• Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Topic: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hello,

Sorry to bother you with another one of these posts.  I have went through and read the entire forum, gearslutz and many other sites regarding this problem and have tried literally everything.

About one month ago, I upgraded to windows 7 64 from Vista 64.  Ever since this "upgrade", I have been experiencing major audio drops and frequent BSOD. I had this problem originally on windows vista 64 but simply downloading powermizer and using it fixed all my problems. That was 2 years ago... well that trick doesn't work now. I have updated BIOS, I have ran latency checkers and disabled wireless cards and other possible culprits, changed power settings to the suggested ones, downloaded rivatuner and followed directions on what to do... the list goes on and on... now I want to smash the computer against the wall and just stop recording completely so I can be a sane person smile.

All these things seemed to help slightly but no major improvement.  BSOD really only happens when the fireface 400 is connected through my T1 Chipset card.  It seems that everything runs smoothly and then all of a sudden spikes hit for a few seconds and everything calms down again. However, very minimal dropouts happen when audio is played through the built in soundcard and no BSOD. I plugged in my old harddrive and started up windows vista and plugged in the Fireface 400 and although latency spikes were shown on LatencyMon etc... it runs without a single dropout or BSOD. Switch back to windows 7 and hell returns.  The only thing I have upgraded in hardware since switching to Windows 7 is that I bought a bigger hard drive that is 5600 RPM where the old one was 7200 RPM but very small... Hmmm???

I am running a laptop and yes it's fast enough, has plenty of ram. It's jacked up. I know most laptops aren't built to cater towards mobile recording like I do but it is just really frustrating how switching to a new windows just screws everything up when it comes to audio recording. Other then that, it is much faster then windows vista!

Cut me some slack for posting such a similar topic but it's my last resort. If there is nothing I can do about it, well at least let me know!!!

Thanks,

Felix

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hi Felix,
Sorry to hear about this. Was this a in place upgrade or a fresh Windows 7 install?
What are the specs on your Laptop, i.e. brand and model?
It is especially to know what video card, network adapters, firewire, card reader and ESATA chip-sets are being used. These can all potentially be the source of these issues on a laptop.
Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Please run DPC Latency Checker and post the results as a screenshot.

Furthermore make sure that you are using the "High Performance" Windows power-profile instead of the default "Balanced" one.

  • Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

Today I disabled the Wireless Network card and skipped the External Firewire card and plugged in directly via the on noard Ricoh 1394 and I recorded without latency so that was nice. However, I felt like on Vista I was able to use more power (i.e more powerful plugins) without some kind of slight slow downbut this isn't a huge deal. I haven't had this much success for a couple of weeks... Anyway, I still think it can be better.

Chris,

It was a fresh Windows 7 install on a new empty harddrive.

The computer is Lenovo Thinkpad T61p (about 3 or more years old).

Intel Core Duo 2 T8300 @ 2.40 GHZ
4 Gigs of Ram
Nvidia Quadro FX 570m
11 a/b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express

I have a Lacie Firewire 800 PC Firecard that shows up as Texas Instruments in Device manager. That is external and is placed in the smart card reader. Also it has a built in Ricoh 1394 Firewire. I believe the Card reader is also Ricoh but I am not sure what you want exactly. Where exactly do I find the ESATA Cipset in Device Manager?

Timur,

I have actually read most of your posts about these issues in the past so one of the first things I ever did was set "High Performance" as my Windows power-profile.

Two images posted. First one is without using the external firewire card and the 2nd is using it. You can see quite a difference. Also, I only experience BSOD when the FW card is plugged in! However, it works fine on Vista! Strange!


https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/dubcaravandownloads/DPC+Latency+no+FF400.jpg
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/dubcaravandownloads/DPC+Latency+W+FF400.jpg

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hi Felix,

What other tweaks have you done to the Win 7 install other than setting the Power Scheme to "High performance"?
The screen shots look like Win 7 has been altered quite a bit from it's defaults.

The things I'm most suspicious of causing this are the video card or one of the networks controllers.
You system is too old to have an ESATA port so can rule that out.

Are you using the drivers from Lenovo's web site, built in Win 7 or current ones from the chip manufacturers.?

