Any hope for XP drivers when the maker offers no support?
I have a tiny Casio FIVA MPC-103 subnote which came with Windows ME installed, but I have been running 98SE for the past couple years... Until this past weekend when I decided to finally try XP (I never felt ME was worth the effort to learn a "new" OS, but seems now we must all eventually upgrade to XP since increasingly new software is not supported by 98SE or ME.)
I don't know all the details, but it seems that my little computer uses a low power consumption Cyrix (or National Semiconductor) "Geode" 300Mhz Pentium MMX compatible CPU with integrated graphics and audio. (The factory drivers came with names like XpressGRAPHICS and XpressAUDIO.) I think the "Cyrix" brand is now owned by VIA but no one seems to offer any support for the older products. I have done what I think is a pretty thorough search for an XP compatible audio driver, but so far nothing has worked. (I have found some NT and Windows2000 drivers which some people say should or *could* work on XP, but so far no success.) I have even tried searching for drivers for other machines like the NEC 120LT subnote and some "card PC" makers which seem to use the same chip or chipset (I don't understand the details, but it seems that this Cyrix chip has completely integrated audio and graphics all on a single chip?), but so far no one seems to offer support for XP. It seems the chip is just too old. Casio seems to have no intention of supporting this early FIVA product (It didn't sell that well in the first place... I think it was only available in Japan and Europe.)
So, if you have kindly taken the time to read this far, here is my question: Short of paying someone to custom write a driver for me, is there really no way to get sound out of this computer?
I really like the machine despite its age and relatively slow performance. Actually, I own several of them (if you include the similar model MPC-102) and hope to continue using them over the next few years by upgrading to XP.
All in all the XP installation went well, I think... I have upgraded the hard drive to 30G, so I have plenty of drive space for XP. And, I have been pleasantly surprised by an "unexplained" yet apparent increase in CPU performance and memory efficiency over 98SE, so I now I really wish to switch to XP. But, I cannot get any sound. In the end, I may just give up on sound, but I am still hoping there might be some kind of solution I haven't thought of... Any ideas?
Thanks for listening.
download this and run it... you never know!
Thanks for your help NooNoo!
This is what the EVEREST software you suggested had to say about my hardware. I had to shorten it to under 10000 characters. (Hope I didn't cut anything *too* important. If you think it may help, I can find a way to link you to the entire 120000 character report or send it to you by email.)
--------[ Summary ]
Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106 (IE 6.0 SP1)
DirectX 4.08.01.0810 (DirectX 8.1)
Computer Name CASIO-XPE
User Name ISO6
Motherboard:
CPU Type NS Geode GX1/GXLV/GXm, 300 MHz
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Unknown
System Memory 93 MB
BIOS Type Award Modular (11/27/00)
--------[ CPU ]
CPU Properties:
CPU Type NS Geode GX1/GXLV/GXm, 300 MHz
Instruction Set x86, MMX
L2 Cache 0
CPU Utilization:
CPU #1 21 %
Problems & Suggestions:
Problem No CPU L2 cache found. This may cause performance penalty.
