Major problem with UAD QUAD CARD

[Ianduarte]

Hi guys,

I desperately need help with a problem that I am having and as I live in Brazil and there is no technical support here I just don't know what to do.
I have a system with 4 cards. 2 OCTO, 1 QUAD and a DUO on my mac. Yesterday, my Pro tools session froze and I had to restart. After the restart my new OCTO card asked for a firmware update, and it did ok, than, my QUAD asked the same thing and after a few minutes it came up with an error -98.
I tried to redo the firmware update with no success, than, I put this card on my other computer, this time with windows and got the same error.
After about a day insisting on this problem I figured out that my card's backlit led never lights, but the card is recognized in the device manager correctly.
If I skip the firmware update, the card asks for an authorization download, but when I go to the universal audio website, the Hardware ID that the card displays is different from the one that i have registered, but the serial remains the same.
Please, see if you have any clue of what can be going on, to help here.

Thank you a lot for your time and sorry for the big letter I wrote.

I also have pictures of everything.

Ian Duarte

 

[Hoenerbr]

Very unfortunate but your going to have to use UA customer support!
Your 3 hours ahead of me EST so that means your 6 hours ahead of UAs PST that still leaves time for you to call the CS #
Their phone support is the only way to go!

Hi guys,

I desperately need help with a problem that I am having and as I live in Brazil and there is no technical support here I just don't know what to do.
I have a system with 4 cards. 2 OCTO, 1 QUAD and a DUO on my mac. Yesterday, my Pro tools session froze and I had to restart. After the restart my new OCTO card asked for a firmware update, and it did ok, than, my QUAD asked the same thing and after a few minutes it came up with an error -98.
I tried to redo the firmware update with no success, than, I put this card on my other computer, this time with windows and got the same error.
After about a day insisting on this problem I figured out that my card's backlit led never lights, but the card is recognized in the device manager correctly.
If I skip the firmware update, the card asks for an authorization download, but when I go to the universal audio website, the Hardware ID that the card displays is different from the one that i have registered, but the serial remains the same.
Please, see if you have any clue of what can be going on, to help here.

Thank you a lot for your time and sorry for the big letter I wrote.

I also have pictures of everything.

Ian Duarte

 

[Blackout]

maybe there was a screwup where the UAD drivers loaded the Octo firmware into the Quad card and have now bricked the Quad? if this is the case and its a bug then UA will have to replace it for you...this is a very possible scenario with the Octo being a fairly recent product....anythings possible.

or maybe its co-incidence and your Quad card just died. also possible if you sat the cards next to each other and there was too much heat between them and not enough airflow?

theres been a few Quads die recently on this forum, i wander if there is some timebomb problem with the hardware goin on. i hope not, mine is still hangin in there...

 

[Ianduarte]

Hi Blackout, I think that this is exactely what happened.
Yesterday I saw that when it asks for reauthorizing, the hardware id is saying that it is already registered to another user.
Very strange since this card never left my computer and all I did was put another octo to my system. This all happened right after that, on the very same day.
I have already sent cs the pictures of the whole process and the messages I get, what I don't really know, is how can something like that happen. This makes me really affraid of doeing firmware updates.

 

[Kcatthedog]

Oi Ian,

well understandable but yours is an isolated incident, so it is probable it has something to do with your particular install and system ?

But please let us all know what CS says and how this gets worked out !

 

[UniversalAudio]

Oi Ian,

well understandable but yours is an isolated incident, so it is probable it has something to do with your particular install and system ?

But please let us all know what CS says and how this gets worked out !

Hi Ian,

I just responded to your PM in detail and gave you a couple of suggestions to try.

I'm not really a customer support person, but I know enough about our systems to offer some troubleshooting assistance.

From what you've described, your drivers aren't loading properly so I've suggestion a complete uninstall and reinstall of the software. It wasn't clear from your note which system you're on, but since you mentioned Device Manager, I've assumed you're on a Windows computer. Make sure you run the installer in Admin Mode.

Once the drivers are loaded, then the firmware and authorization updates should work.

These are basic steps to try, but without knowing more specifics that's the best I can offer. I escalated your tickets and urge you to work with CS directly as they are best equipped to help you. Sorry it happened on a Friday night, but that's when most critical problems seem to happen...

I hope some of this helps!

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

 

[Ianduarte]

Hi Gannon,

Thank you for answering me during the weekend.
When the problem happened I was working on my Windows 7/64. After I discovered that this specific card was causing the problem, I removed it and installed on another pc that never had any uad card in it. When I turned this other pc on for the first time, i noticed that the lights on the card lit up, but not the led on the back of the card. When windows open, and I star the control painel I receive a message about a firmware update that has to be done, but everytime I tried to do it it, never concludes and I get an error -98, saying that the card did not finish the update in time. I did this same process in 3 different computers and had the same results. After trying everythingI could, I tried to skip the firmware update and move on, but the card's control painel appears to freeze and that spinning circle appears. When I got very pissed, after another of that frozen and spinning thing, I left the room, and for my surprise when I came back, there was a message on screen saying that I needed to download my authorizations, but when I clicked on the OK button, and got to the site, it says in red letters that "this hardware id is already authorized to another user". How come? I then opened that part of the site that shows me all the cards that I have, and noticed that my card's hardware id has changed. All of this happened right after I installed my new OCTO card in my computer and it asked for a firmware update. I have all my other cards in the same machine but only my QUAD got screwed up. I really don't know what to do, and I am not an unexperienced user, I in fact have done everything I could, but it seems that the firmware update screwed with some information on my QUAD card and made it's hardware id to change, that's why it's not working anymore.
Please, give me a help!

