Firewire major problem with brand new system.

[hardminder]

Hi folks. A few months ago, some of you guys helped me realize my first built, and it's been absolutely great. I got my system to work like a charm, installed all my VST's transferred all my licenses, libraries and samples got Cubase 10 to work perfectly.

Before going any further, here are my specs :

OS : Windows 10 Pro 64x
Mobo : Asus Prime X-570P
CPU : AMD Ryzen 7 3800-X
GPU : Nvidia GTX 1050ti Dual fan
Memory : 2x16gb RAM
Storage : 2x1tb M.2
PSU : EVGA 500BQ

I had been doing this while still working on my old system to finish some old projects and start fresh on the new machines. The only thing left to do on my new system was to connect my audio interface (Focusrite Saffire PRO 24) which is firewire. When I was done with my old system, I plugged the PCIe Firewire card
https://www.siig.com/products/it-produc ... -pcie.html
to my new one. There the fun began...

No display, the lights on my Saffire are on, so the power is travelling, the fans on the GPU are on but no display. When I disconnect the firewire card, I get a display. Everything works fine.

I read online that this specific SIIG card has compatibility issues with a lot of other devices/boards, so I went to buy another one, another brand. Found that one on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07C8Z ... UTF8&psc=1

I plugged it in, I have a display, the PC boots normally. I get notifications that the device (Saffire) is ready to use but it doesn't appear in my audio devices. I download Saffire Mix Control 3.7 as you should to setup your interface. I launch the app, it says ''no device connected''. I reboot my machine to see if it might help and there the main issue occurs. The blue screen of death : Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. It restarts 2-3 times like that and then went to the ''Automatic repair'' screen. At that point I chose to unplug the Firewire card and only restart the computer. same thing happened a couple times an then booted normally. I still went to recover windows to a previous version.

I tried doing the same procedure but that time, the blue screen of death appeared as my computer was running, right after I launched Saffire Mix Control and showed ''no device connected''. It went through the same cycles of reboot, blue screen etc. I hard shut the system and unplugged the firewire card. To cut that long story short, it messed all my Master Boot Record and I had to recover a previous version once again but with a booting drive, as I couldn't boot anymore using my boot driver.

So... what's hapening, where is the problem? Should I go and buy 10 more PCIe Firewire cards and hope one works? I just don't know what to do anymore. I made it sound light and comical but I've been pulling my freaking hair out over this for the last 3 days, it's driving me completely mad. Thank you guys for your time. I'll be waiting for your advices.

[Aaaalvis]

All that I remember when I was installing Firewire in my Dell when I first got my Sapphire 24, was that most people found it absolutely essential that the chip in the PCIe card was made by Texas Instruments. So, I got one with that and I've never, ever had any problems with it. I'm running Windows 7 on mine though, 'cause I hate 10.

Not sure if that helps ya'.

[hardminder]

All that I remember when I was installing Firewire in my Dell when I first got my Sapphire 24, was that most people found it absolutely essential that the chip in the PCIe card was made by Texas Instruments. So, I got one with that and I've never, ever had any problems with it. I'm running Windows 7 on mine though, 'cause I hate 10.

Not sure if that helps ya'.

Thanks for you help. In my old system (which was also a Dell) my Saffire was working just fine for several years with my SIIG Firewire card, the same one I first tried in my new system. Windows 10 might be the issue too. I would have liked to stay on 7 but I was advised otherwise for reason I don't exactly remember but they were very valid reasons. New processors won't work with 7 if I remember correctly.

Thanks for your help, I'll look into it but not sure that's what I need.

[CS70]

Hard to debug at a distance, but the behavior you describe points to an hardware issue.

It may also the graphic card, NVIDIA driver bugs result in very odd behavior sometimes. I assume you have the lastest drivers for that.

The graphic card is in the first PCI slot?
Also, is the mb firmware the latest?

Have you checked the BIOS? Maybe PCIe is in RAID mode instead of x86? And single root i/o virtualization off/on?

Something you could try is to temporarily remove the Nvida card and use the integrated graphics instead to see if it makes a difference with the display.

Alternatively it may be worth trying with a different firewire card...

[James Perrett]

Have you seen Focusrite's support page on this subject? Their advice looks very relevant.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... ire-range-

[merlyn]

No display suggests something going wrong on the PCIe bus, which is a motherboard problem.

To rule out possibilities make sure the motherboard has the latest firmware, and that you have the latest motherboard chipset drivers. On new motherboards updating the firmware is easy and safe.

I think it would be possible to recover the hard drive that won't boot with the appropriate utility.

