Windows and USB Audio Devices

[Mike Rivers]

I got a TASCAM US-122 (2-channel USB audio interface box), plugged it
in to a USB port, and installed the drivers per instructions. It
worked fine. I moved it to another computer, plugged it in, installed
the drivers, and it worked find there too. No surprises.

When I moved it back to the first computer, I must have plugged it
into the other USB port than the one to which it was connected when I
installed it, and the "found new hardware" dialog box popped up asking
me if I wanted to install the drivers. So I let it (since they were
already on the hard drive I didn't have to put in the CD), and it
worked fine on that port. Now I could plug it into either of the two
USB ports on that computer and it would just start right up.

I expected that once the driver was installed, it would work for
either USB port, but apparently the installation is port-specific.
That was a bit of a surprise to me, but the plot thickens.

I needed to use my USB scanner, so I plugged that into one of the two
USB ports which were now US-122-enabled. No "found new hardware"
pop-ups, the scanner worked fine. Next time I re-connected the US-122
to the port where the scanner had been, it wanted to have the driver
re-installed again. A minor annoyance.

A couple of days later, I plugged my Jukebox 3 into one of those USB
ports that I had been using with the US-122 and, for the first time
since I had installed the Jukebox drivers, I got the "found new
hardware" pop-up, and, like with the US-122, it wanted to (and did)
re-install the driver. I'll bet that if I plug the US-122 into the
port where I had the Jukebox connected, it'll want to once again
install its drivers.

So my question is - is this typical of USB audio devices? Some USB
devices? Most USB devices? Firewire devices? (I don't have any, nor a
port, to play with) The only USB devices I have are the Jukebox,
US-122, scanner, and a CD-R drive that no longer works, so the range
of my experimentation is limited. I was wondering if anyone knows the
principle behind this "plug-and-play-once-I-configure-the-port-for-you"
behavior.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - (mrivers@d-and-d.com)

[Jukka Andersson]

I have EMagic EMI 2/6, Evolution UC-16 midicontroller, Printer, Mouse,
Jukebox3 and these all seem to search drivers sometimes. But it does not ask
me anything,
just does search littlebit.

What USB controller you use? Mine is SiS
which seems to be little worse that Intel or Lucent or similar "Real" USB
controllers.
It works but people have told that there may be this kind of features with
3rd manufacturer USB controllers. Basically
all this seems to be Microsofts fault...

..jukka

"Mike Rivers" <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1062425240k@trad...
>
> I got a TASCAM US-122 (2-channel USB audio interface box), plugged it
> in to a USB port, and installed the drivers per instructions. It
> worked fine. I moved it to another computer, plugged it in, installed
> the drivers, and it worked find there too. No surprises.
>
> When I moved it back to the first computer, I must have plugged it
> into the other USB port than the one to which it was connected when I
> installed it, and the "found new hardware" dialog box popped up asking
> me if I wanted to install the drivers. So I let it (since they were
> already on the hard drive I didn't have to put in the CD), and it
> worked fine on that port. Now I could plug it into either of the two
> USB ports on that computer and it would just start right up.
>
> I expected that once the driver was installed, it would work for
> either USB port, but apparently the installation is port-specific.
> That was a bit of a surprise to me, but the plot thickens.
>
> I needed to use my USB scanner, so I plugged that into one of the two
> USB ports which were now US-122-enabled. No "found new hardware"
> pop-ups, the scanner worked fine. Next time I re-connected the US-122
> to the port where the scanner had been, it wanted to have the driver
> re-installed again. A minor annoyance.
>
> A couple of days later, I plugged my Jukebox 3 into one of those USB
> ports that I had been using with the US-122 and, for the first time
> since I had installed the Jukebox drivers, I got the "found new
> hardware" pop-up, and, like with the US-122, it wanted to (and did)
> re-install the driver. I'll bet that if I plug the US-122 into the
> port where I had the Jukebox connected, it'll want to once again
> install its drivers.
>
> So my question is - is this typical of USB audio devices? Some USB
> devices? Most USB devices? Firewire devices? (I don't have any, nor a
> port, to play with) The only USB devices I have are the Jukebox,
> US-122, scanner, and a CD-R drive that no longer works, so the range
> of my experimentation is limited. I was wondering if anyone knows the
> principle behind this "plug-and-play-once-I-configure-the-port-for-you"
> behavior.
>
>
>
> --
> I'm really Mike Rivers - (mrivers@d-and-d.com)

