Fitting a Sound Card

[lylemusic]

Hi - I want to fit a RME soundcard to one of the two spare PCIe slots. I already have an HP-fitted graphics card (GTX 980) which takes up the bottom two of the four spare slots. There are two metal blanks covering the other slots, one of which I need to remove to be able to fit the sound card. The one I want to remove is the top one and has two small slots in it and an engraving of what looks like a screw driver on it. (I have chosen this one as it is furthest away from the graphics card which I guess will need some space around it for the cooling fan to work properly).

OK, so I have taken off the plate to the left of the slots and the metal blank covering the slot closest to the graphics card came out easily. But I cannot figure out how to remove the metal blank with the screw driver engraving on it. Help!

[MechPilot]

Hello @lylemusic,

Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.

I understand that you are looking to remove a PCI card bracket from your desktop computer. I would be happy to help you, but first I would encourage you to post your product number for your computer. Below is a is an HP Support document that will demonstrate how to find your computer's product number. This will help me to determine how to undo the brackets specific to your computer. 

How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?

Please re-post with the necessary information, this way I will be able to research this further for you. I look forward to your reply!

Cheers!

[lylemusic]

Hi MechPilot - very many thanks for responding.

HP Envy Phoenix 810 PC Series

Serial No: [Moderator Edited Serial Number]

Product No: K4S60EA#ABU

Model No: 810-375na

Hope the picture is OK. You will see there are four horizontal slots. The upper two are covered with metal blanks. The blank I want to remove is the top one with the two small rectangular holes in it. You can see it has some small nodules along the top and bottom edge which look almost like little welds. I am guessing that I would need to insert a screw driver in the holes and lever it out. But when I tried to do this (very carefully!), it began to bend the surrounding frame. Because of heat and fan clearance issues with the graphics card, I am sure it would be best to insert the sound card in the upper PCIe to keep it away from the big graphics card in the lower two slots. But to avoid damaging the frame, I suspect it looks like I will have to use the second slot. Any suggestions would be most gratefully received.

[lylemusic]

As a followup to my last, the RME card arrived in the post today so I fitted it to the second slot PCIe. Started Windows and the Add new hardward wizard didn't start. So in desperation, I managed to get the metal blank out of the first slot. And the Windows wizard still didn't start!

So either the very expensive RME card is broken (I think this is unlikely) or there is something wrong with the wizard or PCIe slots - or something! Not really sure where to start looking for the solution.

[MechPilot]

Hi again lylemusic,

It is good to hear back from you!

In regards removing the metal clips from the back of your computer, please follow the instructions below:

1.) Remove the screws connecting the left side cover (when you are facing the back of the tower)

2.) Remove the screw securing the clip-cover in place and remove the individual clips as needed

When you are referring to the "Add New Hardware" wizard, is that part of the software that came with your sound card, or are you using generic Windows drivers? Are you able to see the Sound Card listed as an operating device in the Device Manager of your computer? 

Please re-post with the results of your troubleshooting, as well as the requested information above. I look forward to your reply!

Regards 🙂

[lylemusic]

Hi Mech Pilot - very many thanks for your response.

Taking the issues in turn:

Unfortunately removing the clip cover and screws does not release the upper cover as it is spot welded to the frame (a bit odd but it is!). You have to lever it off to break the little welds (you can just see the little welds in my photo above). Anyway, I have done this and this part of the problem is solved.

Taking the second issue of the card not being recognised by the Windows operating system, the sound card installation instructions state that Windows itself should start a Windows Wizard when you start up the computer after fitting the card. So it is a Windows Add new hardware wizard, not one that comes with the card. Being a long-term Windows XP user, this is exactly what usually happens in XP and I have successfully installed many sound cards this way in the past.

The RME sound card does not appear in the Device Manager. I have been through the "add device" process in Windows Control Panel and also been through the Troubleshooting process. Neither of these processes were able to find the RME sound card.

Having tried both PCIe ports, either both the PCIe ports are faulty (I would think this very unlikely) or the sound card is faulty. I suspect the sound card.

Having trawled the web for ideas, I have found several threads on other forums explaining installation problems with this card identical to my own. But unfortunately with no solutions!

I have now raised this problem on the RME Forum so hopefully I will receive some advice there.

[MechPilot]

Hi again lylemusic,

Thank you for the quick reply!

To ensure that the PCIe buses are not malfunctioning on your system board, I recommend installing an attentive device on hand to test the connection. An example of this could be an old network adapter.

If your computer recognizes the PCIe device, I suggest contacting RME Technical Support to further diagnose the sound card for any potential hardware defects. 

Please re-post with the results of your troubleshooting, and I look forward to your reply!

Regards 🙂

[lylemusic]

Been through all the possibilities with RME Technical support and the end result is the sound card should be OK and should work!

Had two sessions with HP online chat support and the final prognosis was that the RME sound card was incompatible with the HP Envy Phoenix motherboard. I must admit I do find that surprising and to be honest I am not convinced.

HP online chat support said they would ask their Sales section to phone me and talk to me about compatible sound cards.  In preparation for that, can anyone tell me of sound cards they have successfully installed on the HP Envy Phoenix 810 (Kaili 2 Motherboard)? I do need a card suitable for music composition and DAWs (very low latency, ASIO etc). If the RME HDSPe AIO really is incompatible, I am thinking of perhaps Lynx:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=16