[OneWorld]

I have generally had no issues with firewire at all, and continue to use it - that's no use to you!

As mentioned, stick with a card that uses the Texas Instruments card.

I am a bit confused, is the system working fine until you plug in the Focusrite?

I would feel inclined to get the card installed and making sure it is installed and working correctly by looking at device manager.properties

And then plug in another firewire device if you have one handy - I have a few external firewire HDDs

Whatever you do, do not plug/unplug a firewire device whilst things are powered up

Start the PC and uninstall the Focusrite SOftware (by the the Focusrite software only goes as far as version 3.7 and Focusrite have said they will not be updating it, and it does have a few bugs, Focusrite say "live with it")

Before re-installing look at the instructions to confirm whether the hardware should be plugged in before or after the software is installed

I used to use a cheap as chips card with my Liquid 56 and RME FF800 but updated it when I got UAD hardware which specified one of two firewire cards, Siig being one of them but I bought the other as it had both FF400 and FF800 connectors

If you cannot get it to work I would be inclined to get myself a cheap USB interface for now then shop around for a better alternative, there are lots of reviews on here and good interfaces are getting cheaper all the while

[hardminder]

It may also the graphic card, NVIDIA driver bugs result in very odd behavior sometimes. I assume you have the lastest drivers for that.

Yes I do!

The graphic card is in the first PCI slot?
Also, is the mb firmware the latest?

Yes, the GPU is in the 1st PCI and the board is up to date

Have you checked the BIOS? Maybe PCIe is in RAID mode instead of x86? And single root i/o virtualization off/on?

After reading this I went in my bios and tried to find that for an hour, never found that setting. I looked online, didn't find a thing about changing SR i/o virtualization in my bios and didn't successfully found a way to check if my PCIe is in RAID.

Something you could try is to temporarily remove the Nvida card and use the integrated graphics instead to see if it makes a difference with the display.

Alternatively it may be worth trying with a different firewire card...

The issue is not just about the display anymore as I had success getting a display with another PCIe FW card. I think the first one was simply incompatible with my motherboard. The second seems to have an incompatibility issue with windows 10 or maybe it's just my interface that is incompatible with windows 10 1909.

I don't know, someone linked to a Focusrite page stating that Saffire pro 24 is NOT compatible with windows 10 1903. I read people are using the same Saffire with windows 10 1909 with no issues. I'll reply to the other message, feel free to jump in, thanks a lot.

[hardminder]

Have you seen Focusrite's support page on this subject? Their advice looks very relevant.

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/ ... ire-range-

Thanks a lot for this it's eye opening. It does states on that page that my particular interface (Saffire Pro 24) is incompatible with windows 10 1903.

Saffire firewire range (Pro 14, Pro 24, Pro 24 DSP, Pro 26, Pro 40, LS 56)
Works with Windows 10 1903? No

Saffire FireWire interfaces are no longer under development support, therefore we
recommend that users do not upgrade Windows OS beyond Windows 10 build 1809.

I'm running Windows 10 1909. This may well be the issue but technically they say it doesn't work with 1903, they don't talk about 1909. I've seen people saying they are using it with 1909. What do you think?

[hardminder]

No display suggests something going wrong on the PCIe bus, which is a motherboard problem.

To rule out possibilities make sure the motherboard has the latest firmware, and that you have the latest motherboard chipset drivers. On new motherboards updating the firmware is easy and safe.

First, thank you for your advice. Yes the firmware and chipset are up to date, the system is 1 month old. I'll still make sure it is.

I think it would be possible to recover the hard drive that won't boot with the appropriate utility.

Yes the hard drive was recovered easily enough with a restore point.

[hardminder]

I have generally had no issues with firewire at all, and continue to use it - that's no use to you!

As mentioned, stick with a card that uses the Texas Instruments card.

Yeah I think I will have to get that option a try. I don't know if you seen the link James Perrett posted but it suggests Saffire Pro 24 are incompatible with Windows 10 1903 and to stop updating the OS after 1809. I run 1909 so that might be my problem. On the other hand people claim to use it with 1909 without any issues...but with a TI chipset... so yeah...

I am a bit confused, is the system working fine until you plug in the Focusrite?

To make a long story ''short'', with the first SIIG I would simply not get any display while the card and/or the interface was plugged. But the interface LEDs would be on. With the second card, a pretty cheap generic one, The system seemed to work fine until I ran the Saffire Mix Control Software. I even got a ''device ready to use'' notification (speaking of my interface) but couldn't find the interface in my audio devices. After that I really can't say, the sytem would crash at random points, but a one point again when I opened the Mix Control software.

