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828 mkII FW problem

Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:33 pm
by jgarlo90
I have an old 828 mkII and it always worked very good in several computers with diferents firewire chipset, via, texas instruments, etc. but I tried to install it in to my new dell XPS m1330 with ricoh firewire card and it does not install complete, nothing seems to work (cue mixer, audio console) and the computer hangs and I have to restart it, anyone knows why? or the solution? I tried my old drivers, and the new ones from MOTU.

Thank you

Posted: Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:46 am
by jsr
Ricoh are notoriously bad for use with firewire audio devices. You'll have to use something else .... :cry:

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:26 pm
by muranyia
Hello! I have a 828 mkII with Firmware v1.0. I have upgraded the driver from what was called "MOTU Firewire Audio Install for Windows" (v3.5.3.2) to the "32-bit Firewire and USB 2 Audio" driver (v3.6.8.1) and my unit is not recognized any more.
Can you guys recommend me something as Customer Service seems dead.
Thanks, Andras

Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 5:16 pm
by jsr
This reminds me of a scene in a Marx Brothers film.
I think Groucho is pretending to be a doctor and the patient says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this..."
Groucho replies, "Well don't do that, then!".

I know it's too late to say this, but you probably shouldn't have done the upgrade, at least not without a backup, preferably an image backup of your drive.

I have several systems that I use the 828MkII on, and the only one that has never given any problems is the one with the 3.5.3.2 drivers. Even though these are on the website as Windows 2000 drivers, they work perfectly under XP (SP1, SP2 and SP3).

I do however have an XPSP3 partition with 3.6.8.1328 which seem to be stable in terms of communication with the device, although there seem to be some quirks with the configurations (they don't seem to remember some pan settings).

So to your question: I suppose you could try uninstalling/re-installing, in previous versions it was important to kill a task (in Task Manager) called "MFWAKeys.exe" if it was running, otherwise the uninstall could fail.

I presume you uninstalled the old drivers (and rebooted first?)

What firewire chip do you have (look in Device Manager under IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers")?

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:00 pm
by muranyia
Well, first thanks 4 the reply.
Actually there's some Jedi mind control trick that you did because that's what I have exactly done yesterday, downgraded to the 3.5.3.2 drivers.
The truth is that I have not uninstalled any drivers before the upgrade nor before the downgrade. The downgrade was successful however, and my unit is recognized again. :D
What seems to be a persistent problem (or is it my ignorance) that in CueMix console I have no control at all upon anything, except that I can monitor volumes. Am I missing something basic?

Well I confess I did read some funny MOTU stories before buying into the 828 but I didn't care much :P So now I'm part of this happy family! :D :P

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:07 pm
by jsr
muranyia wrote:Jedi mind control trick
:twisted: (Muahaha ... finally, it works!)

"File | Hardware Follows Console Stereo Settings"
:shock:

Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 4:51 pm
by muranyia
I don't have "Hardware Follows Console Stereo Settings" in File menu but I have "CueMix Input Includes Computer Output" (right above "Setings" SIC! :) )
It just doesn't change anything :?

My FireWire is VIA onboard, it's a decent Sun Ultra20 box so I hope it's MOTU Friendly or what...

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 3:48 pm
by muranyia
Now it works. What confused me was that playing direct from the computer to Main Out you (me at least) cannot change Main Level in CueMix. Having some input however allows you to use your 4 buses.
Not a classy mixer app anyway, I have seen RME's stock mixer and it (like their driver) kicks this one in the butt! http://www.rme-audio.de/images/download ... _black.jpg

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 4:25 pm
by jsr
muranyia wrote:Now it works. What confused me was that playing direct from the computer to Main Out you (me at least) cannot change Main Level in CueMix. Having some input however allows you to use your 4 buses.
Not a classy mixer app anyway, I have seen RME's stock mixer and it (like their driver) kicks this one in the butt! http://www.rme-audio.de/images/download ... _black.jpg
I'm happy enough with my 828MkII now that I've learned all the quirks. The problem is, I had to learn all the quirks ... and that meant I spent less time making music. Unless it's for $100 on E-Bay, I certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone who did not have lots of experience with troubleshooting complex Windows driver/audio problems, the patience of Job, and a masochistic tendency (for dealing with MOTU's "technical" :lol: support -- remember to jiggle the mains voltage selector, folks!)

As for RME, they're on my wishlist. In hindsight, the grief I've had with MOTU drivers is simply not worth the price difference -- not to mention the arguments to get the original unit replaced when it turned out that it didn't remember its settings after power-off!. As for features, how difficult can it be to add the facility to put a user-definable label on a Cuemix channel -- especially when this works on the Mac? Or, how many other manufacturers of firewire audio interfaces regard the doubling of latency as an improvement?

The only thing about that lovely screenshot is, whereas it may appeal to us gearsluts, I'm sure it would scare the bejaysus out of a lot of people. Mmm .. thinks? .. maybe I'll watch the RME forums for a bit ... :twisted: