M-audio Audiophile 192 Problems On Tiger, It doesn't work well under 10.4.2 Options

[iBug]

I have a dual 2.7 G5, bought this Audiophile 192 just yesterday, installed the newest drivers for 10.4.2 but it doesn't work properly. In iTunes for example or Quicktime Player, or DVD player, if the sampling rate is set to 192 or anything higher than 44100, there are pops and clicks all the time, it goes away sometimes but I have no idea when they go away. Sometimes I stop the song and resume it and they are gone. Sometimes, even if I switch back to 44100, they don't go away. I close the running programs, log out, log in, set the rate to 44100 and open all the programs again to get rid of it. But sometimes it just works. What is wrong with this card? Is my unit defected or is it about the drivers again?

[Fdumptch]

This is not a complete fix for the problems I've been having with the Audiophile 192, which are:

1. Drivers not loading unless "Automatically log in as" is deselected
2. Losing sync and either having to log out, reboot or use a utility like "SoundSource" to switch between cards.

BUT... it does seem to have improved things somewhat.

What I have done (this time) is to "sym-link" all of the M-Audio extension files from within the StartupItems (4 items with .kext extension) to the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder.

NOW the drivers load and the card is found without having to disable "Auto log in" and although the card STILL loses sync especially when scrubbing through audio files in QuickTime or iTunes etc. the skipping, stuttering and distortion can be solved by just quickly clicking on a new position on the timeline (in QuickTime player or iTunes for example) to bring the playhead to another section of the file which then starts playing properly again. No need to log out or restart to get it working again.

Here's how:
1. Using the terminal Application - found in Applications/Utilities - type sudo -s <return>
You will be asked or an admin password, so type that in.
2. Next, you will want to create the "Sym-Links" from the directory: /Library/StartupItems/ M-Audio PCI Audio Helper/
I found the easiest way was to use drag and drop from the Finder into the terminal application - so:

Open up the following folders and position their windows side by side. /System/Library/Extensions/ and /Library/StartupItems/ M-Audio PCI Audio Helper/

There's probably a quicker way to do these all at once - but I just did them one at a time.
In the /Library/StartupItems/ M-Audio PCI Audio Helper/ folder - you will see 4 .kext files (ignore anything that doesn't have the extension ".kext" - so the files you want are:
MAudioDeltaFamily.kext
MAudioDeltaFamilyJaguar.kext
MAudioDeltaHT.kext
MAudioDeltaHTJaguar.kext

Back in the terminal Type: ln -s <and then a space> now drag the first .kext file to the terminal and it's full path will be auto completed for you < type another space> then just highlight the last bit of that directory path and copy it into the paste buffer <Apple> <C>. So in this case that would be "MAudioDeltaFamily.kext"

Now - back in the finder - click on the title bar of the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder (directly on the little picture of the folder with "Extensions" next to it) and just drag that little icon into the terminal window after the space you just typed. That creates the first part of the full path to the sym-link we are about to create.

Now paste in the name of the file you copied into the paste buffer and you have the full command to make a sym-link. NOTE - if you have a space at the end of the path - just press the delete key once to clear it. Now press return and a sym-link is created for you.

Repeat these steps for the remaining 3 .kext files and you're done.
This is probably not essential - but before rebooting run "Repair Permissions on your drive.
Also - don't forget to go back to the Accounts Preference Pane and set your Mac to Auto log in before rebooting.
One other thing I should mention is that I also put my card in SLOT 4 (the top one) I don't know if this makes a difference or not (?)

I've been running this way for a few weeks now and haven't noticed any bad side effects.
Hope this helps