Windows keeps changing my default interface setting

[DC-Choppah]

Problems arise when the FastTrack Ultra 8r is set to be the default audio device in Windows. I have learned to set the Motherboard audio device (VIA HD audio) as the default device.

But something keeps setting the Ultra 8r back to being the default device.
When this happens, Windows sets the sample rate of the 8r to 41.4 KHz. Then when I open Protools it complains about 'current audio device does not support...'. For some reason PT cannot change the sample rate of the 8r when it is also set as the default device.

I can actual see in real time that when the 8r is set as default, something continuously changes the sample rate back to 41.4 KHz. I can manually set to 48k and a few seconds later reopen it and it is back to 44.1.

Other problems happen when the 8r is set to be default. Sample mismatches happen with streaming audio. So I just route the output of the VIA to my mixer as another source and am OK.

Anyway, if Windows would just leave the VIA HD audio device as default like I told it, I would be OK.

[Emcha_audio]

Please read and do everything that is in the Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting! link on top of the forum. Post back your results for the optimization and Sandra.

On an other notes, if you have onboard (a chip on the motherboard) for the audio, it needs to be disabled in the Bios.

[DC-Choppah]

Thank you for the reply. Here is my Sandra report.
This system is stable and has produced a lot of music. The Windows 7 optimizations have been done. The problem is that when I set the internal audio device as default (as the optimization says to do) something seems to reset the default to the Ultra 8r. At that point some annoying things happen until I reset again.

Thank for all for your help.




SiSoftware Sandra

ID
Host Name : musicbox
Workgroup : WORKGROUP

Computer
Model : OEM System Product Name
Serial Number : System Ser**********
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : ASUS P5Q PRO TURBO
Serial Number : 1033734********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) 0701 10/08/2012
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz (4C 2.67GHz, 2x 2MB L2)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA (Socket T)

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS P45/P43/G45/G43 DRAM Controller 4x 333MHz (1.33GHz), 2x 2GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3 800MHz 128-bit

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : G.Skill F2-8500CL5-2GBPK 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-8500U DDR2-1066 (5-5-5-15 3-24-6-3)
Memory Module : G.Skill F2-8500CL5-2GBPK 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-8500U DDR2-1066 (5-5-5-15 3-24-6-3)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : FNI MAGNAVOX
(1600x1200)
Video Adapter : ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series (320 SM4.1 750MHz, 1GB DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00 x16)

Graphics Processor
OpenCL GP Processor : ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series (320SP 8C 750MHz, 512MB DDR3 1.6GHz 128-bit)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache) : 466GB (M:)
WDC WD5000AZLX-00K4KA0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache) : 466GB (N:)
WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache) : 466GB (C:)
Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S (1.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 1GB (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
music (M:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)
Music2 (N:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AZLX-00K4KA0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)
Hard Disk (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)
MB Support CD (D:) : 1GB (CDFS) @ Optiarc DVD RW AD-7240S (1.6GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 A5-13
Audio Device : ASUS HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : VIA VT1708S HD Audio
Audio Device : HIS (Hightech Information Systems) RV730XT Audio device [Radeon HD 4670]
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB361 AHCI/IDE
USB Controller 1 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : ASUS VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Printer : HP Universal Printing PS (600x600, USB, Colour)
Printer : Canon MG5400 series Printer (USB, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller(NDIS6.20) (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : NETGEAR A6200 WiFi Adapter (802.11n (HT), AES-CCMP, 144Mbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x64

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.9

[Emcha_audio]

I can see that you have more than two audio devices. I would try and uninstall them in your programs and features service of windows, and for those that are imbeded in your Mobo, I would disable them in the bios.

Also, where is your OS installed? Which drive?

[DC-Choppah]

OS (Windows 7) is installed on : Hard Disk (C:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)

Still trying to figure out what you mean regarding the two audio devices...

[Emcha_audio]

Audio Device : ASUS HD Audio Controller
Audio Codec : VIA VT1708S HD Audio
Audio Device : HIS (Hightech Information Systems) RV730XT Audio device [Radeon HD 4670]
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio



Alright, now from what I can see is that you have your OS on C: and on the same physical disk you have an other partition where you have your audio files, am I right? If so you can get into problems with not having enough bandwith from that 1 physical disk to carry over all the audio files and also the system files being used at the same time. It's always recommended that you have 1 physical drive for the os and a second physical drive for your project files.

[DC-Choppah]

Thanks for the reply.

The OS is on the C drive, which is 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)

ProTools sessions and audio are on the M and N drives only which are two physical drives:
music (M:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AADS-00S9B0 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 32MB Cache)
Music2 (N:) : 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AZLX-00K4KA0 (500.1GB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)

I mainly use the M drive, but use the N drive with the disk allocation feature for larger projects with lots of audio tracks when PT tells me that the disk can't keep up.


My problem is that something changes the default setting (in the windows control panel) for the audio device back to being the Ultra 8r. I can go and manually reset it to the native audio interface. But then it gets changed back after a few days. Seems like I have a little Gremlin living in there!

[DC-Choppah]

I have disabled the two other audio devices that show up in the the device manager. Now there is only the Ultra8r showing in the control panel.

I did not unistall them or deactivate in the bios yet, just used the device manager to disable.

So far so good.

[DC-Choppah]

OK, running into problems. When opening projects with different sample rates now, I get the error in PT; 'The current playback engine does not support...'.

This was the original reason why I had to install the motherboard audio device and set it as the default. This is what the PT optimizations say to do too. That was working fine, expect that Windows would change the default setting back to be the Ultra 8r.

Going to try unistalling the native devices and deactivating them the bios as suggested.

[DC-Choppah]

Same problems after uninstalling and deactivating.


I deactivated the motherboard audio in the bios and uninstalled the software from the motherboard disk for the audio device.

Now the Sandra report looks like this. Only difference is one of the audio devices is gone. The remaining device is the one that I deactivated in the bios.


Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 A5-13
Audio Device : HIS (Hightech Information Systems) RV730XT Audio device [Radeon HD 4670]
Audio Codec : ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : ASUS 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller : ASUS JMB361 AHCI/IDE
USB Controller 1 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #4
USB Controller 2 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #5
USB Controller 3 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #6
USB Controller 4 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 5 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #1
USB Controller 6 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #2
USB Controller 7 : ASUS USB UHCI Controller #3
USB Controller 8 : ASUS USB EHCI Controller #1
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : ASUS VT6315 Series Firewire Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus


Still, when I try and open some PT projects, I get the error 'Current Playback Engine does not support...'

But I can see that the mobo audio device is still an option in the device manager. It is deactivated, but is still there and its driver is still installed.