iSub sub-woofer - what's the name of the driver(s) ?

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Level 2

164 points

iSub sub-woofer - what's the name of the driver(s) ?

The iSub I have doesn't work with my new iMac & OS 10.6.5. Apple doesn't include the drivers required to operate the device - not since OS 10.3.*.

My Flat Panel iMac running OS 10.4.11 still operated the device. If I knew what the driver name was, I'm going to try manually putting it in the Library. It's in the old iMac, but I just don't know what to look for.

3.06 GHz iMac i3, 4 GB Ram, 500GB HD, Mac OS X (10.6.5), 60GB iPod, hp all-in-one j6480, ext. HD: 750GB Seagate, 320GB Western Digital

Posted on Nov 21, 2010 9:14 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 21, 2010 9:30 AM in response to pgoodwin

Hello pgoodwin,

Did you follow the suggestion of the user in the other topic concerning the issue that you posted to?

Rainy day in Palm Springs, so, on a hunch, after downloading combo update of >10.6.5, I unpacked the Sticks & iSub. Shut down the iMac. Connected the speaker >system. Started iMac, went to Prefs> sound>and there they were!! Sticks!

It appears that you might need to shut down your Mac and then hook up your iSub and speakers and then boot up the computer. Does it then recognize your system in the system prefs under the Sound panel preferences?

littleshoulders 🙂

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Answer 2

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 21, 2010 1:12 PM in response to littleshoulders

yeah
- I completely shut down, then hooked it up, and re-started - no luck
- Per another discussion, I tried hooking up another sound device. I hooked a pair of USB headphones up, and they showed up in the System Sound Pref. But the iSub didn't.
- I know the iSub is operational as it was working on the older iMac Flat Panel running OS 10.4.11 just a few days ago. It's powered, and the glow lights inside it are on, and the System Profiler recognizes the hardware.
- The other guy's may have worked because he loaded the new OS onto a machine that already had the driver in it - maybe in a not-normally-used portion of the Stem folder or Library. Mine is a brand new iMac, so it's never had the driver in the hard drive.

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Answer 3

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 21, 2010 1:53 PM in response to littleshoulders

By the way, I noticed you're still using the old Indigo iMac. I has a 1998 original iMac. It's still working at my wife's Mom's house. I bought a Flat Panel 800 MHz iMac in early 2002, and just replaced it last week with the new one. They go for years

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Answer 4

Nov 21, 2010 5:39 PM in response to pgoodwin

Hi again,

By the way, I noticed you're still using the old Indigo iMac. I has a 1998 original iMac. It's still working at my wife's Mom's house. I bought a Flat Panel 800 MHz iMac in early 2002, and just replaced it last week with the new one. They go for years

This old iMac G3 350Mhz Indigo just keeps on a rolling along! 😉 The only thing I have ever done to it were to upgrade the amount of RAM and to replace the pram battery years ago. I think the more modern and much more powerful Macs tend to be so complicated that they have far more problems than these old machines. I'm always surprised every year that this machine keeps running like new!

Sorry, I don't know what else to suggest. I think you might be right about the other fellow having luck due to having installed on the machine with the driver. I think the problems lie more with the later Intel Macs as opposed to Power PC Mac's doesn't it?

I know there are a number of very smart folks that read these topics here but it may take a day or two so make sure to check back.

good luck,

LS 🙂

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Answer 5

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 22, 2010 5:08 AM in response to littleshoulders

thanks.

Yeah - it does seem that the Intel Macs are worse than the PPC Macs for the iSub thing.

I'll check every day for some more postings. The iSub was a great sounding little sub-woofer, and I'd like to get it back working.

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Answer 6

Nov 23, 2010 12:59 PM in response to pgoodwin

Not good news from what I could find
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/audio/isubproblems_intelmacs.html

User uploaded file

8:59 PM Tuesday; November 23, 2010

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Answer 7

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 23, 2010 6:46 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

thanks - it doesn't look very promising, that's for sure

I saw excerpts of the article you linked in the forum here in other threads. But I never saw the iMic workaround at the bottom of that page. I have an iMic (unfortunately I'm using it on another Mac here for something else). But I'm going to try plugging the iSub into the audio out of the iMic, with the iMic plugged in the USB port. This should give volume control of the iSub to set a level relative to the built in iMac speakers. If this works, I guess I'll have to find another iMic.

I haven't had a chance to evaluate the new iMac built-ins yet. I was using the Apple Pro Speakers on the old G4 Flat Panel iMac, along with the iSub, and it all sounded pretty good for a little as I had invested. Hopefully the combo of the iSub and the new iMac built-in speakers will approach what I had.

Again, thanks

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Answer 8

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 24, 2010 7:46 AM in response to pgoodwin

I don't see where the iMic work around is any different than me plugging in a USB headset to get the iSub working. I understand how it can get some non-USB speakers working. But as for the iSub, there's no reason for me to believe that having the iMic plugged in will make the OS any more likely to recognize the iSub that the USB headphone beings plugged in a USB port.

I'll try it, but I don't hold any real hope

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Answer 9

Nov 24, 2010 11:06 AM in response to pgoodwin

No Problem.

Little Shoulders posted the link to this thread in the Lounge.
I had some time and Googled a bit.

That article just seemed to be the most informative of those I looked at.

User uploaded file

7:06 PM Wednesday; November 24, 2010

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

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Answer 10

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Nov 24, 2010 12:43 PM in response to Ralph-Johns-UK

Thanks,

I tried the iMic. When I connected it, the sound panel recognized it, but no iSub showed. I re-started the machine, and no iSub again.

And yeah, I agree, the article was the most informative. I Googled a LOT, and there seems to be no solution out there. No drivers that I could find anywhere. Too bad the iSub doesn't have an analog input, you could use the iMic headphone output to drive it.

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Answer 11

Dec 3, 2010 11:59 PM in response to pgoodwin

Same as you.
I've clean installed OS 10.6.3 and combo update to 10.6.5 on my macbook pro 2,1, after that I've tried to log in the safe mode and restart. There is only Imic but no Isub in the sound pref.

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