[GSoft]

First off, I'm hoping I'm making this post in the right place. It was either here or the Computer Audio forum, and I guessed that DIY was the place for DIY help. Apologies in advance if I'm wrong.

So after all the great things I hear about the E-Mu 0404, I decide to order one for listening and recording. It arrives today, and it's like Christmas. I open up the box, and get to installing.

I follow the instructions to a T. Disable the onboard sound, power up the unit, plug it in, Windows recognizes the device fine, and start installing the drivers and firmware updates (from the E-Mu website, not the ones included with the 0404 itself). Everything seems fine, and when prompted to reboot, I do. After the reboot, the E-Mu icon in the taskbar has a red exclamation point. Windows is no longer recognizing the 0404 in the Control Panel, and neither is the E-Mu software. I look and the 0404, and none of the LEDs are on. So I move the power supply to a different strip, and then to the wall socket. Still nothing. No power whatsoever.

So i email E-Mu and Musicians Friend (where I purchased the 0404). No one can tell me anyhting, and I haven't heard from E-Mu yet.

Which leads to the big question:

Has anyone ever had this problem with the 0404 USB? And if so, is there any DIY solution?

Thanks to everyone in advance!

Edit:

I've went ahead and ordered another one. My plan is to keep this one for modding purposes (I'm lucky and have an electrical engineer for a mother). I'm curious as to whether it's possible to open it up and reset the firmware similar to resetting the BIOS in a computer. Obviously, I don't want to completely destroy the hardware. My mum is out of town, so it'll be a few days before I can get with her about this. Any tips on if this is possible would be appreciated!

 

[amb]

Windows Vista 64 bit? While my E-MU 0404 USB works great under XP 32 bit, I never got it to work under Vista64 even after trying all the "solutions" found from the 'net.

 

[MisterX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amb /img/forum/go_quote.gif Windows Vista 64 bit? While my E-MU 0404 USB works great under XP 32 bit, I never got it to work under Vista64 even after trying all the "solutions" found from the 'net.

Have you tried the v1.3 drivers?

(they are dated 2/1/2008 and they have worked flawlessly for me so far)

E-MU: Downloads

 

[amb]

Yes, the driver was downloaded from the E-MU website and called "EMUU_PCAppDrvFw_L6_1_30_07.exe". I installed it with "Run as administrator" as indicated. No workie.

 

[BruceH]

Did you see lights on the unit before you did the firmware/driver upgrade? If so, and if now you do not, it is likely that a firmware upgrade glitch occurred. It is not clear to me that the sequence that you describe is correct. (I just installed on myself.)

Here's how you should have done it:

(1) Connect usb cable to computer and to 0404 and turn on 0404 power switch.

(2) Connected 0404 to power.

(3) Do installation from the installation CD, following instructions as installation proceeds.

(4) Download the firmware/driver upgrade file from the E-mu website.

(5) Run the firmware/driver upgrade file, following directions very carefully.

(6) Of particular importance is not touching anything on the unit or on your computer while the firmware upgrade runs to completion. The firmware upgrade progress bar moves very quickly. However, if it is interrupted or glitches, unit could be rendered inoperable.

(7) However, I thought that there was a recovery from this situation by powering on while holding some button down to revert back to the original firmware.

(8) You may have to mail tech support, tell them what you did, and ask what the magic reset button is. It is doubtfull that it is inside the unit; probably one of the external buttons.

Good luck,
Bruce


Quote:

Originally Posted by GSoft /img/forum/go_quote.gif First off, I'm hoping I'm making this post in the right place. It was either here or the Computer Audio forum, and I guessed that DIY was the place for DIY help. Apologies in advance if I'm wrong. So after all the great things I hear about the E-Mu 0404, I decide to order one for listening and recording. It arrives today, and it's like Christmas. I open up the box, and get to installing. I follow the instructions to a T. Disable the onboard sound, power up the unit, plug it in, Windows recognizes the device fine, and start installing the drivers and firmware updates (from the E-Mu website, not the ones included with the 0404 itself). Everything seems fine, and when prompted to reboot, I do. After the reboot, the E-Mu icon in the taskbar has a red exclamation point. Windows is no longer recognizing the 0404 in the Control Panel, and neither is the E-Mu software. I look and the 0404, and none of the LEDs are on. So I move the power supply to a different strip, and then to the wall socket. Still nothing. No power whatsoever. So i email E-Mu and Musicians Friend (where I purchased the 0404). No one can tell me anyhting, and I haven't heard from E-Mu yet. Which leads to the big question: Has anyone ever had this problem with the 0404 USB? And if so, is there any DIY solution? Thanks to everyone in advance! Edit: I've went ahead and ordered another one. My plan is to keep this one for modding purposes (I'm lucky and have an electrical engineer for a mother). I'm curious as to whether it's possible to open it up and reset the firmware similar to resetting the BIOS in a computer. Obviously, I don't want to completely destroy the hardware. My mum is out of town, so it'll be a few days before I can get with her about this. Any tips on if this is possible would be appreciated!

 

[GSoft]

The only difference in what you (BruceH) described and what I did myself was this:

(1) Connect usb cable to computer and to 0404 and turn on 0404 power switch.

