Help! C-Media driver for DC-1 not digitally signed -SOLVED!

[dac0964]

Has anybody encountered any problem installing the C-media driver for the DC-1's USB input? I didn't have this problem when I first got my DC-1 a few months ago. Then recently, I unhooked my laptop from the DC-1 for a couple of weeks to do some work and when I tried to hook it back the problem started. The USB device is not seen by my computer (i.e. "Unavailable") and the reason being according to Windows is that the driver is not digitally signed. It is giving an error Code 52.

I tried uninstalling then re-installing the driver but no luck. I even tried hooking up again my old XDA-2 (that never had problem before) but now also exhibited the same problem.

Hope somebody out there can shed light on this issue.

[aud]

May 21, 2014 0:52:21 GMT -5 dac0964 said:

Has anybody encountered any problem installing the C-media driver for the DC-1's USB input? I didn't have this problem when I first got my DC-1 a few months ago. Then recently, I unhooked my laptop from the DC-1 for a couple of weeks to do some work and when I tried to hook it back the problem started. The USB device is not seen by my computer (i.e. "Unavailable") and the reason being according to Windows is that the driver is not digitally signed. It is giving an error Code 52.

I tried uninstalling then re-installing the driver but no luck. I even tried hooking up again my old XDA-2 (that never had problem before) but now also exhibited the same problem.

Hope somebody out there can shed light on this issue.

Have you changed any of your security settings in Windows or downloaded a new anti-virus program? If not, then I would call Emotiva and try to talk to Keith.

[KeithL]

What you're seeing is definitely some sort of Windows issue - but I've never seen that particular one before.

There are two times at which drivers for USB devices are "installed" in Windows.

First, they are "installed" onto the computer - when you first put them on the computer. Windows normally checks for a digital signature at that point, and will often complain if a given driver isn't signed - but you get the option of simply ignoring the warning and installing it anyway. Certain UAC (user control) settings may prevent you from overriding this, but I've never run into them.

Then, when you actually connect the USB device (each time) to use it, the drivers you've already installed into Windows are installed into memory. I've never heard of Windows complaining at that point because the drivers weren't signed, but some update in Windows could have changed that. (I'm not even sure whether our drivers, which were provided by C-Media, are unsigned or not.)


Offhand, I can only think of two things that make sense in your case...

1) Something in the security settings for your particular copy or update of Windows has changed, and it is now checking for signed drivers each time you connect a device - or something has changed which makes it now "unhappy" about the way our drivers are signed. Since security options, and default settings, change quite often with Windows, it's not impossible that either a Windows update, or an update of your antivirus software, has made this setting. The fact that you seem to be the only one having the problem seems to suggest that either:

a) you're the first one on the block to have a certain update installed
b) there's something especially odd about your copy of Windows, or some security software you have installed, or some setting you have enabled
c) there's something actually wrong with your copy of Windows

If you Google "getting unsigned drivers to run in Windows" you'll unfortunately find quite a few different solutions, each of which seems to fix a different cause for the problem. The bad part is that figuring out which one applies in your case will be tricky, and some have odd side effects and consequences.

2) The other possibility is that, for some reason, the drivers themselves aren't loading correctly when you install them, or aren't staying installed. If that's the case, then Windows may be trying to REINSTALL them whenever you connect the DAC (it looks for the drivers, sees they're "gone", and tries to put them back). If Windows tries to automatically download and install drivers for our DACs from the Internet, it will download an INCORRECT driver from the Internet. When it tries to install that driver, you will get odd errors and the resulting installed driver won't work. (Simply manually installing our driver "fixes" it, and you don't even have to remove the wrong one. Once the correct drivers are installed, even reinstalling the bad ones shouldn't matter as long as you don't remove the good ones.)

{We've had this happen with some versions of Vista, some versions of which actually have an option to automatically update *drivers*, which periodically removes the correct drivers and replaces them with the wrong ones until you disable it. So far I haven't heard of its happening with any other version of Windows. If you're running Vista, the option is a separate check box for "update drivers" under "Windows update" configuration - which you would want to UNcheck.}

Certain security programs and settings may also prevent the drivers from installing correctly, or may even remove them after they're installed - but they're usually the sort of security software a company or a school would install on a company laptop (to keep users from installing their own software on it) and not the sort of stuff you'd be running on a home machine.

It's also possible for drivers for some other DAC which also uses the same C-Media 6631 chip we do to conflict with ours, which could cause weird behavior like that - but it's not very common.
(Incidentally, Schiit Audio's DACs use the same drivers, but they normally don't conflict at all with ours.)

[aud]

Thanks Keith. I had a good feeling you would be on this one. Execellent information.

[dac0964]

Thanks Keith and Aud. I'm sure I didn't install anything new intentionally. It may be an Windows auto update as Keith mentioned. I will keep on investigating and trying different solutions specially the security settings. Hopefully, I will find the culprit.

[wiskers]

Are you using the driver from emotiva?

[dac0964]

May 21, 2014 22:56:51 GMT -5 wiskers said:

Are you using the driver from emotiva?

Yes, I am.

[wiskers]

Remove drivers, disable any virus protection you have, reboot computer and reinstall drivers.

