# of devices permitted in xp?/definitive answer?

[deanmass]

I think each hardware devices requires an IRQ, either individually, or proxied so to speak via the PCI steering portion. Like I said, this is a total speculative stretch on my part based on all the irq weirdness I remmebering having with early PC's (which is what sent me to the MAC SE, but I dgress on that), but I thought offering it might send you off in a productive direction while searching for the prob.

I found this link that looks interesting and may pertain directly to your prob;

http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html
I am really interested in hearing what the final solution is if you find one.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by deanmass I think each hardware devices requires an IRQ, either individually, or proxied so to speak via the PCI steering portion. Like I said, this is a total speculative stretch on my part based on all the irq weirdness I remmebering having with early PC's (which is what sent me to the MAC SE, but I dgress on that), but I thought offering it might send you off in a productive direction while searching for the prob. I found this link that looks interesting and may pertain directly to your prob; http://www.audioforums.com/resources/windows-xp-optimization.html I am really interested in hearing what the final solution is if you find one.

 

 

I've already encountered this one. I just don't think that this is it. I went through it and checked out the IRQ's, and I just didn't see each individual midi port taking an IRQ. This really seems to be an issue with total number of ports, with both the audio ports and the midi ports being counted. I might be wrong, but if it is some esoteric IRQ issue, I think I'm in over my head.

 

My computer does only have one pci slot, and contains a scsi controller. Obviously the card cannot be moved to another slot.

 

I'm hoping at some point to find someone who is specifically familiar with the 32 device limit spoken of in EM and SOS, and who might have some insight into how exactly it works. I can't imagine that this information was false, and of all the things that I've read, seems to most exactly apply to what I'm encountering.

[EnemyofSilence]

Try this thread on the cakewalk forums - see the part about ghosted usb drivers.

 

missing devices

 

Are these all usb interfaces? Are you running off a hub?

 

 

It may also be Motu related. Have you contacted them? I've found that running multiple midi devices can get screwy, especially with USB when they're running individual driver instances.

 

I went thru hell with midiman/m-audio years ago trying to get their midisport line to coexist (2x2 + 4x4 + 8x8 or any combo of those), which I finally bailed on. I ended up going with emagic interfaces which connect to each other and use a single driver instance. I have no problem running a Unitor 8Mk2 + three AMT-8's off my laptop. And that's in combination with a Motu 828 + 828Mk2 audio rig.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by EnemyofSilence Try this thread on the cakewalk forums - see the part about ghosted usb drivers. missing devices Are these all usb interfaces? Are you running off a hub? It may also be Motu related. Have you contacted them? I've found that running multiple midi devices can get screwy, especially with USB when they're running individual driver instances. I went thru hell with midiman/m-audio years ago trying to get their midisport line to coexist (2x2 + 4x4 + 8x8 or any combo of those), which I finally bailed on. I ended up going with emagic interfaces which connect to each other and use a single driver instance. I have no problem running a Unitor 8Mk2 + three AMT-8's off my laptop. And that's in combination with a Motu 828 + 828Mk2 audio rig.

 

 

Well, the motu interfaces do share one driver, but you have given me hope. If you are running those 4 midi interfaces, and also those audio cards, then obviously you exceed the number of ports that I am trying to use simultaneously! So the answer would seem to lie elsewhere, or I am being misdirected.

 

Just glanced at that Cakewalk post - This seems to EXACTLY describe the problem. however I've been through the show nonpresent devices = 1 and show hidden devices routine. I didn't see anything. but it's worth trying this again....But NO - these are not all usb devices - the Fireface is a firewire device - and when I have it installed, I lose ports from the motu interfaces. So it has struck me all along that this isn't strictly a usb issue, or strictly a driver issue. But I'll try anything twice...

 

I should call motu. I just had a recent rather abysmal experience with their tech support, so I've been dreading trying to gain any insight from them.

[deanmass]

Well, you could email them this thread and hey would gain geek points by nailing this problem down...

Craig, weren't there certain serial port controller chips that were limited/throttled in the day?

I really think this is an issue with Windows not being able to allocate a variable (IRQ/Driver/etc), call it what you like, but I am dying to find out now. I spent the last hour digging just out of curisosity.

