Replacing Dell proprietory Soundblaster Live card with a retail Soundblaster Live card

I recently purchased a new Dimension 4600 machine, for use with the
Linux operating system (SuSE 8.2). Since Soundblaster Live! has
long been a supported audio card for Linux, I ordered the machine
with a Soundblaster Live card in place of the standard onboard Intel
sound chip.

Unfortunately, I discovered after delivery that Dell's Soundblaster
Live card is proprietory and works with Windows only as explained at:

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=
http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_audio&
message.id=39953

So yesterday, I purchased a new retail Soundblaster Live card to
replace the Dell proprietory card (I was prepared to, since although
I explained to the Dell salesperson at the time of placing the order
that the machine would be used with Linux only, I do not believe it
reasonable to expect a salesperson to know about this proprietory
card issue, since officially Windows is the only operating system
supported and the salesperson will have been trained only on that
operating system).

It does not seem, though, easy or straightforward to swap the cards
over. The Dell OEM card appears to be connected to the USB system
somehow (!) using a 6 wire hard wired connection, the "other end" of
which is not accessible. One cannot therefore replace the Dell OEM
card with the retail card without a great deal of hardware knowledge,
which I do not have.

I would like to arrange a (chargeable if necessary, I am quite happy to
pay) Dell service visit to remove the Dell OEM Soundblaster Live card,
and either replace it with the retail Soundblaster Live card which
I have purchased or remove it and re-enable the onboard Intel sound
chip (which Linux similarly supports), and in either case connect
the DVD-RW drive to the sound device enabled.

Is this possible? Cost really isn't an issue, and I am willing to pay
whatever Dell wish to charge. I am hoping for a speedy resolution
if possible. Alternatively I can drive to anywhere in the UK where
Dell might have a service centre, if they can do the work whilst I wait
(I will wait all day if needed).

 

The other end of that mystery connector goes to the front headphone
jack. You should be able to plug in the retail SB card and use it.
You just won't have the front headphone jack working anymore. The
retail card doesn't have the connector needed to use the jack.

Dave

 

Well using an XPS Gen2 Dell- I too almost got "burned" by the OEM SB Live
issue. However, easily overcame that by upgrading to Dell's Audigy 2, which
IS fully compatible with a variety of Linux distros (Mandrake, Suse,
Libranet, etc.).

So perhaps, to preserve all your Dell-specific connector options- see if an
Audigy 2 upgrade is feasible for your 4600. Might even be able to
"guilt-trip" Dell into a no cost swap..?

Regards,
Robert G. Ragosta

 

That solution also retains the front head phone jack and gains you a
Firewire port.

Tom

 

Tom, I have the SB Audigy retail. Could you tell me what I would use
the firewire port for? Just curious.

Joan

 

Tom-
Succintly and accurately put.. Also, the Firewire is fully
recoginized/configured by multiple distros (Mandrake 9.1/9.2, Suse 9.0,
Libranet, etc.) as well... Overall, all features, connectors, and Linux
Apps (sound-dependent) work as advertised (Alsa, OSS) in either KDE/Gnome.

Regards,
Robert G. Ragosta

 

For example, to import video.

Rocky

 

Well, I have a film scanner that requires Firewire. My Mini-DV camera
requires a firewire connection too. My Maxtor external hard drive will
support both USB2 and Firewire. Even my Epson printer, with a card I don't
own, could use Firewire.

If you don't need it, you gain nothing. If you do, this saves you a PCI
slot.

Tom

 

on my pc the following are connected via firewire

dsr11 dvcam video deck
epson 2100 printer
160gb hard drive in firewore enclosure
networking cable to second pc.

 

Thank You Tom and Rocky. Darn Best Buy. When I bought my DV Mini
Camcorder, I told the guy I had the firewire connector on my SB Audigy
card and he said it was for Audio, so I bought a firewire card and
actually glad I did. Now I also have a beautiful WD external HD with 8
meg cache and I love it. I do have two internal HD's but I use the one
as backup with Ghost. Great when you buy a program like Roxio's Creator
Media 7. For me the program works great. Thank Goodness.

Joan

 

Now this is really OT, but as long as you mentioned it...how do you like
Roxio 7? I have (Platinum) version 6.

Rocky

 

I would never use the headphone jack, nor FireWire, so those aren't
concerns. The Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (Dell) Sound Card
(+£55) is a valid option for my machine, however not now as the machine
has been ordered and delivered. Dell have informed me also that an
engineer visit is not an option since my machine would have worked
as advertised (with Windows, the only supported operating system)
and no fault is present.

I have now found a local company who are Dell resellers, and I will
arrange to take the machine there to have the new retail Soundblaster
Live card installed. The existing Dell OEM Soundblaster Live card
is not connected to the DVD drive by cable [1], and to install such a
cable is well beyond my (extremely limited) hardware knowledge since
the drive does not seem to be sufficiently accessible to attach the
cable without first removing the DVD drive from the case.

[1] Apparently, not considered necessary by Dell since Windows is the
only supported operating system and supports Digital Audio Extraction:

http://support.dell.com/us/en/kb/document.asp?dn=1069500

 

I like it. Everything works great. Lots of features, but some have had
problems. You can leave your Platinum 6 or 5 version on and you can use
both programs. I have the NEC 4X DVD 1100A burner and it had a firmware
update so I had no problems. There were a few concerned Dell owner's
but all got the program working. Roxio, was great on their help section
and got an update out which took care of the majority of the problems.

I'm burning beautiful DVD's of family photos, video, etc. You can
include music. The sound program lets you combine different MP3's into
one MP3 file. Version 6 may do all those things, I only had version 5,
so this was a great upgrade for me.

Joan

 

I am now informed that a cable connection between a DVD-ROM drive and
sound card are not necessary when playing DVDs (and of course cdda2wav
can play audio CDs without the need for such a connection using Digital
Audio Extraction under Linux), which makes a great deal of difference; I
should now be able to install the new sound card myself.

 

Glad you corrected that Linux can't do Digital Audio Extraction (DAE). For
Linux, almost ALL distros have been/ARE capable of DAE, via a number of
utilities and full-fledged "Windowed"-apps (KDE, Gnome, IceWM, etc.).

Bottom-line, your "assertion" about Linux was WRONG, you partially corrected
it (good..), and now the record is formally a bit more accurate/truthful.

Regards,
Robert G. Ragosta

 

That isn't an issue, since I would never use headphones anyway.
Given that the headphone jack end of the cable isn't accessible though,
what would you recommend be done with the cable? Remove it from the
Dell OEM Soundblaster Live sound card being replaced and wrap the
end up with electricians' insulating tape?

 

That would work fine.

Tom