Re: [proaudio] Real-Time for audio playback?

[Mark Knecht <markknecht@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Grant <emailgrant@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>> <SNIP>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But in the end, there's really no way to know, right?  From what I
>>>>>>> gather, jack can add another buffer and report on it, but it's the
>>>>>>> sound card buffer that determines whether there are problems or not,
>>>>>>> right?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> No, I think Jack does know.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In non-Jack apps the application pumps out data. If the buffers
>>>>>> overflow or run empty it's just a 'system problem' and the system has
>>>>>> failed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> In Jack apps all audio is moved by Jack. All Jack apps are callback
>>>>>> based. Jack itself issues a demand for data from the application, then
>>>>>> if the application supplies it then everything works correctly. If the
>>>>>> app doesn't supply the data then we know where the problem is and we
>>>>>> can fix it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's how I understand it.  In a system without jack, there is
>>>>> communication between the system and the sound card.  With jack, there
>>>>> is communication between the system and jack, and also between jack
>>>>> and the sound card.  It sounds like jack can report on problems with
>>>>> communication between the system and jack, but we are still left in
>>>>> the dark as far as communication problems between jack and the sound
>>>>> card.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I don't think so. Jack will report if it had trouble delivering the
>>>> data to the card. It's just another xrun.
>>>
>>> Is that enough information to be sure the card's buffer never runs dry?
>>>
>>
>> I believe it is. Probably you could address really specific questions
>> to the implementers for more confirmation, but I'm operating as if it
>> is.
>>
>>>> <SNIP>
>>>>>
>>>>> Was it the Asus motherboard?  Did it take anything else out with it?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Asus A8N-E. The crash took out the motherboard, the power supply and
>>>> possibly a disk drive. At least I cannot get the drive to spin up and
>>>> it was a new SATA drive that was the main system drive before the
>>>> machine died.
>>>
>>> I'm really sorry to hear this.  I hope you were able to resuscitate
>>> the drive.  Did you choose a reliable motherboard to replace the Asus?
>>>  If so, I'm interested to hear how you made a reliability
>>> determination.  How's temperature in the case?
>>>
>>> - Grant
>>
>> So far the drive is apparently really dead. I haven't done anything
>> more. I figure I'll contact WD but it's hard to blame it on them. The
>> power supply seems to have been the culprit. It took out the
>> motherboard and a cheap ATI VGA also so almost everything in the box
>> seems pretty dead. I don't know yet whether my HDSP9652 was harmed,
>> nor have I tested my TI 1394 card, but at least the new system
>> recognizes them and loads drivers so one of these days I'll hopefully
>> get on top of that.
>>
>> I have more pressing issues right now so those will have to wait a while..
>>
>> Thanks for the concerns and interest though.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Mark
>
> Thanks for all your help Mark.  One more question is what kind of
> power supply was it?  I use Corsair these days.
>
> - Grant

I don't remember. It's gone out in the trash at this point. It wasn't
Corsair. Probably Antec.

I worked in Silicon Valley for a long, long time before I got fed up
and quit. I can tell you every company making tech equipment makes
reasonably good products and they all have failures. I had this
machine since the middle of 2005. I never changed the supply and I
don't really know that the root cause of the machine failure was only
the supply. 5 years is a long time for one of these boxes. I replaced
the drive twice. (3 drives total.) Everything goes bad eventually. I
don't think you can protect yourself too much from that so do backups.
I did and I don't know of anything terribly important that I'm missing
at this point.

I got on WD's web site and filled out the RMA stuff. No questions
asked. Give them a valid serial number they will replace the drive.
Mine goes out in the mail tomorrow after I print the RMA label. New
500GB SATA2 drive in a few weeks.

What else can ya do? I got high blood pressure worrying about this
stuff. It's not worth it.

Take care,
Mark