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I'm trying to diagnose a problem with a USB MIDI input device not working on WindowsXP.

I've noticed that my usbaudio.sys In /Windows/System32/Drivers/ is actually named USBAUDIO.sys. My question is - why the capitals? Other drivers are not named like this.

What options do I have for restoring this driver in case its bad? (I don't have a system restore point unfortunately).

Thank you

UpTheCreek
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  • Given that MIDI isn't an audio format, but a control format, is it not possible that you're looking at the wrong driver. What does the Device Manager have to say about your MIDI device? As to why they created the file name in all caps, that's just because they did. :) – Ian Atkin Dec 21 '12 at 17:08
  • Thanks, yes I'm aware that it's not audio data, but from what I can gather from google, it seems that MIDI over USB might be one of its responsibilities. Another reason I was suspicious of the caps is that I've seen the file on the web, not in caps. – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:17
  • Device manager sees two things - A USB Audio Device (which might actually be the soundcard element of the controller), and a USB Composite device (which may turn out to be the midi controller). Unfortunately Tools like MIDI-OX don't see any midi devices. – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:20
  • What's the device that you're connecting to your computer. It may be relevant. – Ian Atkin Dec 21 '12 at 17:27
  • It's this: http://www.mixvibes.com/content/products/u-mix-control-pro-2 There are two parts really: a USB soundcard, and a USB MIDI Input device, it's the latter that's not being recognised. – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:36
  • Some more background info - they don't list XP compatibility in the marketing, but I've confirmed with the manufacturer that midi control will work with XP. Secondly they pointed me in the direction of some other posts where windows USB MIDI had been messed up by logitec webcam installations. I did have a logitec webcam, but the software and drivers have been uninstalled. – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:41
  • Note that in Windows file names, case is ignored (although preserved). `USBAUDIO.sys` and `usbaudio.sys` refer to the same file. The reason for upper-case name might be that the file was copied from an 8.3-only filesystem. Or it might be not. Who knows. – u1686_grawity Dec 21 '12 at 17:47
  • I saw the WebCam stuff. I saw a post that claimed you had to use the same USB socket that you first installed with(?!) I also read some stuff regarding a Korg VFX driver. I don't know if that's relevant to your device though. I've been in a world of hurt before, especially with ProTools and some other MIDI fun, so I know how frustrating it can be. Is a complete Windows XP reinstall doable? Painful I know, but sometimes the problem is buried in 1,000s of lines of registry! :( – Ian Atkin Dec 21 '12 at 17:47
  • @grawity - yeah, I guess it's probably not relevant, but I thought I'd ask :) – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:49
  • @IanAtkin - Right, I'll search for the Korg issues too, thanks (I guess it's probably the same problem, if both devices are using standard drivers). Yeah, it's starting to look like a clean install might be the best option - oh well! – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:51

2 Answers2

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Depending on the driver in question, you may be able to download it (or even a newer version) from the manufacturer's web site.

That said, you have issues with a MIDI device. There are usually two avenues to get MIDI working: 1. the device comes with an installation disc, 2. the MIDI device driver is installed by Windows when it's plugged in.

There are a slew of things that may be causing a conflict. This could be something as simple as a Direct-X conflict, to another device that you've installed recently.

Windows XP also had a bug at one time whereby USB controllers may be set to switch off power as a power saving mechanism:

In the Device Manager...

  1. Double click "Universal Serial Bus Controllers"
  2. Find "USB root hub"
  3. Double click the first USB hub
  4. In the properties dialog, click the "Power Managemen" tab
  5. Uncheck "Allow computer to turn off this device to save power"

The Logitech WebCam issue requires a registry edit. A simple uninstall doesn't fix the conflict...

  1. Start regedit
  2. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} and delete LowerFilters and UpperFilters
  3. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{6BDD1FC6-810F-11DO-BEC7-08002BE2092F} and delete LowerFilters
  4. Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{6BDD1FC5-810F-11DO-BEC7-08002BE2092F} and delete UpperFilters
  5. Move back to the root of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\
  6. Search for LVUSBSTA. For any place found (only in Control\Class), delete the LowerFilters item (it is the item that contain the value LVUSBSTA found)
  7. Restart the computer
Ian Atkin
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    Thanks Ian. I've got the manufacturer's drivers installed (tried a couple of times) (although for the MIDI component they are just using the standard windows MIDI over USB apparently). I've also already unchecked all of the USB-Root-hub power-management options in device-manager (sorry should have mentioned that) – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:44
  • The Direct-X conflict is something that I haven't investigated - do you know how I might go about that? – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:46
  • Basically, the claim was that Direct-X 9 conflicted with some MIDI drivers. The solution was to remove it or roll back to an earlier version. – Ian Atkin Dec 21 '12 at 17:49
  • Looks like I've got DX 9c. Thanks, something else to try then. Although I'm surprised that more people aren't seeing the problem if its that. – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 17:54
  • Also see my edit regarding the Logitech issue. I don't know if you did this or if you just uninstalled the driver. – Ian Atkin Dec 21 '12 at 18:04
  • Thanks - yeah, I saw those but unfortunately I don't have any of those fields for those keys :( – UpTheCreek Dec 21 '12 at 20:25
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I looked in my system folder and the ALLCAPS dlls usually have names in the 8.3 format (8 letter name, 3 letter extension), which means that they are from the DOS era. I suspect this is a leftover naming convention from then.

David
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