Thank you Gannon.

 

[UniversalAudio]

Hi Gannon,

Thank you for answering me during the weekend.
When the problem happened I was working on my Windows 7/64. After I discovered that this specific card was causing the problem, I removed it and installed on another pc that never had any uad card in it. When I turned this other pc on for the first time, i noticed that the lights on the card lit up, but not the led on the back of the card. When windows open, and I star the control painel I receive a message about a firmware update that has to be done, but everytime I tried to do it it, never concludes and I get an error -98, saying that the card did not finish the update in time. I did this same process in 3 different computers and had the same results. After trying everythingI could, I tried to skip the firmware update and move on, but the card's control painel appears to freeze and that spinning circle appears. When I got very pissed, after another of that frozen and spinning thing, I left the room, and for my surprise when I came back, there was a message on screen saying that I needed to download my authorizations, but when I clicked on the OK button, and got to the site, it says in red letters that "this hardware id is already authorized to another user". How come? I then opened that part of the site that shows me all the cards that I have, and noticed that my card's hardware id has changed. All of this happened right after I installed my new OCTO card in my computer and it asked for a firmware update. I have all my other cards in the same machine but only my QUAD got screwed up. I really don't know what to do, and I am not an unexperienced user, I in fact have done everything I could, but it seems that the firmware update screwed with some information on my QUAD card and made it's hardware id to change, that's why it's not working anymore.
Please, give me a help!

Thank you Gannon.

Hi Ian,

I just responded to your other PM. We should probably keep the noise down on the public forum and not double post.

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

 

[Blackout]

i wander how many ppl with an octo and a quad and this particular version of the UAD drivers /firmware and windows 7/64 have done a firmware update for the Octo and have had this happen. You seem to be the first, but its also a fairly small window of people....i wander if UA ever tested that combination of things. i still think theres been a firmware screwup..

sounds like you are being looked after tho nice to know. let us know what eventuates !

 

[Spiritworks]

So is the firmware for a Quad different from that for an Octo? This thread is making me a bit uneasy since I have two of each. Would it help to only have the Octo installed, do the firmware update and then remove it from the computer? After the Octo is done, then do the same for the Quad?

 

[Kcatthedog]

are you running FWor pci-e over tbolt; pick the right drivers for your comm protocol !

personally I would and did LOSE FW and move to pci-e.

 

[Kcatthedog]

Are people understanding UA OS's differently ?

For about 3 releases UA has been very clear ( and the onsite pop ups perfectly clear ) the new dedicated tbolt pci-e drivers and OS completely disable the FW functionality so what signal does anyone expect to get out of a disabled FW port ???

Essentially with current drivers ( there are 2), you either run your apollo on pci-e over tbolt with a tbolt card or you are running FW. In which case a FW satellite will be fine.

 

[Don Schenk]

Five months ago when I bought an Apollo Quad, I happened to notice a warning about Firewire/Thunderbolt on UA's site. It's the same warning Kcatthedog is talking about.

At the time I considered the possibility that I might want to run the Apollo on Firewire if I ever wanted to make it work with a Windows machine. The warning caught my attention, so I made a Gif file and stuck it on a hidden website I use for testing. I call it hidden, because I set the home page to give a 404 error.

But the gif with an explanation is here: UAD To Apollo

Right click it, and save the gif as a reminder if you wish. It is what I used until the current update when I decided to forget Firewire, and go all TB.

:- Don

 

[Spiritworks]

OP wasn't referring to Apollo, was he? Normal pcie cards...

 

[Ianduarte]

The cards I use are all pcie. I am waiting for the cs contact, so that they can tell me what happened. Actually it's the first problem I had in about 2 years, so don't be affraid because mine is an isolated case. UA cards have always been rock solid in my system. I will let you know how my story ended.

 

[Don Schenk]

OP wasn't referring to Apollo, was he? Normal pcie cards...

You are correct. I was thinking in terms of what Kcatthedog had mentioned.

:- Don

 

[Blackout]

So is the firmware for a Quad different from that for an Octo? This thread is making me a bit uneasy since I have two of each. Would it help to only have the Octo installed, do the firmware update and then remove it from the computer? After the Octo is done, then do the same for the Quad?

if it was me Spirit, thats EXACTLY what i would do right now. put one card in at a time...do the firmware update...shut down...next card in, etc. That will be much safer.

At least thats what i would do until UA can confirm this is not an issue in this case for Ian.

Cheers,
Blackout

 

[bob skinn]

Hi Ian If you go to the ua website then go to support post your problem I am quite sure a UA tech will help you through this.
I am no expert but I have solved all my "problems " by uninstalling the ua drivers then installing the latest drivers from the ua web site .
If you don,t have easy access to the uninstall feature I find it faster to install the latest ua update which will give you the automatic install feature so you can now do an easy uninstall then reinstall the firmware again.There probably is an easier way to do this but like I said I am no expert. Best of luck to you Bob

 

[DanButsu]

The cards I use are all pcie. I am waiting for the cs contact, so that they can tell me what happened. Actually it's the first problem I had in about 2 years, so don't be affraid because mine is an isolated case. UA cards have always been rock solid in my system. I will let you know how my story ended.

Gannon mentioned that they are in crunch mode and are swamped at the moment (v8.0 release myahaps???). I'm sure you'll get a reply from CS imminently. If not, simply call them, they are ready and waiting

 

[Ianduarte]

Hi, I would like to keep you up to date. According to the cs my card just died. They offered me a replacement free of charge. (RMA)
As I told you before, this was the first and only problem that I've had in two years or so.
Thank you guys, Let's make music!!!