what am i supposed to do now?

so here is the story.... after much much much trying every scenario to get it to work and after searching and reading some other post here and elsewhere i have come to the conclusion that my computer that i bought to do recording is not going to work. i have a dell inspiron e1505 laptop and am guessing that it is not capable because of the ricoh chipset. i bought the computer about 2 years ago along with sonar and recorded on my korg d1600 and then burned .wav files and did all my mixing for two cd's in sonar without too many issues. this was not my plan. i did not realize that no one was making audio interfaces that had drivers for vista yet. i also spent some extra dough to get a faster hard drive and ram so it would be capable of handling recording which really pisses me off now that i can't get it to work. it seems to handle the .wav files fine but i can't get it to work in realtime recording midi or audio and playback without dropouts and snap crackle pop. i have gone through countless forums and tried two different interfaces (one firewire and one usb) and did all the PC optimization things to get it to work. i just don't see anyway that i could have known that there was some chipset that would not be able to do recording. my computer has worked fine doing everything else it was designed to do. it just will not do the recording. this does make me rethink some of my arguing with mac people... i am guessing there is more consistency with internal components. but whatever.. i spent 600 dollars on sonar producer edition so i guess i am going to try and stick with pc since it would be less to buy another computer instead of a new computer and new software with mac! i would like to hear any suggestions anyone has on an affordable desktop $500 or so that can do what i want... I have been looking at possibly getting a dell vostro 220 mini http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/desktop-vostro-220mt?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
if anyone is aware that this one won't work for some reason please let me know.. i will be doing some searches on the internet before purchasing anyway but could use any helpful suggestions. this has been a really frustrating experience and i am looking forward to smoother sailing on the technical front so i can't get back to being creative!
thanks in advance
c scott

Hi-just curious as to whether or not a laptop has the ability to install a sound card - most sound that comes on computers will kill a good recording right off the bat. I got a great deal on my last computer by watching the display clearances at a major computer retailer, and I got a Compaq (now HP) Presario a year ago and paid only $195! The clearance price was $350, got to the register, there was $100 off that brand on an add, then there was a $50 rebate, then the manager, who was the one checking me out, noticed a scratch on the tower and took off another 10%! It was one of the best days ever! Cindi

the problem is that it has immediate pops , cracks, distortion and stops playing certain tracks and then literally starts to sound like disintegration and usually stops. this is when playing backing midi using soft synths or recording midi or recording audio.. it does appear to record the midi tracks ok but sounds horrible and won't play consistently for more than a few seconds, but like i was saying when i first got the software i imported all .wav files into sonar and never had any serious problems playing back with lots of effects and what not.
i did download those drivers but not sure if i tried that. i thought i was supposed to use wdm?
the two devices i have tried are a presonus firestudio and usb line6 unit a friend had.. both worked on his laptop and desktop. he was running cubase however.
i actually loaded cubase le that came with the firestudio and could not get it to work properly either
as far as the settings in sonar i have looked all over. i have changed many settings (buffers, latency and what not) to try and get a different result.
i'm still not sure what to do.... i don't want to buy another computer. i feel trapped though.
and i don't really trust that the next computer will be right because i am not the most knowledgeable with computers.. some people have said the problem with my computer and other dells has something to do with BIOS and IRQ settings and devices sharing IRQ channels or something and dell making it hard for you to find them or change them.. i mean how would anyone know if that is going to be a problem until you get the computer
still feeling stuck.. i do appreciate you trying to help

screw dell.go get a barebones puter with mb,processor,memory at tiger direct,or new egg for350 or 400.
dell would sell the same puter for double!

Yeh, and XXXX Ford and GM too.

I bought a barebones car chassis and sourced a way cool engine block from a friend who like builds Indy cars. I didn't get none of that lousy Ford audio stuff man I went straight for Marshall 1960 power amps and Recaro mounted horn drivers.

You can go to Carpetland and youse you're charm to get some offcuts to fit the footwells, I even used real vinyl stone tiles for the headliner. (their gr8 cos they have like glue on backinmg) I payed 70 cents for each tile and only need 10 off them.

And I got a good frend who userly like paints subways and stuiff to bring over his paint sprays and I got the whole car painted for like 10 bucks for my freinds bus fare.

Ford wd of sold it for maybe double or ten X what i had to pay, but u wouldn't get the same looks as i get down the mall.

sorry about the runon paragragh

dell inspiron e1505
i have windows vista 32 bit
intel core 2 cpu t5500 @ 1.66 ghz 1.67 ghz
2 gig ram


i thought the specs would be adequate for recording

these problems are happening when i record one audio track with no effects on and when recording and playing back one midi track with softsynth ( i have tried many different ones trying to see if that made any difference and it did not )

i have had all the same results with
the onboard sigmatel audio
the presonus firestudio
the line 6 usb interface ( i thought usb might fix the problem but it did not )

i just can't figure out why it will play .wav files fine but won't record or playback any midi or audio without pops or clicks and distortion.

ORIGINAL: edentowers

screw dell.go get a barebones puter with mb,processor,memory at tiger direct,or new egg for350 or 400.
dell would sell the same puter for double!

Yeh, and XXXX Ford and GM too.

I bought a barebones car chassis and sourced a way cool engine block from a friend who like builds Indy cars. I didn't get none of that lousy Ford audio stuff man I went straight for Marshall 1960 power amps and Recaro mounted horn drivers.

You can go to Carpetland and youse you're charm to get some offcuts to fit the footwells, I even used real vinyl stone tiles for the headliner. (their gr8 cos they have like glue on backinmg) I payed 70 cents for each tile and only need 10 off them.

And I got a good frend who userly like paints subways and stuiff to bring over his paint sprays and I got the whole car painted for like 10 bucks for my freinds bus fare.

Ford wd of sold it for maybe double or ten X what i had to pay, but u wouldn't get the same looks as i get down the mall.

LOL! that post put a smile on my face!

When I was 17 I bought an '68 Pontiac with a 500bhp+ circle track small block chevy in it as a daily driver (even in the snow). The former owner was able to do low 11's with it (1/4mi). Couple of people gave me a hard time about the SBC in a Pontiac, but would never put their money where there mouth is. Not the shinisest of paint jobs, loud kickin tunes, and dang! I think I even had some carpet remant floormats!

I sometimes really miss that ride It was alot of fun, but what really scared me is when the thrill wore off and I wanted to make it faster!