[DeeAa[_4_]]

Well I'll be damned. I have a presonus Firebox firewire audio
interface.

I first installed it for my laptop, Vista Business. Cubase. Everything
works like a charm.

BUT on my Xp machine...it won't install. Or actually in installs, the
control panel of the card says it's there, but it won't show in
Windows or cubase as an available device, no Asio, nothing. And the
sync light stays red.

Would anybody happen to know of a trick to make it work in Xp as well?
I've tried 3 different driver generations, firmware upgrade...most
everything. Firewire works, the device is seen by install and
everything...but Cubase and all say no asio, windows shows no
available audio cards etc...

Anybody?

Cheers,

Dee

[Mike Rivers]

DeeAa wrote:

on my Xp machine...it won't install. Or actually in installs, the
control panel of the card says it's there, but it won't show in
Windows or cubase as an available device, no Asio, nothing. And the
sync light stays red.

Have you asked Presonus? I know that some Presonus Firesomethings use
the DICE chip set and there are certain Firewire host interface chipsets
that it doesn't like. It could be an incompatibility there. Many if not
all TI and VIA chipsets are OK, some NEC chipsets are not.

Manufacturers are reluctant to publish "blacklists" of incompatible
components, but if you call them they'll usually be able to give you
some guidance. In your case, the problem isn't with XP, but with the
specific computer hardware. We had a discussion about this very subject
here recently. What it boils down to is that there are certain things
that aren't well defined in the interface standards and sometimes two
pieces just don't play nicely together. The solution is to get a
Firewire host interface card for your computer that works with the
Firebox. The hard part is finding one that does. There may be some
trial-and-failure involved.



--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[DeeAa[_4_]]

On 29 marras, 03:58, Mike Rivers wrote:
DeeAa wrote:

on my Xp machine...it won't install. Or actually in installs, the
control panel of the card says it's there, but it won't show in
Windows or cubase as an available device, no Asio, nothing. And the
sync light stays red.

Have you asked Presonus? I know that some Presonus Firesomethings use
the DICE chip set and there are certain Firewire host interface chipsets
that it doesn't like. It could be an incompatibility there. Many if not
all TI and VIA chipsets are OK, some NEC chipsets are not.

Manufacturers are reluctant to publish "blacklists" of incompatible
components, but if you call them they'll usually be able to give you
some guidance. In your case, the problem isn't with XP, but with the
specific computer hardware. *We had a discussion about this very subject
here recently. What it boils down to is that there are certain things
that aren't well defined in the interface standards and sometimes two
pieces just don't play nicely together. The solution is to get a
Firewire host interface card for your computer that works with the
Firebox. The hard part is finding one that does. There may be some
trial-and-failure involved.

Ah, that would make sense. Fact is, I've run accross the very same
problem before. My DV cam refused to work properly with the
motherboard Firewire so I bought a separate intreface card for it and
that worked like a charm. And now that I think about it, I was using
the mobo's card for the Presonus as well. I'll try the other one. Plus
My EMU card has a third firewire controller...Now only if I had a
cable long enough...

Thanks, I'll report how it goes!

Cheers,

Dee

[DeeAa[_4_]]

Mike, I definitely owe you a frosty one ;-) the interface was the
problem. I hooked the card to another, separate slot and...works like
a charm. I would never have thought of that although I'd run into the
same issue before.

Damn I love this NG - despite all the political stuff floating around
there's always someone like you around who really can help with most
any music/amp stuff it's unreal. Thanks again, you saved my weekend!

Cheers,

Dee

[Laurence Payne[_2_]]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:58:49 GMT, Mike Rivers
wrote:

What it boils down to is that there are certain things
that aren't well defined in the interface standards and sometimes two
pieces just don't play nicely together. The solution is to get a
Firewire host interface card for your computer that works with the
Firebox. The hard part is finding one that does. There may be some
trial-and-failure involved.

This may be simply that one Firewire card (even if it does have two
sockets) can't deal with runnig both an audio interface and the dv
camera (yes, I KNOW the specs say it should:-). Putting an additional
pci Firewire card into my Intel-motherboard DAW machine solved
problems with grabbing dv AND monitoring its audio through a Fireface
800.

[Mike Rivers]

DeeAa wrote:
Mike, I definitely owe you a frosty one ;-) the interface was the
problem. I hooked the card to another, separate slot and...works like
a charm. I would never have thought of that although I'd run into the
same issue before.

It's unfortunate that these "standards" aren't really standard enough.
Back when you cold look at the package that a Firewire host interface
card came in and read what chipset was used (way back a year or two ago
g) everyone said the Oxford 911 was THE chip to use for audio devices,
or maybe it was for disk drives. But now I never hear that one mentioned
any more. It's usually "the TI chip" and everyone disses the VIA
chipset, yet this is one (two different VIAs, actually) that TCAT has
tested with the DICE chip and decided that they were satisfactory. But
there are many other reasons why Firewire audio devices don't work in
specific systems.

That's what I had in the computer I was using with this A&H mixer that
kept dropping its Firewire connection, so after hearing from the DICE
folks that that one component was probably not the guilty party, I
stopped worrying about it. I think that the problem actually was a
grounding issue in the mixer. When I made a modification that A&H
suggested, the Firewire issue stabilized.


--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[philicorda[_6_]]

On Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:55:32 +0000, Mike Rivers wrote:

snip
That's what I had in the computer I was using with this A&H mixer that
kept dropping its Firewire connection, so after hearing from the DICE
folks that that one component was probably not the guilty party, I
stopped worrying about it. I think that the problem actually was a
grounding issue in the mixer. When I made a modification that A&H
suggested, the Firewire issue stabilized.

That's very interesting. I wonder if it was a ground loop issue between
the mixer and the computer/Firewire card?
If it was, I bet it's responsible for a lot of common Firewire audio
problems.

In a studio set up, the only ground connection between the desk/amps/mics
etc to the computer is often the Firewire lead. Ground noise is bad
enough for audio, and must be catastrophic for high speed data
connections. If there is no audio from the computer, a ground problem
could go totally unnoticed.

[Mike Rivers]

philicorda wrote:

I wonder if it was a ground loop issue between
the mixer and the computer/Firewire card?

I don't think it was a ground LOOP, from what the design engineer said,
the grounding was through a circuit trace that wasn't heavy enough and
there was enough resistance in the ground path, The modification (which
they will be doing at the factory and at the distributor for units that
have already left the factory, is to bridge over to another conductor
with a blob of solder. Simple and effective.

If it was, I bet it's responsible for a lot of common Firewire audio
problems.

Could be. It was one of the things that he learned AFTER the board was
laid out. g



--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)