Re: [FFADO-user] [I'm a user and need support] QJACKCTL not showing interface options

[Marc C. <mca...@st...>]

Great news.    Found a used FCA202 and purchased it.   Unplugged my FA-66, plugged in the FCA202, run ffada-test List Devices and voila!  it was listed.

I then tried runnig Guitarix.   Tried launching  jack however the system came back with an error message stating it was sorry but it could not get jack up and running.
My plans are to install Ubuntu Studio and see what happens.

Any suggestions?




-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Woithe [mailto:jw...@ju...] 
Sent: March-29-17 7:48 PM
To: Marc Cayouette <mca...@st...>
Cc: ffa...@li...
Subject: Re: [FFADO-user] [I'm a user and need support] QJACKCTL not showing interface options

Hi Marc

On Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 10:31:57PM +0000, Marc Cayouette wrote:
> I have greatly improved my ">" skills in the last two days so am able 
> to also included the lsdttmp and dmesg files as requested.
> :
>
> [    1.033636] firewire_ohci 0000:03:00.0: overriding IsoXmitIntMask
> [    1.104856] firewire_ohci 0000:03:00.0: added OHCI v1.10 device as card
> 0, 4 IR + 4 IT contexts, quirks 0x10
> [    1.624826] firewire_core 0000:03:00.0: created device fw0: GUID
> 001b8d10000046fb, S400

Thanks for providing this.  The dmesg output shows that while your firewire card is seen by the system, the FA-66 is not.

> Today, I have ordered a new firewire interface as well as a new wire 
> just as a precaution.

Obtaining a new firewire interface is not a bad idea since the JMicron-based cards have given trouble before (they can be problematic in all operating systems for audio work, not just Linux).  Obviously with a new card and fresh cable you will effectively eliminate everything except the FA-66.
If things work with the new hardware then it's problem solved.  If not then the FA-66 would be the prime suspect.

Hopefully your new firewire card is based on one of the known good chipsets outlined on our website.  In short, Texas Instruments and LSI (formerly known as Agere) are good, as are some later VIAs.  Other controllers might be ok given the low channel count of the FA-66, especially if you're not after particularly low latencies.  Anyway, let's see how things pan out.

> I am starting to fear that the FA-66 could be the culprit.  The "blue"
> light on the unit is indicating power however I has no way to test it 
> (of which I am aware).

Given that most of its functionality is provided through firewire there is limited testing you can do without firewire connectivity.

One further issue that's worth looking at is the power supply to the FA-66? 
If you are relying on bus power it would be a very good idea to try using the FA-66's separate power supply instead.  Bus power is sometimes not of sufficient quantity or quality to reliably power these interfaces.

Regards
  jonathan