irql_not_less_or_equal: motuaw64.sys, BSOD

[Rpro]

Brand new MOBO: Asus M3N72-d, 4 GB 1066, AMD 9950 Black, Nvidea 8800GT, 800 watt PSU. All onboard devices turned off. Only PCI-424 installed with the latest MOTU x64 drivers and the MOTU card has a unique IRQ, (16) where as the 8800GT IRQ is (17), 2408MK3 x 2, 24io, MIDI Express 128. Periodically, I encounter a BSOD on "irql_not_less_or_equal: motuaw64.sys" while in playback in Cubase 4.5.2 . In Wavelab v5, as soon as I click open wave I get a BSOD on "irql_not_less_or_equal: motuaw64.sys" while using the MOTU ASIO driver. Wavelab 5 is totally useless and Cubase 4.5.2 is totally unpredictable. I am not sure if I should upgrade the PCI-424 card to the latest PCIe card or just scrap the MOTU's and go with RME.

[billruys]

Have you got the original PCI-424 or the PCIX-424 card? If it helps, I can tell you that I have run the 64-bit drivers with the PCIe-424 card in both Windows XP 64-bit and Vista 64-bit without ever seeing a single irq_net_less_or_equal error. I am running 1 x 2408 Mk3 and 1 x 24i/o.

To match the amount of I/O you currently have with RME would cost you an awful lot. If you're generally happy with the quality of your 2408's & 24i/o, upgrading the PCI card would seem the better option.

[Rpro]

I have the original PCI card, not the PCIx card. What would be the cost to swap cards?

[billruys]

I have the original PCI card, not the PCIx card. What would be the cost to swap cards?

If you registered your MOTU gear on the MOTU web site, just log in and go to the shop. It should show what upgrades you are eligible for. I'm guessing that this would be the cheapest way to upgrade to the PCIe-424.

I purchased my PCIe-424 as part of the 24i/o core system, so have no idea what they sell for separately.

[orchetect]

I can tell you right now upgrading the card will not fix this. I have used a PCIX-424 and a PCIe-424 and continue to have these BSODs. Swapped card slots, changed BIOS settings, everything humanly possible. Frustrated.

[billruys]

I can tell you right now upgrading the card will not fix this. I have used a PCIX-424 and a PCIe-424 and continue to have these BSODs. Swapped card slots, changed BIOS settings, everything humanly possible. Frustrated.

I've been running the PCIe card first on WinXP 64-bit and now on Vista 64-bit for a couple of years now. In that time have used it almost every day and never had a BSOD. The new drivers that came out last month are just as solid. I know every system is different, so am not dismissing your claims, but on my box which is an Asus P5B with Core 2 Quad, it couldn't be more stable. So the OP shouldn't give up just yet.

[orchetect]

I'm getting BSODs in numerous ways.. some times randomly, but most notably (and reproducibly) if there's an app like Cubase that is using the MOTU drivers, if that app is terminated (say, through CTRL+ALT+DEL), the machine will BSOD every time. Some times immediately, other times after a minute or two. I have submitted a trouble ticket to MOTU and I'll see what they say, but this happens on multiple machines, on multiple Windows OS's, with different MOTU gear (one machine is a PCI-424 with four 2408's, another machine is with a firewire 828mk3). This same phenomenon happens in totally different environments, so the MOTU drivers are without question at fault. This does NOT happen with any other manufacturer (M-Audio, Digi, RME, etc.).

Suffice to say, I am buying a Mac tomorrow. I can't put up with this crap any longer. Been driving me raving mad for nearly a year now.

Main machine: Intel IG45ID, Q6600 quad 2.4ghz, 8GB RAM

[billruys]

That's a real bummer, orchetect. I'm not surprised you've come to the end of your patience! There must be something specific about the way Cubase talks to the driver that's causing the problem. The MOTU devs need to get together with Steinberg to sort this out.

I run Sonar, and like you, have run it on more than one PC with my MOTU gear (2408 Mk3 & 24 I/O). As I said, I've never seen a BSOD. But I know that Cakewalk actively talks to MOTU and shares information to ensure the drivers are solid. One recent example of this is that Sonar 8.3 introduced WASAPI driver mode under Vista. The new version of the MOTU drivers now support this mode. This means that you can run Sonar with your MOTU gear and choose one of four different driver architectures (WDM, WASAPI, ASIO or MME). This gives you real options if there is something funky going on with a driver.

