H8000FW Driver Setup

[BKlock]

Hello,  I'm trying to set up the H8000FW firewire interface to my PC (WinXP SP2) for the first time and am running into some trouble. I installed the drivers from the resource CD and followed the manual and now am at the point where I can play an MP3 in Windows and see the meters light up. However, I'm experiencing a lot of Blue Screen of Death. I'm getting two main errors, one is in H80001394.sys, and the other in ohci1394.sys. Windows reports it as a 'STOP' error with the heading DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL. I can provide more info about the error text if this is helpful.

I get some BSODs 'randomly' but it becomes completely reproducable when I try to run my sequencer (Sonar 3). If I try to route audio from the output of my mAudio Firewire Audiophile to an input on the H8000, I get the BSOD immediately. If I unplug the Audiophile completely so that my only Firewire device is the H8000, things are slightly better, I can start playing audio into the H8000 and see the meters light up, but as soon as I stop playing audio and try to start again, The sequencer is unable to start playing. Quitting and restarting the sequencer gives me a "The audio device is in use by another program or does not support the current sample rate" error and can't play anything. This then continues until the next reboot. I've tried clocking the H8000 both internal and to FIREWIRE1, with the same results. When clocked to firewire, I've noticed it reports a lot of 'slipping'.

Is there any guidance on what I need to try to debug this issue and get this working? Thanks. 

[IDeangelis]

 Hi

it's not clear wheter you are trying to use both the H8000 and your Audiophile via Firewire at the same time or not. Is that what you have tried?

best

I 

[nickrose]

We have no experience of this problem, so it may well be specific to your computer or software, in which case our ablity to help is limited.

Things to try:

The latest version of the drivers are always on the Eventide Web site, so try (first) un-installing your current setup and then re-installing the new ones. There will be a further driver release later this year (date not currently available).

Once this is done, thoroughly exercise the firewire link using only things that come with Windows.

If this works OK, try your sequencer. If the problems now appear, the sequencer software may be at fault.

H8000FW Windows drivers come in both ASIO and WDM versions – if possible try the one you are not currently using to see if it makes any difference. 

If you are running 96K, see if the problem also appears at 48K. 

Regarding your clocking issues, you may want to look at previous posts on this subject. Esssentially, you need to select one part of your system as the "clock master" and make sure that everything else is solidly locked to it. Wordclock is usually best.

Firewire clock should only be used as a last resort, as it may not be very stable.

You can only use internal on the H8000 if you have declared the H8000 to be the clock master, in which case everything else must be locked to it, including sound cards, which are not always lockable in this way.

Clocking issues really fall into the subject of installation design – if the above is not clear to you, you may need assistance beyond that which we can provide. 

[BKlock]

I originally tried both at the same time and it produced a reliable BSOD. After that I tried rebooting without the Audiophile attached and to play an audio clip into the H8000 from my sequencer with the audiophile not in use. I didn't get a BSOD, but after starting/stopping playback, I could no longer start playback. Upon quiting/restarting the sequencer the H8000 drivers are reported as 'in use or not supporting the current sample rate', this continued until the next reboot.

Thanks

[IDeangelis]

 There are only few DAW softwares supporting multiple FW drivers aggregation (ProTools/Logic). If yous doesn't support this, you can only use a single fw device w/your system.

best

I 

[BKlock]

Nick, Italo, thanks for the help. I tried ASIO and it was a little better but still unstable. I know a losing battle when I see one so I've just unplugged the FW cable to the H8000 and will use digital I/O instead. 

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