Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

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Snacko
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:30 pm

Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

Post by Snacko »

Hi,

I've been using Voicemeeter Banana for a few years now. After a Sleep or boot sometimes(about 40% of the time) the Hardware Out (A1, A2) don't work. I have to reselect the same outputs again, and then they start working.

A1 goes to my WDM:Realtek(R) audio, which is my onboard (Asus Maximus XII Hero) sound card to my speakers.
A2 goes to my WDM:Sound Blaster Audigy Fx, which is a card plugged into a PCI buss that goes to my game chair shakers.

When my sound is not working on either one, I just have to click on A1 and A2 and re-select the device that is already selected.

I recently upgraded my MB and CPU and installed a fresh copy of Windows and VMB. On my previous setup this never happened.

Is there something I can do to fix this?

Thanks!
xcasxcursex
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:04 am

Re: Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

Post by xcasxcursex »

You may like to try and disable the sleep/USB suspend/etc features on those devices. Not sure it will work, but I'm sure I'd try it and find out :)

As for why it would not work after boot, that's a tough one. A normal boot everything should work.
Snacko
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:30 pm

Re: Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

Post by Snacko »

Thanks for the reply.

I may have gotten confused with the sleep vs boot.

I'm not sure where to look to disable the sleep/usb suspend for the speakers and shakers. I looked in the Device Mgr for those sound devices and they don't have any Power Management tab or sleep/wake options. Also looked in the Windows Audio settings..

Any idea where that setting might be?
xcasxcursex
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:04 am

Re: Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

Post by xcasxcursex »

Don't be daunted by this long post, it's not hard to do, I'm just being verbose ;)

Well I must confess that I'm a little hazy on the details since my PC is on 24/7 and sleeping is disabled, and I have a total of one USB audio device and it's input-only, so apologies for that. Others may be able to expand on my advice here.

Only some devices will have this option. Generally, you should be able to do this for any of the USB controllers, or hubs, but I understand that may be a concern if you have to disable sleep for several other devices connected to the same hub. Accordingly, I'd kill two birds with one stone here, by finding the parts you can disable sleep for, and also, isolating them from other devices you don't want to prevent from sleeping.

There's a relatively simple way to do this but you may need to drill through some of the device tree to find what you're after. What you want, is to open device manager, and select the menu 'View... Devices by connection'. Now, if you drill down though the system, you should be able to find the specific USB Hub or controller, to which the cards are connected. Generally, you'll find the sound card connected to a hub connected to a USB root device connected to a PCIe buss, as you go higher up the tree.

I would love to walk you through this, and I almost included a screenshot, but the trick is that every motherboard/CPU/hub combination will be different in this. You'll have to browse through the tree on your PC to find your devices. One hint that makes this easier: use the cursor keys. Up and down to go up and down the list, right arrow to expand the tree, left arrow to collapse that section.

Once you find a candidate device, either the audio device itself, or the hub or controller to which it is connected, double click it or right-click and select properties. You should find a 'Power Management' tab, probably the last tab in the properties dialog. There will be a box there labelled "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" which you'll want unticked. Keep track of any you change, so you can change them back if its doesn't help.


One other thought: Many motherboards allow you to access sleep and power settings for the USB devices, from the BIOS. You might want to check there, too. Highly recommend saving your BIOS settings before you try this. Be careful in there if it is unfamiliar territory, please!
Snacko
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Nov 08, 2017 8:30 pm

Re: Hardware Out keeps disconnecting..

Post by Snacko »

Thanks for the awesome reply xcasxcursex! And all the great tips I will use in the future(using arrows to move around and expand trees).

I did find my speakers and shaker devices in the Device Manager (View by Connection) and checked the device, and every branch above them up to the root. And none of them had the Power Management tab. I am familiar with the BIOS and will look in there when I get a chance. That could be the problem because I upgraded from a 5 year old ASUS Maximus VIII to a XII last month. Maybe they added some new power management defaults and options.

Thanks again!!
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