I'm not a Cakewalk fan boy, I think Cubase is equally a really great app, but before you make the move to MAC, maybe you should give Sonar a go? Either way, you've got to learn a new DAW, at least you wouldn't need to invest in new hardware. I believe they have a downloadable demo, which should be enough to determine if your BSOD problems are application specific. My CPU;is also a Q6600, so our systems are probably quite similar.

[orchetect]

bill: thanks for the info. I have used every DAW under the sun, and this BSOD issue happens with any program. Cubase, Sonar, Reaper, does not matter. Across multiple systems. This is 100% reproducible. The only thing that is similar between the machines might be the processor (Q6600) but the motherboards are different models.

I bought a Mac Pro today and I have used macs equally as much in my production environment. I like Cubase because it's cross platform, and seeing as I spent $1200+ on Cubase including upgrades, I will stick with that for a while. I just feel better about this platform. Cubase may run a little sluggish on a mac, but the stability (ECC FB-DIMM ram, Xeon procs, etc) just works out better in the long run.

I will use my PC for an additional sampler PC (I already have two quad core 8GB machines in my sampler army, a third would do nicely) as that is all they seem to really excell at.

[billruys]

Good luck with the new system, orchetect. There is nothing worse than computer problems getting in the way of making music - that just sucks! This stuff is supposed to be fun

[bressler]

I am experiencing exaclty what orchetect describes. If I quit Cubase 5, Cubase will hang indefinitely, and if I kill it with task manager, the MOTU driver will BSOD every time.

Interestingly, with Cubase 4, it would hang on quit, but if I killed the process in task manager, it would not BSOD. Because of this (and other C5 issues) I'm still using C4.

BTW, I just now tried this with the latest MOTU drivers and C5 5.1 which just came out. Still happens.

Orchetect, I know you're going to Mac, but if you get any worthwhile information on your trouble ticket from MOTU, please post it here.

Thanks,
Bryan

(Abit IP35Pro, Intel Q6600, 8GB RAM, 2 TB disk, MOTU PCIe-424 + MOTU 24 I/O, Vista x64.)

[Edit: I misstated my mobo - fixed.]

[orchetect]

bressler: Nice to know someone else shares my pain (ironically). Hope it can add fuel to the fire for MOTU to get their •••• together. Interesting to note that you are using the same model Intel CPU. I wonder if that matters. I have heard rumors from other forums that this chip has problems (but it might have been related to other hardware, not necessarily MOTU. Can't remember.)

I have indeed switched to a Mac Pro and it's a thing of -beauty-. Flawless. I cannot stress that enough.

But I will look into the trouble ticket and see if anything comes of it. It's been 4 days and no response yet.

[bressler]

I know it's been forever since anyone's been on this thread, but this is the most succinct description of this blue screen problem that is on the forum right now, so I've got an update.

I'm still running Vista x64 and will hang indefinitely when I quit (and BSOD if I try to kill C5 with Task Manager). All this using the latest 1.6.9.2 drivers.

So on a whim, I reverted myself to 1.6.7.0. MOTU doesn't post those drivers any more, but I had a copy sitting around. Lo and behold, the BSODs are gone. I can quit C5 without it hanging or BSODing. It's actually acting pretty rational right now.

If you do this, make really sure you get rid of the "new" drivers you're trying to revert. I suggest the following procedure:

* Using Device Manager, explicitly "Uninstall" each of the "MOTU PCI Audio Driver for x64", "MOTU PCI GSIF Driver for x64", and "MOTU Wave Driver for x64", checking "Delete the driver software for this device" checkbox for each of them.
* Now go to Progams and Features and Uninstall the "MOTU PCI Audio Drivers for 64 bit Windows" package.
* Now RESTART. Don't skip this step.
* After you log in again, Windows should say you've got new hardware. Tell it "Remind me later."
* Now install the 1.6.7.0 drivers using the Setup.exe for that driver.
* Windows should say (without a restart), "Your hardware is ready to use." You should see all three of the above-named devices with no yellow triangles in Device Manager.

Hope this helps somebody.

Best,
Bryan

[woeischris]

I am having this exact problem under Windows 7 64! Can someone link me to the driver version referenced or email woeunholy AT gmail DOT com?

[woeischris]

ACTUALLY! I seem to have found a way to fix it. Windows 7 changed something about how firewire devices are handled. Some drivers appear to not like it. Use the "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)" driver -- it's built into Windows. No crashes since changing this and before, I was unable to work.