Ttwotone

Hi, all. New poster here. I've installed a Turtle Beach Riviera 5.1 sound card in my HP Pavilion a520n PC. Windows XP. I get good sound in all but the center speaker. Checked cable connections, speaker settings in XP and in the Riviera software. No center sound from DVDs. Checked settings there, too. The product speaker test has the center sound coming out the subwoofer. The only way I can get sound from the center speaker is to use the six speaker setting which turns it into a rear center speaker. When I plug it into my iPod I hear good sound from center speaker and subwoofer. Also, the gameport shows a conflict in device manager and gives a code 12 error. The conflict message says that "I/O range 0201-0201 not available", but the options for changing the settings are grayed out. It tells me I need to disable another device on the system to use the gameport. I have disabled onboard sound and removed the drivers. I have removed the modem and drivers. I have tried all three PCI slots. The gameport conflict and the center speaker issue never resolves. Had the EXACT same issues with the first card I tried (CompUSA 5.1 card with gameport), returned it and bought Turtle Beach. Are they essentially the same card? Seems like it. Any suggestions? HP support no help. Waiting to hear from Turtle Beach.

Wozer

ummm...well, my experience with TurtleBeach drivers has been bad..in fact, the last time I did a clean install, I didn't even load their drivers, I instead let M$ update install theirs...works like a champ now...

Ttwotone

I think I've concluded that the center speaker issue is a software issue. Playing with different settings and different DVDs has brought mixed results. I can live with that for now. I mostly need help figuring out what to do about the gameport. I've noticed on my other computer that its gameport uses the same I/O resource as this one is trying to use (0201-0201). I really don't understand much about managing resources. If I'm getting the code 12message that 0201-0201 is not available, how do I "make" it available? Does it need to use "that" resource? I don't see any other device using that resource. Someone please help my ignorance! :-)

T_Rex

It's a CMI 8738 based soundcard. The Turtle Beach sticker covers that up on the chipset on the card. Enable "Xear 3D" in you're soundcard options to get the center channel working in emulation. It's basically surround "emulation" just like Creatives CMSS. You will have to disable the mainboard gameport in the bios if you wan't the cards gameport to actually install, but you would need to re-install the drivers. The C-Media 8738 cards have that very well known to some of us anyway) gameport issue with Nforce2 boards. HP did make several models with the FIC and MSI Nforce2 mATX OEM mainboards (I saw more than a few in my shop plus i read the net about hardware religiously). But even though it "shows" as an issue in the device manager the PC will still run fine and you can still use your onboard gameport just fine (won't cause any problems). as a matter of fact i still have 8 of those cards (but they are the A-Open CMI 8738 card which is identical) unopened from shop stock (i closed my shop last year) so i'm very familiar with that card though the A-Open sells for less than half the cost of the Turtle Beach card (you pay for the name with that one).

Ttwotone

Awesome! The Xear 3D kicked in the center channel, like you said. Then I had to mess with the settings to get rid of distortion. I'm using Intervideo, so I had to put it on "Intervideo ICE", "Theatre" environment, and "DSP Soft". Now it sounds great. Thanks so much! Later today I'll tackle that gameport issue and report back.

Ttwotone

Actually, I'm a bit stuck now, because I don't see any onboard gameport to disable. There never was a gameport on this PC (HP a520n), just USB for joysticks and such. So, I'm not sure what to do at this point. XP sees the gameport as new hardware (standard gameport) and installs it, but then this resource conflict shows up and I'm unable to use the port. I'm missing something somewhere.

Ttwotone

Ok...premature celebration on the sound. Came home today and played the same DVD with the exact same settings as before, and, center speaker sound is messed up again. Between the sound and the gameport, I'm having chest pains. Maybe I just need a better card (?)

T_Rex

Do you have 5.1 configured in the control panel and on the c-media config? If not it should be. Don't sweat it. I have an 8738-8768 driver modification guide i'll point you to if you need it. It's on another forum but i'll point you there in a PM if need be.

Ttwotone

Yes, things do seem to be configured correctly in control panel & the c-media. What I'm discovering is that if I let the DVD load and run without trying to fast forward or jump to next chapter it does better. The center channel works, it's just very tempermental and hard to fine tune. Anyway, I think the gameport is my biggest obstacle now. Is that what the driver modification guide you mentioned is for? I really want to hang onto my CH Pedals and my joystick. Don't want to have to replace them with USB models. That's the only reason I decided to put in a gameport. I greatly appreciate your help and suggestions.

Ttwotone

Just recieved this from Turtle Beach Support (finally!)

"The Nvidia chipset on you motherboard takes up the standard I/O range for Joystick ports. They can not be reassigned.

Please visit this link:
http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/kb_ftp/5874018.asp

Other sound card manufacturers have this issue as well.

If your PC does not have an onboard joystick port then this card will not work for you. Please return it to the point of purchase.

Thank you choosing Turtle Beach products."

So, I guess that's that, eh? It seems I'm beating a dead horse with this gameport idea after all. Suppose I'll have to upgrade my joystick and pedals to USB if I'm going to use this PC for gaming. Well, now I have to decide: keep this card and use it for sound, or send it back and get a different one. Any opinions?

T_Rex

No the driver mod is to get the control panel that comes with the more advanced 8768 card - it has better sound channel seperation and a better EQ. Does the 520n have an Nforce2 motherboard (nVIDA based)? Anyway i know you can use the gameport that your onboard sound on while having your CMI 8738 card installed, but you might not be able to get the extra gameport running at the same time on that very card with the other gameport being used (installed). I know what you mean too because i'm a big time flight sim freak i play LOMAC in competetive leagues (I use a HOTAS system). As far as the center channel working properly and reliably it works best when you have an actual retail copy of a DVD software app that is enhanced to work with native DVD seperation. Example would be: that an oem copy of windvd will not allow you to have "real" 5.1 seperation through analog 5.1 connectors unless you upgrade to the enhanced retail version. Same with PowerDvd and nDVD. In other words if you buy (example) PowerDvD premuim it really will do 5.1 seperation even without "XEAR 3D" checkmarked and running. Hope that helps. I posted in another thread that i would be gone so i'll tell you too - i leave tommorrow morn to fly out and won't be back for at least 2.5 weeks so i hope you solve this by then and i hope i have explained things ok! Good luck :)