On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Grant <[email protected]> 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
