Unexplainable Blue Screen Of Death w/ TASCAM 16x08 USB Audio Interface

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Swift Asbestos

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Hey there ,

Some weeks ago I bought a Tascam 16x08 audio interface , I've set up everything (I usually use 10 channells for recording drums)
and I randomly get blue screens of death when the interface is on.

It can happen even 5/6 times a day , and it's tricky because I already lost some really good recordings.

Point is the drivers are ALL up to date , and I never experienced BSODs with my past Alesis io4 interface.
Other TASCAM users already posted the problem of their official website but no one answered them...

My Laptop is a TOSHIBA Satellite [something]

OS --
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Intel (R) Pentium (R) CPU B960 @ 2.20 GHz 2.20 GHz
RAM 8 GB


What do you guys think?
 
Update the chipset drivers.

Be sure the buffer settings are pretty high so you are not overloading the processor.
 
For sure a software / driver conflict thing thus the "fatal Error earthling thing" Like Chili recommended make sure you have the latest drivers for your laptop and also the latest driver updates for your interface.. Some muthaboards just don't work nice with certain outboard hardware and all the driver updating in the world won't fix it...If the problem persist after you try the driver updates then I'd try it on a newer different computer and see how it behaves.....or if you bought it new from any of the reputable music equipment suppliers send it back and try a different brand...On Amazon 22% give it 2 stars or less which IMO is kind of high....Over 71% give it 4 or more so some people are real happy with it...

The Behringer Uphoria stuff is relatively new but getting lots of 5 stars
 
I would change interfaces again, or just uninstall the drivers and try to really sort out if the Tascam is doing this.

BSOD is usually a hardware/driver problem these days... so maybe a different driver would help? can that thing use asio4all?

Is there an error code?
 
The last two times in 5 years that I got BSOD, it was bad RAM. Do a test to find out. I think all manufacturers guarantee RAM for life. Mine were replaced for free both times.

And yes, BSOD is usually caused by hardware. From my experience not a driver issue. More the hardware failing. But I am sure an outdated driver for a piece of hardware could cause this. I am no guru on this topic.

Hardware meaning graphics card, Motherboard, USB card, WIFI...
 
Thanks for the info -

I noticed when I record drums , the interface tends to jump , skip , clip during the recording , there's even some volume drops here and there..
The buffer size is set to 1024 samples , I could set it a little higher but that's it.

The drivers on my pc are all up to date but I'll check it again -

As for the interface's performance with a couple of DAWs --

With Audacity I tried MME - Can't record with 9 separeted tracks , only 2 stereo -
With WASAPI I can choose whatever amount of tracks I want (from 1 to 16) but I can only record with 16 separated tracks. (Even though I only use 10) , and It's pretty slow , still get bsod w/ Audacity


With FL Studio I usually use the US-16x08 ASIO driver , I think it's the only one that let's me record different tracks at once... witch is the one I always experience bsod with.

I tried ASIO4ALL v2 but I can't get it to multi-track and I'm not sure if I got bsod with this one

The last one available is the US-16x08 Mixing driver , didn't even bother to try that one out.

I've unistalled the TASCAM's drivers , what is the best multi-track reording driver other than ASIO?
 
Reinstall the Tascam drivers. You will want to use whatever driver the manufacturer provides; usually the ASIO driver. Anything else is a compromise.

Jimmy has a good suggestion with checking your memory; it is the most common cause of BSODs. If possible, pull one stick out and run with half of your memory. If it BSOD's, swap sticks. THe 2nd most common cause of BSOD is your hard drive.

Re-install FL to test.

Don't use Audacity, it is not meant for recording. It is more of a wave editor.

Try another DAW program like Reaper to test. It can run the ASIO driver and it has a full-function demo mode.
 
Yes! Always use the ASIO drivers for the interface. Always!

The BSOD is 'not' caused by the Tascam drivers. Take that seriously man.

Your issues are not because of drivers.

You best make sure your hard drive is not failing now before you lose data.

I would suggest backing up to another drive ASAP just in case. Nothing worse than loosing stuff...
 
Yeah my most important stuff is already safe thanks ,
I've run a load of updates (Bios aswell) and I thought I fixed the problem because the interface was doing well for 20 mins or something..

But as soon as I started recording my drums I got a bsod , later got more , like 4/5 it's annoying...

I was testing the interface on another laptop of mine , though it's Vista and the Tascam doesn't seem to cope with that
 
Swift Asbestos said:
Hey there ,

Some weeks ago I bought a Tascam 16x08 audio interface , I've set up everything (I usually use 10 channells for recording drums)
and I randomly get blue screens of death when the interface is on. It can happen even 5/6 times a day , and it's tricky because I already lost some really good recordings. Intel (R) Pentium (R) CPU B960 @ 2.20 GHz 2.20 GHz What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

I use the tascam us 16x8 with reaper. This interface is very, very, very heavy on your CPU. Bring up your CPU meter when you have the tascam running and see what it says. More than likely, it will be a slow cpu or not enough ram. I run a 4 quad processor with 16 gigs of ram and my pc still screams when I have more than 4 inputs active.
 
I don't believe an interface can even be CPU demanding. The unit is doing all the analog to digital/digital to analog conversion. The drivers only feed the signal to the computer. How 'any' drivers work with any given system can be of issue at times but I do not think it is possible for it to drain CPU. At least I have never heard anything like that before.

In any case, lack of RAM or CPU power would not cause BSOD.
 
