Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI

TidySean · 09 Apr 2024

Hello Everyone,

I have been having problems with a new Firewire interface for audio, in a new build machine.

It works just fine however, after a restart or shutdown-reboot, it doesn't work. I need to run the troubleshooter which always finds the problem.

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-a1.jpg

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-a2.jpg

Sometimes I need to run it twice, like just now, sometimes it will set the Firewire to default and I get no sound, then I run it again, it tries to play sounds and I don't hear it, then it fixes it and restarts. Sometimes it will go straight to play sounds.

The issue is, I do not know what it is changing and I would like to make whatever it is permanent. I know the set to default part, as it was already set to default.

Anyone got any ideas, please? I am getting fed-up of restating so many times, although it's super fast on this new build.

Let me know if I can provide any extra detail.

Thanks

Sean

Windows Version:
Edition Windows 10 Pro
Version 21H2
Installed on ‎10/‎03/‎2024
OS build 19044.1288
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0

fishingfool · 4 Weeks Ago

Hi Sean

Please post your hardware specs on this new build.
Is this "new" firewire interface for audio an add on card?
Sounds like it's booting up with the default on board audio which you can disable via the bios, but it's just a guess right now.
When you first boot, what does device manager say in sound,video,game controllers?

TidySean · 4 Weeks Ago

Hi @fishingfool, thank you for your reply.

Yes, the card is a PCIe card and the mobo is ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula.

Device Manager

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-dm1.jpg

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-dm2.jpg

Audio Interface (Focusrite Saffire Pro 24)

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-ai1.jpg

When the machine boots, everything looks like it should be working. When I play the sounds by clicking the volume control, the audio interface switches from 'connected' to 'in use'. However, there is no sound, the volume meter doesn't show anything and YouTube for example, tells me to reboot and won't play anything.

I restarted to get that info but when I did, I went into BIOS and disabled USB audio. The problem persisted, unfortunately. Perhaps there's a different option / section.

It's a strange one, because it does work and whatever the troubleshooter changes make it work after the restart. Something to add to that, when it does load Windows, the sound icon shows the red circle with the X in it and it takes 30 - 40 seconds until it's 'found' the audio.

Thanks again for your reply, I'll take a look at the BIOS settings to see if there are any other audio options.

Cheers

Sean

tecknot · 4 Weeks Ago

TidySean said:

Hi @fishingfool, thank you for your reply.

Yes, the card is a PCIe card and the mobo is ASUS ROG Maximus Z790 Formula.

...
Audio Interface (Focusrite Saffire Pro 24)

When the machine boots, everything looks like it should be working. When I play the sounds by clicking the volume control, the audio interface switches from 'connected' to 'in use'. However, there is no sound, the volume meter doesn't show anything and YouTube for example, tells me to reboot and won't play anything.

I restarted to get that info but when I did, I went into BIOS and disabled USB audio. The problem persisted, unfortunately. Perhaps there's a different option / section.

It's a strange one, because it does work and whatever the troubleshooter changes make it work after the restart. Something to add to that, when it does load Windows, the sound icon shows the red circle with the X in it and it takes 30 - 40 seconds until it's 'found' the audio.

Thanks again for your reply, I'll take a look at the BIOS settings to see if there are any other audio options.

Cheers

Sean

Hi Sean,

From your screen shot, it appears all your tracks except for DAW 1 and DAW 2 (and an additional output pair, Mix 3) are mutted. Also, I am guessing that the Saffire you have was bought second had since that interface is no longer sold by Focusrite. In fact, this interface is obsolete as is firewire. Further, if you are just playing back audio from your DAW, why not change your routing to DAW 1 and DAW 2 instead of Mix 1 and Mix 2 in your monitor output? May I also ask if your driver is that latest available from Focusrite?

Kind regards,

tecknot

P.S. I have the same interface and works well with thunderbolt.

TidySean · 4 Weeks Ago

Hey @tecknot, thank you for your input.

The muting is just setup for surround sounds, it's not necessary to have them muted but I have them muted. See shot below when it's working.

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-ai2.jpg

Not second hand, I have had it for about 12 years, I am very familiar with it. I’ve had an iMac for since 2011.

Regarding the driver, yes, this is a new build a month or so old, I downloaded the current version from the site for it.

It seems there's some other device getting in the way during boot. I've disabled everything else, though (I think), not sure what it is.

