If you use a DAW these pages may be of use

[DrNomis_44]

@ Kimball492 I went to a Computer Parts shop called Leading Edge Computers today and bought a new 8Gb DDR3 1600Mhz stick of Ram for my Desktop DAW PC, I have installed it in the PC and while I was at it I swapped out the CPU heatsink for the one that was on the ASRock motherboard, I also put some fresh Silver Heatsink Compound on the CPU too, so far my Desktop DAW PC seems to be running well...touchwood.


So now I have a spare 4Gb DDR3 1600Mhz Ram Stick I could use on the ASRock motherboard, if I can get it to boot reliably I'll have the basics of what I need to start work on building a Hackintosh.

[kimball492]

Cool doc how's your PC running your DAW software with the extra ram now

[DrNomis_44]

Cool doc how's your PC running your DAW software with the extra ram now

I haven't done any extensive testing, but my DAW PC definitely seems to be happier running my DAW software with the extra Ram now, I'm back to using my Digi002 Firewire Audio Interface, and so far I haven't experienced any system crashes, or DAW software crashes...touchwood, I'm still going to go ahead and buy a couple of PCI Firewire cards with Texas Instruments Chipsets on them though, I have noticed an improvement in performance after I removed a PCI card with some USB 2.0 ports on it, it had a VIA Chipset on it, I don't know if it was contributing to the instability issues I had been experiencing though, but you never know.


I read somewhere that sometimes Hardware issues can manifest themselves as software issues and vice-versa.


I'm starting to think that there may be some issues with my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 Firewire Audio Interface because I downloaded the latest driver update from the Focurite and installed it, but even though both the Locked and FW Active Leds on the Saffire Pro 40 were lit, the driver software said that no device was connected, I'm thinking that the Firewire ports on my Saffire Pro 40 may have gone a bit flaky, or there may be something wrong with the Firewire interface circuitry in the Saffire Pro 40, it could even be a firmware issue.

[kimball492]

Yeah a lot of Daws especially Pro Tools hates Via chipsets. So you've reinstalled the Saffire Pro then restarted sometimes if You don't restart it doesn't discover the latest drivers. Try to do a rescan in devices if it's showing in the devices list. Also try another cable. My a Eleven rack played up recently it was a cable that had decided to go walkabout. Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware Doc.

[DrNomis_44]

Yeah a lot of Daws especially Pro Tools hates Via chipsets. So you've reinstalled the Saffire Pro then restarted sometimes if You don't restart it doesn't discover the latest drivers. Try to do a rescan in devices if it's showing in the devices list. Also try another cable. My a Eleven rack played up recently it was a cable that had decided to go walkabout. Have you checked to see if you have the latest firmware Doc.

Cheers, I'll give that a go later on this afternoon or maybe tonight, I'm going to see if I can get the ASRock motherboard to boot this afternoon too, I've just installed the CPU Heatsink that was in my DAW PC on the ASRock motherboard along with some fresh Silver Heatsink Compound, just need to find a good BIOS battery for it.


I tried looking on the Focusrite website to see if there was an updated Firmware for my Saffire Pro 40 but couldn't find anything other than the most up to date Driver installer, from what I understand, the Driver Installer automatically updates the Firmware if it needs to be updated, I might look into buying a couple of new Firewire cables tomorrow since I'm going to Jaycar Electronics again anyway, I'm actually going to Cash Converters tomorrow since they are right next door to Jaycar Electronics, they have a white Ibanez RG350DX in stock,which I'm very interested in buying.


Update:


I have just tried re-connecting my Saffire Pro40 up to my PC, the Power, Locked, and Firewire Active Leds are lit up, but when I launch the Saffire Mix Control software, it says "Device Not Connected", I have the most recent Saffire Pro40 Driver (Saffire Mix Control 3.7) installed, and I'm using the exact same Firewire Cable as I was when I had the Digi002 connected, the Firewire cable is plugged into the same port on the DAW PC as it was when the Digi002 was connected, the Digi002 works fine with sound, but the Saffire Pro40 isn't producing sound even though Windows Device Manager reports that the Saffire Pro40 is working properly, the little speaker icon in my systray looks as it should for a working sound system, so I reckon my Saffire Pro40 is malfunctioning in some weird way.


Hmmmmmm....I just tried launching Saffire Mix Control and saw that it is saying that my Saffire Pro40 is not locked even though the Locked Led is lit, so, something is definitely malfunctioning somewhere.


There's this article I found on Focusrite's Knowledge Base:

https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-...cles/206849129


So, it looks like the problems I'm having with my Saffire Pro40 are due to an incompatibility issue with Windows 10, my Saffire Pro40, and the VIA Chipsets controlling my Firewire 400 Ports, looks like I need to get a couple of PCI Firewire Cards with Texas Instruments Chipsets, the funny thing is, Avid recommend Texas Instrument Chipsets when using the Digi002 and that is working fine with the VIA Chipsets in my DAW PC....weird, I would have expected both Firewire devices not to work, but one does and the other doesn't.

[kimball492]

I've only ever been to cash converters once and 90% of the guitar stuff was current retail price in music shop Doc don't you find them expensive for secondhand gear ?.

P.s Goodluck on the booting of the Asrock you never know

[DrNomis_44]

I've only ever been to cash converters once and 90% of the guitar stuff was current retail price in music shop Doc don't you find them expensive for secondhand gear ?.

P.s Goodluck on the booting of the Asrock you never know

Cheers, will let you know how it goes mate.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Okay here's some great news, I finished working on the ASRock motherboard a few minutes ago prior to testing it out to see if it would boot, I put a spare BIOS battery in the battery socket, and made sure everything was connected up, I then moved the case with the ASRock motherboard in it to underneath the computer desk, plugged in the monitor, mouse, keyboard and mains power, switched the power supply switch on the power supply to on, then pressed the power button on the front of the case.....and.....the motherboard booted up, I pressed F2 to go into BIOS Setup and this is the screen I got:





This indicates that:

1, The CPU is good.

2, The Graphics card is good.

3, The Power Supply is good.

4, The Motherboard BIOS is good.

And therefore....

5, The Motherboard itself is good.