The trials and tribulations of my Firewire 410

[WAcky]

Well im having a bunch of problems with my Firewire 410.

I had it working well and all but now im having an incredibly frustrating time with it.

I had it all working perfectly until i uninstalled Protools M-Powered Demo. I believe i checked a box that automatically uninstalled my Firewire Drivers. Either it was that or its the same problem as described in this thread. (http://www.audioforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13184)

I then re-installed the Drivers to no avail. (following the instructions to the tee) I tried and tried again to install the drivers but for some reason they never fully install. I install the drivers from the CD, reboot, follow the "new hardware instructions" then reboot again. The thing is the control panel never shows up. I see it before the initial re-boot, but after i reboot it never loads up.

I finally got the drivers to re-install then after about 3 hours the 410 disappeared again and ive now spent the last 2 days trying to re-install the drivers again and again.

Ive tried installing both the old drivers and the new as well as both at the same time but that doesnt seem to work.


System Info:
AMD Athalon(tm) 64 Processor
3500+
2.21GHz, 1.00GB of RAM
Windows XP SP2

IRQ INFO
0 System Timer
4 Communications Port (COM1)
6 Standard floppy disk controller
8 System CMOS/real time clock
9 Microsoft ACP1-Compliant System
9 SCSI/RAID Host Controller
13 Numeric data processor
14 Primary IDE Channel
15 Secondary IDE Channel
16 Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
17 Marvel Yukon 88E88001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
18 NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT
19 Silicon Image SiI 3114 SoftRaid 5 Controller
20 NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator
21 Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
22 Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
22 Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
23 Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller

[WAcky]

Well another piece of the puzzle has revealed itself.

I shut down the pc last night and powered down the 410. all ok. Then i arise this morning to find that a family member has used the pc without turning on the 410. And thats the end of it. i turn on the 410. Nothing. I shut down the pc. Nothing. I shutdown the pc, I unplug the 410, restart, shut down, plug in, restart. Nothing.

What the hell is going on? After my last post i had re-installed the drivers around 5 times until the newest drivers worked and have been working great since...well since i was using the 410 the way it was supposed to be used. Turned off and on.

Its alot of money for a piece of hardware i get to use an hour a day.


Please help!

[David Muniz]

Wow,
How frustrating. Sorry about all the problems.

Well, it looks like your IRQ settings are cool. I would try a "thorough" uninstall of the FW 410.

Run the installer/uninstaller and run the Uninstall routine.

Then, check out and follow the steps in this link.

http://www.m-audio.com/images/en/faq/DevMan_remove.html

Then check out this link to be sure the install goes smoothly. If it worked before, this should be all you need to get it going.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks
D

[itsplayed]

Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

Is this an add-in card or built-in to the MoBo controller? Either way uninstall all things related to the firewire card. Then uninstall the 1394 controller. Reboot and re-install the drivers for the controller card. If card installs automatically go into device manager and update drivers there, then install the firewire card as per manual. I hope this helps you.

[WAcky]

Is this an add-in card or built-in to the MoBo controller? Either way uninstall all things related to the firewire card. Then uninstall the 1394 controller. Reboot and re-install the drivers for the controller card. If card installs automatically go into device manager and update drivers there, then install the firewire card as per manual. I hope this helps you.

An interesting update:
I went to the device manager and uninstalled the TI Firewire controller and it reinstalled and instantly made the FW bootloader show up as well, which is interesting...Ill try a couple more installs and see if anything happens...

Cheers mate!


Wow,
How frustrating. Sorry about all the problems.

Well, it looks like your IRQ settings are cool. I would try a "thorough" uninstall of the FW 410.

Run the installer/uninstaller and run the Uninstall routine.

Then, check out and follow the steps in this link.

http://www.m-audio.com/images/en/faq/DevMan_remove.html

Then check out this link to be sure the install goes smoothly. If it worked before, this should be all you need to get it going.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks
D


Thanks for the reply David. I had a look at the link but unfortunatly 50% of the installs i do, there is no hardware added.

