Problem with E-MU 1820m any advcie

I have a problem with my E-MU 1820m interface. I'm not sure it is with the dock or the interface card. What happens is this when Win XP boots all the lights stay on until Windows fully loads then after Patch Mix loads it says something about not having enough inputs for the session and the various inputs will turn red and then look as though they are fine. poping noises come from my pc speakers that are connected to it and audio "drops" in and out. After several reboots of the PC the everything settles down, but still input audio is "crackly" sounding  Somtimes the poping is not heard but is indicated on the meters in patchmix. One of my digital audio cables has come disconnected from the base card but this shouldn't be a problem. Sometimes there is no audio through the inputs at all or outputs. I seem to recall before this started happening that when Windows was loading (Win XP screen before login screen) that the dock would make a click as if a relay was set or something. I no longer get the click. Can this situation be fixed or is it the dock going bad or the connection on the PC card inside my computer? I'd like to get this back running correctly so I can do some desperately needed things done with my internet radio station. I have been dealing with this for about 8 months but just haven't had the time to fool around with it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Since I work with a 1616m, I'll chime in here and say that you're way too busy (or patient) to persist with this for 8 months.  This problem sounds worthy of Tech Support. 

This may sound obvious, but your card isn't trying to clock to that bad digital cable if it contains an incoming digital signal, is it?

The only times I've had problems with it were
 (1) the dock cable slipped loose and wasn't functional
 (2) the driver needed updating.

Your symptoms are bad enough to be worse than driver corruption (though an uninstall/reinstall is adviseable if you've already got the current version), makes me think the card isn't seated correctly in your computer.

My 1616m behaves like that when turned on from cold; however, after five minutes warming up it plays ball, and doesn't put another foot wrong.  It's been like that for several years, so I don't worry about it now.  It's rare that it's turned off, in any case.

Paul

There are several known conditions that cause similar problems with the 1820m. Have a look at this thread on Multimedia Production Forums (complete with E-Mu input) - it might give you some more clues.

Since I work with a 1616m, I'll chime in here and say that you're way too busy (or patient) to persist with this for 8 months.  This problem sounds worthy of Tech Support. 

This may sound obvious, but your card isn't trying to clock to that bad digital cable if it contains an incoming digital signal, is it?

The only times I've had problems with it were
 (1) the dock cable slipped loose and wasn't functional
 (2) the driver needed updating.

Your symptoms are bad enough to be worse than driver corruption (though an uninstall/reinstall is adviseable if you've already got the current version), makes me think the card isn't seated correctly in your computer.

Just been way too busy to really take the time to fiddle with it. The cable I switched with another one from my 1616m setup and the same problem occured. As to the drivers I'm using the latest from EMU's site so that shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks guys! I'm working on some of the info that SteveG sent a link to. I did take the liberty of opening the dock and to me there was one suspect capacitor, but I will have a ham radio friend look at it and see if it is truly the culprit. I will also look into reseating the card and see if that works as well. I looked at the CMOS and the on board sound was disabled so no issues there and I will be looking into any IRQ potential conflicts. If all this doesn't work then I will re install the drivers and try that. If all else fails I will have to either look on ebay for a replacement dock or consider a whole new sound card. I really don't have the $$ to do that right now. No the digital audio cable that came off was not an input and the sample rates are internal rather than external. I will keep everyone posted on my progress. Again thanks and if there is something else that I may have over looked feel free to post. Oh one thing, does the ethernet cable have to have the big choke looking thing on it or not. I tried a standard ethernet cable and it didn't appear to work but I can retry that as well.

I am using a 3m standard unscreened Cat5e cable from my network bits box with no problem.  If the absence of the lumps could theoretically cause an interference problem, all I can say is that none is apparent even on known susceptible equipment immediately adjacent to the dock.

Paul