I would feel inclined to get the card installed and making sure it is installed and working correctly by looking at device manager.properties

And then plug in another firewire device if you have one handy - I have a few external firewire HDDs

I will try to install the card and check in device manager, even if I'm a bit scared by now. I do not have other firewire device to try it with though.

Start the PC and uninstall the Focusrite SOftware (by the the Focusrite software only goes as far as version 3.7 and Focusrite have said they will not be updating it, and it does have a few bugs, Focusrite say "live with it")

Before re-installing look at the instructions to confirm whether the hardware should be plugged in before or after the software is installed

This scares me even more, reinstalling that software, I'll try it still but man I'm not pleased with the idea,

If you cannot get it to work I would be inclined to get myself a cheap USB interface for now then shop around for a better alternative, there are lots of reviews on here and good interfaces are getting cheaper all the while

Yes I guess i'll have to do that if I don't succeed with the other alternatives but that doesn't please me at all. My Saffire is in perfect shape and I like the Focusrite preamps. I already spent 1,3k on that new system, I could have skipped the additional 300$ to replace a fully functional interface.

Thank you for taking the time to help me and to give me those advice. It is greatly appreciated.

[James Perrett]

I'm running Windows 10 1909. This may well be the issue but technically they say it doesn't work with 1903, they don't talk about 1909. I've seen people saying they are using it with 1909. What do you think?

I think your first card has an unsupported TI chip but I don't know what your second card uses. About the only option I can see is for you to buy a card with a supported TI chip and get it working under 1809 before even thinking about updating to anything newer.

I gave up on using my Saffire Pro26io on my Windows 10 laptop and now only use it on my old XP laptop. However I was using a firewire chip that was known to cause problems so I was amazed that it worked at all and I could probably have used a TI based Expresscard interface if I really wanted to make it work.

[hardminder]

I'm running Windows 10 1909. This may well be the issue but technically they say it doesn't work with 1903, they don't talk about 1909. I've seen people saying they are using it with 1909. What do you think?

I think your first card has an unsupported TI chip but I don't know what your second card uses. About the only option I can see is for you to buy a card with a supported TI chip and get it working under 1809 before even thinking about updating to anything newer.

Did you mean 1909 instead of 1809? Because that's the version I run.

[James Perrett]

Did you mean 1909 instead of 1809? Because that's the version I run.

No, I meant 1809 as that's known to work with the Saffire so the only unknown would be whether the Firewire card is supported. This is where taking regular system backups helps as you can go back to a previous version of Windows 10 to test things easily.

The only other alternative would be to use a different Firewire device that is known to work on 1909 like a disk drive or video recorder to check whether the Firewire card is working. The idea is to eliminate the unknowns as much as possible so that you only need to get one thing working at a time.

[hardminder]

Did you mean 1909 instead of 1809? Because that's the version I run.

No, I meant 1809 as that's known to work with the Saffire so the only unknown would be whether the Firewire card is supported. This is where taking regular system backups helps as you can go back to a previous version of Windows 10 to test things easily.

The only other alternative would be to use a different Firewire device that is known to work on 1909 like a disk drive or video recorder to check whether the Firewire card is working. The idea is to eliminate the unknowns as much as possible so that you only need to get one thing working at a time.

Thanks. The problem is that the only windows version that has ever been ran on my system is 1909. It's a brand new build so I can't "go back" to 1809. According to what I read online, my only option would be a clean install and I'm far from even considering that option. I made a clean install a month ago, and everything that follows, to have a fully running Cubase with vsts, libraries, sample banks, pools, licenses, etc. etc.

I ordered a new TI chipset FW card that I read was apparently compatible with 1909 and Saffire Pro 24. It's probably one of my last resorts.

Finger crossed.

[Pete Kaine]

I plugged the PCIe Firewire card
https://www.siig.com/products/it-produc ... -pcie.html
to my new one. There the fun began...

No display, the lights on my Saffire are on, so the power is travelling, the fans on the GPU are on but no display. When I disconnect the firewire card, I get a display. Everything works fine.

I read online that this specific SIIG card has compatibility issues with a lot of other devices/boards, so I went to buy another one, another brand. Found that one on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07C8Z ... UTF8&psc=1

I'm feeling too lazy to trawl through the whole thread, but this should be the answer.

Your original card was based around the XIO2200 chipset which whilst recommended for the longest time, it was replaced about a decade ago by TI and this was before W7 came out, let alone W10.

