OK guys I need to vent here. RME have always been revered for the quality and reliability of their drivers right? so if you have a reproducible BSOD on Win 10, you'd think they'd want to fix that urgently... right?
well it's been _6_ f**king months since I (constructively) notified them about it on their forum (and found that others had the same issue), and they've shown zero interest in fixing it. this is the issue:
an app opens the ASIO driver and keeps it open (I found this with my own app). then the interface is switched off (tested with an original UFX w. USB). Result = BSOD, sometimes immediately, sometimes very soon after. this happens to me all the time, as I power down the interface when I put my studio PC to sleep, but could also happen if you accidentally switch it off.
I report this to RME on their forum in april (I'm gl: https://forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=33867) and they acknowledge it. after two months of silence I needle them, they say 'we'll get you a debug driver so you can get us a valuable memory dump' (without it a dump isn't useful to them). cool - except the debug driver they produce isn't compatible with the UFX! offline MC tells me they have to wait until their driver writers return from summer holidays - fair enough.
AFAIK I'm the only person with a reliable repro case, and a coder to boot. to this day another ~4 months later (and needling again offline), nothing, not even a reply.
the UFX hardware is great - but considering how expensive their stuff is, this is unacceptable. if a fricking _blue-screen_ isn't priority for their driver team, then wtf happened to RME??
RME: lousy driver support, wtf??
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- KVRAF
- 1775 posts since 20 Feb, 2003
That sucks. All you can really do is keep reminding them, and maybe don't leave it so long between reminders.
I've used RME products going into decades now. The same drivers, which were absolutely bullet proof (IE never crashed EVER) on Windows 7 are not the same on Windows 10. I've actually had them produce a few bluescreens here too. But they haven't been consistent in a way which I could report to them. Still, this is a negative change I've noted under Windows 10. RME is no longer bullet proof. It's not just you.
Whilst RME must take ultimate reponsibility, what Microsoft are doing isn't helping. Changing little things with every Windows version (H1, H2 etc), instead of having a major release only every few years, is having a noticeable impact to me. (Speaking generally) I'm seeing all sorts of weird little bugs which simply didn't exist to anywhere near the same degree on Windows 7.
In your case the best we can hope is that maybe, just maybe, native Apple Silicon drivers were / are taking up a lot of their time, and they haven't been giving things the degree of attention, that they otherwise might, on the Windows side.
BTW As you might know: Apple are moving towards only allowing 3rd party drivers in "user space". So, to a greater degree, every companies sound cards will have roughly the same system performance on Apple hardware. Given what I've seen happening, on Windows 10, Apple's probably making the right move here. But it does mean a lot of the reasons, to go RME, are then taken away. Now it will be even more about the hardware features, in terms of how cards / devices differentiate..
I've used RME products going into decades now. The same drivers, which were absolutely bullet proof (IE never crashed EVER) on Windows 7 are not the same on Windows 10. I've actually had them produce a few bluescreens here too. But they haven't been consistent in a way which I could report to them. Still, this is a negative change I've noted under Windows 10. RME is no longer bullet proof. It's not just you.
Whilst RME must take ultimate reponsibility, what Microsoft are doing isn't helping. Changing little things with every Windows version (H1, H2 etc), instead of having a major release only every few years, is having a noticeable impact to me. (Speaking generally) I'm seeing all sorts of weird little bugs which simply didn't exist to anywhere near the same degree on Windows 7.
In your case the best we can hope is that maybe, just maybe, native Apple Silicon drivers were / are taking up a lot of their time, and they haven't been giving things the degree of attention, that they otherwise might, on the Windows side.
BTW As you might know: Apple are moving towards only allowing 3rd party drivers in "user space". So, to a greater degree, every companies sound cards will have roughly the same system performance on Apple hardware. Given what I've seen happening, on Windows 10, Apple's probably making the right move here. But it does mean a lot of the reasons, to go RME, are then taken away. Now it will be even more about the hardware features, in terms of how cards / devices differentiate..
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 228 posts since 6 Jan, 2009 from UK
some good points PAK. however, RME's reputation was always about bullet proof drivers. it seems they're no longer willing or able to allocate resources to back that up. my problem isn't an edge case - if you're (say) recording a live show via ASIO and the interface loses power for any reason, then chances are you will instantly bluescreen, requiring a slow reboot. that is just unacceptable for high-end audio, especially from RME.
I can imagine that MS changed something that is currently difficult to work around for the driver writers. however, you should never just bluescreen. if the ASIO driver fails, fine, restart the interface or the DAW - annoying, but don't take the entire system down! they could at least make that happen until they get time for the real fix. or you know, actually bother to produce a correct debug driver for the only person (it seems) who can help them find the cause.
also, the responses from their rep 'MC' on their support forum are frequently curt to the point of being rude (not so much to me, but other people). this is a troubling decline.
re. Apple, I wasn't aware they're forcing drivers into user-mode. as a (Windows) programmer I can see the upside - a driver crash can't take the whole system down anymore (like a bluescreen on Windows) - but I suspect it limits the amount of performance or bug-fixing manufacturers can squeeze out. still, if the in-built kernel layers are good, then it does make sense in return for reliability.
I can imagine that MS changed something that is currently difficult to work around for the driver writers. however, you should never just bluescreen. if the ASIO driver fails, fine, restart the interface or the DAW - annoying, but don't take the entire system down! they could at least make that happen until they get time for the real fix. or you know, actually bother to produce a correct debug driver for the only person (it seems) who can help them find the cause.
also, the responses from their rep 'MC' on their support forum are frequently curt to the point of being rude (not so much to me, but other people). this is a troubling decline.
re. Apple, I wasn't aware they're forcing drivers into user-mode. as a (Windows) programmer I can see the upside - a driver crash can't take the whole system down anymore (like a bluescreen on Windows) - but I suspect it limits the amount of performance or bug-fixing manufacturers can squeeze out. still, if the in-built kernel layers are good, then it does make sense in return for reliability.