Welp, I can't get the new soundcard to work with my motherboard.

It's a known issue, and lots of people have got it to work, but I cant.
I've did everything the net suggests, latest drivers, newer bios, older bios, chipset drivers, checked power in & out, pci-to-pci bridge, etc. etc. etc.
Read everything I could read online about this issue, and it is known, but I just can't seem to overcome it.
It's not a soundcard issue, I'm sure.
I believe it's a nForce 750i issue or a motherboard issue.
I believe the computer is not seeing the PCI-e slot.

It won't let me to install the Asus Xonar Essence STX drivers because it warns me to "plug in" the soundcard. (yes, I know this card needs a 4-pin molex computer power plug to work, I tested that and that part is good. I've also reseated & wiggled the board in the PCI-e slot)
The computer don't see any new card (even generic) installed anywhere, either.
As if it ain't seeing the PCI-e slot.

If anyone has any ideas of anything I might have missed or just want a brain-puzzler, I be egger to try.

The motherboard is an EVGA 750i SLi FTW.
The processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale.
The soundcard is an Asus Xonar Essence STX

Any help much welcomed!

P.S. Oh, and doing all the flashing of the bios of course reverted my system to PRE-overclock settings, and the tried & true specialized overclock instructions to get it back to where I had it can no longer be found.
There are some, but not a perfect match (motherboard, processor, & memory) to the (my) system that I built based on these custom overclock instruction (they were actually Part 1 & 2 videos on Youtube).
Not that I mind that for now, as I want to eliminate that as a cause for the soundcard problem anyway.
It's just more future work, is all.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 03-20-2014).]

No help here Don.

Wouldn't SPDIF to a good amplifier have given the same or better quality sound?

should have stuck with usb->midi

Speaking of, i have this fancy midi module i'm borrowing, i should get my Atari ST out and make some music while i have it.

[This message has been edited by Nurb432 (edited 03-20-2014).]

quote Originally posted by ls3mach: No help here Don. Wouldn't SPDIF to a good amplifier have given the same or better quality sound?

Probably.
But i'll get it figured out.....or build a computer around this soundcard tryin'!

Do you have a different PCI-e slot you can try it in? One possibility to eliminate. If it's a physical problem with the MOBO, a new MOBO might be your only option.

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: Do you have a different PCI-e slot you can try it in? .

Forgot to mention it.
Yes I have.
No change.

Sounds like your pci-e slots are dead. I've had that problem before.

Do you have any other known working PCIe cards you can slap in and test?

quote Originally posted by tebailey: Sounds like your pci-e slots are dead. I've had that problem before.

Yup.

quote Originally posted by Boondawg: Nope. Never used PCI-e before in my life.

I thought you had a pair of GTX275 Gfx cards? Aren't they PCIe?

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: I thought you had a pair of GTX275 Gfx cards? Aren't they PCIe?

He does. I'm not sure what he is saying exactly.

I think that card uses a PCIe 1x slot, not the 16x slots.

quote Originally posted by Taijiguy: I think that card uses a PCIe 1x slot, not the 16x slots.

It does indeed.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 03-20-2014).]

quote Originally posted by Rallaster: Do you have a different PCI-e slot you can try it in? ...

That was going to be my suggestion as well. Sounds like he's ahead of us, already.

Is there anything in Windows that might not have been installed because that card or slot was not in service? (Some PCIe controller or service?)
Is anything else mapped to a memory location that might be conflicting with where that card wants to be?
All just speculation and "random shots from the hip".

Edit - You might need more cowbell.

[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 03-20-2014).]

At this point with all of the troubleshooting you've done I'm inclined to believe it's a physical issue with the hardware somewhere that warrants a replacement.

Are all you standard PCI slots occupied?
I had herd some mention a while back that some southbridge controllers have an issue dedicating access to PCIe slot if all of the PCI slots or both PCIe16 slots are occupied. This may not apply to your MOBO.
You most likely have covered this, but is the onboard sound disabled? Also in BIOS check to see if PCI access is set for PNP OS. There may also be advance settings in the BIOS for PCIe.
Had an issue before when I was trying to use 2 sound cards. Got it to work, but there was a lot of "musical cards". Pull one, let windows see the other, install in a certain order and let windows see each one until I got them to work. I think I had to have my primary video and sound card in first. Then added the rest. I also remember having to turn Legacy access off to certain areas(legacy USB, memory drive boot options ) then turn them back on later after certain cards were recognized. Also had to turn off and back on anything that I was not using. Serial port, parallel.
Had to make sure that DMI would be reset so resources would be dealt out right.

quote Originally posted by Raydar: Is there anything in Windows that might not have been installed because that card or slot was not in service? (Some PCIe controller or service?) Is anything else mapped to a memory location that might be conflicting with where that card wants to be?

