Topic: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

Hi,

I have had a FF UFX for several years and it's worked great until I upgraded to Big Sur (11.4). First problem was that it's Midi interface wasn't available in Logic.
Tried installing the new drivers (3.25) on my Intel Mac Pro (6,1).
The result was that Totalmix didn't even find it any more. Tried downloading the latest firmware. However, the tool does see the UFX, but only lists current revision for the USB (352), the rest is 0.00 or 0.
I checked the hardware diagnosis results on the unit and they are:
0
0000
0000
18
0
159

I am currently removing all RME stuff from the system and will reinstall the driver. But I am guessing the above indicates a hardware problem - even though it has worked great for years until the upgrade? My hunch says software / firmware issue...

Any ideas or tips?
Many thanks in advance!

2

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=33277

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

I managed to flash to the new firmware by installing the older driver 3.22 on another machine.
However, it still will not show up in system preferences or in totalmix on the Mac Pro running 3.25.
What is really weird is that if I attempt a reinstall of the 3.25 driver - it WILL recognize the UFX (The Totalmix window appears, it appears in system preferences, Audio/midi setup, etc.)...but only until a restart. After the restart it's gone again.

And yes, I have authorized the driver on install. However, it only asked me once. It doesn't ask on a reinstall. I will attempt to remove drivers completely once again, however I am unsure if I get all of them removed. Any complete list of what to remove?

TIA!

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

Oh, wow. So my previously working interface is now a brick until RME/Apple get their act together...?

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

foxis wrote:

Oh, wow. So my previously working interface is now a brick until RME/Apple get their act together...?

Do you still not know how it works at Apple?

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

ramses wrote:
foxis wrote:

Oh, wow. So my previously working interface is now a brick until RME/Apple get their act together...?

Do you still not know how it works at Apple?

Very helpful post. Exactly what I need.

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

FWIW, after following the workaround steps I now again seem to have a functioning interface.
However, this is the only third party driver that has caused me problems after the Big Sur upgrade. I have Apple dev experience (have two games companies) and sure, they do mess things up on occasion. However, in this instance I am not so sure. RME is the only provider that I have encountered problems with during upgrades.

8 (edited by ramses 2021-06-12 18:57:07)

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

To your post #6 in this thread:

It has been analyzed by RME that a fix can only come from Apple. In this respect, it would be much more helpful if you and all other affected Apple customers would open a ticket at Apple, so that it gets appropriate visibility there and Apple understands that they have to do something.

Sorry, maybe I'm wrong (or my comment into your direction was maybe too harsh), but I took your statement here as if you were blaming RME for not fixing this fast enough. Only therefore my comment. I didn't want to anger you.

But please stay fair ! Apple is monopolist and demonstrated often enough in the past, that they only move if smth goes through the press.

Now I see in your post #7 that the workaround worked for you. Congrats, I am glad if this is now working for you.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

ramses wrote:

To your post #6 in this thread:

It has been analyzed by RME that a fix can only come from Apple. In this respect, it would be much more helpful if you and all other affected Apple customers would open a ticket at Apple, so that it gets appropriate visibility there and Apple understands that they have to do something.

Sorry, maybe I'm wrong (or my comment into your direction was maybe too harsh), but I took your statement here as if you were blaming RME for not fixing this fast enough. Only therefore my comment. I didn't want to anger you.

But please stay fair ! Apple is monopolist and demonstrated often enough in the past, that they only move if smth goes through the press.

Now I see in your post #7 that the workaround worked for you. Congrats, I am glad if this is now working for you.

Ok, so I am really not into arguing on the internet.
However, I did not appoint blame to one party more than another. Your comment was flippant and insinuated that I had myself to blame for running an Apple system. Even if that was not your intention, your comment added zero value to the thread. I, on the other hand, as a customer and thread OP have a right to respond to a terse admin comment pointing to another post blaming Apple.

As mentioned, I do have dev experience and sure, Apple is not flawless. However, I have upgraded a bunch of machines to Big Sur, and this is the only time I have encountered a driver issue of this magnitude related to extension permissions.
Further, even if the problem resides with an issue with Apple code, it is still not my responsibility as a customer to solve the problem for RME. As a third party hardware provider I am sure they have better pull with Apple dev support than I do in my capacity as a customer.
When I have had problems with Apple in a professional capacity (again, I am a developer, own two games companies) they have been resposive, curteous and pretty quick to deal with.

Hence, no I won't be opening a ticket as a customer. I am noting that the RME driver upgrade was a major hassle. RME can raise that issue with Apple, and if it is indeed Apple's fault I am sure Apple can provide RME with an appropriate workaround for their install software.

Not going to argue the point further. But please do stop venting your anti-Apple sentiments in threads asking for legitimate support. Thanks!

10 (edited by ramses 2021-06-12 20:08:48)

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

I have exactly the same right as you to express my opinion here in the forum. We have both done that now. Otherwise, really good luck with any upcoming fix. And btw .. I am not your enemy here ;-)

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13

11 (edited by foxis 2021-06-12 22:27:11)

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

ramses wrote:

I have exactly the same right as you to express my opinion here in the forum. We have both done that now. Otherwise, really good luck with any upcoming fix. And btw .. I am not your enemy here ;-)

Again, your "opinion" was a snide remark that added nothing to an already frustrated situation. But you apologized, so let's leave it at that.

As feedback to RME:
This process took 2+ hours. Mostly due to poor documentation and tools.
1) The manual had no clear troubleshooting steps, and no reference to hardware diagnosis in the troubelshooting section in the manual.
2) I could not find any legend to the hardware diagnosis numbers on the hardware menu
3) The flash tool (on Mac OSX) is not able to flash hardware, or even read the hardware versions beyond the base firmware, without the drivers running properly.
4) The flash tool does not indicate A) that it needs the drivers or B) that they're not present. In fact, there is no feedback whatsoever, no error message, nothing regarding why it won't flash. Which lead me down on a wild goose chase regarding hardware faults.

So, maybe Apple is the root cause of the driver issue. But the shoddy flash tool and poor documentation surely did not help or build confidence.

Re: Fireface UFX - not found by Totalmix and can't be flashed?

foxis wrote:
ramses wrote:

I have exactly the same right as you to express my opinion here in the forum. We have both done that now. Otherwise, really good luck with any upcoming fix. And btw .. I am not your enemy here ;-)

Again, your "opinion" was a snide remark that added nothing to an already frustrated situation. But you apologized, so let's leave it at that.

As feedback to RME:
This process took 2+ hours. Mostly due to poor documentation and tools.
1) The manual had no clear troubleshooting steps, and no reference to hardware diagnosis in the troubelshooting section in the manual.
2) I could not find any legend to the hardware diagnosis numbers on the hardware menu
3) The flash tool (on Mac OSX) is not able to flash hardware, or even read the hardware versions beyond the base firmware, without the drivers running properly.
4) The flash tool does not indicate A) that it needs the drivers or B) that they're not present. In fact, there is no feedback whatsoever, no error message, nothing regarding why it won't flash. Which lead me down on a wild goose chase regarding hardware faults.

So, maybe Apple is the root cause of the driver issue. But the shoddy flash tool and poor documentation surely did not help or build confidence.

Hi Foxis,

Four month later and it seems like nothing has changed at all, despite driver is now v3.27, I am having same problems with my Fireface UFX + and non of the workarounds of RME worked and no advice or anything coming from RME, just from other users trying to help and I just bought this soundcard in July this year (still under guarantee), first RME product ever and no so happy to be honest.

It seems like from Big Sur and ahead you are on your own, it could work or not and if it doesn't you are done.

I hope you have it sorted, I already wasted days of my work trying to apply workarounds, re-install drivers, OS, etc and countless hours reading and writing in forums...

What I believe is that RME have no idea how to fix this and don't have the courage to say "sorry, is our fault" at least, not that it will fix anything but shows some empathy for their customers which seems like RME ppl doesn't have much (neither manners) instead of leaving you follow endless trials to see if you can fix something that is not your fault at your own expense.

I am not a dev so can't say anything about Apple response, etc. in such cases but for what you just said it seems like they do their best to sort things out when drivers and hardware do not work, specially if they developers stay in touch to resolve issues, right?.

Cheers!

iMac Mid 2017 4.2Ghz 500Gb NVMe 64GB RAM Logic Pro X 10.6.3 Catalina 10.15.7 RME Fireface UFX +