--------[ CPUID ]
CPUID Properties:
CPUID Manufacturer Geode by NSC
CPUID CPU Name Geode(TM) Integrated Processor by National Semi
CPUID Revision 0540h
Extended CPUID Revision 0540h
Platform ID 00h (Unknown)
IA CPU Serial Number Unknown
--------[ Motherboard ]
Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 11/27/00-GXm-Cx5520-2A433C35C-00
Motherboard Name Unknown
--------[ BIOS ]
BIOS Properties:
BIOS Type Award Modular
Award BIOS Type Award Modular BIOS v4.51PGM
Award BIOS Message FIVA 103 BIOS Ver.2.0.9JK
System BIOS Date 11/27/00
Video BIOS Date 07/25/00
BIOS Manufacturer:
Company Name Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
--------[ Windows Devices ]
Non-Plug and Play Drivers:
AFD Networking Support Environment
Beep
dmboot
dmload
Fips
Generic Packet Classifier
IPSEC driver
IrDA Protocol
ksecdd
mnmdd
mountmgr
NDIS System Driver
NDIS Usermode I/O Protocol
NDProxy
NetBios over Tcpip
Null
PartMgr
ParVdm
PQNTDrv
RDPCDD
Remote Access Auto Connection Driver
Remote Access IP ARP Driver
Remote Access NDIS TAPI Driver
TCP/IP Protocol Driver
TSKNF501.SYS
TVICHW32
VgaSave
VolSnap
NT Apm/Legacy Support:
NT Apm/Legacy Interface Node 5.1.2600.0
Sound, video and game controllers:
Audio Codecs 5.1.2535.0
Legacy Audio Drivers 5.1.2535.0
Legacy Video Capture Devices 5.1.2535.0
Media Control Devices 5.1.2535.0
Video Codecs 5.1.2535.0
System devices:
Cyrix Cx5520 Rev 1 PCI to ISA bridge 5.1.2600.0
Direct memory access controller 5.1.2600.0
ISAPNP Read Data Port 5.1.2600.0
Logical Disk Manager 5.1.2600.0
Microcode Update Device 5.1.2600.0
Microsoft Composite Battery 5.1.2535.0
Motherboard resources 5.1.2600.0
Motherboard resources 5.1.2600.0
Motherboard resources 5.1.2600.0
Numeric data processor 5.1.2600.0
PCI bus 5.1.2600.0
PCI standard host CPU bridge 5.1.2600.0
Plug and Play Software Device Enumerator 5.1.2600.0
Printer Port Logical Interface 5.1.2600.0
Programmable interrupt controller 5.1.2600.0
System board 5.1.2600.0
System CMOS/real time clock 5.1.2600.0
System speaker 5.1.2600.0
System timer 5.1.2600.0
Terminal Server Device Redirector 5.1.2600.0
Terminal Server Keyboard Driver 5.1.2600.0
Terminal Server Mouse Driver 5.1.2600.0
Volume Manager 5.1.2600.0
Universal Serial Bus controllers:
Compaq PCI to USB Open Host Controller 5.1.2600.0
General Purpose USB Hub 5.1.2600.0
Generic USB Hub 5.1.2600.0
USB Composite Device 5.1.2600.0
USB Root Hub 5.1.2600.0
Unknown:
Audio device
How much ram have you got in that notebook?
Thanks again NooNoo for your attempt to help.
To answer your question first, this particular 103 only has the factory maximum of 96MB RAM (32 + 64) and the factory standard 10GB HDD. But, I have another one that has been modified to a 30GB HDD and the memory now shows 160MB RAM (32 + 128). The 128MB RAM requires a tiny jumper to be added, or else it will only be recognized as 64MB, but with the jumper, it appears to work. Anyway, I tried XP on both machines and it seems to run well enough on both. (In fact, as I mentioned in my first email, there seems to be a significant performance increase which I don't really understand.) I have since "Ghosted" my original 98SE OS back onto the other machine because it is currently my "main" computer and I prefer it to have sound. By the way, unless I am travelling, I use a port replicator/docking device with a large monitor and keyboard/mouse to avoid the eye strain and finger strain of trying to see and type on such a tiny computer.
Thanks also for the links. I had already seen the Casio factory page about XP. According to my translation software, Casio says that "The MPC-10X series does not support the WindowsXP operating system because its architecture does not correspond to the recommended architecture for WindowsXP (PC99). If you want to use WindowsXP please purchase our new model MPC-216XL"
But, as Xin Feng points out in your other link, XP seems to run just fine with the exception of no sound. He is using the oldest MPC-10X model, the 101, and I am using the newest and "best" model, the 103. His experience is that Windows2000 runs better on the 101 than XP, but even if this is also true for my model 103, I do not think I could live with only 640x480 in 16 colors which he says is the best that Windows2000 VGA driver can do. With the XP general VGA driver, I am currently getting 800x600 high color which is the maximum for the built-in notebook screen, and I can also switch to 1024x768 high color when using my external monitor. (With 98SE and the factory XpressGRAPHICS driver, I was able to get as much as 1280x1024 on my external monitor, but only at 16 colors, so I rarely used it anyway.)
So, I think I am going to keep trying to use XP, not Windows2000. But, I think I will search again for some Windows2000 sound drivers. Maybe one of them finally *will* work. And, if they don't, I will try to report back on what kind of errors I get. Thanks again for all your help.