(2) Connected 0404 to power.

I turned on the power switch after I connected the unit to the power brick.

Other than that, I did exactly as you described. If the unit does need a firmware reset, I'm unsure of how to do this now that it seems to not be getting any power whatsoever.

And I'm still waiting on a response from E-MU

Edit: Here's some hardware info:

WinXP Pro x64, AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+, 4GB kingston RAM, 500W PSU, Nvidia 8800GT, 250GB Hitachi SATA HD with slave WD 80GB IDE HD and Seagate ext. 120GB HD. Also using Logitech wireless mouse (uses an antennae that plugs into the USB slot on my comp).

 

[BruceH]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GSoft /img/forum/go_quote.gif The only difference in what you (BruceH) described and what I did myself was this: (1) Connect usb cable to computer and to 0404 and turn on 0404 power switch. (2) Connected 0404 to power. I turned on the power switch after I connected the unit to the power brick. Other than that, I did exactly as you described. If the unit does need a firmware reset, I'm unsure of how to do this now that it seems to not be getting any power whatsoever. And I'm still waiting on a response from E-MU Edit: Here's some hardware info: WinXP Pro x64, AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+, 4GB kingston RAM, 500W PSU, Nvidia 8800GT, 250GB Hitachi SATA HD with slave WD 80GB IDE HD and Seagate ext. 120GB HD. Also using Logitech wireless mouse (uses an antennae that plugs into the USB slot on my comp).

Ok; good. The power sequence won't matter. Probably a glitch happened during the firmware upgrade. If so, the cpu is probably running in a loop in the absence of firmware to execute. I know that it may seem to you that the unit is "not powered on" because you see no lights. However, in some designs, the cpu controls the lights. If the cpu is not executing the firmware, you would see no lights in that case.

These devices usually have two sets of non-volatile storage to hold the firmware, precisely for firmware upgrade operations. One set maintains the old firmware while the other set receives the new firmware. If a glitch occurs on a device architected this way while loading the new firmware, a "hidden" button-press sequence at power-on is usually available to make the old firmware set active again. Note that in the old days, devices were sometimes not designed with two storage areas to hold two sets of firmware. In that case, an aborted load of new firmware would corrupt the prior version by overwriting the prior version. That case would require a return to factory.

So, you can try to resurrect your unit by holding down each button in turn while powering on. However, be aware that sometimes two buttons must be held down while powering on. In that case, the number of experiments grows.

Of course, it is always possible that a component in your unit coincidentally died while you were performing the update. In that case you would need to send your unit back for repair.

Bruce

 

[BruceH]

P.S. Do you know exactly at what point in the update sequence the lights went out?

 

[twylight]

running 64 bit vista here no issues - the disc that came with it is a no-go - had to use a fresh driver install off the emu site.

it updates the firmware for you as part of the install...something.08 I think is what it put on mine - works like a champ with winamp and itunes.

 

[Potapka]

0404 USB random relay clicks, blinks and "Setup unable to detect a supported device"
 
I bought E-mu 0404 USB 3.5 years ago, it's been OK for a while.
 
A couple of months ago it started blinking and clicking randomly at startup, for about 10-20 sec, then going to normal operation. I'm running Windows XP SP3, Intel E8400, 4 Gb Ram.
Today it didn't turn on properly, only Power LED was on and the card wasn't displayed in E-mu software. Restaring PC and the card, trying other USB slots gave no effect.
 
I deleted all Creative Professional software and tried to re-install various driver versions, unsuccessfully. All I get is "Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system". A laptop with Win 7 does not let install it, too. Firmware updater does not see the card either. The card itself is randomely blinking with all LEDs and clicking with its relays (is it relays?) every minute. "USB device is not identified" message pops up in XP every 60-90 seconds as well.
 
I'm really devastated as I can't afford to buy an external card of comparable sound quality right now and still have to finish my project. If anything can be done to the situation - I'd be really grateful to anyone. Some hard reset or anything like that?
 
PS: Local tech spesialists suggest online that either DC Adapter or Power on-off button may be broken, as it already happened in their practice. They suggest that I better repair the original adapter, as third party adapters, though rated the same voltage and current, may still have some undocumented power surges/drops that will permanently damage the soundcard.
 
Local 0404 USB users suggest that I shoud somehow reset it to the factory firmware by bressing some "secret" button at power-on.
I'll be grateful for any useful input!

 

[Mr. B]

  I deleted all Creative Professional software and tried to re-install various driver versions, unsuccessfully. All I get is "Setup is unable to detect a supported product on your system". A laptop with Win 7 does not let install it, too. Firmware updater does not see the card either. The card itself is randomely blinking with all LEDs and clicking with its relays (is it relays?) every minute. "USB device is not identified" message pops up in XP every 60-90 seconds as well.

 
I hope I'm not out of line bumping an old thread but I had an identical experience.  I dissassembled the unit and found nothing abnormal inside, except a lot of dust I took the opportunity to clean out.  Apparently it was indeed the power supply.  I substituted the Creative AC adapter with a Sony PSP wall charger (also 5v with the same plug size) and the issue has been resolved.