Microsoft removed support for the XIO2200 chip in W10 a while back and the advice is to find a card with a XIO2213A or XIO2213B varient, which will also be a 3 port card.

The card you bought to test recently seems to be based around the ViA controller and I'm not overly surprised that didn't work, compatability there for audio handling has always been patchy.

[hardminder]

I plugged the PCIe Firewire card
https://www.siig.com/products/it-produc ... -pcie.html
to my new one. There the fun began...

No display, the lights on my Saffire are on, so the power is travelling, the fans on the GPU are on but no display. When I disconnect the firewire card, I get a display. Everything works fine.

I read online that this specific SIIG card has compatibility issues with a lot of other devices/boards, so I went to buy another one, another brand. Found that one on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07C8Z ... UTF8&psc=1

Your original card was based around the XIO2200 chipset which whilst recommended for the longest time, it was replaced about a decade ago by TI and this was before W7 came out, let alone W10.

Microsoft removed support for the XIO2200 chip in W10 a while back and the advice is to find a card with a XIO2213A or XIO2213B varient, which will also be a 3 port card.

I just bought that card. I didn't see your post before ordering it :
https://www.vantecusa.com/products_deta ... ards#tab-2

The chipset is listed as XIO1223B. I see it with my own eyes "XIO1223BZAY". I get the exact same result as I did with my first card : no display on my monitors, no way to tell if the system boots completely. When I unplug the card, everything runs normally.

I purchased a second hand Scarlett 18i6 for 60$ for the moment. My suggestion for anyone with a new W10 system and a Firewire interface would be not to lose your time with it. Get yourself a USB interface. I tried 4 different PCIe firewire cards, including one with the advised chipset, with no sucess.

Thanks to anyone who tried helping but I think firewire interfaces will soon be a thing of the past, sadly, mine was still in perfect working condition.

[Martin Walker]

My suggestion for anyone with a new W10 system and a Firewire interface would be not to lose your time with it. Get yourself a USB interface. I tried 4 different PCIe firewire cards, including one with the advised chipset, with no sucess.

Thanks to anyone who tried helping but I think firewire interfaces will soon be a thing of the past, sadly, mine was still in perfect working condition.

I tend to go along with this advice - to my mind Firewire has long been a source of PC compatibility problems due to Firewire card chipsets, and when I recently bought a new interface I opted for USB.

There may be question marks about USB low latency performance with some audio interfaces, but I bypassed these issues by choosing an RME interface, since their drivers are renowned for their performance.

Martin

[OneWorld]

My suggestion for anyone with a new W10 system and a Firewire interface would be not to lose your time with it. Get yourself a USB interface. I tried 4 different PCIe firewire cards, including one with the advised chipset, with no sucess.

Thanks to anyone who tried helping but I think firewire interfaces will soon be a thing of the past, sadly, mine was still in perfect working condition.

I tend to go along with this advice - to my mind Firewire has long been a source of PC compatibility problems due to Firewire card chipsets, and when I recently bought a new interface I opted for USB.

There may be question marks about USB low latency performance with some audio interfaces, but I bypassed these issues by choosing an RME interface, since their drivers are renowned for their performance.

Martin

I still have a Firewire setup and that remains working even after the latest Win10 update. My firewire card is a Sonnet Technologies Allegro FW800-E PCIe-to-FireWire 800 TI XIO2213 and it works with a Focusrite Liquid 56

However, I sort of get the feeling that Firewire days are numbered. Next interface purchace will be USB3 (if there are any USB3 interfaces about). That said, I also bought into MLAN (dodged a bullet there!) and now of course there is Thunderbolt - when will manufacturers settle on one standard like they did with MIDI, and as far as I know, ethernet can be used which is ubiquitous and can handle sustained transfer of large amounts of data? - doesn't Dante do that?

[tboydva]

Hi all - going to chime in here. I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40. Personally, I've had great success with firewire over the years (DV, scanners, audio interfaces). While USB was buggy and slow and latency-prone, my m-audio (can't recall the model) always worked like a charm. Anyway, I upgraded - maybe in December - to the latest Win10 (greater than 1809). I too now have problems. I've tried two separate firewire cards - both with the TI chipset. Works OK after a reboot but eventually, the communication will cease between the card and device (audio interface or scanner). On occasion, the system will lock up bad - then it turns black with the fans maxed out until shut down manually. No core dump. I wasn't aware that Focusrite warned about upgrading past 1809. Now I have to determine if I "go back." From my reading around the web, this seems to be a windows issue - not hardware. My hardware worked fine on 1809, then I wiped and reinstalled 1903 and firewire started acting buggy... Really sucks!