Hi Gang,
I'm experiencing some major issues after adding an Edirol FA 101 to my set-up.
I'm running Sonar X1(64 bit) in Windows XP64 bit. My other interfaces are an M Audio Delta 66, & an Alesis MultiMix 16 Firewire mixer.
My system is a dedicated DAW pc with 2 x dual core Xeon processors & 16 gig of RAM. Nvidea Video card (if that matters)
 
With the FA 101 set to 44.1 sample rate my pc boots up but it is completely locked up once I turn on the interface.
With the FA 101 set at 48 sample rate my pc boots up, isn't locked up but it crashes upon opening Sonar. I get the "blue screen of death" with an error message but it disappears before I get a chance to read the warning message.
 
I have installed the proper drivers from Roland's website for the FA-101.
The only reason I want to run the FA 101 is so I can plug my pre-amps in direct. I have 6 tube channels & a Joe Meek TwinQ. I don't want to plug them in to the Alesis board because I don't want the Alesis pre-amps "colouring" or changing the sound of my pres.
 
Can anyone experienced in these matters offer any advice?
Thanks!

XP 64bit has never been supported with Sonar. Upgrade to Windows 7 or 8. 

Thanks Dave. Agreed.
When I update my windows version will it screw up my Sonar files/settings do you think?

Jedi_CGB


Thanks Dave. Agreed.
When I update my windows version will it screw up my Sonar files/settings do you think?

You won't be able to upgrade in place from XP unfortunately, so you will have to backup everything and install windows from scratch and reinstall all of your applications and restore the data. I had to do it when I went to Windows 7 and it took me a month to get it all done. 


What I did, and I recommend this, is purchase a new disk drive and install the new version of Windows on the new drive. I still had to reinstall all of my applications, but at least I didn't have to depend on a backup to save all of my data because I could still access the old drive (and even boot from it if necessary). 

What I did, and I recommend this, is purchase a new disk drive and install the new version of Windows on the new drive. I still had to reinstall all of my applications, but at least I didn't have to depend on a backup to save all of my data because I could still access the old drive (and even boot from it if necessary).

 
+1    That's what I did when I went from WinXP to Win7 64 early last year.   I still have the original drive ready to go, but really use it just for storage at this point.   

Jedi

Not sure If I am going to help very much but here is my experience with My Fa-101
I have had that interface for a few years now and for the most part (let's say oh....90% of the time) I have no issues with it.......

However sometimes for no reason it drops the drivers and I just need to either reboot or reboot a few times. Once and only once I've had to reinstall new drivers but if I remember correctly I used the drivers off the disk and was fine.....

Now I did use the FA-101 with XP however it was 32 bit and like I said it was fine (for the most part)

Now I am using Win 7 64 bit and I used the drivers right off the CD it came with as again it is still (for the most part) fine.......yes from time to time it will still drop the drivers but usually with a boot or two it will find them and off I go.....

I think if I was to suggest anything it would be to:
1. if you have not done so, Clean your machine...meaning disk clean, registery clean, and defrag ...
2. I would really strongly consider going to win 7 64 bit. You can get a copy from new egg or triger direct for like $99 which is what I did
3. get in contact with Jim Roseberry @ studio cat  (he is a build who does give advice here on the board in the computer section) he is a very quality builder and if any one will know it will be him......(he after all sold me my FA-101 and I am happy with his suggsetion). He is a very nice person who will offer you quality advice.....really he will......
4. Davey's suggest is a very good one......I just seen Tiger Direct have 3 TB HD's @7200 RPM's and I THINK it was the Seagate Barracuda for about $150. Grab one of them and do a fresh install of Win 7 and save your old disk....put it an external (or even an internal slot ...but make sure to make it a slave drive before you do) drive box and then you will have access to your old sonar files and a new OP system.....worth a try... 

There may be just something small that is not configured correctly and it may only be a check box or two and you'll be fine.......but the FA-101 (even with its quirks) is a good interface so do not give up..

Hope that helps a little at least......
suggestion 3 I think will be your best bet.

Clifford

I am running XP Pro 64bit with an Edirol Fa 101 with no problems (also with X2 but that is end of line on here as X2a can not be installed).  If any of the other Audio interfaces were also firewire you may have to disable them in control panel under Sounds and Audio Devices.  Perhaps first try setting the Edirol FA as your default audio device.  The windows system may still be looking at your previous audio device but is actually accessing the FA 101 so a conflict is going to occur.

lorneyb2


I am running XP Pro 64bit with an Edirol Fa 101 with no problems (also with X2 but that is end of line on here as X2a can not be installed).  If any of the other Audio interfaces were also firewire you may have to disable them in control panel under Sounds and Audio Devices.  Perhaps first try setting the Edirol FA as your default audio device.  The windows system may still be looking at your previous audio device but is actually accessing the FA 101 so a conflict is going to occur.

My Alesis MultiMix 16 Firewire IS my main output device. Are you saying that I can't use 2 firewire audio devices at the same time?
If so, that kinda shoots any fixes down unles I get rid of the Alesis.
 
I also have a Zoom R16 that I could use via USB instead of the Edirol FA 101. Opinions on which would be the better route?

Either way, I forsee an upgrade to Win7 64 bit in my future.
 
Thanks for the advice all you guys. This forum is great!

If you are using ASIO you can only use one device at a time.  You could try switching to WDM and you may have success with that but with ASIO it is not allowed. 

Is the limitation strictly that you can't use 2 FIREWIRE devices? I can get around that by just using my Zoom R16 rather than the FA101. The Zoom is a USB interface.