ROG, Realtek and Windows 11, oh my!

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If you’ve used a home-built PC with Realtek HD audio built-in on Windows in the last decade, you’ve likely experienced frustration or even an inability to get sound working on your machine. Windows 11 is no different and is arguably broken out of the box on some systems. My particular experience was based on a machine upgraded from Win10, but even fully removing the drivers, deleting the device and rebooting produced the same outcome, so take that as you will.

I didn’t expect audio to work after the upgrade given Microsoft’s history with Realtek drivers in the past, (and I wasn’t wrong) but I also didn’t expect it to be as difficult to get working. Firstly with Windows 11, Microsoft introduced a feature called “vulnerable driver protection” which attempts to save users from themselves. Sadly it works poorly and in this case even breaks the Realtek drivers sourced directly from Microsoft’s own servers.

My goal with this was simple, 1) get the realtek drivers working at a basic level, 2) try to get full functionality of my built-in audio ports equal to what I had in Windows 10. I had a strong suspicion that one of the drivers the above feature was blocking, AsIO.sys was part of the issue. That driver is responsible for processing audio streams and is provided by the Realtek/Asus ROG driver package. The steps I took to get audio working were as follows:

  1. Disable vulnerable driver protection
  2. Delete audio devices from Device Manager
  3. Remove the installed drivers
  4. Install the Asus ROG audio driver package downloaded from their site

This got sound working, but only basic stereo sound from the rear outputs. The driver package also installs something called the “Realtek Audio Console.” This program allows you to enable some of the other features like front panel i/o. In my case I had to disable automatic detection and manually set the headphone out and mic in ports under “Device Advanced Settings.” This also exposed the full list of inputs and outputs in case I ever need to use them in the future.

Once working, this still took some tweaking to get the settings similar to what I had in Windows 10. One thing that’s worse is the available volume range for the headphones. The amplification is set extremely low requiring a much higher volume setting than in the prior version of Windows, but at least it works.

Reviving the 3000gt

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A month or 2 ago, the 3000gt started making a weird noise. At first we couldn’t figure out what it was, but then I opened the timing belt cover and found there was no tension. Amazingly, the engine didn’t grenade, only jumping a tooth or 2. (lucky) Life got a little busy for a while, but when I got back to it, the problem wasn’t all that hard to fix. That’s not to say I didn’t run into any issues though. I learned a few things along the way as well, so I thought I’d document them here for anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

First, get yourself a copy of the service manual. The illustrations and step-by-step instructions will be helpful. Second, get a pair of cam sprocket locking tools for the 6g72 engine found in the 3000gt/Stealth/GTO. You’ll need these to immobilize the cams while working on the rest of the system. Third, make sure you have a supply of binder clips on hand. These are specifically called out in the manual and are definitely necessary. (3/4in or larger will do) If your car hasn’t had this service before, go ahead and buy a complete kit with the belt, pulleys, and a replacement water pump, seals & gaskets. The space is pretty tight to work in and you’ll likely not want to do this more than once. (the water pump is a common failure and seals and gaskets will all need replacing)

If you’re doing this at home, you’re going to need a number of tools to be successful:

  1. engine hoist/crane (needed to support the engine and allow removal of the driver’s side engine mount)
  2. load leveler (needed to lift the engine evenly)
  3. heavy duty impact driver (needed to remove the crank bolt from the pulley)
  4. mitsubishi/hyundai cam belt tensioner socket (needed to set the pre-load on the tensioner. you may also be able to get away with using a set of long right-angle snap ring pliers, but this will be more difficult. **mitsubishi/hyundai tensioner pulleys require a tool with 14mm pin spacing. VW/Audi tools look the same, but have 18mm spacing, so confirm it’s the right tool before you buy)

The service manual does make some assumptions and isn’t 100% comprehensive, so there’s a few things you can do to be prepared for that. First, rotate the engine until the timing marks on the cams are aligned. This should put piston 1 in the TDC or Top Dead Center position. Tip: If your belt was loose like mine was and 1 or more of the sprockets has jumped a few teeth on the belt, try to get as many of the other marks on the sprockets aligned with the marks on the head and block as possible. Then secure the belt to the sprockets that are aligned. (with binder clips) Use a box-end wrench to rotate the sprocket that’s out of position with one hand while you make slack on the belt with the other. When you have it in position, secure the belt to the now properly positioned sprocket with a binder clip. Putting the engine at TDC first will make everything easier when you replace the belt and pulleys.

