I don't know it is necessary to "update" the display driver on SP2 because after the OS installation the displays are ready (with Microsoft Corporation suffix).

InstallShieldWizardError3.jpg

If i install it by myself i have two by two options:

Two versions
Two locations

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I choosed the newer version but from which location?

Fortunately i can update my VGA driver on my purchased OS also but the question is should i do it or the default driver is also good, maybe better?

I am very thankful every help

latreche34 · #2 09-05-2021, 05:34 PM

Windows 7 is more sophisticated when it comes to driver compatibility, If you haven't done so try to install it.

msgohan · #3 09-06-2021, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortez

Attachment 14097

I choosed the newer version but from which location?

9x_inf\c9* = Windows 9x
2kxp_inf\c2* = Windows 2000
2kxp_inf\cx* = Windows XP

So, choose the last one. I hope that helps.

Cortez · #4 09-06-2021, 02:21 PM

Thank you guys for the help. So you say that i should definitely replace the default driver. Unfortunately i choosed the c2* location for my XP, so i picked the wrong one

No problem, i will use my previous restore point and repeat the installation process correctly.

msgohan · #5 09-06-2021, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortez

So you say that i should definitely replace the default driver. Unfortunately i choosed the c2* location for my XP, so i picked the wrong one

I don't know whether it's necessary to replace the default driver, and it's entirely possible that there will be no problems installing the 2K driver. I was just picking from the three options you presented.

ffmpeguserss · #6 09-10-2021, 06:18 AM

Very nice, you have a great setup IMO.

The only things I can offer at the moment:

For mine I used the install CD that came with the card but I understand using another to get the better version of MMC.

Also, if you're familiar with Linux there's a command named dd that can clone a drive into a file, though I don't know if you want to set up a multi-boot computer or go through the hassle of working with Linux.

But.. why it's useful is you can arrive at a base install where everything mostly works except the ATI card, then clone the partition into a backup file (say a 40GB partition for XP). Now you can do anything you'd like with your Windows XP install and if anything goes bad you can reset it back to the backup and start over, saving time. Also allows you to experiment.

I do this with mine by taking the OS drive out and cloning it on another machine. Useful for dealing with those annoying dial-in reactivations for XP also (when I changed the video card on mine I had to reactivate over the phone).

For the 2TB drive, format it using the largest cluster size available (64k or 32k) as it could help with the large files. Also, it takes a long time but do the full format (and not the quick) at least once in the beginning to give it a chance to label the bad sectors.

See if you can install the cards far away from each other if possible, eg, not next to each other. I locate my sound card as far away from the video card as possible. Helps with heat and a little distance from electrical noise.

Cortez · #7 09-10-2021, 06:56 AM

I used Acronis. I also heard about dd from my brother but i am not familiar with Linux. I saved my backups to pendrive and anything bad happens or i just want to redo the process with other parameters i can do it easily.

I don't need to use a better version of MMC i just need a working environment. For my SP2 the installer wizard doesn't worked, updating the driver from Device Manager neither. The only way i could install my driver to enter the Install/Driver folder and run Setup.exe. In that case the installer updates the default driver (i think because the (Microsoft Corporation) suffix disappeared) and after the install it found an other component to install (something WDM).

I did the XP activation many times so at the last one i immediately created a backup.

I don't want to setup a multi-boot computer just a minimal one with the necessary application only.

Now my 2 TB drive is plugged out because i don't want to harm it by reseting the computer sometimes 4-5 times because it doesn't wanna start booting. At that time i will make a full format as you suggested.

Actually the vga and audio card are close to eachother but the firewire card is between

.

The PCI-Express and VGA slots are next to eachother. Maybe i try to place farther the audio card. The AUX cable would be enough long to connect them together.

Thank you for your help

RobustReviews · #8 09-10-2021, 11:42 AM

Unless I've missed something, I can't see why you're using an audio card, especially Turtle Beach, unless I've genuinely missed something I can't see what it affords in 2021. It was an old DAW card, we probably have thrown some away over the last few years, but honestly, for video-cassette captures it won't bring an 'awful lot to the party' in my opinion, having never tried it, in full disclosure.

Try going without it, or do an A/B, I wouldn't get too hung up over it. The Santa Cruz was well marketed at the time (it's not a bad card, don't get me wrong) but it's hardly a name that carries cachet anymore. Unless I'm missing something (which I could well be) I would just try to go without it, it's definitely the component here you can overlook - unless it's there for some odd reason I don't fully understand.

========Having re-read the post=========

A few inches of extra cable won't make a noticeable difference if you're just patching between things in the cold light of reality and human hearing.

ffmpeguserss · #9 09-10-2021, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortez

Actually the vga and audio card are close to eachother but the firewire card is between

.

I should add that this one's a more of a personal choice than anything; a just to be safe type of thing. I don't have any proof that it makes any difference. Also I connect the audio from the VCR directly into the card rather than go through the video card, YMMV.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobustReviews

Unless I've missed something, I can't see why you're using an audio card, especially Turtle Beach, unless I've genuinely missed something I can't see what it affords in 2021. It was an old DAW card, we probably have thrown some away over the last few years, ...

Oh, these DAW cards are great, I use a prosumer one myself and is a valuable part of my rig/kit. YMMV again but the DAW cards have better spec'd ADC converters and convert cleaner, though not having done an A/B test. Perhaps the drivers have better latency also; but just a guess.