I also think the USB thing mentioned earlier is not an issue ( for future probs) cause there is a 128 device limit, poviding you have enouhg power (bus or external) I dug around on tech net developer stuff too, and found nothign stating there was a limitation. PLEASE let us know what you find out if you do.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by deanmass Well, you could email them this thread and hey would gain geek points by nailing this problem down... Craig, weren't there certain serial port controller chips that were limited/throttled in the day? I really think this is an issue with Windows not being able to allocate a variable (IRQ/Driver/etc), call it what you like, but I am dying to find out now. I spent the last hour digging just out of curisosity. I also think the USB thing mentioned earlier is not an issue ( for future probs) cause there is a 128 device limit, poviding you have enouhg power (bus or external) I dug around on tech net developer stuff too, and found nothign stating there was a limitation. PLEASE let us know what you find out if you do.

 

 

Well - I know it's not purely a usb issue because when I have the firewire RME audio interface installed, I lose midi ports.

 

I also noticed that when I reinstalled a driver for Realtek High Definition Audio - (not sure exactly what that is, but one program seemed to need it) - I lost one midi port. Thus far also it seems to be affecting midi out ports, but not midi in ports. Which might suggest that they are all somehow separate devices and totalled? At this point I'm just hoping to get a new pc in the winter sometime, and all of this will just go away. This is really a cheap {censored} Emachines model, so maybe somehow the problem is the computer? Though I'm not sure how...I'm looking for a scapegoat.

[Anderton]

>

 

I'm not a fan of Emachines, but the Realtek thing is a clue: You have onboard audio and MIDI, I'd bet, and they're fighting with the outboard stuff. Same thing happened with video in my daughter's computer -- it's a Compaq with built-in video, and when I installed a real graphics card, the computer wouldn't even boot until I disabled the built-in video.

 

Disable ALL the built-in audio and MIDI stuff that's built into your motherboard and see what happens.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by Anderton > I'm not a fan of Emachines, but the Realtek thing is a clue: You have onboard audio and MIDI, I'd bet, and they're fighting with the outboard stuff. Same thing happened with video in my daughter's computer -- it's a Compaq with built-in video, and when I installed a real graphics card, the computer wouldn't even boot until I disabled the built-in video. Disable ALL the built-in audio and MIDI stuff that's built into your motherboard and see what happens.

 

 

Well, these things I know...

I know if I disable the realtek audio, I"ll gain another midi port. That was the only thing that I felt safe disabling (not that confident disabling things left and right yet). And even that caused one application to have an issue a couple of days later, and it took awhile to figure out what needed to be reinstalled. Probably because I didn't know quite how to set things up so that it worked with the realtek disabled.

 

But even disabling the realtek would leave me short. I didn't see any built in midi that I could disable. (I can look again, but I'm pretty sure that everything is disabled that I can safely disable. I'm also pretty sure that I'm playing it a little conservative, since I"m not as confident with windows as I used to be on a mac).

 

But I also know that I plan to upgrade the computer. It's relatively fast (3.06 p4), but I had basically bought it on a whim to do other stuff, then found out that it was faster than my mac, and that there was more software that I liked on the mac than on the pc. I had never intended it to be my music computer...

 

So, I am now thinking that I will definitely upgrade to another windows machine in a couple of months, and that it will probably fix this issue, and that I will probably leave this computer behind without being fully certain what exactly the issue was. I just start getting nervous disabling stuff right and left because I'm never quite sure what will happen, and whether I will be able to get everything back easily. I've been troubleshooting this stuff so much of late that I"m just plain sick of it. maybe in a couple of weeks I'll try again, but nothing I try seems to have any dramatic effect. I tried disabling a lot of those 'phantom' usb devices as recommended a few posts earlier, and that didn't help at all. I started getting nervous after deleting about 20 of them...

[Anderton]

>

 

Two words: System Restore. It's saved my butt many times when I decided to do some "experimenting."

 

20 phantom USB ports?!!?? Uh-oh...

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by Anderton > Two words: System Restore. It's saved my butt many times when I decided to do some "experimenting." 20 phantom USB ports?!!?? Uh-oh...

 

 

hah - well there are plenty more. Tons and tons of them when I enable the 'hidden devices' parameter. But few of them have revealing titles - I started getting nervous that I'd disable one too many. But then again, I am typing this message with utter impunity! So, the computer still works.

 

hmmm - I"ll have to enable the system restore again - some recommendations for optimizing your computer for audio say to disable that. But it still makes me nervous. Well - you're right. anything that I need to restore I should be able to find a driver for. I'm probably just burnt out on troubleshooting this issue and getting nowhere right now. Get a couple of drinks in me this weekend, and I'll probably give it another go.

 

But some of my diminishing desperation is my decision to upgrade the computer when I get that bonus $ in a couple of months.

[deanmass]

Not an eMachines fan here either. They are fine for browsing, stuff, but not anything stability intensive.

What you may want to consider, since you are looking at upgrading anyhow, is pulling the hardware out (CDBurner/HD/interfaces/P4/RAM and getting a better motherboard and generic tower chassis and turn it into a clone, but using the parts that are re-usable. That takes the lame Machine Mobo out of the loop. If you looked hard, I'd be willing to be you coudl do it for under $200 since yuo have a good processor and ram already. You would really only need a Motherboard and case.

I have about 6 eMachines at work as secretary workstations. they are OK, but when SP2 came out, the video blew up, adn we had to dig and scramble to get it back to live again. In your case, moving stuff off that motherboard makes a lot of sense to me.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by deanmass Not an eMachines fan here either. They are fine for browsing, stuff, but not anything stability intensive. What you may want to consider, since you are looking at upgrading anyhow, is pulling the hardware out (CDBurner/HD/interfaces/P4/RAM and getting a better motherboard and generic tower chassis and turn it into a clone, but using the parts that are re-usable. That takes the lame Machine Mobo out of the loop. If you looked hard, I'd be willing to be you coudl do it for under $200 since yuo have a good processor and ram already. You would really only need a Motherboard and case. I have about 6 eMachines at work as secretary workstations. they are OK, but when SP2 came out, the video blew up, adn we had to dig and scramble to get it back to live again. In your case, moving stuff off that motherboard makes a lot of sense to me.

 

 

Well, I am not really a 'hands on' hardware kind of guy, and I'd look to getting a dual processor computer this time around. As far as having problems with this computer - this is really the only problem I've had, and I'm still not totally convinced it's the computer. I finally got a substantive email from RME, and they said that the fireface interface uses 15 wdm devices (including the 1 for the midi port). When I add in the midi interface ports, and the internal audio device, I'm really right around that 32 mark.

 

Perhaps that's a coincidence...

[AudioMaverick]

Hey, DroolMaster...

I've been away from the forums for a while. I scanned through this thread, and didn't see you reference what your resources look like. Did you check your system resources to see if some of the MIDI devices are sharing anything?

I'd like to see what "System Information" reports under the *Hardware Resources*. Particularly, I/O Resource overlaps. Ports might be another place to check. But, I don't think that is it.

If you a have a single multi-device card, it should take only one IRQ and manage its internal resources. But, each device needs a unique software address to report under for real-time I/O.

Craig's comment about a 32-device limit sounds legit. I will scan the Microsoft site, tonight, just to satisfy my own curiosity.

By the way WDM (Windows Dynamic Management) drivers are designed to remove themselves from memory at Windows discretion. If not properly written to tell Windows to leave them alone, ASIO might be a better way to go. It doesn't sound like your situation, but just a note.

In case I get called away, again... good luck!

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by AudioMaverick Hey, DroolMaster... I've been away from the forums for a while. I scanned through this thread, and didn't see you reference what your resources look like. Did you check your system resources to see if some of the MIDI devices are sharing anything? I'd like to see what "System Information" reports under the *Hardware Resources*. Particularly, I/O Resource overlaps. Ports might be another place to check. But, I don't think that is it. If you a have a single multi-device card, it should take only one IRQ and manage its internal resources. But, each device needs a unique software address to report under for real-time I/O. Craig's comment about a 32-device limit sounds legit. I will scan the Microsoft site, tonight, just to satisfy my own curiosity. By the way WDM (Windows Dynamic Management) drivers are designed to remove themselves from memory at Windows discretion. If not properly written to tell Windows to leave them alone, ASIO might be a better way to go. It doesn't sound like your situation, but just a note. In case I get called away, again... good luck!

 

 

I'm a bit over my head with this stuff - I'll look into the hardware resources you mention above - where do I find this listing (sounds vaguely familiar). I use asio in most software, however the audio interface still affects how many midi ports show up. Does this mean that it ISN'T a wdm issue? I just don't have the experience with windows on this level to really know what I'm looking for at this point.

[joel Oporto]

You are encountering a Windows XP SP2 problem with firewire protocols which has not been resolved. Apparently certain firewire chips are not compatible with the Motu and RME which may be in your case, if you go back to SP1 I believe your problem will go away. You should also post your mobo, PSU specs as chipset brands and types are indeed sensitive to hardwares installed and overall voltages consumed.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by joel Oporto You are encountering a Windows XP SP2 problem with firewire protocols which has not been resolved. Apparently certain firewire chips are not compatible with the Motu and RME which may be in your case, if you go back to SP1 I believe your problem will go away. You should also post your mobo, PSU specs as chipset brands and types are indeed sensitive to hardwares installed and overall voltages consumed.

 

 

hmmm - let me see if I understand you - the firewire chip would be in the computer itself (sorry - just learning here - don't know if that's a dumb question)? So you're saying that the computer itself is 'allergic' to the motu and RME combination? Which might explain why the problem is remedied when I uninstall the RME?

 

Well, I do intend to upgrade the computer within a couple of months - if this is a computer specific issue, then I would be more confident that it will disappear. Do you have anywhere where this issue is documented so I can read a bit more about it?

[joel Oporto]

Motu tech help will not recommend SP2 for those reasons. They will recommend using SP1. Check out some of the motu forums at yahoo. Some people were successful with sp2 while some where not.

I have not encountered a device limit with my combination of: midisport 4x4, steinberg USB to Midi 2x2, motu 828, delta 1010LT, Gadgetlabs 496 with 2x2 midi, Audigy 2, cmi audio onboard soundcard, with roland mpu 401, sonic foundry virtual midi router, lan card, via firewire pci, 3 seagate barracuda HD, 1 lite-on DVD writer.

That is an input track count of : 18 midi inputs + 4 virtual, 28 audio inputs or 46 devices all available using Asio4all drivers. Using Motu asio will not show the other devices, as does gadgetlabs asio, creative asio, etc. WDM will show all devices but the latencies were pathetic and useless.

As a device count, the 46 devices does not even include the 3 HD, dvd writer, the lan card, firewire card.

In case you are wondering, I had readily connected midi devices, a roland XP80, korg Trinity, roland GR-1, roland S-50, korg M3R, korg M1R, roland D110, roland R8 with 10 individual outs, SC 88pro. I reduced these 2 years ago when my worked shifted more to audio recording and I found out that however much I tweaked my midi mixing, I could not achieve the same quality as recording individual tracks to audio and then mixing it. So now I am down to a midisport 4x4, roland XP80, korg trinity,

Roland GR-1, while all the rest has been replaced by virtual synths and audio samples, which are way much better sounding. I hook some of them however from time to time depending on a project. For audio I now use only the delta 1010LT and gadgetlabs with the 828 off to a buddy of mine for his laptop because it does not run properly on my sp2.

I've been doing midi since 1991 with a dos-based app called voyetra SP gold ( using an ISA 4x4 midi card) and had gone (on the PC side) through dos, win 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME, win2k, and XP and now XPSP2. Its pretty much a voodoo art with windows, where some devices will work properly with others while some wont. When the motu 1204 came out, I set up my buddys' rig with it and it worked great, but when I tried to set it up on my P3v4x pentium 3, I couldn't get it to work. I found out later that Motu had problems with via chipsets on some mobos and was remedied by some bios updates.

 

I did encounter a device limit way way back with win95 or was it win 98, cant really remember the details. Only then I was still using my old (1989) V24sm voyetra ISA midi interface with the steinberg usb2midi which curiously was not emulated like the steinberg and midisport.

 

I tell you it will pay to simplify your setup and just go back to enjoying the creation of music.

I now do all my sequencing using my roland XP sounds or trinity and then when I record to audio, I substitute sounds with virtual synths, samples and sometimes my other midi modules and synths. For that type of work, all I needed was one audio interface sometimes even just a stereo soundcard. The only 2 reasons I believe you need more I/O is that you record bands or ensembles, or you mix/extract outboard, (gigasampler on a dedicated PC) which is better only if you have better outboard gear than your plugins. But for a midi setup? 1 4x4 midi and 1 10x10 audio is enough.

Thats what I did with my setup, the motu 828 and steinberg 2x2 midi went to the laptop and the desktop was left with an old gadgetlabs 496(which I plan to retire) and 1010LT, the midisport 4x4 and tons of samples and virtual synths.

 

Simplify and enjoy !!

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by joel Oporto Motu tech help will not recommend SP2 for those reasons. They will recommend using SP1. Check out some of the motu forums at yahoo. Some people were successful with sp2 while some where not. I have not encountered a device limit with my combination of: midisport 4x4, steinberg USB to Midi 2x2, motu 828, delta 1010LT, Gadgetlabs 496 with 2x2 midi, Audigy 2, cmi audio onboard soundcard, with roland mpu 401, sonic foundry virtual midi router, lan card, via firewire pci, 3 seagate barracuda HD, 1 lite-on DVD writer. That is an input track count of : 18 midi inputs + 4 virtual, 28 audio inputs or 46 devices all available using Asio4all drivers. Using Motu asio will not show the other devices, as does gadgetlabs asio, creative asio, etc. WDM will show all devices but the latencies were pathetic and useless. As a device count, the 46 devices does not even include the 3 HD, dvd writer, the lan card, firewire card. In case you are wondering, I had readily connected midi devices, a roland XP80, korg Trinity, roland GR-1, roland S-50, korg M3R, korg M1R, roland D110, roland R8 with 10 individual outs, SC 88pro. I reduced these 2 years ago when my worked shifted more to audio recording and I found out that however much I tweaked my midi mixing, I could not achieve the same quality as recording individual tracks to audio and then mixing it. So now I am down to a midisport 4x4, roland XP80, korg trinity, Roland GR-1, while all the rest has been replaced by virtual synths and audio samples, which are way much better sounding. I hook some of them however from time to time depending on a project. For audio I now use only the delta 1010LT and gadgetlabs with the 828 off to a buddy of mine for his laptop because it does not run properly on my sp2. I've been doing midi since 1991 with a dos-based app called voyetra SP gold ( using an ISA 4x4 midi card) and had gone (on the PC side) through dos, win 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98, ME, win2k, and XP and now XPSP2. Its pretty much a voodoo art with windows, where some devices will work properly with others while some wont. When the motu 1204 came out, I set up my buddys' rig with it and it worked great, but when I tried to set it up on my P3v4x pentium 3, I couldn't get it to work. I found out later that Motu had problems with via chipsets on some mobos and was remedied by some bios updates. I did encounter a device limit way way back with win95 or was it win 98, cant really remember the details. Only then I was still using my old (1989) V24sm voyetra ISA midi interface with the steinberg usb2midi which curiously was not emulated like the steinberg and midisport. I tell you it will pay to simplify your setup and just go back to enjoying the creation of music. I now do all my sequencing using my roland XP sounds or trinity and then when I record to audio, I substitute sounds with virtual synths, samples and sometimes my other midi modules and synths. For that type of work, all I needed was one audio interface sometimes even just a stereo soundcard. The only 2 reasons I believe you need more I/O is that you record bands or ensembles, or you mix/extract outboard, (gigasampler on a dedicated PC) which is better only if you have better outboard gear than your plugins. But for a midi setup? 1 4x4 midi and 1 10x10 audio is enough. Thats what I did with my setup, the motu 828 and steinberg 2x2 midi went to the laptop and the desktop was left with an old gadgetlabs 496(which I plan to retire) and 1010LT, the midisport 4x4 and tons of samples and virtual synths. Simplify and enjoy !!

 

 

I welcome all technical advice, but forgive me if I get cranky with condescending recommendations to simplify. Sure - some virtual synths sound great - but some hardware ones do also, and I like them both, and I especially like the hands on interfaces that some of my favorite hardware devices give me. Some of the hardware (a Spectralis, a Kyma, Doepfer modular) really do sound better than any available purely soft synths for the type of sounds that they make. Many of my midi ports are not from sound making devices at all - hardware sequencers, various midi outs from a doepfer modular, other controllers. I am interested in getting my system, which I am very fond of - working. I am not interested in working the way that you do. The system 95% works. Some of the problems are, apparently, due to a cheap Emachines computer. these should be remedied within the next couple of months.

 

If one really needs to simplify, out of desire, or mental fatigue, it is pretty easy to assemble simple subsets out of a complicated system. I do like, though, exercising my brain so that the increasing complexity becomes easier over time. I just can't see that as a bad thing. Part of the technique, I think, in using stuff like this, is the ability to create within a complex environment.

 

In any case - I am hopeful that these problems will be solved with a new computer. If they aren't...well, it's not like I can't exist with 14 working midi ports.

[joel Oporto]

Well the oppostite of simplify and enjoy is just that, push the envelope and excercise the brain.

 

But still I believe your problem is SP2/mobo specific and If you can try out SP1 with a decent mobo before you upgrade, then you should have a better guide for what to look for in your new PC.

 

Sorry if you find my post condescending which is not my intent, at any rate I believe in eliminating compatibility issues (buying different products later on finding out they are not quite compatible) by keeping to one manufacturer for audio interfaces and maybe the same or another one for midi interfaces. Maybe you can try eliminating the RME but also adding another MOTU of similar count and see if you lose some of the ports.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by joel Oporto Well the oppostite of simplify and enjoy is just that, push the envelope and excercise the brain. But still I believe your problem is SP2/mobo specific and If you can try out SP1 with a decent mobo before you upgrade, then you should have a better guide for what to look for in your new PC. Sorry if you find my post condescending which is not my intent, at any rate I believe in eliminating compatibility issues (buying different products later on finding out they are not quite compatible) by keeping to one manufacturer for audio interfaces and maybe the same or another one for midi interfaces. Maybe you can try eliminating the RME but also adding another MOTU of similar count and see if you lose some of the ports.

 

 

Well, I hope to max out the enjoyment by finding various subsystems that work satisfactorily (including non-computer computer setups with hardware sequencers and various hardware synths) while becoming more comfortable with the complexity of the larger setup...

 

I'm not sure I'll be able to try out another motherboard, and I"m not sure I have the will to do any major adjustment of service packs, reformatting, other time consuming stuff - before I upgrade the computer. I don't have the opportunity of subbing a MOTU audio interface for the RME, and I doubt that even if it worked better in terms of the port count, I'd want to get rid of the RME.

 

I'm hoping to get something fairly reliable computer wise, and not being a build it yourself type, I"m looking towards maybe something like Sonica Audio Labs, but I"m certainly open to other suggestions. I really don't want to sacrifice the rme - the motu I suppose is more expendable, though I really like the routing flexibility that the mtp av offers, sans computer. Are there any other pc midi interfaces that offer this kind of flexibility?

 

Is the pc world really this hit or miss? I don't recall encountering this kind of issue when I used a mac, but damn - I really don't want to give up the pc software...

[joel Oporto]

BTW Compatibility is an issue here too because I've set up PCs with XP to replace ADATs/DA-88s with multiple MOTUs and Delta 1010s of even up to 40 I/O without a hitch except for some clock sync problems with different brand interfaces. So I think your system suffers from a compatibility problem with SP2, mobo, and RME/MOTU.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by joel Oporto BTW Compatibility is an issue here too because I've set up PCs with XP to replace ADATs/DA-88s with multiple MOTUs and Delta 1010s of even up to 40 I/O without a hitch except for some clock sync problems with different brand interfaces. So I think your system suffers from a compatibility problem with SP2, mobo, and RME/MOTU.

 

 

I accept that - but I am now using a cheap Emachines computer - I expect that when I upgrade, the motherboard will be entirely different, no?

[joel Oporto]

most probably, if I may suggest, get one with an Nforce4 chipset and one with at least 3 or 4 PCI slots. Mobos like that are more prepared or designed for a lot of devices

[deanmass]

If the firewire chip thing is the issue, you can install a firewire card cheap WITH a blessed chipset and it should solve the issue.

[droolmaster0]

Originally posted by deanmass If the firewire chip thing is the issue, you can install a firewire card cheap WITH a blessed chipset and it should solve the issue.

 

 

Well, I'm going to be buying a new computer anyway....so I would just assume give up on the issue for now. Though that's a good suggestion ...problem is that I only have one pci slot, and it's already taken. Though - ! I actually think I have one of these, which I swapped out for my scsi card. This was a firewire card recommended by RME, in fact. So - actually, that's a great idea - I can test this.