[weipim]

[this is an attempt to fix the driver installation problem of Schiit Bifrost DAC under Windows 7, so if you don't want to read all the txt block, then you should jump to the bolded [In Summary] section for a quick fix.]
 
 
Dear All,
 
I am just another audiophile who likes to appreciate music like you guys do, I ordered the Schiit Bifrost with USB last week and it arrived yesterday and the problem begun. Last night I tested it via the optical link along with my k701 and m-stage, I found sibilance to be unacceptable to a point where it was hurting my ears, coming from a Fiio E10 dac. I then decide to try the USB plug by hoping it was my optical cable that was causing this and this basically killed my weekend.
Here is what happened: After I plugged in the Schiit Bifrost and my windows 7 Ultimate X64 SP1 attempted to install the driver but failed to install 1 of 4 ( with the other three successful); therefore I went to www.schiit.com/drivers to download the bifrost driver and tried to install it. after double clicking on Setup.exe, the install progress bar loaded slightly and then pop out a message saying that I have to plug the usb 2.0 HD audio device and I have to hit try again, at this time my cable was plugged and I hitted try again, but the message keep popping out no matter how many times I clicked.
 
Frustrated enough, I decided to use my last weekend before college start again(yes I am a poor college student) to fix this problem. And here is the resolution, well kinda:
Equipment:
LAPTOP: Sager NP8170(clevo p170hm)
OS: Windows 7 ultimate x64 sp1
      Windows 7 home premium x64 (not sp1)
      Windows 7 professional x64(not sp1)
DAC: Schiit Bifrost
 
The first thing I do was to back up my important files(most of them are musics lolll, duh!) and then formatted my drive to reinstall Windows 7 ultimate x64 sp1, after the installation, I immediately install the schiit bifrost driver but the problem persist: it asks me to hit try again when I want to install the driver so I decided to use another version of windows to get some luck.
 
I first used the home premium x64 version (non sp1) and although windows attempted to install the 4 schiit drivers by itself, it as well succeed on 3 of 4 drivers and leaving the third with a failure, so I disregard it and double clicked on the driver downloaded from schiit website, and it went smooth. no try again message popped and everything was fine. at the end of the process it asked me to restart which I did, and after restart I can hear sound again from my k701!!!!!
 
Then I decided to push my luck on the professional x64 version, so I formated again my hard drive and installed a fresh copy of windows 7 professional x64 (not sp1) and installed the schiit driver immediately after, I completed the installation with out any problem and I was able to hear sound from my k701 after installation, so I am assured that the actual unit is not defective (sorry Jason for doubting it >.<).
 
But the fact not being able to use it in windows ultimate version is really bothering me and I want to know why. Using my computer profficiency and experience, I reinstalled windows 7 ultimate x64 (sp1) again, after the os installed, I tried to install the driver but the try again message trolled me again. then I decided to go into the Windows XP subfolder of the driver package, and double click the setup.exe under that folder. matching my expectation, it says the setup could not be installed on this platform, so I right clicked setup.exe and in the compatibility tab I chose to run it under windows xp sp3 compatibility mode, and then double clicked again on setup.exe and the notorious green screen appeared again! I crossed my fingers during the installation process and it went through! to be honest I was kinda excited to see when windows asked me to restart, after reboot, I set the playback device to the usb 2.0 device and I hear sound from my k701 !!!
 
so as of now 8h28pm, I am reinstalling/tuning all my system back to the way I like, but unfortunately the sibilance problem is still and and hasn't been reduced sgnificantly. I will use the rest of my weekend to work on that but to everyone that wants to buy a bifrost and is encountering this problem, I have to say that if you don't want to change OS which is a PITA, please try the windows xp compatibility method mentioned above.
 
I hope this is helpful and will raise the concern of Schiit engineers, you guys are really making amazing product and I support US Based company, but this little issue can turn a lot of person's back from you guys and I believe it isn't a big thing to fix. The problem must rely on the driver installation package for windows 7 that you guys provide.
 
[In Summary]
in Brief, if you have:
1.windows 7 home premium edition or professional edition (not sp1), you don't have to worry about this and bifrost should plug n fly
2. windows 7 ultimate (not sp1), this thread is inconclusive to either it will cause you problem installing the driver or not, so please let me know if you have encountered any problem. If you do, then you can use the windows xp driver in the package from schiit.com and run it under windows xp3 compatibility mode to install it.
3. windows 7 ultimate sp1, then you have to use the compatibility method mentioned above
4. windows 7 all other edition with sp1: if you have problem with home premium or basic edition with sp1 pre installed, then you are really screwed because they don't offer compatibility mode, but I suspect sp1 is the problem causing this.
 
 
Thanks for your time to read this
 
Weipim
 
 

 

[internethandle]

I'm a USB Bifrost user with W7 Ultimate SP1, and didn't experience this problem with installation (didn't have to go into XP/legacy mode or anything to install correctly), so I'm not really sure what to say, other than I'm glad you solved the issue. I got my Bifrost fairly early on and DID have an issue with strange feedback/distortion upon first install, but later realized this was the fault of one of my motherboard's USB ports, which apparently was fried (have since confirmed the issue with another USB DAC and the same USB port). Also, there's a lot of unused aspects to the C-Media drivers (e.g. if you look under Playback Devices or the config under taskbar, you'll see a bunch of options for "USB 2.0 Audio Microphone", "USB 2.0 Audio Optical" or something similar, which aren't actually used with the Bifrost, obviously, the only option being used is just what's listed as "Speakers" -  see my post below in the Schiit DAC info thread for some elaboration - Jason has explained that C-Media's drivers just come with lots of unused clutter that they have little control of):
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/545842/schiit-dacs-the-information-and-anticipation-thread/1365#post_7864875
 
Also, some of us had some issues with one version of the driver where it was writing really, really large WAV files to our main HDD's partition (in my case, C:\), which quickly took up gigabytes upon gigabytes of space. Apparently this was an issue with a beta version of the drivers Jason and co. had posted, so they simply rolled back the driver, which solved the issue.

 

[weipim]

Quote:

I'm a USB Bifrost user with W7 Ultimate SP1, and didn't experience this problem with installation (didn't have to go into XP/legacy mode or anything to install correctly), so I'm not really sure what to say, other than I'm glad you solved the issue. I got my Bifrost fairly early on and DID have an issue with strange feedback/distortion upon first install, but later realized this was the fault of one of my motherboard's USB ports, which apparently was fried (have since confirmed the issue with another USB DAC and the same USB port). Also, there's a lot of unused aspects to the C-Media drivers (e.g. if you look under Playback Devices or the config under taskbar, you'll see a bunch of options for "USB 2.0 Audio Microphone", "USB 2.0 Audio Optical" or something similar, which aren't actually used with the Bifrost, obviously, the only option being used is just what's listed as "Speakers" -  see my post below in the Schiit DAC info thread for some elaboration - Jason has explained that C-Media's drivers just come with lots of unused clutter that they have little control of):
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/545842/schiit-dacs-the-information-and-anticipation-thread/1365#post_7864875
 
Also, some of us had some issues with one version of the driver where it was writing really, really large WAV files to our main HDD's partition (in my case, C:\), which quickly took up gigabytes upon gigabytes of space. Apparently this was an issue with a beta version of the drivers Jason and co. had posted, so they simply rolled back the driver, which solved the issue.

 
i'm glad that your w7 sp1 ultimate did not have any problem, but this can also be from many cause:
1st, is your version 32 or 64bit?
2. did you install windows ultimate first, and then upgrade to sp1? if so when did you install your bifrost driver, before the sp1 patching or after? cuz mine was from a windows 7 ultimate x64 sp1 iso and the problem occured on another laptop which i didn't mention here.
3. you said mb usb port, so I assume it's a desktop, and maybe it does not use realtek as onboard audio chip, this is a wild guess but I always use realtek as a scapegoat and it works for me most of the time.
 
 
I read many pages from that link and some of them was source of my inspiration e.g. legacy mode.
 
and also regarding the useless function in the c-media driver is kinda important only after being able to install the driver which I failed to do.

 

[internethandle]

My W7 Ultimate is x64. It was originally pre-SP1 when I first installed though, yes, and was later patched/upgraded to SP1 when it became available through Windows Update. I downloaded/installed the Bifrost driver after W7 was upgraded to SP1. 
 
My computer is indeed a desktop, but yeah it also has Realtek on-board "HD" audio (Gigabyte motherboard). 

 

[Eternalmetal]

I know that this is an old thread, but considering that I have been having issues with mine, I have a feeling that this is still a problem with some users.
 
I am using Windows 8.1, so this isnt just a W7 issue.  Whenever my computer needs updates, or I get a power outage, I seem to have to jump through hoops to get the Bifrost to be recognized by the PC.  Keeping the device plugged in during startup results in the computer not passing the bios screen and booting into Windows.  If I plug the device in after Windows has started up (my only choice tbh), I get an error message that the device could not be installed and that there is a port issue.  While I would consider myself tech savvy, I am just adept at troubleshooting, and after fussing around with uninstalling sound devices and USB controllers from the device manager I can eventually get the device to continue the driver installation and get the device to work.  This proves to me that the port issues I am having have something to do with the Bifrost hardware itself and/or the installation software.  
 
