1 Topic by jw61 (edited by jw61 2022-11-26 13:34:01)

  • jw61
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Topic: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

I have been trying to connect an RME Fireface 800 to my 2017 iMac running macOS Catalina version 10.15.
I have read reports from others online who say that this can be made to work, but I’m having problems.

Here is what I have tried.

1. I bought the Firewire to thunderbolt connector and thunderbolt 2 to USB3 connector and a firewire 800 cable and connected the Fireface 800 to my Mac.

2. I downloaded and installed the appropriate Fireface 800 driver (3.391) from RME.

3. I attempted to start up the Fireface 800 with the installed driver, but this produced a warning about incompatibility of the firmware with the driver, and said I needed to update the firmware.

4. I downloaded the flash update tool revision 1.71 and 2.77 (compatible up to 10.14 macOS Mojave), but received the warning that this update tool needed to be updated. I gather that was because it is a 32 bit app and Mac OS Catalina (10.15) does not run 32 bit apps. I could not find a version of the firmware update tool that was compatible with MacOS Catalina, even though the Fireface 800 driver is.

5. I found that the last version fo Mac OS to run 32 bit apps was MacOS Mojave (10.14), so I decided to try to run that on a separate drive so that I had the option to run that OS on my computer temporarily in order to run the 32 bit flash update tool and update the firmware on the Fireface 800 before then using it under MacOS Catalina. The flash update tool is supposed to be compatible with this version of MacOS Mojave 10.14.

6. I installed MacOS Mojave 10.14 on a separate external drive and rebooted from that.

7. I downloaded and installed the Fireface 800 driver (3.391) and flash update tool (revision 1.71 and 2.77) under MacOS Mojave (10.14). Both installed fine, so I connected up the Fireface 800 and tried to update the firmware. The flash update tool actually ran this time and went through all of its steps. But, at the end of the programming step, which seemed to have finished, it reported the warning:  Revision 2.04 /Status Failed with error D0000000.  I gather from this that my Fireface 800 is currently running revision 2.04 of the firmware, and that it has not been updated. I was not sure what to try next.

8. I tried to download, install and run the older version of the flash update tool (I could only find two on the RME website), but it also ran and then reported the same information and failure.

I found a vague suggestion online to try from an older computer or older version of MacOS, but it didn't say which one would work. There are many older versions of MacOS, and installing a new OS version each time to try to solve this by trial and error is just too time consuming. Is there a specific version of MacOS for which a Fireface 800 firmware update is known to actually work?

Can anyone help me out here with any other suggestions on how to update the firmware on this Fireface 800 and how to get it working on a 2017 Intel-based iMac running Catalina?  I’d really like to use this FF800, and I’ve read numerous reports on line that it should work with the configuration I have.

Thanks!

  • waedi
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

https://www.digitec.ch/de/s1/product/rm … e-16345997

New interface that fits to the computer,
or another computer that fits to the old interface (old iMac with firewire )

Sorry for not having a better hint

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue

3 Reply by ramses (edited by ramses 2022-11-26 18:20:26)

  • ramses
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

@jw61: if you should consider purchase of a new interface (what you didn't request) then consider the following.

The FF800 is a full size 19" rack mount interface with 4 Mic preamps and 2x ADAT I/O for expansions, so that you can even connect one external device with 8 ch at double speed. Or two devices with in total 16 ch at single speed.

The UCX II is an excellent 9.5" interface, no question, but compared to the FF800 it has only 2 Mic preamps and 1 ADAT port.
It has 40ch in total, compared to the 56ch of an FF800.

Fireface 802 and UFX II are both 19" 60ch interfaces and have a more comparable layout of I/O ports.

I would recommend taking the UFX II for the following reasons:
- better analog section with preamps up to 75 dB gain range
- settings of Mic preamps can be stored and recalled in TM FX snapshots
- Autoset feature for Mic preamps
- dedicated USB port for DURec (Direct Disk Recording) at the front (and compared to UCX II not shared)
- dedicated USB port for ARC USB on the back (and compared to UCX II not shared)

For an easier comparison of available USB-/FW-based interfaces, you can use the following Excel sheet from my blog:
https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/blog/Ent … B-MADIfac/
Direct Link to Excel: https://www.tonstudio-forum.de/attachme … 9-19-xlsx/

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

4 Reply by jw61 (edited by jw61 2022-11-28 07:37:30)

  • jw61
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

Thanks for the suggestions on new interfaces.

