Topic: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

Hi all,
   I've got an HDSP 9652 that's run well under Win XP 32-bit for years but the machine died and the replacement machine is running Win 7 64-bit. Now, I have installed the most recent driver (but not rebooted yet) but because I do some work in Linux I've been using older firmware for years. (Rev. 104 or 105 maybe?) What is the minimum level of firmware required to use Win 7 64-bit with this card?

   I tried running the firmware updater to at least get the current firmware revision level but so far I cannot even get it to run. It may require that I run it as 32-bit or something else but I didn't want to do that without asking as I didn't find any specific instructions in the readme. So, has anyone tested the firmware updater using an old firmware revision on the card and then updating it in a new Win 7 64-bit machine?

   If I still had a Win XP machine with PCI slots I'd move the card there to update but I don't even have that at this point so I really need it to work in this machine.

   Thanks!

Cheers,
Mark

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

Hello,

firmware requirements are driver version dependent, not OS specific.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

Humm....OK - do I need new drivers to run under Win 7 64-bit? That was the impression that I got reading the web site. IF I need the new drivers then the write-up seemed to say that I had to have revision 108 for the HDSP 9652. Is my understanding correct?

I think my card is running 104 to remain compatible with the Linux drivers and it's my understanding that there hasn't been any work done on the Linux side to update their tools to newer firmware revisions. I know that's not RME but Alsa developers that do that.

Just trying to get clear about how to make both Linux AMD64 and Win 7 64-bit both play nicely with this card.

Thanks

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

Hi Daniel. OK, I've rebooted and both the mixer and HDSP config applet come up. However the config applet is telling me that I have a firmware mismatch and need to update and tells me I have hardware revision 104.

On the positive side at least Win 7 Device Manager sees that it's an HDSP 9652.

So, the question that I think remains is what is the minimum revision of firmware that will make this driver work (108?) or what is the oldest driver/firmware combo that will work in Win 7?

Thanks

5

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

IMHO you should use the latest firmware with the latest driver. The readme of the firmware and/or the driver includes some information what has been fixed in what version.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

Certainly, but are you not reading the first post I made? I run BOTH Windows and Linux and I run Linux 80% of the time when I was running Win XP. I don't see that changing so I need Linux to work. Since RME doesn't support Linux I'm forced to look for compromises and I'm simply seeking information to help with that.

I'd love to run the latest and greatest RME driver, but if I run revision 108 of the firmware then the Linux driver is reported not to work. We don't seem to have any recent Alsa support anymore for this card, partially because there hasn't been a need and partially because of lack of information from RME about what is changing in the firmware so that an Alsa developer can keep it up to date.

Short term I'm looking for information - Long term I'd ask how can we get an updated firmware spec so that we can update the Alsa driver and keep it in sync with what you folks are doing for Windows?

So, back to the question - what versions of the RME drivers will run successfully on Win 7 64-bit so that I possibly run BOTH OS's. One OS is not a solution for me.

Thanks

7

Re: HDSP 9652 & Win 7 64-bit - is firmware upgrade required?

I have no such information. We do not test outdated drivers and firmwares with the latest OS. That's why I referred to the available information. Please check yourself and simply give it a try.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME