There is a problem with the Axe-Fx 3 sound card driver

[spagthorpe]

What consistently works for me to fix this is Device Manager -> FAS USB Audio -> right click on Axe FX III, disable and re-enable the Axe Fx III. I think something with the USB drivers is going wack but it's not too bad on my machine.

Much faster than constantly rebooting too

That's the thing, most of the time I won't bother. I just don't play that night. It sucks.

When I was just using my Macbook Pro, never had any issues. If every other device on my system didn't work fine with Windows 10, and I probably have 7 if you count Bluetooth devices I sometimes connect to, I'd say it was a Windows thing. It really seems like a driver issue on Fractal's end.

 

[rhummellh]

That's the thing, most of the time I won't bother. I just don't play that night. It sucks.

When I was just using my Macbook Pro, never had any issues. If every other device on my system didn't work fine with Windows 10, and I probably have 7 if you count Bluetooth devices I sometimes connect to, I'd say it was a Windows thing. It really seems like a driver issue on Fractal's end.

I've been using Windows all the time, I have W10 and have never had a problem with Axe II XL+ or the AXE III. Maybe you are having some kind of conflict with resources. What does your driver show when you access it?

 

[normanaj]

Win10 here, I haven't tested all synths I have but Falcon standalone goes all wacky when I use the FAS audio driver.
Version 4.67.0

 

[nathanielsaysblah]

That's the thing, most of the time I won't bother. I just don't play that night. It sucks.

When I was just using my Macbook Pro, never had any issues. If every other device on my system didn't work fine with Windows 10, and I probably have 7 if you count Bluetooth devices I sometimes connect to, I'd say it was a Windows thing. It really seems like a driver issue on Fractal's end.

I mean those steps takes less than 30 seconds, if it stops you from playing that's on you.

 

[RoketRdr]

I mean those steps takes less than 30 seconds, if it stops you from playing that's on you.

AMEN!! Actually couldn't believe what I read in his post. He's actually blaming Fractal for his lack of desire to play. That's a level of insanity beyond comprehension.

 

[spagthorpe]

AMEN!! Actually couldn't believe what I read in his post. He's actually blaming Fractal for his lack of desire to play. That's a level of insanity beyond comprehension.

Getting to my USB connection doesn't take 30 seconds. If I've got 30 minutes to play before bed, sometimes I just don't want to fuck with it.

Maybe Fractal could just get the driver to work on the level of other quality pieces of audio gear, so I don't have to disassemble shit to make it work. Why even make excuses for it? Even a shitty little Chinese DAC I use doesn't have this problem.

I know, I said something bad about the hallowed company. I should be forced to sell my III or something.

 

[RoketRdr]

Getting to my USB connection doesn't take 30 seconds. If I've got 30 minutes to play before bed, sometimes I just don't want to fuck with it.

Maybe Fractal could just get the driver to work on the level of other quality pieces of audio gear, so I don't have to disassemble shit to make it work. Even a shitty little Chinese DAC I use doesn't have this problem.

I know, I said something bad about the hallowed company. I should be forced to sell my III or something.

That's funny...thousands of others don't have the issue. And how you maintain you personal PC and computing devices as well as their proper operation has nothing to do with Fractal. If you were bring something up that many were experiencing I could certainly understand it. But considering you wont find another product backing such as Fractal when issues arise not to mention how often they produce updates its quite baffling that you're blaming Fractal instead of diving deeper into your computer system. Making a statement that Fractal isn't "quality audio gear" is well....no further comment needed. Maybe you could find out whats wrong with your computer. Maybe.

 

[chris]

Getting to my USB connection doesn't take 30 seconds.

the steps that would take "30 seconds" that you quoted earlier were this:

What consistently works for me to fix this is Device Manager -> FAS USB Audio -> right click on Axe FX III, disable and re-enable the Axe Fx III. I think something with the USB drivers is going wack but it's not too bad on my machine.

Much faster than constantly rebooting too

i think that's what's being referred to. not physically changing your usb cable or something.

things stop working sometimes. especially if you're using a public beta. if something isn't working, report it to support and they'll help you. cars break down. the internet stops working. this is a part of life. i know guitar is meant to be the enjoyable part of the day, but sometimes that gear can malfunction too. it happens, and support is there to help you through it.

 

[dongzo]

If you have a Nvidia graphics card, try to remove their HD Audio driver.
They are known to cause problems with other audio interfaces.
Completely uninstall ALL Nvidia drivers and reinstall using the custom option without the audio stuff.
Fixed a similar problem for me a while back.

 

[spagthorpe]

If you have a Nvidia graphics card, try to remove their HD Audio driver.
They are known to cause problems with other audio interfaces.
Completely uninstall ALL Nvidia drivers and reinstall using the custom option without the audio stuff.
Fixed a similar problem for me a while back.

That is worth trying.

Thanks for not being a dick.

 

[Severed]

Check if you have Microsoft update KB4556799 installed.

Its a big issue ATM

 

[Lohengrin]

Just wanted to mention that I think there are actually some compatibility problems with the driver, even if they are not too common. I had problems with the USB connection of my AFIII as well with one specific Windows 10 machine, which BTW had been used with the AFII XL for a long time with absolutelly no problem. Went through a long process of trying to find the bug, including all kinds of hacks to the registry, clean installations and diagnostic tools, but to no avail. Although G66 provided basic guidance, in the end were unable to help and reported to Fractal. I never heard back but in my case I ended substituting that computer, so didn't care about it anymore.

For reference, there are at least a couple of old medium-sized threads dealing with unresolved USB problems in Windows (but I think there are some related to Mac as well):
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/usb-disconnecting.146587/
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/intermittent-usb-connection.141212/page-4#post-1835057

 

[Lohengrin]

It's important to authenticate the source of any software and it should only be obtained from a trusted source. "Trusted" in this context of course is a personal judgement and your personal comfort level with the risk may vary depending on the device in question. In any case, to make an obvious point, an untrusted source could introduce a malicious change to the software.

The simple solution to this would be for Fractal Audio to maintain an archive of past firmware versions. In the meantime, best practice is to save a copy of the firmware yourself whenever you do an update.

I see what you're coming from, for sure, but can't imagine the kind of weird experiences you've had with viruses in the past to not trust AIGrenadine in this context

 

[Severed]

Just wanted to mention that I think there are actually some compatibility problems with the driver, even if they are not too common. I had problems with the USB connection of my AFIII as well with one specific Windows 10 machine, which BTW had been used with the AFII XL for a long time with absolutelly no problem. Went through a long process of trying to find the bug, including all kinds of hacks to the registry, clean installations and diagnostic tools, but to no avail. Although G66 provided basic guidance, in the end were unable to help and reported to Fractal. I never heard back but in my case I ended substituting that computer, so didn't care about it anymore.

For reference, there are at least a couple of old medium-sized threads dealing with unresolved USB problems in Windows (but I think there are some related to Mac as well):
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/usb-disconnecting.146587/
https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/intermittent-usb-connection.141212/page-4#post-1835057

Just an observation; you no longer had the problem on a different PC.

Further, and not picking you out personally, but people need to realize that just because their computer is up to date and appears to work correctly, does not mean it's not having errors, config issues, driver conflicts (on the software level), rights issues (this is big one on win 10), hardware issues.... etc etc.

Check yours logs. cross reference the time stamps.

 

[Lohengrin]

Consider that your computer may have a hardware issue, or

Just an observation; you no longer had the problem on a different PC.

Yes, I mentioned specifically that I had that problem on one specific W10 machine, it worked flawless in at least another W10 and a W7 machine at the time, besides the one I ended getting to substitute the first one. I couldn’t rule a hardware problem on computer's side out completely. However, there were some evidence against that, such as being the only peripheral with problems, and as I mentioned, 100% perfect operation with AFXII.

Given that, and that there are still some problems reported in the forum from time to time, my guess is that there is actually some kind of minor compatibility issue, most probably with a specific kind of hardware, which most probably is a very reduced subset. The troublesome machine in this case was an i7 Acer laptop, kind of “powerful on a budget”, so I closed the issue blaming power issues related to a budget mobo, and using that as the perfect excuse for a long time postponed upgrade (“too easy”, you may say, but frankly, I’m too old to hunt conflicts down XD). I spent roughly a week diagnosing quite a bizarre issue and wasn’t able to retrieve any conclusive evidence about what the hell was happening.

I’m sorry if I gave the impression that I was blaming Fractal somehow. I cannot even be 100% sure that it wasn’t a faulty machine. In the worst case, this really seems to be something which pops up only under rare circumstances, and I understand it’s not something worth hunting down. Just wanted to report my experience and provide the links to the related threads for the OP to take a look.

 

[GlennO]

I see what you're coming from, for sure, but can't imagine the kind of weird experiences you've had with viruses in the past to not trust AIGrenadine in this context

Sorry, I don't understand. Yes, I trust Al Grenadine. I'm talking about the site with the firmware archive. Does that have something to do with Al? As far as I can tell, it's just an anonymous site with no information about who manages it. If it is trustworthy, then Fractal Audio should provide a link to it from the Fractal Audio site, as a way of demonstrating that trustworthiness.

 

[AlGrenadine]

Sorry, I don't understand. Yes, I trust Al Grenadine. I'm talking about the site with the firmware archive. Does that have something to do with Al? As far as I can tell, it's just an anonymous site with no information about who manages it. If it is trustworthy, then Fractal Audio should provide a link to it from the Fractal Audio site, as a way of demonstrating that trustworthiness.

It's not anonymous
Yes it's mine

 

[Cube]

Running Axe-FX III and Axe-FX II XL on Win10 x64 here without any problems or bugs for a long time. Axe-FX III is the main audio-interface (recording, reamping etc.) and does an excellent job. Reading the mentioned problems makes me think of deactivating any powersavers or checking your settings for interrupt conflicts (shouldn't exist under Win10). In fact it's not a Fractal or Win10 problem ... seems to be machine-specific. And by the way - if you're in need of a high-reliable system: Don't use Betas!

 

[AlGrenadine]

Running Axe-FX III and Axe-FX II XL on Win10 x64 here without any problems or bugs for a long time. Axe-FX III is the main audio-interface (recording, reamping etc.) and does an excellent job. Reading the mentioned problems makes me think of deactivating any powersavers or checking your settings for interrupt conflicts (shouldn't exist under Win10). In fact it's not a Fractal or Win10 problem ... seems to be machine-specific. And by the way - if you're in need of a high-reliable system: Don't use Betas!

Same here.
It would be interesting to know which usb controllers are on the problematic machines, or which southbridges etc, motherboards...

 

[Lohengrin]

Sorry, I don't understand. Yes, I trust Al Grenadine. I'm talking about the site with the firmware archive. Does that have something to do with Al? As far as I can tell, it's just an anonymous site with no information about who manages it. If it is trustworthy, then Fractal Audio should provide a link to it from the Fractal Audio site, as a way of demonstrating that trustworthiness.

I was just kidding, man. You were showing an extremelly conservative approach if AIGrenadine was not a trusted source for you (as he just confirmed afterwards).