MOTUnation.com

Hello:

I'm having a problem with the new Motu driver for my 828MK3. The first thing I notice is that when I install the new driver, I on only get 3 promps (Motu Audio, Motu MIDI and Motu Wave Driver) versus the 5 promps I usually get with the previous driver. But my biggest problem occurs when I open CueFX and try to minimize it. I instantly get BSOD'd and get the error...

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

AND

MOTUFWA.SYS-ADDRESS......

The weird thing is that this ONLY occurs when I minimize the CueFX GUI! If I close it, not problems at all with BSOD, but I do experience a bunch of pops and clicks in my DAW (Ableton) If I do not open CueFX, I have no problems with BSOD or pops.

I have had problems with the previous driver, but after I installed it properly and adjusted buffer to 128, everything was working well. This new driver is not stable on my system at all. I'm thinkin of rolling it back, but I want to use the new features (Spectrum Analisis etc)

Any one have any ideas?

Thanks

open techlink if you don`t have allready. if you have not changed anything on your sys .. then > driver prob

Thanks for the response Acidrecords. If have opened a techlink but I have yet to get a answer. If i do have a driver problem is it because..
-there is a problem with the Motu driver and I should try to download agin or wait to see if this issue is resoled in future driver updates
-or is there something in my system that is causing a conflict with this particular driver.

Since I have not altered my system since installing the new driver whta could possibly conflict with the new driver and xp?
Anyone else having the same problems with new driver and new CueMixFX?

pls give me time until sat / sun.

at the moment im troubleshooting my own prob with my notebook which i have since may 2008.
(over 600 reboots + very deep troubelshooting in windows with special tools like pci scope, checking the whole firewire specification, checking firewire pci registers and such stuff)

today i`ve done again some really weird testing and it seems that all problems which i, and also other users have are resource sharing problems)
eg firewire port works with hdd / firewire expresscard works with hdd and also video cam but not with the motu interface.., there are three possible problem sources:
1) irq sharing
2) other resource sharing problems (eg i/o port, memory overlapping...)
3) graphicard driver problem interferencing with firewire

biggest ••••: at first nothing shows any problems. all windows infos show > all is working fine... but thats not the truth
so it`s really heavy to troubleshoot

but in short:
first check what other devices share an irq with your firewire port
2nd install this patch if you don`t have allready:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=885222

that are the first steps for troubleshooting this stuff

Hey Acid:

First off, I want to say thanks for your insightfull response. Please don't feel obliged to answer this question right away. I understand thet you have your own issues, which seem way worss than mine.
None the less, I was eager to try out your suggestions: thank you for the XP patch, I already downloaded this patch when I first got my 828MK3. Downloading this patch helped resolve many issues I had earlier this year. I also looked at the IRQ's as you suggested and several devices share the same IRQ:

IRQ 19: PCI express root port 4-2845
IRQ 19: ICH* USB Universal Host Controller-2831
IRQ 19:T.I. OHCI IEEE 1934 Host Controller
IRQ 19: ICH* 4 Port Serial ATA Storage Controller-2820
IRQ 19: ICH8 2 Port Serial ATA Storage Controller-2825

Everything is in "OK" stats and my Motu device says "No Conflicts" in system settings

Is this an issue? If so how do I trade IRQ addresses? Does this involve changing the way devices are physically pluged into my motherboard?

I did a few more tests last night and I confirmed 100% that I only get BSOD when I have the new drivers/CueMixFX installed AND I minimize the CueMixFX GUI. As a work around I could just not mimize the CueMixFX GUI under the new drivers, Instead I chose to reinstall the old drivers/CueMixFX and everythings running is smoothly as usual.

Good luck with your troubleshooting and I hope you work out the issues you are having with your laptop. Plese respond at your convienence. Thanks again for your help.

j

Given your set-up I'm not surprised you have trouble. The usb with the sata interface: what a bottle neck!

depending on your computer the most reliable way to do this is in the bios setup.

XP has some capability to change this too, I'm not on my XP machine now, I'll check into it later and let you know if no one beats me to it.