I tried the fixes for both.

Does it let you complete the driver install even though it doesn't know the card is installed? I know I've seen some hardware that is invisible (or mis-identified and installed as something it isn't) to the computer until software that sort of forces it to recognize the hardware is installed.

quote Originally posted by cmechmann: Are all you standard PCI slots occupied? I had herd some mention a while back that some southbridge controllers have an issue dedicating access to PCIe slot if all of the PCI slots or both PCIe16 slots are occupied. This may not apply to your MOBO. You most likely have covered this, but is the onboard sound disabled? Also in BIOS check to see if PCI access is set for PNP OS. There may also be advance settings in the BIOS for PCIe. Had an issue before when I was trying to use 2 sound cards. Got it to work, but there was a lot of "musical cards". Pull one, let windows see the other, install in a certain order and let windows see each one until I got them to work. I think I had to have my primary video and sound card in first. Then added the rest. I also remember having to turn Legacy access off to certain areas(legacy USB, memory drive boot options ) then turn them back on later after certain cards were recognized. Also had to turn off and back on anything that I was not using. Serial port, parallel. Had to make sure that DMI would be reset so resources would be dealt out right.

I tried some things you mentioned, but there are a few there I have not.

quote PCI access is set for PNP OS, turn Legacy access off to certain areas(legacy USB, memory drive boot options ) then turn them back on later after certain cards were recognized, Had to make sure that DMI would be reset so resources would be dealt out right

I'll try those, thanx.

quote Originally posted by Taijiguy: Does it let you complete the driver install even though it doesn't know the card is installed?

No, it asks for the card to be plugged in as it is preparing to install drivers.
It is.

Different Bios handles DMI resources differently. Some you can't control at all. However most Bios will allow you to see DMI info right after the Bios message. If you have the option to display Bios options on. It will show, when changed. A Bios number, a manufacture code(most of the time 4 digit) sometimes the manufacture name(i.e EVGA) then the IRQ it uses.
Something like
USB 1.0 controller XXXX/TI05 irq 6
USB 2.0 controller XXXX/AMD1 irq 5
Standard PCI SATA XXXX/Intl irq 7
Multimedia device XXXX/EVGA irq 8
and so on
The area I had seen problems were when DMI set the same irq for different cards. This works OK for like USB 1.0, 2.0 and 2.1. south bridge built in stuff but some some cards won't tolerate sharing. Especially sound cards and Video. Had to shuffle stuff around until DMI displayed the sound and video cards with their own.
When adding new hardware the Bios supposed to update DMI and should display the new settings right before boot. But it doesn't always happen or you didn't see it. If The Bios doesn't update DMI settings, windows won't see it either.
I would remove every thing you can, physically and in bios. Install just the first video and the sound card. Just enough to see. Shut down all the way. Restart go in Bios, save , come back out. Let it boot into windows that way once so windows will dedicate resources for those 2. Do it again after adding or turning on each one. But you shouldn't have to boot back into windows again until the rest is in or on.

[This message has been edited by cmechmann (edited 03-20-2014).]

Move the jumper to int 5...

Oops, sorry had a flashback from the early '90s...

Man I hate setting up those old multi IO/function IDE ISA cards. You only had 16 irqs and half were already used by the motherboard. Microchannel just sucked.
Don't get me started on SCSI 1and 2

[This message has been edited by cmechmann (edited 03-20-2014).]

Just FYI you can plug a PCIe 1x card into a 16x slot. So for example, if you wanted to remove one video card and swap the sound card in just to see if it works, you can do that.

Also, is there some setting in the motherboard BIOS that turns the PCI-e 1x slots off, or a setting where you have to pick between having the slot active or some other feature active instead?

Best of luck!

It really should have been addressed in the latest BIO revision from EVGA. http://www.evga.com/support...ain.aspx?faqid=58517

I know when I had my 780i FTW and 790i Ultra EVGA was terrible with their BIOS revisions and left us all hanging with many problems never addressed

That's terrible luck for you, great sound card too. Apparently they don't play well with the NForce chips..

Hey Boonie, it looks like your motherboard has a digital optical output. If you have a home theater receiver or some powered speakers with digital optical input, you can bypass the sound card entirely. I realize you're probably more concerned about getting that sound card to work. But this could be a "plan B".

All good advice, my friends.
I'll do what I do and get something figured out.
I always do.

Of course, a less honorable man might use this problem as an excuse to his wife to build a whole new system....
Joseph might even hold the key to part of that build!
Just get a motherboard & some memory and booya!, case-closed.

[This message has been edited by Boondawg (edited 03-21-2014).]