system won't boot after driver install (delta 192, XP x64)...

[soulFile]

After installing the beta driver for Delta AP 192 (v5.10.00.0051) under Windows XP x64 (SP2)... I have to reboot in safe mode and disable the device, otherwise Windows won't finish loading (obviously hangs on initializing the driver). This is a clean install of Windows XP x64 SP2 with all updates applied.

Note however that I can re-enable the device after Windows loads up, but I don't get any audio, and several things on the control panel are greyed out that I suspect should not be, namely:

-> "Master Volume" on the mixer tab, and
-> _everything_ on the patchbay / router tab except the H/W Out S/PDIF column. (no monitor mixer avail on any of them).

Certainly this is a big dissapoinment as I built this machine as a DAW expecting at least some functionality from the Delta, but the fact that it won't even boot does not inspire confidence. Confusing also is that the driver file download says "final". Obviously this is not the case.

Is there a newer driver that works? Or does anyone have any suggestions on how to get the 51 "final" driver to work?

Thanks! :)

[JA]

The legacy beta driver does not work with more than 4 GB of RAM installed. I'm not sure why the system isn't booting, possibly an IRQ conflict; try moving the Delta card to a different PCI slot. New Delta drivers are currently being tested in our private beta program.

[soulFile]

Not sure what you're suggesting here... if the driver isn't going to work anyway with the amount of RAM I have... what will moving the hardware around solve? Booting? At any rate, I have two other PCI-X slot available... I'll try moving them around and report back. Note that the mobo (SuperMicro X7DA8) has separate channels for each PCI-X slot and each is set to auto-detect bus speed... should I try setting a specific speed?

Also, as a side, it seems I cannot join the private beta because I develop audio software... even though nothing I'm working on competes in any way with anything mAudio is doing or will likely ever do. Isn't there some "non-compete" thing I can sign? Seems you're missing out on a lot of knowledgeable people this way that might help expedite the process, and I'm missing out on a driver that actually works :p More than a fair trade IMO ;)

[soulFile]

FYI & FWIW, I solved the boot problem by making some BIOS tweaks... seems there's a "virtual IRQ" option that allows IRQ range to 128(?). Not sure what the real terminology is but worked without having to move any hardware around or disable ACPI.

Still no audio though (everything is still greyed out). Would be such a shame to remove all that memory... I see a progress bar on the homepage occasionally, but what's the actual ETA? Before I go pulling memory out of my machine :P

Thanks :)

[soulFile]

OK, I'm finally, officially, pissed off like everybody else here now. Lets forget for a moment the unbearable wait for the drivers that are yet to be, and take a look at my experience today with the drivers (and hardware) that currently are.

I bought a ProFire 610... cuz you're little progress bar shows the 64bit drivers are ready... only to find out when it arrives that when I go to install the drivers the fine print says for Vista only. Now I don't want to get into any flame wars about Vista, but many of us have reasons for running XP 64 instead, and Vista will pass as quickly as it came. Everything else in my machine has a 64bit drivers, from the GeFroce card to the no-name FireWire card to my USB key. Where are the XP 64 drivers? Will there ever be any XP 64 bit drivers?

I'll get back to the drivers in a sec, let's take a little break for the hardware... you know those little push pull knobs on the 610 front inputs? Well, the first one just slid right off. NICE!... how the hell does something like that pass QA? I'd be willing to bet there's a little led weight mounted to the inside of the base so they just "feel" well built and sturdy.

A little more hardware stuff... I also have a 410, which got put on a shelf after a few months of use because one day it started adding some noise to the output signal as if something inside just decided to crap out... possibly the led weight came loose and shorted something on the board.

Well, I looked at your little driver graph again... and apparently the 410 also has 64 bit beta drivers... and low an behold there's even some for XP 64. So I thought I might see if I could get some audio out of it... anything! Surely something must work!

Nothing! It's getting an input signal all right, but nothings coming out. The mixer shows nothing going to any of the linked outputs. Apparently there is some caveat with this driver as well? Does it also not work with more than 4GB of memory? or is there some other unknown, unpublished caveat for this driver to work? Perhaps I just looked at it the wrong way? Is it also a pre "real" beta, legacy "final" beta like the delta "final" driver up there?

Apparently there is some voodoo magic involved in getting your hardware to work. How the hell would I know? There are no readmes, instructions, specs, known issues or anything of any use on the driver download page, and you're little graph says nothing on whether the "betas" available for download are old betas, or new betas or what! The graph doesn't show OS or other specs... No mention of when or if it will ever work with any particular OS. Your bar graph is as meaningless as it is colorful. Dump the damn dummy graph and give us some real information! Not buried here in the forums... on the download page! Clear, concise, and complete.

You guys should also be in the business of selling PCs with your audio interfaces as well, cuz apparently the only machines you're hardware works with are the computers in your labs. Even if your "new" beta drivers work, none of us can even try them out because... surprise surprise! we work in the audio industry. God forbid any of us leaked that your drivers were finally working.

I also removed the delta from the machine by the way, since it's little bar in the graph isn't moving anywhere along the space time continuum, and maybe someone will give me a few bucks for it. With all this messing around, I guess I didn't uninstall the (non-working) driver first, which really shouldn't matter, and now the driver will not uninstall and I have to waste more time manually purging the OS of it's remnants.

Now I'm not exactly a beginner, and I've had my share of hardware headaches, but this whole mess ranks right up there in the top 5 of the biggest wastes of time ever.... at least if I was on the beta team, the wasted day might have yielded useful information or a working driver.

Really, you guys should be ashamed. I'm sorry, but that's about as polite as I can put it, considering how fuming angry I am. Consider this experience for a moment, from the point of view of an end user, spending hard earned money and wasting valuable time, and imagine my frustration, then multiply that by 10.

I am done with m-audio. Even if the hardware wasn't junk, I can't get a driver for it anyway.

signed,
very, very, disappointed...

and don't worry... I can't possibly be any more disappointed... so by all means, ignore this post (as I fully expect you will).