It just won't stop

[mikeyr4444]

That is, my soundcard dropping out and being a problem.

Ok, so hopefully this is detailed enough...

I have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 26 i/o, with the power supply.
I have a Dell Inspiron, and an express firewire card with a ti chipset.
My Focusrite behaves badly:
Drops monitoring, but keeps recording.
Won't let me change sample rates without the "firewire connection lost" message.
Does not seem to work better regardless of latency rate.

Focusrite has the recommendation page, and I found a program that checks latency. My wireless card causes some peaks, but the Saffire didn't perform any better with it disabled.

If I don't get the mixer I'm interested in and I can't get help the saffire may be up for sale soon...

[Insomniaclown]

All I can tell you is that when I went in to buy a new interface, the salesman steered me clear of the saffire because of some serious compatability issues with the drivers. I would have thought they would have sorted out all of that by now. Silly question, but do you have the latest drivers?

I remember reading something about the Ti chipset causing issues, but I think that was the Presonus firestudio.

[mikeyr4444]

I actually removed the software and re-installed it to make sure it was not a software issue (that I'm aware of) a little while ago, so I should have the latest drivers.
Focusrite strongly recommends the ti chipsets, and after getting my card I was able to switch to 88.2.
Unfortunately, I can't switch between sample rates without having to restart my computer. And crossing my fingers.

[mikeyr4444]

Is there any tech support in the US from focusrite?

[Shadow_7]

TI is actually quite respected (these days) in terms of functional and supported in Linux. Although that doesn't mean that it's not incompatible with other devices. In Linux you generally want to disable network stuff (in lew of actually giving realtime priority) while recording audio.

It could be that your express port is hardwired to the USB bus and therefor does NOT have the resources it should otherwise have if it was hardwired to the PCI bus like it's supposed to be. Only two real solutions in that case, different laptop, or different interface. Otherwise disabling / crippling competing resources might help in the short term. Like your network connections and other unused peripherals. Most of those tiny icons in the task bar are doing little more than hogging ram / cpu cycles most of the time.

HTH

[jproc]

What model Inspiron?
I assume you are talking about a laptop? What OS?

I had HUGE problems with my Dell Inspiron 1525 (Vista) w/built-in Ricoh-chipset firewire until I updated both the BIOS, and the firewire chipset drivers..
The Ricoh chipset controls the CARD SLOT ALSO, so even if you are using another firewire card you may still be subject to issues with the onboard firewire chipset!

After updating both, I havent had any issues at all with my AudioFire12 interface.

[mikeyr4444]

Originally Posted by jproc

What model Inspiron?
I assume you are talking about a laptop? What OS?

I had HUGE problems with my Dell Inspiron 1525 (Vista) w/built-in Ricoh-chipset firewire until I updated both the BIOS, and the firewire chipset drivers..
The Ricoh chipset controls the CARD SLOT ALSO, so even if you are using another firewire card you may still be subject to issues with the onboard firewire chipset!

After updating both, I havent had any issues at all with my AudioFire12 interface.

If you have the core 2 duo we have the same laptop. I was suggested to remove the onboard firewire drivers when I added the pci card then add them back on after. The drivers are the most current. How do you update the BIOS?

The IRQ is the same with the onboard as well as the express, I was told earlier that this could cause conflict if other devices had the same IRQ also (which they do).

[mikeyr4444]

Originally Posted by Shadow_7

TI is actually quite respected (these days) in terms of functional and supported in Linux. Although that doesn't mean that it's not incompatible with other devices. In Linux you generally want to disable network stuff (in lew of actually giving realtime priority) while recording audio.

It could be that your express port is hardwired to the USB bus and therefor does NOT have the resources it should otherwise have if it was hardwired to the PCI bus like it's supposed to be. Only two real solutions in that case, different laptop, or different interface. Otherwise disabling / crippling competing resources might help in the short term. Like your network connections and other unused peripherals. Most of those tiny icons in the task bar are doing little more than hogging ram / cpu cycles most of the time.

HTH

I missed this, I think you're right. So, the interface is working fine, but will not work fine with my computer.

My I/O options are now different (got a soundcraft 200 series on the way) so having the preamps is no longer required. I was looking into the echo soundcards, any comments or knowledge if I'd have connectivity problems?

[mikeyr4444]

By the way, anyone want to buy a focusrite saffire?

Works awesome, except with my computer.

[jproc]

I have the core2 duo model 1525 Inspiron... we probably have the exact same model.

Go to the Dell.com site and find/download the latest BIOS update.
Mine came with Revision A13 only a few months ago, but the latest is A16.
(you can tell when the machine boots up what version you have)
Just download the A16 executable, and you can run it right from windows...
(Be careful not to intterrupt it or shut off you computer while updating the BIOS, beacuse that could be very very bad....)

Also, download the Ricoh Chipset updates. The Ricoh chipset controls the firewire port, and all of the card slots (the little sd slot on the front and the express slot on the right side)

Double check your model number, as the link to dell I'm putting in here is specific to the Inspiron 1525:
Drivers & Downloads

[mikeyr4444]

Originally Posted by jproc

I have the core2 duo model 1525 Inspiron... we probably have the exact same model.

Go to the Dell.com site and find/download the latest BIOS update.
Mine came with Revision A13 only a few months ago, but the latest is A16.
(you can tell when the machine boots up what version you have)
Just download the A16 executable, and you can run it right from windows...
(Be careful not to intterrupt it or shut off you computer while updating the BIOS, beacuse that could be very very bad....)

Also, download the Ricoh Chipset updates. The Ricoh chipset controls the firewire port, and all of the card slots (the little sd slot on the front and the express slot on the right side)

Double check your model number, as the link to dell I'm putting in here is specific to the Inspiron 1525:
Drivers & Downloads

I was just looking into selling the dell and buying a mac, I'll have to check to see if the BIOS upgrade makes a significant difference.

Best Buy had the 1525 core 2 on sale for $600 when I bought mine, because it was black and they had an overstock of them in the color.

[jproc]

e... got mine on sale at best buy for $600 too...

With the bios update & chipset update, mine has been rock solid running Cubase SX on Vista w/ Echo Audiofire 12 firewire interface

[mikeyr4444]

Originally Posted by jproc

e... got mine on sale at best buy for $600 too...

With the bios update & chipset update, mine has been rock solid running Cubase SX on Vista w/ Echo Audiofire 12 firewire interface

I was just thinking about getting an audofire for my board and just using the saffire for on location stuff...

We must be running on the same theta waves or something