Thanx all....doin a re jig as suggested.
 
I know yur waiting with baited breath...ie another newbie!
 
DON'T join my band SUperG...better things to do ! :)
 

Is a BIOS update appropriate considering it was initially A dell machine with XP?

2:43AM
Jinxy, What graphics card are you using?

Check out a thread that I started not too long ago regarding similar issues. The nightmare of FireWire versus graphics cards is real. I'm living in it right now.

I'm thinking graphics as well.
 
a) update to latest graphics drivers
b) update from dell for latest chipset drivers
c) Part of optimizations for audio in any Windows is reducing visual aspects. Look at optimizing for performance more than visuals.
d) evaluating fw, I did plenty bios changes, not allowing core parking, removing dynamic overclocking and things like that. I also reverted to legacy fw drivers in W7 - and machine worked much more smooth.
 
Even back in XP I had such issues, not using FW, but opening popup menues made a click in audio. Removing shadows on popup menues fixed it.
 
So a workaround might be to change visual aspects of W7.

Thanx guys...I'M ON IT.
 
Keep em coming...much appreciated! 

Q for Mike...
X3 reporting roundtrip latency 49.6ms @ 1024 samples...is that NOT good?
There's a lag when I hit the PLAY transport?

When I open a media player file & then CHROME browseerr with multiple pages open it glitches like mad. Is this a clue?
I've updated the video card & the bios stalled...yuk...running low on ideas?

If you've got lag etc - that gives a flashback to fw cable?
 
Not much trension/bend in cable is needed to cause malfunction in fw. Connectors are really old technology and very poor design.
 
In my case I worked a full evening troubleshooting until I found that table pressed cable a tiny bit towards the wall, that was enough.
 
I could even see cpu going up and down by pressing the cable in different directions. It may be that simple.

No go lfm....gr8 idea tho.
 
I can't seem to access the onboard HD sound card to isolate from FF?????