MOTUnation.com

I have a Mk3 Ultralite connected through Firewire, latest driver, Windows 7 x64.

The problem that I have is that everytime I start a program that use the device, like the CueMix panel, and the Mk3 has been switched off or sconnected, I receive a message telling me that the device is not connected, but then this happens:

- Switching the mk3 back on does not resolve the problem, it is always seen it as disconnected;
- In the windows device manager the mk3 appears as always connected also if it has been disconnected or switched off;
- The device manager hang if I try to refresh the HW;
- I need to hard reset since Windows became unable to shutdown properly.

It seems that this happens only if I switch on the mk3, then I switch it off and I try to use a program that use the device.

One of the problem is that for instance, when I put my computer in standby, the device is shutted off since it's powered by the firewire. When I wake up the pc, I need to manually power on the device, but windows won't update the real state of the mk3.

Which driver version do you have installed? Have you downloaded and installed the latest version from motu.com?

Hi 1nput0utput and thanks for your interest.

Yes I downloaded the driver from the site, the version is the 3.7.3.7320

Anyway to reset/restart some Motu service or process?
It's like windows does not understand the state of the device. Also when I shutdown the pc, it stucks because it is trying to communicate with the Motu that is no more avaible on the old resource allocated by the OS.

Are you using an UltraLite mk3 (with two FireWire ports) or an UltraLite mk3 Hybrid (with one FireWire port and one USB port)?

When the interface is connected to the computer, does MOTU Audio appear in the Sound, Video, and Game Controllers section in Device Manager? When you disconnect the interface from the computer, does the MOTU Audio device still appear in Device Manager?

Is the FireWire adapter you're using integrated on the computer's motherboard, or is it on an expansion card? Have you checked whether the motherboard or the FireWire adapter require newer drivers from the manufacturer?

Have you tried connecting any other FireWire devices? Do they appear to work normally, or do they cause similar issues?

I'm using the Hybrid one.

Yes, it appears in the Device Manager and disappears when disconnected, but only if I have closed all the programs that use the device, otherwise I immidiately receive a warning message from the programs that ask to reconnect the device and from now on the device is stucked in the device manager. Making a refresh in device manager hangs the panel that can't be closed anymore and neither shutdown Windows works.

Firewire is integrated in the Gigabyte MB ga-x58a-ud7, for which I installed the latest driver.
Unfortunately Motu is the only Firewire device that I have.

I found that is more difficult to reproduce the problem with windows driver, while with application that are using Asio this always happens. One simple way to reproduce the issue for me is to open Cakewalk Sonar that use Asio, then put in sleep the pc or simply switch off the device.

I will try to avoid this but I would be curious to know if other people have the same problem acting like me within a program using asio driver.

In anycase is very kind of you to try to help me. Thanks

mannybiker wrote:I have a Mk3 Ultralite connected through Firewire, latest driver, Windows 7 x64.

...

One of the problem is that for instance, when I put my computer in standby, the device is shutted off since it's powered by the firewire. When I wake up the pc, I need to manually power on the device, but windows won't update the real state of the mk3.

I've experienced the same issue. After standby I was unable to get the device to work and I had to reboot, which obviously defeats the purpose of standby.

My set-up:
- UltraLite mk3 hybrid - using firewire
- MOTU Audio Driver version 3.7.3.9083
- Windows 7 x64
- Firewire: VIA 1394 OHCI Compliant controller (ASUS P6TD Deluxe board)

To work around the issue I'm currently using the power supply. This obviously has the draw back that the UltraLite mk3 is running constantly even when the computer is in standby - using unnecessary power.

The expereience is better now, but even when using the power supply I experience issues once in a while after standby (S3) where the device is present in the device manager, but no sound will come from it. Only "solution" seems to be to reboot.

I'm disappointed with this because one of the reasons I bought the UltraLite mk3 hybrid in the first place was that I've heard that it is a rock solid device and since it comes with native Windows 7 x64 drivers and I had expected that things would work great w/ standby etc.

Any suggestings, anyone?

Hi jasperhb and thank you very much for sharing your experience.

I'm happy to see I'm not the only one. I hoped with MK3 I would have stopped to have my pc restarted because of some soundcard crash!

I tried to fix this by using another new Firewire PCI adapter. I bought an LSI adapter.

This changed the problem, but it did not help. I still get no sound after standby (S3), but now I at least get this error after standby "The device is on a bus that cannot support this transfer rate" if I try to start the CueMix FX.

I tried to change from firewire to USB. This works, but only if I remember to turn off the UltraLite mk3 hybrid before waking up the PC from S3 sleep. I can then turn on the device again after 60 sec. after the PC has woke. If the device is already turned on before waking the PC, Windows 7 x64 will display a BSoD w/ a reference to the MOTU driver

I've ordered yet another Firewire adaptor. This time w/ a Texas Instrument (TI) chipset. VIA doesn't seem to work, nor does LSI, but I've read that the TI firewire chipset is suppose to be better. I will know in a couple of days and will post the result. Luckily PCI Firewire adapters are not very expensive. Still, no matter what, I currently have the sense that the UltraLite mk3 hydrid driver/device seem to be somewhat fragile and unstable on firewire as well as USB - at least in regards to using stand-by (S3).

jasperhb wrote:I tried to fix this by using another new Firewire PCI adapter. I bought an LSI adapter.

This changed the problem, but it did not help. I still get no sound after standby (S3), but now I at least get this error after standby "The device is on a bus that cannot support this transfer rate" if I try to start the CueMix FX.

I tried to change from firewire to USB. This works, but only if I remember to turn off the UltraLite mk3 hybrid before waking up the PC from S3 sleep. I can then turn on the device again after 60 sec. after the PC has woke. If the device is already turned on before waking the PC, Windows 7 x64 will display a BSoD w/ a reference to the MOTU driver

I've ordered yet another Firewire adaptor. This time w/ a Texas Instrument (TI) chipset. VIA doesn't seem to work, nor does LSI, but I've read that the TI firewire chipset is suppose to be better. I will know in a couple of days and will post the result. Luckily PCI Firewire adapters are not very expensive. Still, no matter what, I currently have the sense that the UltraLite mk3 hydrid driver/device seem to be somewhat fragile and unstable on firewire as well as USB - at least in regards to using stand-by (S3).

You might wanna contact motu with this issue, at least if it's reproducible on a few different Firewire cards with different chip sets.

/B

bjornln wrote:
You might wanna contact motu with this issue, at least if it's reproducible on a few different Firewire cards with different chip sets.

/B

You are right. I have just reported it.

I will report the results of the TI firewire test as well as soon as I get the adapter.

This is NOT a DP problem - this should really be over in the hardware subforum.

jasperhb I verified my chipset and it is a TI!
So I hope you will be more lucky.

This Ultralite is a real garbage! Another problem that I noticed is that with firewire I can't use the MIDI input. If I play quickly a lot of notes from my keyboard after a little while notes stuck in an infinite sustain and some random notes that I have not even played are recorded.

I have no words!