What I want to be able to do is actually restart my pc without having to go through the toubleshooting process each time I do so.  I do not consider it a problem solved that I am able to get this device to somehow work with my PC, since it becomes a recurring issue at every point where I lose power or have to restart the computer for an update.  It does not always follow the same troubleshooting pattern, and often involves me switching ports numerous times before I can find a working configuration, so it can sometimes take me a while to get it to work.  To me this is not acceptable, and therefore I am seeking a permanent solution.  Has anyone actually found a solution to this problem?  My Bifrost was purchased back in mid-2013 and does not contain any of the subsequent upgrades.  Id like to hear from anyone else who has this kind of issue as well.  And if so, dont be so quick to give up on getting it to work, because in my experience this problem does seem to have workarounds (albeit some annoying time spent troubleshooting).

 

[Jiggs]

  I know that this is an old thread, but considering that I have been having issues with mine, I have a feeling that this is still a problem with some users.
 
I am using Windows 8.1, so this isnt just a W7 issue.  Whenever my computer needs updates, or I get a power outage, I seem to have to jump through hoops to get the Bifrost to be recognized by the PC.  Keeping the device plugged in during startup results in the computer not passing the bios screen and booting into Windows.  If I plug the device in after Windows has started up (my only choice tbh), I get an error message that the device could not be installed and that there is a port issue.  While I would consider myself tech savvy, I am just adept at troubleshooting, and after fussing around with uninstalling sound devices and USB controllers from the device manager I can eventually get the device to continue the driver installation and get the device to work.  This proves to me that the port issues I am having have something to do with the Bifrost hardware itself and/or the installation software.  
 
What I want to be able to do is actually restart my pc without having to go through the toubleshooting process each time I do so.  I do not consider it a problem solved that I am able to get this device to somehow work with my PC, since it becomes a recurring issue at every point where I lose power or have to restart the computer for an update.  It does not always follow the same troubleshooting pattern, and often involves me switching ports numerous times before I can find a working configuration, so it can sometimes take me a while to get it to work.  To me this is not acceptable, and therefore I am seeking a permanent solution.  Has anyone actually found a solution to this problem?  My Bifrost was purchased back in mid-2013 and does not contain any of the subsequent upgrades.  Id like to hear from anyone else who has this kind of issue as well.  And if so, dont be so quick to give up on getting it to work, because in my experience this problem does seem to have workarounds (albeit some annoying time spent troubleshooting).

 
Thanks for writing this up Eternalmetal,
I'm running windows 7 with a schiit Modi but I'm in the same boat right down to the startup freezing on the BIOS screen. I didn't even realize that it was the Modi causing this, so you did me a solid. My computer does start up properly on a second attempt even with the modi plugged in.
 
I can't install/reinstall the driver software because it won't recognise the modi when I plug it. 
 
I've had the Modi for about 6 months and it worked well from the start. I don't think I even had to install drivers and its icon just showed up automatically in the SOUND>>PLAYBACK menu.
But a few weeks ago I got a USB DEVICE NOT RECOGNISED message in the system tray and in the DEVICES>>USB menu it's just listed as UNKNOWN USB DEVICE.

I tried numerous restarts, uninstalling the last 2 windows updates, and changing the USB port, including using my monitor's ports.... I just now plugged it into my Dad's windows 7 PC and it immediately installed the driver software and and appeared in the SOUND>>PLAYBACK menu. Very frustrating.

I haven't yet figured out a workaround like you have to get the Modi recognised. If I knew where schiit installed the drivers on the C-drive perhaps I could scan for them. 

I was wondering whether it's some sort of motherboard issue. I'm using an ASUS sabretooth if that helps. 

 

[ThurstonX]

I know this thread is really old, but the title is perfect, so why reinvent the wheel.

After a power outage (only 2 hours), the Bifrost 1 (multibit upgrade; returned once for a USB issue) refused to be recognized by either of two Windows 7 Ultimate x64 PCs it had been running on. After going through the motions of trying to install either the 1.03 or 1.16 drivers the normal way (setup.exe), uninstalling the device, finding it with a Device manager scan for changes, and pointing Update Driver to either of the two drivers, I did what you can see in the attached PDF.

In short, I navigated to the Have Disk option, found the INF for ver. 1.16, et voila! The annoying thing was not being able to remember this procedure from the last time, which was more than a year ago.

Hope this helps someone down the road.

As an amusing aside, I found this thread while searching the Web:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...not-being-recognized-anymore-by-windows.5943/

I laughed at the hairdryer suggestion, until more and more people posted saying it worked. Given my Bifrost had been off for more than two hours, and was off/on a few times trying to get it recognized, I figured WTH. After a couple minutes warming it up, esp. blowing around the USB port, I plugged the cable back in and *BOOM* the 1.03 driver auto-installed. At that point I went down the rabbit hole of trying to force the 1.16 driver on it.