VOGONS


First post, by aaronwhooley

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hello all,

I have recently taken my old awe 64 gold out of the cupboard and started tinkering with it.
All was running fine for about 1 hour, then the audio volume level dropped dramatically.

Then I tested the output of the card via SPIDIF and works ok, but on the analog line out I need to crank it up to the last just to hear a faint signal!

Would any of you guys have any ideas?, could it be capacitors?

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

PS I checked all the mixer settings and all seems to be normal

*My retro rig*
1994 Peacock 🦚 “Professional”
Intel dx4 100 MHz
UM8810p AIO motherboard
32MB Ram
52x CD-ROM
540 mb Quantum Fireball
AWE 32 ISA
S3 Trio 64 PCI
Voodoo 1 4mb PCI
Realtek LAN PCI
Hyundai Image Quest v770

Reply 1 of 9, by dr_st

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Does it persist past reboot?

Check different cables, speakers, headphones. A number of things can fail, not just the card itself.

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 2 of 9, by aaronwhooley

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I have rebooted many times, reinstalled dos / windows, tried many different cables.

The only output that works fine is the spdif out..

*My retro rig*
1994 Peacock 🦚 “Professional”
Intel dx4 100 MHz
UM8810p AIO motherboard
32MB Ram
52x CD-ROM
540 mb Quantum Fireball
AWE 32 ISA
S3 Trio 64 PCI
Voodoo 1 4mb PCI
Realtek LAN PCI
Hyundai Image Quest v770

Reply 3 of 9, by tpowell.ca

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Have you tried midi (EMU chip) and digital audio?

  • Merlin: MS-4144, AMD5x86-160 32MB, 16GB CF, ZIP100, Orpheus, GUS, S3 VirgeGX 2MB
    Tesla: GA-6BXC, VIA C3 Ezra-T, 256MB, 120GB SATA, YMF744, GUSpnp, Quadro2
    Newton: K6XV3+/66, AMD K6-III+500, 256MB, 32GB SSD, AWE32, Voodoo3

Reply 4 of 9, by aaronwhooley

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
tpowell.ca wrote:

Have you tried midi (EMU chip) and digital audio?

Yeah, none of the features are audible via the standard line out.

However I I used a wire and connected it to the spdif/digital out on the sound card to another soundcard’s digital in and I can hear everything fine.

It’s really weird

*My retro rig*
1994 Peacock 🦚 “Professional”
Intel dx4 100 MHz
UM8810p AIO motherboard
32MB Ram
52x CD-ROM
540 mb Quantum Fireball
AWE 32 ISA
S3 Trio 64 PCI
Voodoo 1 4mb PCI
Realtek LAN PCI
Hyundai Image Quest v770

Reply 5 of 9, by Radical Vision

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Well maybe (if you did try the card on other machine, and other speakers/headphones on your current system) you card is buggy or it have some problem..
Try other audio card, if you have no matter what it is...

Mah systems retro, old, newer (Radical stuff)
W3680 4.5/ GA-x58 UD7/ R9 280x
K7 2.6/ NF7-S/ HD3850
IBM x2 P3 933/ GA-6VXD7/ Voodoo V 5.5K
Cmq P2 450/ GA-BX2000/ V2 SLI
IBM PC365
Cmq DeskPRO 486/33
IBM PS/2 Model 56
SPS IntelleXT 8088

Reply 6 of 9, by firage

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I don't know if electrolytics, or any kind of caps, can just kind of burn out like that. What were you connecting to it? It's a little odd if both RCA outs are low. I'd guess you're right about something going wrong on the board.

My big-red-switch 486

Reply 7 of 9, by badmojo

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Do you have a detailed picture of the card for us?

Something I'd consider is giving it a golly good wash in warm soapy water, then obviously make sure it's 100% dry (compressed air for the components and then leave it somewhere ventilated for a few days). If it's not working anyway you have nothing to lose.

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 9 of 9, by tpowell.ca

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
aaronwhooley wrote:
Hello all, […]
Show full quote

Hello all,

I have recently taken my old awe 64 gold out of the cupboard and started tinkering with it.
All was running fine for about 1 hour, then the audio volume level dropped dramatically.

Then I tested the output of the card via SPIDIF and works ok, but on the analog line out I need to crank it up to the last just to hear a faint signal!

Would any of you guys have any ideas?, could it be capacitors?

Thanks in advance,

Aaron

PS I checked all the mixer settings and all seems to be normal

You said it used to work then became lower after 1hr, but did BOTH channels drop at the same time? and to the same level?
If so, I doubt it could be caps, since both channels most likely do not share caps, and the odds of both failing at exactly the same time is quite remote.

I cannot recall, but in mixerset for the AEW64gold is there a GAIN setting on the output? Maybe that changed and you had it set initially to something beyond 1X.

  • Merlin: MS-4144, AMD5x86-160 32MB, 16GB CF, ZIP100, Orpheus, GUS, S3 VirgeGX 2MB
    Tesla: GA-6BXC, VIA C3 Ezra-T, 256MB, 120GB SATA, YMF744, GUSpnp, Quadro2
    Newton: K6XV3+/66, AMD K6-III+500, 256MB, 32GB SSD, AWE32, Voodoo3