Mr816x problems.

Steinberg Hardware
#1

Hey guys, I have been searching this forum for a while but i haven’t found a solution to my problems. I have recently bought a custom DAW (PC), and I got a mr816x to go along with it. First of all, I was having major issues trying to get the driver to work on my computer, but I got it working eventually, but I recently tried to uninstall it then re-install it to see if that would help (it didn’t) and now i can’t re-install it for the life of me. :confused:
Anyway, I have been having constant audio dropouts, and it has been really frustrating me. I have been using the firewire cable that came with my old Duet for the MR816x because my PC doesn’t have the same input as the mr816x cable. Could this be causing problems?

Thanks in advance guys, Joseph.

#2

Hi Joseph. Even though it is a different cable, it may not be a problem (Steinberg may insist that you use their cable). Having said that, you brought into the picture driver issues. Before you tear the software apart, you may want to focus on hardware. Is your firewire port on the computer “Firewire 400”? If it is, then I suggest you get a 400 cable (even though the MR816 operates on the older Firewire version). If it is the older version, no problem, but the cable could be a problem (try another one?). I got myself a new Firewire PCIe card. It is 400, but having no problems at all. I got the corresponding Firewire cable with the proper plug on both ends and it works great. There are recommended chipsets for audio interface connections with computers. Do a search using “Steinberg”.
Once you’ve firmed up that, then uninstall drivers, etc. as much as possible and start from scratch again (using recommended MR816 drivers install order).
Having said all this, you may want to focus on getting the drivers and the OS cleaned up, then trying a fresh install again of the drivers. It’s up to you. But, I know from many, many years of experience, you could be spending alot of hours chasing software ghosts, when it’s the hardware / cables causing problems. What version of Operating System? Version of DAW? Good Luck. Ed

#3

Sorry Joseph. I should have said Firewire 800 is the newer version. I noticed it after posting.

#4

Hi Ed, thanks for the reply.
I do have a Firewire 800 PCI card, it’s a SIIG FireWire 800 3-Port PCI. The cable I am using has no issues when I use it with my Duet on my Mac, so I’m starting to think it’s the actual PCI card. I will try to uninstall as many drivers as I can, because I recently upgraded the drivers on my Firewire PCI and then the interface stopped working.
I have looked at how the PCI card is installed into the motherboard and noticed that the prongs in the PCI card are different to the PCI inputs on the motherboard. Could this be the problem? This is my first PC, so I have no idea what im doing :frowning:

#5

Hi Joseph. If your card is PCIe (PCI Express), it should go in a PCIe slot. Don’t put it in a regular PCI slot. If your card is a new one, it may very well be a PCIe; however, read the box it came in to make sure. The pin layout is similiar depending on the specific form-factor. Check the box. If you have a new machine, you most likely have both PCI and PCIexpress. But, PCIexpress is newer technology. Alot of motherboards will identify the PCIe slots with blue. But, again, confirm before experimenting. It could do damage.
Did your MAC use Firewire 800? If it didn’t, there may be an incompatibility with the cable and your new Firewire800 card. So, start with the confirmation of the card (i.e. is it a PCI or PCIexpress? is it in the correct slot on the motherboard? Then, try testing it with another Firewire device using the old cable. If still no luck, try another cable. Confirm the integrity of the card, then move from there. Let me know how it all goes. Ed

#6

Bro, you got a PCIe slot in your computer, scratch your old PCI card. Buy this one…
http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F5U504
I have a MR816csx and it runs flawlessly with this on my dell…

Good luck