Fast Track c400 drivers are crashing my computer

[pitchwest]

Thanks. It's not an M Audio product any more. It's only AVID. Interfaces have to be up and running before you start a DAW. That's the think that confuses me the most; everywhere, my computer says it's running and connected. I'm surprised that no one else has had this problem. I was running an H4 before. I'll get rid of all that stuff and try reinstalling again.

[pitchwest]

The BSOD says that it's a ksthunk.sys problem.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by pitchwest

The BSOD says that it's a ksthunk.sys problem.

That does not really help, it just points back to it likely being an audio driver problem. You need a stack trace from a crash dump to be even slightly useful here.

Can you start by posting a proper Sandra report, you have only posted a few lines of info, we are looking for a full summary, you need to followed the instructions in the "Help us help you" link. Search DUC for "Sandra report" and look at the report format everybody else posts here.

What exact version drivers have you installed for the C400? This thread is about a driver problem and it goes on for pages yet nowhere is it perfectly made clear exactly what driver version you are trying to install. Unfortunately there are a few locations and different versions online, we need to know if you have the latest ones from the correct Avid site. That's the single most useful thing to get absolutely clear.

SPECIFICALLY: Here are the current C400 drivers from Avid: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/d...k-C400-Drivers. Which one have you installed? or was it something from elsewhere?

Avid provides in the installer bundles Windows 7 64-Bit SP1 drivers so I'm not following all the concern earlier about System32. And I think you are misunderstanding some Windows x64 internals. System32 is a misnomer for legacy compatibility reasons and contains many 64 bit code files (if you don't think a file is for the correct architecture, which folder it in is pretty meaningless, you need use something like filever to look at whether its 32 or 64 bit etc.). If you are running 64 bit Windows you absolutely have to be running 64 bit drivers, 32 bit won't load into the kernel/run at all, and no installer/msi script should ever install a 32 bit driver package on a 64 bit windows kernel system. If you downloaded the 64 bit driver package from Avid that is what you will have, and the last thing you should be doing is touching or moving any of the installed files (one reason you may need end up doing a full Windows reinstall). Lets see a full Sandra report and that may exclude some problems....

And download a fresh copy of the driver package just in case you have something corrupted.

Is the Windows device manager showing any warnigns/yellow caution triangles for any devices now you have a driver installed for the C400?

If nothing else works you should be thinking of doing a full reinstall of Windows 7 SP1 64bit, then install the latest C400 driver 64bit from the link above and then reinstall Pro Tools. But lets sort out the first questions above first.


Darryl

[pitchwest]

I'll look into posting a Sandra report.

There are only two versions of drivers for window c400. I have tried them both.

I did load the Win7(64) drivers, but as I was saying earlier, the driver location was in my system32 folder. I'm just trouble shooting here.

There are no warning, yellow !!! signs on anything in Device Manager. Like I keep saying, everywhere I've looked, which seems to be everywhere, the devices pertaining to c400 are all working and connected.

I don't use PT. I use Cubase. I know what is going on, I just don't know how to fix it.

The c400 hardware gets power and gets guitar signal. The computer sends signal, but not to the software. If I go into the Device Manager/sound video controller/MAudio Fast Track C400/driver/driver details, and back to Device Manager/sound video controller/MAudio Fast Track C400/General the message I get is

This device is working properly.

You need to restart your computer before the changes you made to this device will take effect.

Then I can restart it and It works. Also, If I just restart the computer, it works fine. I just discovered that I can take a make shift fix. If I start up the computer and then take out the USB and move it to a new port, it installs drivers and works fine. So I'll be doing that for now.

I've been working on this a [bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep] load for nearly a week. I'm strongly considering taking it back since I haven't opened the software that came with it. I've already boycotted M Audio for passing the buck on this one.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by pitchwest

I'll look into posting a Sandra report.

There are only two versions of drivers for window c400. I have tried them both.

