God help me if one of my USB Midi modules should cut out during a SONAR session. What happens is that sometimes a module "disappears" from the Windows Device Manager, so I re-install the driver (or sometimes this happens automatically) and then SONAR somehow "knows" that this is the second time the device has been installed and calls the same old Midi module "2 - Edirol SD-80" or whatever the name of the module. Which means that every time I open a sequence using that module, SONAR can't find it and I have to manually re-assign each track using that instrument to the new driver. Which lasts until the next time the Midi module is turned off in the middle of a session or gets unplugged and it's "shampoo, rinse, repeat" except this time the module is called "3-Edirol SD-80" and so forth.
 
I have tried uninstalling the instrument and deleting the driver, but somehow SONAR knows the Midi module has been there before. I believe I have fixed this in the past by uninstalling the driver and then going into the Registry and deleting any reference to the Midi module, but that is a pain.
 
Any ideas on how to convince SONAR to keep the driver name the same?
 

Sounds like you need to set up Windows power management settings. USB ports can be turned off to save power unless you tell the OS not to do so. Makes sure nothing goes to sleep, ever.

Just because you can't see a driver/device in device manager does not mean that it is not there. Some USB devices will install another instance if they are plugged into another USB socket, and often there are dozens of devices installed, but not active, some of which may cause problems. In order to see "nonpresent" devices you need to set an environment variable. That is a lot less irksome than doing a registry search and you are less likely to break something if you do it via device manager.
 
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/show-non-present-devices-windows
 

I fixed my problem this time by using regedit.com and eliminating any reference to the Midi module (Edirol SD-80). Next time this happens, I will look for hidden devices, ie where the system driver is still installed, but SONAR doesn't see it, and when you install a new driver, SONAR renames it so you can't use it under the old name.
 
As for disabling USB sleep mode, that might stop my Midi module from disappearing from Device Manager if that were a problem, but most of the time, the USB module goes bye-bye when the power is shut off, and my laptop continues on battery power.

Laptops typically have dual setups for power management. 1 for powered and a more strict version for battery operation.

Early USB3 ports were flakey in this way. I have a PC that spontaneously dismisses, then re-recognizes external hard drives mid-backup. Useless.

jpetersen
Early USB3 ports were flakey in this way. I have a PC that spontaneously dismisses, then re-recognizes external hard drives mid-backup. Useless.

That happens to be an issue with my HP laptop which has non-standard USB3 ports.
 
However, that is not the real problem. The real problem is that SONAR recognizes multiple variants of the same driver for a Midi instrument and assigns them a different number, requiring all sequences using that driver to not recognize the Midi instrument.

I believe the root of your problem is "if one of my  USB Midi modules should cut out during a SONAR session". This simple should not happen ever. Solve this problem and the resulting issue goes away. If you have set up the energy conservation measures properly and assuming you are powering your midi devices through USB then I would suggest monitoring the power supply rail voltages (battery operation also) on your laptop during the above mentioned event to see if your power supply is capable of powering the number of USB midi devices you have connected to it. Are you turning on your midi devices prior to starting sonar? Some devices need to be powered up after windows boots because of how their drivers are written.

Losing Midi Modules due to USB issues rarely happens to me, the most common reason is some idiot turning off the power, so the Midi Module shuts down while my laptop continues to run on batteries. This happens during setup for gigs, where the roadies are constantly playing with power and lighting and the mixer.
 
Sometimes I am the idiot, my Edirol sometimes goes into GM mode rather than Native mode if a sequence has a SYSEX file that instructs external modules to go into GM mode. After that, I need to power cycle the Edirol to get back to Native mode, and that can cause my laptop to install a new driver if I forget to turn off my laptop while shutting down and restarting the Edirol.
 

I may have this all wrong, but this behavior, if I recall correctly is partly Window's fault because there are no MIDI channel naming conventions in the USB world, so when it sees a USB MIDI device plugged it, it can't know if this is a new device or if it's the same one so it creates a new one, and Sonar, knowing this limitation of Windows, tries to map the device it figures is the old one back into the application-level slot it belongs.
 
Your device should not cut out in a session so I agree with the suggestion to check your power management settings. And your fix of removing the old device entries is the only way I know of to fix Sonar's view of the device.
 
I do know that Microsoft is working with vendors to figure out a better way to handle things. In the meantime, USB interface and MIDI users must continue to suffer.