There's no reason you could't use both the onboard controller and a PCI card as well. In fact, it's a good way to keep devices that won't play well together separated.

I do this with my current motherboard because my ADVC100 always bounces other devices off the bus on every card I've ever had.

BTW, I think you should avoid connecting that ADVC100 to the computer with a 6pin/6pin cable. The ADVC100 can be damaged by bus power and, in my experience, can damage everything else on the firewire bus when it fries.

Rob Mack

My current computer is almost three years old, so I can't remember the details now, but I had to disable the Firewire that was part of my ATI Radeon 8500 DV video card because it conflicted with the Firewire that was built into my motherboard. Perhaps you have something similar going on.

ehh, maybe you should try this:
DSE said on his usefull books "Vegas 4.0 workshop" (still wait the 6.0 version DSE!!! :-) ) that you have to disable the 1394 connection in the network connections dialog.
This solve my conflict between my mother card firewire and Audigy2 one...

Version 6 book FINALLY went to printers. This has been the toughest one to get out yet, due to constant changes in the app...Gotta be up to date! But glad you found an answer in there, I overlooked the answer you gave here. Thanks!

Beware of Creative marketspeak (double meaning intended)!

Even Audigy2 doesn't have a true IEEE1394 Firewire interface.

If you read the fine print, they actually don't say they do either.

They offer "SB1394", ie. "SoundBlaster 1394". Why? They probably save a few cents by not having to pay patent royalties to Sony and the rest of the Firewire consortium.

If you read the rest of the fine print, you'll see that the maximum data rate of SB1394 isn't 400 or 800 Mbps but 100 Mbps.

That's all you'll find out in print, the rest is for you to test until you either get lucky or tear your hair out.

Get a real card, and stay away from hubs and daisy chaining unless you know positively that this configuration works for what you are trying to do.

I never had a problem with onboard firewire, but then I always bought the most conservative motherboards. Most of these kinds of problems are predictable, but many users are dazzled by saving $30 or running 1.03% faster! or having a dilithium crystal clock or whatever it may be.

Have to agree. I'm skeptical of both the ATI and Creative firewire implementations. I'd much rather get a separate1394 card.

In my experience 1394 has been a pretty rocky road so I just don't rely on it as much as I did. It seems like you can still get sloppy interactions between all the possible hardware, bridge boards, controller chips, etc. However, It's definitely possible to use the onboard chip alongside a PCI card so just try it out. And don't hesitate to try turning off the onboard chip if things still don't work. Everyone's mileage varies.

Rob Mack