6g72 cylinder layout

The cylinders in the 6g72 v6 engine are laid out with odd cylinders on the left and even on the right when facing the engine from driver’s side. (image is for a different orientation than the transverse mount in the 3000gt)

Second, before setting the pre-load on the new tensioner pulley, release the crank sprocket by adding slack to the timing belt around it and rotate the crank sprocket 2 teeth left of the timing mark. Pull the belt tight to the bottom of the crank sprocket leaving the slack above the sprocket. When you tension the belt, the pulley will pull enough slack out of the belt that it will rotate the crank sprocket clockwise. Doing this step in advance makes sure that when the slack is taken up, the crank sprocket will be in perfect alignment with the timing mark on the block. (if this works out differently for you, count how many teeth it’s off and adjust as necessary after loosening the tensioner and try again) Tip: don’t release the pin from the auto-tensioner until the tensioner pulley pre-load has been set and you’ve confirmed that all timing marks are aligned.

This job is definitely doable in a few hours if you’re well prepared. I’d also recommend having a helper if possible, but it’s not 100% necessary. The main difficulty is how tight the working space is and how crowded with parts it is. I had to redo the job twice as I learned a few things, so hopefully this helps someone else avoid all of that.

Archiving old floppy disks with the Greaseweasel

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My Christmas wish list was very short this year, and a bit nerdy. (well ok… really nerdy) One of the things I had on my list was an oddly named open source bit of hardware called a Greaseweazel. This tiny little circuit board is a powerful tool that makes it possible

Greaseweazel circuit board
Greaseweazel v4.1

…to archive just about any type of floppy disk on a PC. You can build it yourself as a DiY kit, or order one pre-assembled. (I’d recommend ordering it pre-built unless you have a hot air rework station and are good with SMD soldering) When complete, the board connects to your computer via USB-C and to a floppy drive via a standard PC floppy ribbon cable. (you’ll also need a standalone power brick with a molex output, or a spare PC power supply for the floppy drive itself)

What makes the Greaseweazel so powerful is that it doesn’t really care about the format of the disk as it just reads the raw magnetic flux transitions straight from the read heads on the drive. (basically the raw analog signals recorded on the magnetic media itself) This can make it possible to extract data from disks that would otherwise be completely unusable. It also gives you the potential to make copies of damaged disks and potentially repair them at a later time digitally.

In addition to the native Greaseweazle software, there are several other open source toolkits that support the hardware and make working with certain types of disks easier. I’ve mostly been using FluxEngine and a windows tool called FluxMyFluffyFloppy which gives the native software a graphical interface. Another useful tool is HxC Floppy Emulator. (if you’ve ever seen tech youtubers working with graphical representations of floppy images, you’ve probably seen this)

My initial setup with a 1.2M high density 5.25in drive

One of the first priorities I had for the Greaseweazle was backing up some of the quickly deteriorating Apple II disks in my collection. Many of them were too far gone to bring back, but I’m hopeful that some of the flux images I made can be reconstructed. I also 3D printed a case for the device to give it a little

…protection and make it easier to handle. I also tried working with some 3.5in Apple Macintosh floppies, in both 800k and 1.44M varieties, but found this to be trickier than the older Apple II format. Unfortunately I also discovered some of these disks were also starting to deteriorate. Now that I’ve restored the Macintosh IIfx, I may just use it to make some disk images.

Visual Floppy Render
using HxC to visualize the data captured in a flux image