Thanks again

Sean

Malneb · 4 Weeks Ago

I know windows enumerates through audio devices and they are all connected to audioendpoint.inf which is a priority system. Stuff like the following stands out so it prioritizes in a ranking system when it enumerates through the devices which will be something that happens when you log on are at some point when the audio control panel loads.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...oint-selection

Code:

Bus Type

Windows 10 ranks the enum values for endpoint bus types in the following priority order, from highest to lowest priority:

    USB
    HDAudio and UnknownBusType (typically a SOC system)
    PCI
    BTHENUM
    BTHHFENUM
    Others (treated with the same lowest priority; that is, with nRankBusType equal to zero)

Going by that table then i guess interface through firewire would be considered pci and lower ranking. So therefore maybe other devices are getting priority.
Maybe its a conflict or something with other devices so disable all other audio devices and maybe even other audio drivers that don't apply while you work on the interface issue.

looking at that endpoint page you can set some routing by setting app endpoints which i didn't even know was a thing in window 10. Could be an area for issue of course.

Also pnputil might be worth looking at.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...yntax#examples

pnputil /enum-devices /problem
- to see if there is any issue device

There is other commands there which may be useful or maybe even try restarting the device though command.

TidySean · 4 Weeks Ago

Thank you, @Malneb.

Is that the one saved in Windows\INF, folder. I have a few around the place it seems.

Mine reads:
;
; AudioEndpoint.INF - Microsoft Windows Audio Endpoint Driver Package
; No driver is installed for these devices
;

[Version]
Signature="$Windows NT$"
Provider=%MSFT%
ClassGUID={C166523C-FE0C-4A94-A586-F1A80CFBBF3E}
Class=AudioEndpoint
DriverVer = 12/06/2019,10.0.19041.1

[ControlFlags]
BasicDriverOk=*
ExcludeFromSelect=*
PreConfigureDriver=*

[ClassInstall32]
AddReg = ClassInstall_AddReg

[ClassInstall_AddReg]
HKR,,,0,%ClassName%
HKR,,NoInstallClass,,1
HKR,,SilentInstall,,1
HKR,,IconPath,%REG_MULTI_SZ%,"%%SystemRoot%%\system32\mmres.dll,-3004"

[Manufacturer]
%MSFT%=Microsoft, NTamd64

[Microsoft.NTamd64]
%MSFT.AudioEndpoint% = NO_DRV,MMDEVAPI\AudioEndpoints

[NO_DRV]

[NO_DRV.Services]
AddService = , %SPSVCINST_ASSOCSERVICE% ; null service install

[strings]
;Localizable Strings
MSFT = "Microsoft"
ClassName = "Audio inputs and outputs"
MSFT.AudioEndpoint = "Audio Endpoint"

;Non-Localizable Strings
SPSVCINST_ASSOCSERVICE = 0x00000002
REG_MULTI_SZ = 0x00010000

TidySean · 4 Weeks Ago

To add, when I run the troubleshooter, sometimes I have to run it twice, the first 'fix' it does is to set the audio format. That never fixes it and I need to run again so it tries to play sounds.

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-ts1.jpg

Never had an audio issue before like this.

Sean

Malneb · 4 Weeks Ago

I am not entirely sure either i could probably sit there and try to work it out. The audioendpoint file being an inf will be to hard set stuff related to that driver. I think its to do with audio control panel itself but i am not sure tbh.

What i was more getting at is that those commands you should be able to run in cmd and you can list all audioendpoints on your system. I think there it should show some info about the device in question. it will only be basically telling you what you see in device manager but with extended slightly more verbose output.

I think rule out the device like is it coming back in the returned output and what is the output telling you,

Those device manager images are saying that it can see the devices both the firewire card and the interface and the drivers are loaded.

hence run some of those audio related commands turn off all other audio devices and see if you can get reaction. I cannot think of any other attempt measure other than trying to step through it personally which is not possible.

The only other thing that makes obvious sense is that there is routing going on in that software which you probably already checked and has been mentioned. Does the peak meter move at all when you play sound and the issue is happening? or it is flatline? if it was peaking then that suggests it a routing issue.

I am also not familiar with that interface but the gui shows some tells all those channels is there a master channel? like do they route to a main channel and then that channel is sound for everything? There is other tabs there so idk and you are on tab 3.

TidySean · 4 Weeks Ago

Hello @Malneb, thank you.

pnputil is interesting. When looking for problems it only finds something about the Nvidia driver with the status as disabled. I've disabled it so I am assuming that why it's there, no problem codes. Same when the interface is working or not.

I had a look through the commands, disabled the firewire, rebooted. Audio had switched to USB. Ran the enable command and the sound came back instantly, I didn't have to switch it.

Firewire | Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI-ps1.jpg

Doesn't fix the issue but it's progress, thanks for that.

So, when the sound isn't working there's no volume meter, it shows nothing at all, even when clicking. I've had the audio interface for 12 years, I know it inside out, quite literally actually to replace some capacitors. So I have surround sound which is made of two different systems. It's hard to change the volume on the rear system without bending behind a sofa so I use two mixes, one for the front, one for the rear so I can balance the audio in software without moving.

Thanks again, I'll take a look more through pnputil.

Sean