Xonar Essence STX Install Complete Failure

[beachbum5397]

After much help from some of you on this forum and also from another forum (BlindTech), I was able to find the right power cable assembly for the ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard, and I was hoping I was on my way to a wonderful experience with the card. It was anything but that. After giving up on the card yesterday I tried once more today and spend about 3 - 4 hours trying to not only install the card but get it to work. Oh it would finally install but there was no sound either input or output. I have come to the conclusion that this computer must not have quite enough power to make the card work. I can honestly say I've never run into this before and it's frustrating. So close, yet so far away. The only way for me to get power to the soundcard was to use the power cable that would have belonged to CD-ROM #2, so the cable assembly I got was a male SATA that hooked into that black plug and extended the 6 inches I needed to reach the ASUS soundcard. What gets me is if that is the reason for the card not working, how would it power a second CD unit, wouldn't that take even more power?
 
It was interesting that I reached the same problems no matter whether I installed the UNI-Xonar drivers or the new driver released by ASUS for the Essence STX, which now includes Windows 7. (The disc that came with this soundcard had drivers only for Vista and XP.) In two scenarios out of multiple ones I tried, the first effort to install the driver met with a number of error messages teling me to plug in the xonar device. I would proceed to run the install again and it would go quickly and tell me it was successful this time. I would be able to call up the ASUS Xonar control panel but no matter what I did anywhere, I culd not get any sound. I uninstalled and reinstalled to the same effect. I even tried reversing the power plug to the xonar card and had exactly the same problems. So no matter what, I'm either not getting power or not enough power from this puny power supply. I had so wished to find a tap right off the motherboard that might produce more but sure didn't see a point anywhere.
 
I am just going to have to settle for a USB type interface but hopefully will find a better unit than the M-Audio MobilePre. It's an OK card but  during playback I'm plagued with occasional sound breakups which are very brief but annoying. I run the soundcard from an active hub which would probably provide the same power if not more than the power supply from my computer, so no advantage either way.
 
What is striking is that at least I got sound from the Creative Titanium HD card, but from this card that is supposed to be better, nothing. If and when ASUS improves on this card, I'll be anxious to try it again down the road on hopefully a better machine.
 
I know I've said this before in another post though not sure if anyone has read it, hence posting it here. I just want to extend my appreciation to those who tried to help me. Maybe next time I'll have a much better adventure, hopefully not the fiasco this one has been for me.
 
Again, thanks for everybody's help.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Did you "Disable", in the BIOS, the motherboard's on-board audio, when you installed an add-on internal sound card?

 

[beachbum5397]

Yes I disabled the soundcard but it was by disabling the driver in Device Manager. BIOS would not give me an option for disabling the card. I had tried to uninstall the card and driver but on reboot Windows reinstalled it thank-you-very-much Microsoft. That's when I got the bright idea to go into DM and disable the card and then uninstall its software. I'm kind of surprised I didn't have an option in BIOS. At least after disabling I verified that the onboard sound card was not functioning so should not have been in the way. There was no other card in the way either. I used all the same procedures I had used for the Creative Titanium HD soundcard (except it didn't require a power connector), and at least it worked though not very well for me. I get the feeling this power supply just doesn't have enough power to go around, and can't think of any other explanation for why it didin't work for me. After some of the experiences I've had with this computer,the next one that I buy I would want to be able to see a unit upfront, pull the cover off and see how it is wired to I can see if it's going to really have enough wiring for future expansion. This one obviously does not. BTW there was no other slot I could try the card in either, the other PCIE x1 slots have some other component on the motherboard near their connector that would have touched this card, not sure what that component is, bu tfelt it was not good to mount the card where it would come into contact with that component. I never tried the x16 slot, since I think that would be the slot that would be reserved for an upgraded video card, am I right?
 
Thanks for writing. You asked the very question I would have asked if I were reading it from some other person. Too bad even disabling is so tricky on this machine. Better luck with my next computer. <G>