Heres a bit of a break down of how the install process goes:

60% of the time:
I run the installer, i reboot, and nothing has happened. No drivers have been installed and the control panel is nowhere to be seen. I go to the device manager and the card is nowhere to be found.

30% of the time:
I run the installer, i reboot and the control panel shows up but gives me the "cant detect the card" dialog box

10% of thie time:
all goes well and the card installs properly...but doesnt last long.

If i get it to properly install, ill get as much info on the hardward situation as i can before i lose it again.

P.S - did you mean to post 2 links or just one?

[itsplayed]

You may also want to disable the 1394 Network connection. Start > Settings > Control Panel > Network Connections and right click on 1394 Connection. Select Properties > Configure > in 'device usage' found at the bottom of menu, pull down menu and select 'Do not use this device(disable)'. This may have a lot to do with the configuration issue of your card upon bootup.

[WAcky]

I havnt got a 1394 network connection so thats ok.

So now that i got it installed again, it disappeared about 5 minutes later. great.

Im trying to install it again and im turning up with nothing. Now the im not getting the "new hardware detected" dialogue box anymore. I dont have "windows washer" or anything like that.

Going back to the wierd install process. It seems that the drivers dont install properly, the hardware isnt picked up, the control panel doesnt show up BUT in the control panel i get the "M Audio" option which turns up a dead end.

I cant conclude whether this is a 410 problem, a driver problem or a firewire card problem...

Its odd that i keep losing connection but its even more odd that i can get about 1 in 20 installations actually working properly...

a quick enquiry referring to this picture:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4158/untitled2jt2.th.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=untitled2jt2.jpg)

Do you think the multimedia controller that isnt installed properly? If so, is there a way i can find what it is exactly?
Should i disable the 1394 Net adaptor? Is that the firewire card Or the network side of it?

[WAcky]

The next step for me i think is to go test my 410 on another pc. Ill be back with the results later :)

[itsplayed]

First thing I'd do is uninstall(add remove programs) all things related to the on-board(realtec) soundcard and disable your on-board sound device in the BIOS. Disable the 1394 Network device like I suggested in the prior post. Then try reinstalling your card.

Your also showing a video device that has not been installed....I'd install this first.
The multimedia controller is the realtec card.

Is this machine connected to the internet via the Gigabit LAN(ethernet)?

[WAcky]

Welllllllllllllllllllllll.

I tried all of that and i seem to have struck gold! but for how long??

So i disabled my internet which may or may not have helped (i am yet to find out) but as i was disabling my onboard sound i saw that there was something under it called 'PCI IEEE 1394a' and i thought huh...thats wierd coz i could have sworn i didnt have an onboard firewire port (being the reason i bought a firewire card) so i thought nothing of it and continued on...no success. I then restarted and disabled the mystery 'PCI IEEE 1394a' device for interests sake. Reboot to discover there is no power going to the FW410 at all. No blue light or anything, yet there is still a 1394 device in the device manager...hrmmm.

So i take the side off my computer to see if the FW card isnt plugged into the Mobo properly to discover hidden among about 10 cables coming out of my pc is an onboard firewire port!! haha where did that come from. So i pull out my firewire card completely and restart. Bang card installs perfectly.

So now i guess i see if and when the FW410 loses connection. Hopefully never :P


The only thing i can come up with is either the two fw ports were confused and perhaps power switching or crossing connection or something?? Because there were never 2 fw devices in the device manager. My other theory is that perhaps the drivers for the onboard fw port are doggy? who knows.

I guess we'll find out.

If all goes well i owe it to you 'itsplayed.' Thank you so much for your support so far and i hope it lasts. If you hadnt told me to do the nitty gritty and if i wasnt such a stinge that didnt want to shell out for a new fw card i would never have solved the problem.

So thanks again dude! You rule! :p

[itsplayed]

Your very much welcome WAcky, I'm glad to hear that I was able to help you out. There's nothing more frustrating than working on a system issue when all you want to do is make some music......cheers!