[Les Cargill]

Mike Rivers wrote:
>
> I got a TASCAM US-122 (2-channel USB audio interface box), plugged it
> in to a USB port, and installed the drivers per instructions. It
> worked fine. I moved it to another computer, plugged it in, installed
> the drivers, and it worked find there too. No surprises.
>
> When I moved it back to the first computer, I must have plugged it
> into the other USB port than the one to which it was connected when I
> installed it, and the "found new hardware" dialog box popped up asking
> me if I wanted to install the drivers. So I let it (since they were
> already on the hard drive I didn't have to put in the CD), and it
> worked fine on that port. Now I could plug it into either of the two
> USB ports on that computer and it would just start right up.
>
> I expected that once the driver was installed, it would work for
> either USB port, but apparently the installation is port-specific.
> That was a bit of a surprise to me, but the plot thickens.
>
> I needed to use my USB scanner, so I plugged that into one of the two
> USB ports which were now US-122-enabled. No "found new hardware"
> pop-ups, the scanner worked fine. Next time I re-connected the US-122
> to the port where the scanner had been, it wanted to have the driver
> re-installed again. A minor annoyance.
>
> A couple of days later, I plugged my Jukebox 3 into one of those USB
> ports that I had been using with the US-122 and, for the first time
> since I had installed the Jukebox drivers, I got the "found new
> hardware" pop-up, and, like with the US-122, it wanted to (and did)
> re-install the driver. I'll bet that if I plug the US-122 into the
> port where I had the Jukebox connected, it'll want to once again
> install its drivers.
>
> So my question is - is this typical of USB audio devices?

Apparently, although I've seen things that make me think it's not
just limited to audio.

> Some USB
> devices? Most USB devices? Firewire devices? (I don't have any, nor a
> port, to play with) The only USB devices I have are the Jukebox,
> US-122, scanner, and a CD-R drive that no longer works, so the range
> of my experimentation is limited. I was wondering if anyone knows the
> principle behind this "plug-and-play-once-I-configure-the-port-for-you"
> behavior.

Either the ports are really "on a bus" together, or they terminate
at a controller. I bet the latter. In order to address the controller,
the OS has to switch things such that this instance of this driver for
the app points to the right spot. Think COM1 vs COM2, which are "equivalent"
devices with different interrupt lines and I/O addresses.

I don't think the process is very clean - when an aquantaince was trying
to hook his digital camera up to his laptop, we flat could not make it work
at all, after a miscue. I don't think he ever recovered that particular
driver on that computer.


>
> --
> I'm really Mike Rivers - (mrivers@d-and-d.com)


--
Les Cargill

[Mike Rivers]

In article <cZK4b.255$I56.243@read3.inet.fi> jukka@rihmasto.com writes:

> What USB controller you use? Mine is SiS
> which seems to be little worse that Intel or Lucent or similar "Real" USB
> controllers.

Mine says Intel 82801CA on the laptop and 82801AA on the desktop.

As they say: "Laptops are different."



