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Thread Focusrite Saffire firewire WORKING with Windows 10 Creators Update

22 replies
15 participants
22,361 views
15 followers

themanandhismusic

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First post

1 Posted on 12/12/2017 at 11:49:41

Just wanna share after trying all sort of things....
My Focusrite Saffire firewire is finally WORKING with Windows 10 Creators Update.
How to do:
Download 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller {Legacy)from the Windows site.
Install it.
Then set it as driver for your firewire.
Open Windows Powershell (administrator) and type
bcdedit /set testsigning on
This puts your pc in test mode.
Restart computer
Now install saffire-2.71.exe from focusrite and install.
Windows 10 will not like it, but install anyway after the notification.
Saffire is working now!
:-)

Open Windows Powershell (administrator) and type:
bcdedit /set testsigning off
Restart

You're in normal windows mode again
&
Voila!
Now you have your Saffire working under Windows 10

How this helps the many with this issue!
Themanandhismusic

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Aitchy

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2 Posted on 03/17/2018 at 03:27:37

Works as described :D:

and got my Saffire back!

So odd that this 10 year old interface works flawlessly despite the fact that they keep trying to disable it.

Many thanks for posting this.

karolyi

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3 Posted on 11/22/2018 at 10:39:18

Man, I literally registered to say THANK YOU for your post. It brought life back to my long-time cherished Focusrite Saffire device. I bought a VIA based PCIE Firewire 400 card just for this card, to get my sound back. After having installed the legacy firewire windows driver, your guide made my sound card live again!

I wonder why Focusrite don't opensource the driver at least, when they don't want to support it anymore. These cards are a bliss, and having people forced to throw away COMPLETELY FUNCTIONAL sound cards, just because there's no software support, is a huge let down.

Cheers and thank you again!

vtester

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4 Posted on 04/17/2020 at 13:21:27

Thanks to topic starter.
Very good solution to bring life to very good hardware under Windows 10.
I have to say about Texas Instrument FW cards. They are do not require to change driver to special legacy version. At least, with my card.
Just tested with onboard VIA chip - works too. "Legacy" not required. But not long tested.
Third known firewire chip manufacturer is NEC, but i have no such card to test it too.
Some soundcard manufacturers recommends to change driver to legacy for resolving stability issues.

[ Post last edited on 04/17/2020 at 13:40:11 ]

Aitchy

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5 Posted on 06/04/2020 at 21:25:08

Hmmmmm ....looks like the 2004 feature update breaks it again. Gah!

Tried all the things but this time the Saffire will not boot. Will I ever get it working with Windows again? Who knows?

Probably advise against installing the 2004 update for the time being :??:

karolyi

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6 Posted on 06/10/2020 at 07:31:05

Quote from Aitchy:

Hmmmmm ....looks like the 2004 feature update breaks it again. Gah!

Tried all the things but this time the Saffire will not boot. Will I ever get it working with Windows again? Who knows?

Probably advise against installing the 2004 update for the time being

Hey,

could you get it working already? I'm afraid to install that update now.

pipemerchant

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7 Posted on 06/19/2020 at 03:21:11

Thanks to the original poster - this totally saved me. It's remarkable to me that this old interface still compares extremely favourably to anything on the market now. In fact, I considered upgrading until I realised that everything else out there is basically the same thing with less outputs!

I have just been through the windows 2004 update and it broke it again, but I did manage to fix it. I did the following:

-turn off secure boot/set testsigning on (as before)
-uninstall saffire <--important
-install saffire from saffire-2.71.exe (say yes to unsigned drivers). The device won't boot when you plug it in, just close the installer and move to the next step.
-go to device manager, you'll see the drivers aren't being used. Right click->update driver, then choose from already installed, and choose 61883->focusrite->saffire. The trick here was that I didn't install drivers for the WDM devices, as these seem to cause the unit to become unresponsive.
-turn testsigning off/turn on secure boot.

Of course without the WDM devices, you'll only be able to access the unit through ASIO. This actually suits me quite well, since I use VB-Audio ASIO Bridge to create a virtual 5.1 output anyway.

Dave Cooper

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8 Posted on 07/01/2020 at 01:42:46

I had to register to say thanks so much to everyone on this thread! :aime:

Particularly thanks so much to the OP @themanandhismusic and to @pipemerchant

First to OP for getting me back to being able to use my Saffire after years without it. And subsequently I'd been taken down by the 2004 update and tried a reinstall with no joy, I also replaced the Firewire interface with the Texas Instruments XIO2213B chipset (rather than VIA) to no avail. (recommended here https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207546925-How-can-I-tell-if-my-FireWire-ports-are-compatible-with-the-Saffire-range-)

But on following @pipemerchant's tips I find my Focusrite is fully operational again - even using the WDM driver! There were different results too: My Saffire booted happily after the reinstall of Saffire 2.7.1 and so I didn't need to manually set the driver. Perhaps the more compatible chipset with the reinstall did the trick? I'm just happy to have it back!

Thanks again! :bravo:

[ Post last edited on 07/01/2020 at 01:44:43 ]

karolyi

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9 Posted on 07/12/2020 at 11:26:56

Hey guys,

I managed to get this thing working but the instructions were a bit vague so I documented it with screenshots.
So basically the same workflow applies (driver signature checking has to be set off upon reboot), and then install the card. It won't start, and afterwards you'll have to install the drivers manually, but by selecting the "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer" option. See the following annotated screenshots:

All of the drivers need to be selected and installed manually, but after that, everything will work.

Cheers!

Aitchy

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10 Posted on 07/19/2020 at 01:24:50

Okay, left this be for a while after getting frustrated with it ( I have another interface however it's not as good IMO)

So came back here and followed the advice and instructions and we're back in business. Uninstalling and manually adding/installing the drivers was the key.

Thanks karolyi et al for taking the time to post the instructions :bravo:

May the saffire live forever!!

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