Saffire Pro 40 Firewire crashes on Windows 10

Hi everyone,

I know this is a very known issue but I've read a lot of forums and watched a lot of videos on YouTube and still no luck for me.

A few years ago, I built a PC with Windows 7 and everything worked perfectly.

But you all know that the due date is coming : Microsoft decided to stop their support on Windows 7 next January.

So I bought a new SSD to install Windows 10 and I kept my Windows 7 SSD so I can dual-boot on the one I want at startup.

After making a clean install of Windows 10 and optimizing all the settings for audio production, I still have the same problem :

My Saffire Pro 40 Firewire audio interface is going mad. The two LEDs ("FW active" and "Locked") are blinking randomly, the sample rate changes by itself.
If you want to have a concrete idea of the problem, you can watch this : YouTube

Anyway, there is no way to get it stable.

I'm not talking about running a Pro Tools project with 24 tracks, I'm talking about playing a damned mp3 on VLC or watching a video on YouTube.

Here is everything I tried to resolve it :

- Disable all other audio devices I'm not using (NVIDIA, Realtek, etc)

- Tried two different Firewire drivers : "Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller" (the one proposed by Windows by default) and "1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)" found on Microsoft support page.

- Clean my Firewire card from dust and changed the PCI-E slot on my motherboard

- Tried different ports on my Firewire card and on my audio interface

- Try to switch the unit on when PC is off or on

- Set default Control Panel Sound ("Playback" and "Recording" devices) on 48khz sample rate (I always work in 48khz) and match it with the MixControl Focusrite software

- Disable system sounds

- Adjust processor scheduling to Background Services

- Adjust PC’s power options to high performance + everything set up to "never"

- Make sure PC doesn’t suspend USB devices

- Disable Windows Background Apps / Delete Bloatwares

- Disable Windows Updates

- Turn off Windows Firewall and anti-virus apps

- Switch off animated windows > set it up for "best performance"

- Switch off screensaver

- Update graphics driver manually

- Update network adapter driver manually

- Install latest device drivers

- Turn off USB power management

- Optimize hard disk

- Disable user account control

- Disable Fast Boot / Hyper threading / Turbo Boost / C-State transition in BIOS

- Close all programs not using

- Disconnect any USB devices not used

- Run DAW as Administrator

After all this tips, I am no longer able to find a solution.

Please, if you have an idea, let me know :)

Thank a lot and hope to read you soon!
 
One thing you can try, which I didn't notice being mentioned, is make sure the firewire cable is seated well at both ends. Or maybe even try a new firewire cable.

There was a time when my interface was going rapidly in and out of sync when connected to my laptop. I restarted the laptop and made sure the cable was plugged in properly and all cam good..
 
One thing you can try, which I didn't notice being mentioned, is make sure the firewire cable is seated well at both ends. Or maybe even try a new firewire cable.

There was a time when my interface was going rapidly in and out of sync when connected to my laptop. I restarted the laptop and made sure the cable was plugged in properly and all cam good..

Thanks for your reply but my cable is good because when I boot on WindoWs 7 SSD drive, the interface works perfectly.
 
You could ask Pete of Scan who regularly contributes to SoS forum.

My view is that if manufacturers are going to abandon people like this they do not deserve repeat business?

Ok, bit harsh and it is probably 90% Microsofts fault but these issues keep coming up on forums and I think it behoves SOMEBODY in the industry to give some clear reasons?

I do not recall anything like so much ***t when XP eventually morphed to Seven? Of course, Blista and 8 were crap.

Dave.
 
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