Well I've finally finished my new i7 machine and have installed the Yamaha CBX drivers to control my ageing 01V.

The MOBO does not have serial ports so I have fitted a PCI parallel/serial adapter (which appears on IRQ16). I'm using XP pro and all the installation has gone fine but I cannot use the CBX port in Sonar (it appears in MIDI devices but the selection gets dropped).

I checked using MIDI-OX and when I try to select the CBX drivers, it tells me the port is already in use. I have nothing else (of a musical nature) running that I think would even try and use the port.

I don't know if there is any way of identifying what might be trying to use the port or how it might be released. Are there any guru's out there who might have any idea how I might get to be able to use these (very useful) drivers?

BTW the serial ports otherwise seem to be working fine.

wow , i've not heard of the cbx driver for years they used to use it YEARS ago with the mu10..

TBH , maybe your only route is to use midi if that unit has it also.

wonder when that was last updated, also if it was ever made for 64 bit.

as for yamaha and they "wonderful" updates of their drivers.. well I had it with the dsp factory / sw1000 .. never again.. been there done that.

No, there is no 64 bit update as yet but the drivers have been very reliable and useful for me. There are still plenty of Yamaha products that have the PC2 connector so it might get updated to 64 bit at some stage.

I realise I could use the MIDI ports for control but then I will have to buy a new MIDI interface as I will need more I/O!

Thing is I can see no reason for them not to work on this new machine and simply cannot find what seems to be tying them up....

P.S. I did do a search about an hour ago and found an updated driver which has exactly the same problem as the original one I have used for several years.

does xp pro only use signed drivers? never used it.. I can't recall any of the drivers being "signed" . If you do ring them up, ask to speak to Dusty, he's was a helpful chap who knows about the older products.. He might say it's a legacy product though, been there myself . I guess a usb/midi port would do the trick if you can't get the drivers sorted.

XP Pro uses signed drivers but does not impose them. I've been using CBX drivers with XP pro for years.

I'd much rather use the serial port if at all possible though.

as you said you've been using them for years.. what's changed?.. have you got a new xp service pack installed? that hasn't made my windows experience so great.. maybe it has something to do with DEP stopping the driver if that's the case.. I've had it certain programs , I'm not sure if it effects drivers in the same way.

http://www.updatexp.com/data-execution-prevention.html

just a thought anyway.

What has changed is that I'm now trying to run the CBX drivers on a new PC! The old one still works fine but the new one has no MOBO serial ports so I've fitted a PCI multi I/O card which seems to be working properly i.e. both the parallel and serial ports work as expected. Unfortunately something seems to be grabbing the CBX created MIDI port and refuses to share it! I just can't find out what...

It's not DEP either as the CBX driver is installed and reported as working properly. The driver shows up in both Sonar and MIDI-OX but neither programme can use it as it is already in use - by what, I have no idea...

hhmm what about irq wise , that card you added... anything sharing.

are there any settings on the card itself? i.e. jumpers? I mean with something I use none music related that will work in some parallel port modes and not others.. ECP etc..

also I do recall years ago a friend having problems with a pc and the UART chip (I think thats what it was called) being the wrong sort.

I had issues simular regarding a usb2 card myself.. it used a *cough* chipset.. I replace the card with a more expensive one with an NEC chipset and that one worked fine.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sq=port&q=serial%2Bpci&sort=relevancy&limit=50&page=1&subsearch=Go

has a fair few listed.. but I'm guessing it's partly down to the chipset used so can't vouch for any of them.

I'd ring up Milton Keynes , see what they have to say. Hopefully you'll get Dusty (if he's still there) I found him to be a helpful chap.

I did a bit of looking around

http://www.jososoft.dk/yamaha/articles/sound.htm

the bottom of the page

but I saw this, maybe Belkin would be able to give you some advice. I rang them up , they have a pre-sales number
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123394

Hey Fog,

Thanks for doing that research. I'm aware there are other ways to crack the nut but I'm not sure if I will get the same problem. I've even been digging around in the registry but can't spot anything odd. I'm sure that some time ago I used the current PCI serial card with CBX in another machine. What I'm going to try for now is to put it in another machine and see if that works OK.

At least that will narrow it down. I appreciate your help here, I guess I was hoping for some PC guru to come on and spot what was happening as I still can't see any reason for it not to work.

Time for the screwdriver to fix the screwed driver!

yer well u'd have to know about UART chips n the cbx drivers.. so your choice is limited on that front.. I'm pretty sure the cbx driver for the mu10 didn't go up to xp.. so I just switched it over to midi..yer I know you wanna use the serial.. but the cables might be the only way other than that pci card.. personally I'd have tried the usb>rs232 cable first. Did u ring em up also? they might have an idea there.