Some changes can be done by changing slots. You MOBO manual should have irq assignments

Thanks Mark:

I think I'd rather find a way in Bios or a way for XP to change these IRQ conflicts rather than open up my tower and start reconfiguring the slots. I'm not relly technical when it comes to computers. Any info you can provide would be great. In the meantime, I will search the net for ways to change IRQ setting in XP. Thanks for confirming my bottleneck issue. It explains alot of stange behaviour Im having with my Motu unit and CueMixFX in particular.

j

so i`m back.. my own testing is not finished but here we go, a short answer:

regarding your irqs:
the usb is not really relevant ....
what you can do > disable exactly this usb port in the devicemanager. then check with e.g an usb-stick all your usb ports (connect the ubs stick to every port on your pc), to find out which physicall usb port you have deactivated now and don`t use this port in the future.
or better, check if there are differences with aktivated / deactivated usb port and usb device connected. eg transfer some files form/to usb stick while playing audio....

the really heavier stuff are the
IRQ 19: PCI express root port 4-2845
IRQ 19: ICH* 4 Port Serial ATA Storage Controller-2820
IRQ 19: ICH8 2 Port Serial ATA Storage Controller-2825

did`t found any info about your pc.
desktop with built in firewire? (onboard)
desktop with additional firewire pci/pcie card?
notebook? but i don`t think it`s a notebook. therefore you hav to much serial ata ports

the next thing is:
on an pc with acpi windows installed, irqs are automatically assigned from windows.
these irqs have nothing to do with the irq settings in bios. because acpi assings it itself and uses "virtual irqs".
if you can change irqs in bios, you can try to do that but for 99% this will change nothing because of the acpi from windows.
so irq assignment via bios works only if winxp is installed as "standard pc" but this brings other problems because if windows is installed as standard pc you don`t have the same number of irqs as windows itself has if it`s installed as acpi system.

so to make it shorter, if you are using a pci/pcie card for your firewire> shutdown the pc and put the card in another slot to maybe get another irql from windows. (sometimes it works sometimes not. this belongs to how the motherboard vendor has hardwired the slots on your mother board...)

good article regarding this stuff:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=sup ... 5b#viewing

regarding your issue itself: switch back to the old driver + do the rest regarding the crash problem with motu via. techlink as it belongs only the newest version of the drivers.


in the next days i`ll open a thread regaring my own problem. (in my report, it think there will be much infos for every one here on the board, regarding troubleshooting itself, about why does the motu gui sometimes stutter with some pc`s, the bluescreen which i`m ant some others are getting if you remove the motu while it`s turned on. start up pc > connect motu > turn on motu > start cuemix software > close cuemix software > put out the firewire cable from the connector while the motu is turned on. if you don`t get a bluescreen you are a lucky person )

greets chris

Chris: Thanks again for the informative post. Over this past weekend I've read a lot of info regarding IRQ issues and I think I'm somewhat gettting the gist of it. The M-Audio def helped alot, thanks. As far as my comp specs:

PC XP Pro SP2
Intel Q963/Q965 Prosessor
Intel Core 2 6600 @ 2.4GHZ
4 GIG RAM
2 x 500 GIG HD
Built-In TI FW (2 ports: one on top of comp and one in the rear of comp)

I tried to change my IRQ's in BIOS but I did not have the option available. My comp s in ACPI mode and I'm not sure I want to switch it to Standard PC mode. I did as you instruncted with the disableing the USB ports only to find that this particular USB controller (on IRQ 19) is my ONLY USB 2.0 ports I habve on my comp and I need them for my MIDI controller and keyboard.

After almost a week I still haven't got a response from MOTU via Tech Link. I have to agree with everyone that MOTU Tech support is not always the greatest.

I have considered buying a PCI FW card as an easy? fix to this problem. I read that Motu suggested certain name brands (ADS TECH and Sonnet come to mind) so I was going to pick this card up for $40 dollars.....

http://www.adstech.com/products/API-315 ... id=API-315

Do you think this card would be suffucient or would you recommend another? I'm thinking that using a PCI TI chip FW instead of my onboard card (bus?) would help me place the Motu unit on a seperate IRQ, or at least on an IRQ other than IRQ 19. Do you think this might work? If so is there a way to install a new device into a certain IRQ? I read that if you free up some IRQ's like the COM ports (COM1 and COM2) and Printer ports (LPT1) newly installed devices will begin to use these IRQ's.

I suppose I am being finicky with my Motu device in that I'm really not having the debilitating functional issues like yourself and others are experiencing. I can run my 828MK3 with buffers set to 128 and open a session with 24 - 28 tracks (audio and MIDI) and experience no pops/clicks or noticable latency. I have found that pops and click occur in sessions of 36 tracks or so, but i can def work around this. I simply want to be able to use the new features of CueMix FX and new drivers without getting BSOD. I want this unit to function as advertised-as a music making tool rather than an XP troubleshooting excersise.
Its a strange time we are in now where almost opposing words collide. Musical expressoion is a creative process that is reletivly simple. On the other hand, the computers and music gear is fairly complex and sophisticated. Todays musicain has to be well versed in both worlds to create.
Good luck with your issues and I'll look forward to your response.

Thanks again

j