I'm still hoping to get my Fireface 800 working, so I took waedi ' s suggestion to try an older iMac with Firewire.
I got a mid 2011 iMac with a firewire 800 interface running MacOS High Sierra. The Fireface 800 drivers and
firmware update tool installed fine, but ultimately I got the same error message when trying to update the
firmware:  Failed with error D0000000

I still don't know what that error message actually means.

  • ramses
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 76#p184676
https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.ph … 63#p178663

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub13
  • jw61
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

Success!!!

Here is a quick summary of the problem and the solution, as far as I understand it.

The problem was that the flash update tool (FUT) is not up to date with the drivers. So you can not install the most recent driver and then update the firmware. At least, I could not.

Rather than installing the most recent driver that would work on my system, I tried to go back as far as I could and install the oldest driver that would work. On a 2011 iMac running High Sierra 10.13, that I recently got access to, I was able to install the Fireface 800 driver version 2.75. With this driver in place I was able to successfully run the flash update tool without encountering the failure error D0000000 I had before.

Once the firmware was updated, I was able to install the Fireface 800 driver version 3.391.

So, I now have the firmware updated to version 2.77 (the latest), and I have driver version 3.391 installed on both iMacs (my 2017 iMac running Catalina, and the 2011 iMac running High Sierra).  The Fireface 800 seems to be functioning properly on both machines. I have not completed exhaustive testing though.

Moral of the story: go back as early as you can in with the drivers before trying to update the firmware, and don't expect the flash update tool to run with the latest driver version, nor on a MacOS versions later than Mojave.

Hopefully, this will be useful to others.  Thank you for the pointers!

Long live the Fireface 800!!! smile

  • ramses
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

Nice, congrats :-)

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

8 Reply by MC

  • MC
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

Moral of the story would be to update your firmware when it's due. Version 2.77 was released in 2009.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

MC's Website

  • jw61
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

MC wrote:

Moral of the story would be to update your firmware when it's due. Version 2.77 was released in 2009.

Yes, of course!

What I didn't mention earlier was that this Fireface 800 was only recently given to me, so I had to work
with what I was given. The reason its firmware was not updated is because it was sitting in its original box,
unused for well over a decade.

Anyway, it seems to function very well and I'm happy to be able to get some use from it.

  • Registered: 2023-02-02
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Re: Problems with Fireface 800 firmware update from iMac

Thank you so much jw61 !
I follow your advice and I could make it work finally. I'm currently using macOS Catalina 10.15, so I installed high sierra on an external hard drive using a bootable usb device. After that, I rebooted my mac using the external disk and then install the last firmware from there, as you said. It worked perfectly.
Thanx again

jw61 wrote:

Success!!!

Here is a quick summary of the problem and the solution, as far as I understand it.

The problem was that the flash update tool (FUT) is not up to date with the drivers. So you can not install the most recent driver and then update the firmware. At least, I could not.

Rather than installing the most recent driver that would work on my system, I tried to go back as far as I could and install the oldest driver that would work. On a 2011 iMac running High Sierra 10.13, that I recently got access to, I was able to install the Fireface 800 driver version 2.75. With this driver in place I was able to successfully run the flash update tool without encountering the failure error D0000000 I had before.

Once the firmware was updated, I was able to install the Fireface 800 driver version 3.391.

So, I now have the firmware updated to version 2.77 (the latest), and I have driver version 3.391 installed on both iMacs (my 2017 iMac running Catalina, and the 2011 iMac running High Sierra).  The Fireface 800 seems to be functioning properly on both machines. I have not completed exhaustive testing though.

Moral of the story: go back as early as you can in with the drivers before trying to update the firmware, and don't expect the flash update tool to run with the latest driver version, nor on a MacOS versions later than Mojave.

Hopefully, this will be useful to others.  Thank you for the pointers!

Long live the Fireface 800!!! smile