Topic: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Hi,

I write this post as a last resort from days and days of research, trial and error.

I have been the happy owner of a fireface 400 (firewire) for a number of years and have been using it connected to an ASUS laptop (with built in firewire adapter).  Recently my ASUS laptop expired and I purchased a new Toshiba Satellite A660.  I was looking for a laptop with a built in firewire interface but they are hard to find these days. Nevertheless the Toshiba had an expresscard slot so I looked up the various forums and as a result got a StarTech 2 Port Firewire ExpressCard. I plugged the expresscard in downloaded the latest fireface drivers (v3.033) and plugged in the fireface.  The result being that I can control the fireface with the mixer/matrix but I am unable to play or record any sound.  There is no signal registered in the mixer at all.  I test by playing audio through WIndows Media Player and Reaper...nothing.  The fireface audio devices are all visible and Windows informs me that all is ok........

I have:
- bought another expresscard tried it, no difference
- changed cables, no difference
- changed the 1394a windows drivers, no difference
- used both bus powered and external power options, no difference
- disabled various built in devices on the laptop, no difference
- explored/changed powersaving options, no difference
- pulled my remaining hair out, no difference smile

I have exhausted all avenues I know of.

Is there something else I should be looking at.  I am getting very frustrated.  I love my Fireface and don't wish it to be redundant.

Any advice is most welcome.

2

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

You might have accidentially switched the unit into Mac mode (AP when booting shown on the front).

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Thanks Matthias for your prompt response.  I do not know how to set/check "Mac mode".  I have a firewire model and I can only see reference to this mode on the UC model, please correct me if I am wrong.

I donwloaded and installed the latest drivers (3.034).  No difference was made except that now when I play audio I sometimes just get a piercing solid tone.

Thanks again for your feedback.

4

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Ouch...of course, FF400 does not have a Mac mode. I see only one way to clear this: try the FF 400 at a different computer. It can be that it just broke this moment. But it can also be that the laptop is a complete loser...

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Well at first I couldn't believe that you were right about my "complete loser" new high spec'd laptop, so I took my setup down to the RME distributers/support techs and they spent a solid couple of hours throwing everything at it.  We were able to ascertain that the laptop architecture just did not support the Expresscard/Firewire interface to the extent that was required for good audio processing. We even plugged in a USB version of FF400, and that annoyingly work very well. So it comes down ultimately to an incompatible laptop.  I was told that laptops like HP and Toshiba were renowned for these sort of problems (due to their proprietary nature), whereas laptops such as ACER and ASUS use desktop style components and as such gave much better results.

Unfortunately this is an expensive lesson.  I wish that the FF400 wasn't such a good product otherwise I would replace it with a USB device. Oh well some decisons to be made now (more money to be spent I suspect)

Hopefully this helps others.

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

You could privately sell the 400 and get the FF UC... That might be less expensive than a new laptop.

Else, "no signal registered in the mixer at all" is a bit unusual. With an ill-performing laptop, you'd expect dropouts and such, but not this... What kind of tests did you perform (presumably with the help of Innovative Music)? Did you test the FF with another computer?

Do the mixer's input meters show the AD self noise at least?

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

Yes it was the Innovative Music guys. They tested my unit on another computer and it ran fine. Other testing included using different output ports,  Samplitude (changing various ASIO settings) and DPC Latency Checker. Nvidia drivers, network devices, other sound devices were removed/disabled, all having no positive effect.  However on a number of occassions (not every) a solid, piercing tone was emited when audio was sent to the FF, otherwise there was nothing at all..

The DPC checker showed OK (green bars) latency ~250us, but on a couple of occassions showed a red spike.

Re: Fireface 400/Toshiba Laptop/Windows 7 x64 Home Premium

I gave up and went and bought the new Babyface. Plugged it into the new laptop and it works a treat, nice unit, great new TotalMix FX software. So for now I will be distracted from firewire issues playing with my new toy.