The easiest way yo test which device might be causing this is to disable devices one at a time in Device Manager while running DPC Latency checker and see if there is any change to the spikes. Make sure you do no have any external devices plugged including the FF800 and express card when testing.
It is best to do this from a fresh boot of Windows.
If you get a big red line after turning off a device simply close and re-open DPC latency Checker.
If things to clear up after disabling a device it is a good idea to let DPC run for a good hour or so. There can also be more spikes alt longer intervals that you might miss.

The devices I would test disabling are the following.
1. Video card (Disabling this will load the generic Standard VGA driver. You can change your resolution higher once you disable it.)
2. Wireless network
3. Bluetooth
4. Wired Network.

You should also check in your BIOs to see if there is a Intel Speed Step option listed. If it is on try disabling it or visa verse.


Thanks Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hi Chris,

As far as I know or at least remember off the top of my head is I have switched the view to classic windows.

As far as the drivers, I bought a brand new copy of Win 7 64 and installed it from scratch.  When updating drivers, I just went through the device manager and windows downloaded new drivers and updated them (supposedly).

Several days ago I disabled the video card and there was no improvement or major change in spikes (with the external FW card). I don't have bluetooth. I also have disabled wireless network which does improve performance.  Wired Network is always disabled. Once again, the built in firewire chip seems to work much better then the external FW Lacie card (in Windows 7).  Now if I am using the built in firewire connection, no audio dropouts if wireless network is disabled but if it is enabled they start again. It's a different story with the Lacie Card... all hell breaks loose BUT in vista, with the external card, I could literally surf the net and record several tracks at once (in theory) and there would be no dropout or latency whatsoever. It was a great setup from a recording perspective.

Thanks.

Felix

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hi Felix,
What model is the wireless adapter?

The latest video driver for the Lenovo T61P for Windows 7 64 bit is this one.
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc … d803ww.exe

Like many other laptop manufacturers they may have customized the driver.
Usually these customization have to to do with Power management.
It is worth trying this driver even though it may be older.
You will need to totally uninstall the current Nvidia driver from Programs and Features.

Have you tried disabling the card reader?

Do you have any of Lenovo's utility software running?

Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hey Chris,

The Model for the wireless adapter is 11/a/b/g.  I just downloaded the latest drivers from Lenovo but I don't think that made a big improvement.

The good news is I downloaded the latest video drivers you sent me and they seem to have made a great improvement. I overlooked the part about uninstalling the current drivers but it didn't seem to be a problem for me, at least not yet.

When the wireless Adapter is off, latency with the Lacie FW Card and with the Ricoh built in 1394 seem to average from as low as 125us - 200. I also disabled the Ricoh Picture Card Controller and it seemed to shave off an average of 20us.  As soon I enable the wireless adapter, the spikes return and are quite constant. However, that is not a big deal. I do not need the internet to record.

It's late here in Europe so I haven't had a real chance to test both the FW Card and the Ricoh 1394 while recording.  I will let you know if there are any problems tomorrow.

But so far, it looks promising. Many Thanks for the help.

Felix

9 Reply by Timur Born (edited by Timur 2011-09-14 08:15:01)

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

What vendor is the wireless from (Atheros, Broadcom) and what product name does Device Manager show (likely some number)?

  • Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Timur,

The Vendor is Atheros.

In Device Manager it shows up as 11a/b/g wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adaptor.

Best,

Felix

  • Registered: 2008-01-01
  • Posts: 3,025

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

You might have luck getting better drivers (even when they are older) via Microsoft Update Catalog (needs IE to access). I ran "older" got DPC latency free Broadcom drivers there over a year before any "official" driver fixed these issues.

  • From: Connecticut, USA
  • Registered: 2011-08-01
  • Posts: 376

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hi Felix,
Not sure if you are doing so already but you might want to try running the FW port in Legacy mode.At least the one you have the FF800 plugged into.

Chris

Chris Ludwig
North East USA Sales | Synthax/RME
www.facebook.com/RMEAmericas
Twitter @RMEAmericas

ChrisLudwig's Website

  • Registered: 2011-09-13
  • Posts: 7

Re: Another BSOD/Latency/Audio Drop outs in Windows 7 64 FF400

Hey,

Chris,

I tried running FW port in Legacy mode but did not seem to make a big difference.

Timur,

I will try that. Thanks.

I had a long recording session today and had no problems.  However, when I turned the wireless again, I got a BSOD when trying to play a regular mp3! Oh well...

Felix