PGMusic forum member "Seamus" posted this great tip for using USB Audio Devices with Windows this morning.

I thought it apropos to cut and paste it here:

Quote:


Quote:
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I have an M-Audio Black Box which will mix a guitar & microphone together to a USB port.
Thanks


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I use the same device. Aside from one little issue a while back, it has been set it and forget it. I use it as my standard soundcard, and can plug the guitar in any time. Have also used the mic.

Someone asked about USB. The m-audio website documents a little fix which cured an issue for me. A problem with USB ports - perhaps the problem - is that powersaving is turned on by default. This means that some committe at Microsoft came to a decision about saving the .01 miliamps of power to the USB port when "no activity" is taking place - based upon some stupid algorythm. Long story short, it would work fine then it would disappear. After I learned how to disable power-saving for the particular USB port always connected to the black box - i've never had a problem with it.

Google m-audio black box USB and it should take you there.

OK here is the link:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=6a9f49d7baa4fcc087d25acbdd34f27f

Problems with USB devices - USB Root Hub Power Management problems (XP)

Q: My M-Audio USB Audio- or MIDI interface fails to install, doesn't work after installation, or drops out of the system every now and then. What could be the cause of this?

A: A common reason for such problems is the Power Management function of the USB Root Hub. Under Windows XP, disabling the Power Management for all USB Root Hubs in your system should resolve this problem:

1. Open the Device Manager (Start-> right click on "My Computer", click on "Properties" -> Hardware -> Device Manager)
2. Look under the category Universal Serial Bus controllers and find the USB Root Hub.
3. Right click and select Properties, go to the Power Management tab
4. Uncheck the box "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." and click "OK".


Repeat this for each of the USB Root Hubs shown in the Device Manager.




Hotlink to the actual post (with live hotlinks to the references) here:

http://www.pgmusic.com/ubbthreads/showfl...;gonew=1#UNREAD

Cut and paste the directions to a file stored on your computer for later reference and use.


--Mac

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