What is the *exact* version of the driver? you are using? From the link I provided or elsewhere? Start getting specific. If you are not running 1.0.7 now then download a new copy of the 1.0.7 driver bundle from the link I gave you. Uninstall what you have now and install 1.0.7.

I did load the Win7(64) drivers, but as I was saying earlier, the driver location was in my system32 folder. I'm just trouble shooting here.

There are no warning, yellow !!! signs on anything in Device Manager. Like I keep saying, everywhere I've looked, which seems to be everywhere, the devices pertaining to c400 are all working and connected.

I don't use PT. I use Cubase. I know what is going on, I just don't know how to fix it.

The c400 hardware gets power and gets guitar signal. The computer sends signal, but not to the software. If I go into the Device Manager/sound video controller/MAudio Fast Track C400/driver/driver details, and back to Device Manager/sound video controller/MAudio Fast Track C400/General the message I get is

This device is working properly.

You need to restart your computer before the changes you made to this device will take effect.

Then I can restart it and It works. Also, If I just restart the computer, it works fine. I just discovered that I can take a make shift fix. If I start up the computer and then take out the USB and move it to a new port, it installs drivers and works fine. So I'll be doing that for now.

I've been working on this a [bleep][bleep][bleep][bleep] load for nearly a week. I'm strongly considering taking it back since I haven't opened the software that came with it. I've already boycotted M Audio for passing the buck on this one.

A week? And we still don't have the most basic info that may help us to help you. Why has that taken a whole week? You would likely have gotten more effective help here if you had posted the Sandra report in your very first post here. Chasing phantoms like system32 confusion is also a time waster. For now please focus on the Sandra report.

What other standard systems optimization have you done? Even though you are using Cubase I would apply the standard optimizations for Pro Tools. Please list the ones you have done. I want to make extra sure you've done things like disable USB power management. You also need to set Cubase to run as administrator etc. just like you would for Pro Tools.

Darryl

[YYR123]

Really cubase won't start w/o an 3rd party interface ? I did not know that !!!

[pitchwest]

SiSoftware Sandra


Computer
Model : ASUS K53E
Serial Number : BBN0AS5********
Chassis : ASUS Notebook
Mainboard : ASUS K53E
Serial Number : BSN1234567**********
BIOS : AMI (OEM) K53E.216 09/26/2011
Intel vPro : 7.00.04.1197
Total Memory : 5.79GB DDR3 SO-DIMM

Processors
Processor : Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (4C 8T 2.8GHz/3.1GHz, 2.8GHz IMC, 4x 256kB L2, 6MB L3)
Socket/Slot : FC PGA988

Chipset
Memory Controller : ASUS Core (Sandy Bridge) Mobile DRAM Controller 100MHz, 2x 3GB DDR3 SO-DIMM 1.33GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Elpida EBJ41UF8BCS0-DJ-F 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)
Memory Module : Samsung M471B5773DH0-CH9 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMM PC3-10700S DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : Samsung Generic PnP Monitor (1600x1200, 156AT24-P01
, 15.3")
Video Adapter : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12CU 12SP SM4.1 1.1GHz, 192MB DDR3 1.33GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor
Compute Shader Processor : Intel(R) HD Graphics Family (12SP 650MHz/1.1GHz, 192MB DDR3 1.33GHz/2.13GHz 128-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Storage Devices
TOSHIBA MK7559GSXP (750.2GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache) : 699GB (C:) (D:)
Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH (7.9GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 1MB Cache) : 7GB (E:)
ELBY CLONEDRIVE (SCSI, SCSI-2, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD-R, CD-R, 256kB Cache) : N/A (F:)

