Focusrite Saffire problem

[gingercat]

Has anyone managed to get their Focusrite Saffire to run with Windows 7 X64? The drivers installed OK, but the DSP won't boot. The saffire entries in device manager showed a failed driver load, so I manually pointed it to the saffire driver, but still the DSP fails to boot. Any ideas? The box does boot fine if I reboot into Vista.

 

[slowass]

Im in the same confused position. Impossible to use Windows 7 if these drivers dont work. Guess the problem lies in the hands of Focusrite.

 

[kimster]

Have you guys gotten the audio part of of your Saffires to work, just not the DSP? I have a Saffire LE i can't get a sound from. I installed the latest driver (v1.3) no problems and then connected the LE. Now it shows up as a "61883 Device Class" instead of under "Sound, video and game controllers". Windows insists the "Device is working properly" but it doesn't show up in Control Panel / Sounds. And the lights on the LE stay amber instead of turning green.

 

[grimreaper]

Welcome to the forums

You checked this link out?
Focusrite Audio Engineering | US Site | Support | Updates & Drivers: Saffire

 

[kimster]

Yup. I've also mailed Focusrite support with this. I'll report back here if i hear anything. They might not be very interested in supporting a beta-version of Windows but i figured it can't hurt to ask.

edit: and thanks

 

[kimster]

pix pix pix

 

[slowass]

Might be a stupid question, but have anyone tried to use the AC power plug? I cant try this out myself cause I dont know where I've put mine, and only used FW-power to this date.

Also going to mail Focusrite to have them agnolige we want it fixed.

 

[gingercat]

I've tried with the power adapter connected, no difference

 

[spazbob]

THE SOLUTION!

Unplug your Saffire LE

Open Computer Management, go to Device Manager.

Expand IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers

At this point you probably see Texas Instruments OHCI compliant controller or something

Right click on it and click Update Driver Software

Then click Browse my computer for driver software

Then click let me pick from a list

You should get at least three options.

Select 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller (Legacy)

Let that install.

Once it's done, reinstall the Saffire LE 1.3 drivers (this step possibly optional)

Now plug the device back in

 

[gingercat]

Many thanks spazbob - that worked perfectly. Now to get Hauptwerk up and running!

 

[kimster]

A big WOOT from over here! DS works great now, haven't tried ASIO yet but i'll let you guys know

 

[gingercat]

ASIO also works great for me.

 

[slowass]

Awesome!

Thanks for this wonderfull solution Spazbob!

 

[spazbob]

No problem, I'd been searching for a solution as well and found this elsewhere. It's actually from the RME tech support forum originally I think, but it fixes issues with most firewire audio. Was so happy to have sound back I thought I'd share the love!

Evidently MS have cocked up somewhere along the line, I'm not sure what features (if any) we lose from using a legacy driver but certainly I'm getting the same latency as I got on XP so it can't be that bad. Hopefully this will be patched rather than having to wait until the next beta...

Still struggling with my USB BCD-3000...time to try updating the USB hub!

 

[kimster]

The new firewire-stack has native support for firewire 800 and also for the new Firewire S1600 and S3200. So if your just using Firewire 400 you're not losing anything. The "legacy" is the same as the vista-driver i'm pretty sure.

edit:
Got an answer from Focusrite today, they didn't really have much to say except that they don't support w7. I mailed them back with this solution though, so hopefully it'll come up on their webpage helpsection.

 

[Deimateos]

Thanks spazbob, this fixed it for my both my firewire cards (Saffire and GO46)!

 

[RufusWhite]

@Spaz: Thankyou so much! Using your solution I managed to get my Korg Zero 8 playing nice with Windows 7!

Most people haven't managed to get it working with Vista yet, so w00p!

Fus

 

[kimster]

just an update, with rc1 aka build 7100 my saffire le now works without using the legacy firewire-workaround

 

[Age]

I have my Saffire booting after following the method described on the first page, however I'm unable to get any sound from it.

The playback devices options weren't able to tell me which output was which, and on testing all give me "Failed to play test tone"

Here's an image because I wanted to use snipping tool.

Is anyone able to give me any tips?

Some details: Asus P5K, 7100 RC x64, Focusrite Saffire (the white one)

 

[Deimateos]

I beleive what I had to do to fix it on 7100 RC x64 was intsall the regular, non-legacy 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller instead and install the Saffire 2.5 drivers (the newest off focusrite's site).

Aside from that, unless you have 4+ sets of monitors hooked up, turn off the "custom mix" buttons in Saffire Control (it's the glowing blue "C" in the "Output mix" area).

Do this for all outputs except for the first one (Out 1/2).

If you get it working, it's a good idea to rename the Saffire outs to there respective outputs (Saffire 1/2, 3/4, etc)