--
I'm really Mike Rivers - (mrivers@d-and-d.com)

[Geoff Wood]

"Mike Rivers" <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1062425240k@trad...
>
> I got a TASCAM US-122 (2-channel USB audio interface box), plugged it
> in to a USB port, and installed the drivers per instructions. It
> worked fine. I moved it to another computer, plugged it in, installed


Sounds like a good question for mailto:PCDAW-subscribe@yahoogroups.com !


geoff

[spud]

On 1 Sep 2003 12:28:59 -0400, mrivers@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers) wrote:

>
>I got a TASCAM US-122 (2-channel USB audio interface box), plugged it
>in to a USB port, and installed the drivers per instructions. It
>worked fine. I moved it to another computer, plugged it in, installed
>the drivers, and it worked find there too. No surprises.
>
>When I moved it back to the first computer, I must have plugged it
>into the other USB port than the one to which it was connected when I
>installed it, and the "found new hardware" dialog box popped up asking
>me if I wanted to install the drivers. So I let it (since they were
>already on the hard drive I didn't have to put in the CD), and it
>worked fine on that port. Now I could plug it into either of the two
>USB ports on that computer and it would just start right up.
>
>I expected that once the driver was installed, it would work for
>either USB port, but apparently the installation is port-specific.
>That was a bit of a surprise to me, but the plot thickens.
>
>I needed to use my USB scanner, so I plugged that into one of the two
>USB ports which were now US-122-enabled. No "found new hardware"
>pop-ups, the scanner worked fine. Next time I re-connected the US-122
>to the port where the scanner had been, it wanted to have the driver
>re-installed again. A minor annoyance.
>
>A couple of days later, I plugged my Jukebox 3 into one of those USB
>ports that I had been using with the US-122 and, for the first time
>since I had installed the Jukebox drivers, I got the "found new
>hardware" pop-up, and, like with the US-122, it wanted to (and did)
>re-install the driver. I'll bet that if I plug the US-122 into the
>port where I had the Jukebox connected, it'll want to once again
>install its drivers.
>
>So my question is - is this typical of USB audio devices? Some USB
>devices? Most USB devices? Firewire devices? (I don't have any, nor a
>port, to play with) The only USB devices I have are the Jukebox,
>US-122, scanner, and a CD-R drive that no longer works, so the range
>of my experimentation is limited. I was wondering if anyone knows the
>principle behind this "plug-and-play-once-I-configure-the-port-for-you"
>behavior.

I don't know how they are married but I've had very similar
experiences here using an ECS laptop with "VIA Rev 5 or later" USB
listed in Device Manager. I use the Tascam US-224 USB interface which
will pop up the New Hardware Found routine if I plug into either of
the top two USB jacks. The bottom two just enable the interface. If I
plug in a USB 2.0 capable drive enclosure and use the bottom jacks I
get "you have plugged a USB2.0 capable device into a USB1.0 capable
jack" or words to that effect. I just use the same socket for the
matching device. If I make a mistake when plugging in, I cancel out of
the FNH window, unplug and replug in the original socket and all is
well. I don't ever install the drivers a second time when prompted. I
use a matching colored dot made with a marking pen to keep things
straight. Tascam tech support said that USB Optical hardware was more
reliable than whatever the alternative is but I couldn't find any
manufacturer info on who was using what with which mainboards. The
Tascam 224 user forum said some people only had success on XP using
SP1. I found this to be true in my case as all the dropouts, stutters
etc went away. A very weird thing is that the 224 sounds perfectly
clean through the headphone jack but passes gobs of digital hash out
the main output or the headphone output when connected to a mixer,
stereo, etc when the laptop is powered by the LiteOn Model PA-1900-05
it came with. Running off the battery it's all fine. If someone can
explain this I'd appreciate it. Good luck with it all, s.

[Jay Levitt]

In article <znr1062425240k@trad>, mrivers@d-and-d.com says...
> So my question is - is this typical of USB audio devices? Some USB
> devices? Most USB devices? Firewire devices?

This seems typical of many USB devices much of the time, audio or not.
I have not figured out when it happens and when it doesn't. However, if
your drivers are WHQL-signed - or, perhaps, if you go to Control Panel->
System->Hardware->Driver Signing and select "Ignore" - I think it will
just automatically install any drivers it needs, and never ask you to
search for them.

--
Jay Levitt |
Wellesley, MA | Hi!
Faster: jay at jay dot eff-em | Where are we going?
http://www.jay.fm | Why am I in this handbasket?