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Focusrite Saffire and Windows 10

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Timo

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Focusrite Saffire and Windows 10

PostSun Dec 13, 2015 5:06 pm

I want to share my latest experience with Windows 10 update. I have a Shuttle SD37P2V2 barebone with Q6600 processor, 8 GiB of RAM, VIA Firewire chipset, and an old Focusrite Saffire audio module. The update was smooth, but Hauptwerk reported a problem when it started. After all, Saffire drivers couldn't connect to the module any more so obviously a problem with Firewire drivers. After all, I rolled the update back and the system works fine again.

On page http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/wind ... patibility they say: "We have become aware of a connectivity issue running Saffire units on Windows 10 connected to firewire cards with a VIA chipset. We are currently investigating this issue as a top priority. In the meantime, if you are using a VIA chipset, we recommend you do not update to Windows 10."

On page http://us.focusrite.com/answerbase/my-s ... 10-upgrade they say: "3 - Some users have reported that migrating the Windows 7 Firewire driver over to Windows 10 solves the problem for VIA chipset cards, this suggests an issue between Windows 10 and VIA chipsets specifically, however this has not been confirmed."

On page http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/insi ... e=1&auth=1
people suggest, that tinkering with drivers might help, but I'm not willing to do this because I have no idea how they will survive further operating system updates.

So at the moment I'm keeping Windows 7 in my play machine as I may replace that pretty soon.

Timo
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Timo

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Re: Focusrite Saffire and Windows 10

PostSun Jan 24, 2016 11:28 am

I decided to recheck this just to know if I can reuse Saffire module for the new computer. It turned out that the legacy Firewire drivers on download site of Microsoft seem to be quite all right but the problem turned out to be the drivers of Saffire. The newest version 2.71 of the drivers is not digitally signed thus Windows 10 refuses to start them. I can make the system to work fine by disabling enforcement of digitally signed drivers thoroughly, but that doesn't seem like viable solution. Saffire has been working perfectly thus far, so it is somewhat disappointing to have to replace that.

Timo
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jkinkennon

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Re: Focusrite Saffire and Windows 10

PostSun Jan 24, 2016 4:49 pm

If the 2.71 is from the global Focusrite site, http://global.focusrite.com/downloads?product=Saffire, or from the U.S. site then I'd be inclined to trust the download with or without the digital signature being up to date. Just my opinion, but this does happen frequently for me as I keep lots of programs upgraded every time there's a new release.
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Timo

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Re: Focusrite Saffire and Windows 10

PostWed Jan 27, 2016 5:11 pm

Actually, I'm not worried of the drivers themselves but more what Windows 10 Update might do later on when it finds out the enforcement if off. Advanced startup options need to be set up for every boot-up, and other options use quite tricky techniques (so called test mode), which I'm not confident with.

Timo.

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