It's been a long adventure for sure...but I'll try to keep this brief.
(All this was with running Centrafuse)
Initially running Vista (vLite slimmed version) all seemed well...
I must add, there are only ONE set of Xonar Vista drivers (out of 6 or 7) that properly and discretely output to the proper jacks...I had to test them all of course!
But shortly I discovered I couldn't hibernate, or sleep!
So I made about 6 more vLite configurations...installing and testing them all...none helped with the hibernation.
So I did a full, Ultimate edition install, which fixed the hibernation, but cause a few more hours of work tweaking the OS to run smoothly.
But Vista being different in the way it handles audio, and the fact that I'm running 2 sound cards, caused issues with the recording devices. I couldn't get a signal thru from the HDRadio...EVER!!
So I then try a XP install..SP1 MCE to be exact...
And everything seemed to be working great! Until I updated to SP3, and completely lost my audio whenever I resumed from hibernation!
I lived with that for a couple of months, but it was a killer waiting for boot-up's.
So I decided to give Windows 2000 a try. Like XP, but more business-like...stream-lined and efficient...
WRONG!
It was HELL just trying to install it! It can only see partitions under 137GB, and it promptly ruined the boot sector and partition on my 320GB drive...maybe a boot virus, I dunno.
After HOURS fixing the HDD, (and recovering and transfering 200GB of data!!) I manually make a 3GB partition to install to. And it works...
Until I find out audio drivers for Win2K are absolutely garbage.
Scrap the Win2K idea...
Now what!?
I go all out and install WinXP SP3, and HOPE soon, ASUS comes out with some proper drivers. Their last beta release was close to working the way I need them to work...
Then I think...hmmm...I wonder if I can somehow install those Vista drivers that I had success with.
I mean, using the Windows update drivers for the cards works perfectly...except the hibernation issue. And the Asus drivers work with resume but they don't output properly...EXCEPT those one version of Vista drivers...
So I download and run the Vista driver setup...and they install!! No errors...no messages. Perfect installation!
I dig a little deeper and do some testing...resuming from hibernation...WORKING!
Proper channeling....WORKING!!
Oh wait...here's a problem...
Recording devices...
The CP shows just two recording inputs...SP/DIF and WAVE, none of which actually show volume sliders.
Damn! How am I going to make my HDRadio work!?
I mean, in XP, it worked perfectly...but Vista? Forget it!
Now I'm thinking, what about the onboard sound card??
YES!!
I enable it in the BIOS, install the drivers...
I disable all the outputs, and leave the inputs enabled...
Plug in my HDRadio jack, configure CF to use that specific input line, and viola!! WORKING!!!
I promptly make a restore point
I now have, in my eyes at least, the perfect carputer!
Now I just have to wait for spring to put it all back in the car again!!
Linear Mode