Logical Storage Devices
OS (C:) : 279GB (NTFS) @ TOSHIBA MK7559GSXP (750.2GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache)
DATA (D:) : 394GB (NTFS) @ TOSHIBA MK7559GSXP (750.2GB, SATA300, 2.5", 5400rpm, 8MB Cache)
LEATHERHEADS (E:) : 7GB (UDF) @ Slimtype DVD A DS8A8SH (7.9GB, SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 1MB Cache)
Optical Drive (F:) : N/A @ ELBY CLONEDRIVE (SCSI, SCSI-2, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD-R, CD-R, 256kB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : ASUS HM65 LPC Controller
Audio Device : ASUS Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller
Audio Codec : Realtek Semi High Definition Audio
Disk Controller : ASUS Cougar Point Mobile 6 port SATA AHCI Controller
USB Controller 1 : ASUS Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2
USB Controller 2 : ASUS Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1
USB Controller 3 : ASUS ASMedia XHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Atheros AR8151 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (NDIS 6.20) (Ethernet)
Network Adapter : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network) (Ethernet)
Wireless Adapter : Atheros AR9002WB-1NG Wireless Network Adapter (802.11g (ERP), AES-CCMP, 54Mbps)

Power Management
Battery No 1 : ASUSTek K53--54 59.40Wh/4.72Ah

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

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 5.3

[Darryl Ramm]

One thing that stands out is the unbalanced memory. Ideally both memory channels should have identical DIMMS (size and spec, and ideally just exact same manufacturer/part). You can run into rare problems like crashes etc. associate with this, while it is not likely the case of what you are doing you should still fix this. Memory is cheap, I would put two identical 4GB SODIMMs (the max it will take I believe) into this laptop.

The lack of a dedicated GPU and the low-performance disk would be performance/stability concerns for Pro Tools, I hope Cubase is more forgiving there.

If you end up still chasing any more driver problems I would remove all unnecessary/funky drivers like your virtual DVD driver and/or head for that full Windows reinstall.

It confirms you have a 64 bit kernel loaded (yes there are cases were this gets messed up).

Nothing else stands out here as a serious issue, which is progress of sorts.

Can you answer the previous question about standard Pro Tools optimizations applied to the system?

Also have you been using only the USB2 port (not USB3 port) in all your tests with this interface? If not you need to try that.

Thanks

Darryl

[pitchwest]

When I'm using Cubase on this computer, I have no issues. I can stack multiple VST's at once and don't have problems. So it must be more forgiving.

I'm not to sure what you mean by optimizations, so probably not done any. I do run Cubase as an admin, and turned off the USB power shut off.

I've tried all the USB ports. The USB3 port is very gainy, and full of high power distortion. I don't think my ISO mounter would be a problem, and I'm not sure what you mean by "head for that full Windows reinstall".

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by pitchwest

When I'm using Cubase on this computer, I have no issues. I can stack multiple VST's at once and don't have problems. So it must be more forgiving.

I'm not to sure what you mean by optimizations, so probably not done any. I do run Cubase as an admin, and turned off the USB power shut off.

I've tried all the USB ports. The USB3 port is very gainy, and full of high power distortion. I don't think my ISO mounter would be a problem, and I'm not sure what you mean by "head for that full Windows reinstall".

Hearing an audio difference in the different USB ports is a bit strange, If it was glitching/noisy I could maybe understand it. The issue is more that some USB interfaces just seem to not work at all on USB3 ports. Either way, don't use the USB3 port.

The standard optimizations for Pro Tools are listed under the "Help us Help You - READ THIS Before Posting!" link above. Its still maybe worth running though those, ignore the disk related ones, but the big one I was curious about was disabling power USB management. I don't have experience with this interface or driver but some Avid drivers have problems with power management or when you suspend/sleep the computer while the interface is powered up. That usually just stops the interface working, not panic a machine. So don't just close your laptop, make sure the interface is powered off first.

So do you have the 1.0.7 drivers installed now and there any on going problems? If you get another crash then I would do a completely clean install of Windows 7 SP1 64bit, don't add *anything* else than the Avid 1.0.7 drivers and Cubase and see if that is stable. Hopefully you are running the latest/up to date Cubase version.

Darryl