WARNING: Multiple MOTU FW units won't work under WinXP SP2!!

[Worship Maestro]

I purchased 4 8Pre's only to find that 2 or more would not sync up. I scoured the forum, MOTU Tech Notes, applied or checked every solution I could find recommended, and still no luck. I put in a Techlink w/MOTU last Thursday, but to date have not heard anything.

Yesterday Matt in tech support at Sweetwater, where I purchased the units, called to tell me that MOTU told them they do not support multiple units under Windows XP SP2! They officially support only SP1. I know this sounds crazy since SP2 has been out for quite a long time now, but that is what I was told.

I spent 2 complete days (my Thanksgiving break!) trying to get this system to work. Below is the information I submitted to MOTU in my tech link so you can see that I've tried just about everything.

MTL 13928 ••” Multiple units will not stay in synce on Firewire Last edited by Joseph on 2007/11/26 09:24:13 US/Central
Edit TechLinkUser XXXXX XXXXXX Submitted 11/22/2007 15:30:04

Issue type Hardware (all others) Status Unread Product(s) 8pre Version 3.6.7.4/Hardware v1.0 System information OSWindows XPOS versionSP2CPUAMD X2 4200+/abit AN8 SLIRAM 2 GB

Additional system info: This is the computer configuration I am currently testing on, but have encountered the same issue on 2 other computers with different hardware setups. Also, I have 2 nVidia based 7600 GT video cards in SLI configuration, although I am not running in SLI mode when doing DAW work
Additional information:

Troubleshooting: Installed dedicated Firewire card w/TI chipset. Applied MS hotfix for the WinXP SP2 Firewire slowdown issue. Confirmed that the hotfix was applied in the registry. Disabled 1394 network connections. Tried multiple combinations of Firewire ports on back of 8 Pre's.
Steps to reproduce: Happens randomly, but within minutes of initial sync, oftentimes seconds. The longest I have been able to go without a problem was approx 5 minutes.

Details: I purchased 4 8Pre's to make a live recording system of 32 tracks. A single unit works fine, but 2 or more lose sync randomly. Separately, I can't get Sonar to see the hardware as 24 bit, but this is a minor consideration at this time as I primarily use Cubase 4.1. I have not yet tried with Ableton Live 6.0.5.

Responses: No responses posted.

[splatterbass]

well for the sp1 rollback, do a search for sp1 rollback, i posted it a while ago, its a zip file hosted of my website. only one link on the page, right click save as. all the instuctions are contained within the zip, follow them and roll the 1394 back to sp 1.
as for syncing up multiple motus, i have heard of it happening in mac, but i havent heard of anyone doing it in windows yet. not without an external clock.
this is the one way i have not tried yet, what i have done to get multiple track recording going on, 10 i/o 828 mkII, 24 i/o via adat on light pipe, 34 inputs all together.
considering i have a 32 channel mixer that i run everything through, the analog i/o s on the front give me the 2 extra, but with the built in pre`s, no problem.
running sonar 6 producer, all my i/o`s come up for me no problem.

[achyzhmar]

Hi there I'm also disappointed user of MOTU company

Why did you buy 4 pc's of that ••••! You should change it onto 2 x RME FIREFACE 800.

On what stage are you now??? May I can help you??? I know some PC tweak's - so if you intersted - just let me know.

Sincerely,
Andrew I. Chyzhmar

[Worship Maestro]

Andrew,
Thank you for your kind offer. I have solved my problem after almost a month of frustration, trying this, that, and the other thing; listening to MOTU tell me it would work when it really wouldn't.

I returned all 4 of the items to my dealer, who graciously took them back because they neither were able to help.

I have gone with 4 Presonus Digimax FS units interfacing via ADAT Lightpipe with an M-Audio ProFire Lightbridge. The Presonus units have a noticeably fuller, clearer sound and the recordings have run for 3 hours straight for several nights with not a single glitch.

[arth]

Rolling back to XP SP1 is not an option anyhow, because SP1 is long since out of support, and Microsoft will only support SP2.
Unless MOTU is willing to take over the OS support for running SP1? Didn't think so...

[Ted Prenares]

I was told by a MOTU Tech rep today that the issue is a Microsoft issue, so I went to the Microsoft support site and queried "Firewire SP2". Two articles of interest came up, one stating a decrease in performance with Firewire devices under SP2, another stating an inability to recognize a second Firewire device in some instances.

For the "decrease in performance issue" I downloaded the support fix which did not cure the problem. The "recognition" issue requires one to make changes to the system registry, something I am not inclined to do.

Maybe someone else out there will have better luck with these.

[splatterbass]

i spent more than a couple of days trying to get 2 828mkII`s working.
sp2 - sp1 - reg changes.
all to no avail.
ended up chaining an adat xt with lightpipe for extra tracks.