Swift Asbestos said:
My Laptop is a TOSHIBA Satellite [something]

OS --
Windows 7 Professional 64 bit
Intel (R) Pentium (R) CPU B960 @ 2.20 GHz 2.20 GHz
RAM 8 GB

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Go into your system and see what version of USB Ports you are running. Tascam states it will run on 2.0 but from what I have found via the www, it works best on 3.0. Many users have the same problem you do and they solved it by making sure the Tascam is plugged into a 3.0 USB port. The picture below is the information you are looking for.

View attachment 100371


jimmys69 said:
I don't believe an interface can even be CPU demanding. The unit is doing all the analog to digital/digital to analog conversion. The drivers only feed the signal to the computer. How 'any' drivers work with any given system can be of issue at times but I do not think it is possible for it to drain CPU. At least I have never heard anything like that before.
In any case, lack of RAM or CPU power would not cause BSOD.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your post Jimmy. I thought I would just have to live with the fact that my Tascam was just a hugh CPU hog but when I read your reply, it got me to thinking. Like I said before, when I run my 16 x 8, my PC is screaming. When I get back to the barn, I am going to see if my PC has any 3.0 USB ports. This seems to make the 16 x 8 run as it should. This is just one out of hundreds concerning the Tascam 16 x 8 spiking out the CPU by close to 100% in some cases.

"When the interface is switched off, my CPU idles at around 1-5%. when switched on it immediately shoots up to 30-60% (mainly around 40% with fluctuations) the culprit processes are System and system interrupts. When switched off it immediately shoots back down to low levels".

As far as crashing the OPs system, I will leave that advice to others who have more knowledge then myself but I can only assume that running your CPU at close to 100% is never a good thing concerning audio. You can read what others have said concerning the OPs concerns here.

This is where I found out about using the USB 3.0 Port. Make sure you read all the comments. This is a dedicated Tascam forum.
 
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I have the older version of the Tascam and have had all 16 inputs live on a really cheap laptop. I really don't think that is the problem. I also have not had a CPU issue.

What might be happening could be one of two things. Now you are buffering more in RAM and you are finding bad areas or your HD is starting to show signs of deterioration. Run chkdsk /f C: (c being the target drive) and if it comes up with errors, that is a sign HD starting to fail.

It could be a bad Tascam unit. There was one guy on here had a really bad time with his. But most have had little to no problems. But stuff happens and maybe you need to swap yours out for another. Hopefully is is still under warranty.
 
One other point worth mentioning, is that any audio interface will not play nice if shared with other devices on a USB controller/port. Especially something else streaming data like a external HDD. You might get away with using a wireless keyboard/mouse there, but ideal to have nothing else using the port. Direct connection to MOBO is best. Obviously not so easy to do with a laptop. But I haven't heard that being the case here.

In other words you want your interface connected to a USB port that is not used by anything else. Best to have a separate controller directly connected to the MOBO specifically for the audio interface. Not sure it matters if USB 2.0 or 3.0. The one I installed was 3.0 and it just worked even for a USB 2.0 device. If your PC has a separate USB 3 port and the others are USB 2, then they are running on separate controllers to the MOBO. This is a key point.

Back when I used the US 1800 the cure for any issue was to install a PCIe USB 3.0 card in my PC. I still to this day (5 years later) use the same $30 card on a new build with 2 UR824's and a ADA8000. One UR824 and the ADA800 are running via ADAT through the master UR824. All run 'alone' through one PCIe USB 3.0 card for 24 input/output tracks without any issues with CPU strain or bottlenecks in audio.

Oh, and if I remember correctly, you will want to delete the Tascam driver in Device manager. Then re-install with the new/other USB port. I could be wrong but I seem to recall it had to be done with the port you want to use it in during driver setup.

Cheers!
 
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Yeah I already knew that , with 2.0 USB ports I get a lot of latency , I always use the 3.0 'cause it runs smoothly --

I'm gonna test my RAM aswell , but I believe it's something to do with the playback driver.
I had the chance to test the interface on another pc (windows 7 aswell) , didn't even manage to install the "US16x08 USB Speakers" driver...

When I usually get this bsod , after my pc's boot up the 'Tascam 16x08 Speakers' driver is still active (like by default or something) so I've got to always disable it to hear anything on it.


Managed to get my hands on some BSOD error codes I got --

Bug check strings -

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (Typical)
ATTEMPTED_SWITCH_FROM_DPC (had this like 6 times)
DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
 
Swift Asbestos said:
When I usually get this bsod , after my pc's boot up the 'Tascam 16x08 Speakers' driver is still active (like by default or something) so I've got to always disable it to hear anything on it.


Managed to get my hands on some BSOD error codes I got --

Bug check strings -

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (Typical)
ATTEMPTED_SWITCH_FROM_DPC (had this like 6 times)
DRIVER_OVERRAN_STACK_BUFFER
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Click to expand...

You might want to check to see if you have disabled any onboard audio devices from your BIOS. Maybe the drivers for the built in sound device and Tascam are conflicting. You have to disable from the BIOS. That way Windows will not try to install the drivers and it will not show up in your hardware list.

Before I would do anything else, I would try that first. It is easy and cost nothing but one boot up. But that is hardware built on the MB and I wouldn't be surprised that conflict would cause BSOD.
 
Contacted Tascam again , they never answered... And they will never answer... And they never give a damn , oh well won't be buying Tascams no more -

Anyway I've got my hands on an iPad , gonna be testing it out on the Tascam to see how it will do , I'll use the default garage band , not gonna spend money for a stupid DAW app -

If the interface works with the iPad , well my laptop's screwed up inside
If it will fail to work , the US 16x08 that I own is "cursed" , and will get rid of it
 
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