[Cory Cooper]

This is a common issue with Windows machines...specifically for software/hardware drivers that are improperly signed. Here's a workaround provided by Microsoft:

Advanced startup options (including safe mode)

You want the section titled Disable Driver Signature Enforcement (second from the bottom)

Of course this will affect ALL drivers you install, so be sure you know what you are installing so as not to expose yourself to any viruses/malware/etc.

C

[dac0964]

Guys,

Thanks for all your help. The problem was solved by a very smart lady in less than half an hour! That lady happens to be my wife! It took me two weeks of figuring this out... so embarassing LOL

[KeithL]

Compliments to your wife - good find there.

(And also nothing for you to be embarrassed about.) I assume that the reason we haven't been hearing more about this is that it isn't turned on in most people's computers. Unfortunately, between the individual differences between computers and Windows installs, and the fact that Windows updates and other programs frequently make changes, often without telling us, it can be very difficult to find out what options are enabled or not... Microsoft frequently changes system defaults to improve security, and it sounds like this was one of those times....

May 23, 2014 0:41:06 GMT -5 dac0964 said:

Guys,

Thanks for all your help. The problem was solved by a very smart lady in less than half an hour! That lady happened to be my wife! It took me two weeks of figuring this out... so embarassing LOL

[GreenKiwi]

It's probably worth getting the driver signed. It should be fairly easy to do.

[dac0964]

Thanks Keith, I'll make sure to relay the compliment to her.

And you're right, all these Microsoft updates and security updates probably screwed my initial configuration because I don't recall installing anything on my computer.

All right all's well that ends well... you have a great Memorial Weekend.

May 23, 2014 10:18:26 GMT -5 KeithL said:

Compliments to your wife - good find there.

(And also nothing for you to be embarrassed about.) I assume that the reason we haven't been hearing more about this is that it isn't turned on in most people's computers. Unfortunately, between the individual differences between computers and Windows installs, and the fact that Windows updates and other programs frequently make changes, often without telling us, it can be very difficult to find out what options are enabled or not... Microsoft frequently changes system defaults to improve security, and it sounds like this was one of those times....

May 23, 2014 0:41:06 GMT -5 dac0964 said:

Guys,

Thanks for all your help. The problem was solved by a very smart lady in less than half an hour! That lady happened to be my wife! It took me two weeks of figuring this out... so embarassing LOL

[dac0964]

Agree

May 23, 2014 10:57:33 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

It's probably worth getting the driver signed. It should be fairly easy to do.

[dac0964]

I'll ask my wife later tonight what the problem was and how she solved it. It sounded simple enough but I wasn't paying much attention to it and was just happy that she got it working. Besides it was late in the evening.

Then I'll post it here so if others encounter similar problem they can try the solution.

Happy Memorial Weekend to everyone.

[roadrunner]

May 23, 2014 11:29:29 GMT -5 dac0964 said:

I'll ask my wife later tonight what the problem was and how she solved it. It sounded simple enough but I wasn't paying much attention to it and was just happy that she got it working. Besides it was late in the evening.

Then I'll post it here so if others encounter similar problem they can try the solution.

Happy Memorial Weekend to everyone.

We have been patiently waiting to learn what your wife did to solve your C-Media drive issue for a week now. Please let all of us know what she did. It could help some Lounge members avoid a long frustrating trouble shooting session.

[KeithL]

Hi... all...

The wait is mostly my bad - because he did tell me what his wife found out..... (I guess it was a support e-mail and not a post, though)....

clip-----

This is a common issue with Windows machines...specifically for software/hardware drivers that are improperly signed.
Here's a workaround provided by Microsoft:
Advanced startup options (including safe mode)
You want the section titled Disable Driver Signature Enforcement (second from the bottom)
Of course this will affect ALL drivers you install, so be sure you know what you are installing so as not to expose yourself to any viruses/malware/etc.

clip-----

Since I've never heard of this problem before (and the drivers haven't changed),
I assume that this option is normally turned off, but some new security update (or security program) switched it on for his machine.

[Cory Cooper]

May 22, 2014 16:31:50 GMT -5 Cory Cooper said:

This is a common issue with Windows machines...specifically for software/hardware drivers that are improperly signed. Here's a workaround provided by Microsoft:

Advanced startup options (including safe mode)

You want the section titled Disable Driver Signature Enforcement (second from the bottom)

Of course this will affect ALL drivers you install, so be sure you know what you are installing so as not to expose yourself to any viruses/malware/etc.

C

Hmmm....those words look familiar.

Was that the solution?

C

[dac0964]

Hi All,

My apologies for this late reply... been busy lately.

Anyway, we suspected the driver got corrupted for some reason. So my first instinct was to re-install the driver using the InstallShield (from Setup.exe file). But first it will ask you to uninstall previous installation which I did. Then I tried to re-install using the Setup.exe. There was no problem with the re-installation procedure (completed) but Windows wont recognize the driver (as reported here). I tried to repeat the process thinking I may have missed a step. But the problem persisted.

So what my wife did is to skip using the InstallShield and went straight to -

1. Control Panel
2. System and Security
3. Device Manager
4. Right click on the device in questions
5. Click on Unistall
6. Tick off the box that says "delete driver software for this device"

Reinstalled the driver the usual way then it worked...

[dac0964]

Forgot to mention that Step #6 is the most important... never forget to check that box.