Strange Blue Screen of Death Scenario

[Harks]

I run Cakewalk on a Windows 11 desktop PC using a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface.  Up until 2 days ago everything was fine.  As of yesterday, when I playback recordings in Cakewalk, I get a BSOD with "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION" relating to "FocusriteUSBSwRoot.sys".   I can record ok and the problem only occurs when I play back.

The strange thing about this is that I can play my son's recordings in Cakewalk ok under my Windows login.  If I run Cakewalk from his Windows login, the same thing happens, ie I can play his recordings ok but mine result in BSOD.

Therefore, the problem only seems to affect Cakewalk recordings made under my Windows login.  I've checked sample rates and they are the same across the board.  Nothing has been installed in the past couple of days and I haven't had any Windows updates either.

Can anybody tell me what's going on??!!

[reginaldStjohn]

 I doubt anyone will just know what is going on. However, since it seems related to a user login and your interfaces driver I would suggest a clean un-install of your Focusrite driver and a re-install logged in to your account. It could be a file or device permission issue.

If this doesn't make any difference then you might have to check windows system logs to see if it gives you any clues as to what is happening.

[AndyB01]

Raise a support ticket with Focusrite - their tech support is top drawer. Be patient, they will respond and they may suggest stuff that seems trivial or that you've already tried. Stick with it, they're just narrowing the options. I had endless problems with BSODs with my old Gen1 2i4 on Windows 10.

It would crash on a whim, but by uninstalling the software as instructed and installing the updated driver file they provided, they managed to fix it.

Hope you get it sorted, well worth giving their support guys a shot in my experience.

Andy

Edited August 18, 2022 by AndyB01

[Jeremy Oakes]

i had this at one time, but since updating drivers for my 18i20, all is rock solid.

Focusrite have recently (a month or two ago) updated their drivers to be compatible with W11. 

Download the latest one for your device from their website and install - it removes the old drivers as part of the install process.

J

[Harks]

Thanks to all for the responses.  I reinstalled Focusrite Control to get the latest software and drivers and it made things even worse!  The PC no longer rebooted but I got audio dropouts in Cakewalk and had no sound whatsoever in any other Windows applications!  You Tube was fine though.  To make matters worse, Cakewalk couldn't find my Session Drummer plugin even though it was still where it was supposed to be and the Plug In Manager was pointing to the correct folder.

I logged a call with Focusrite but in the meantime I restored my system to the oldest restore point I had which was 2 days ago.  This has taken me back to where I started but at least Cakewalk still recognises Session Drummer and I have sound in Windows.

[Harks]

I'm thinking that uninstalling and reinstalling Cakewalk may solve the problem.  Will  everything be retained, eg all my plugins and recorded songs?

[Byron Dickens]

I'm betting it won't. BSOD is almost always a hardware related issue.

Edited August 18, 2022 by bdickens

[Jonathan Sasor]

1 hour ago, Harks said:

I'm thinking that uninstalling and reinstalling Cakewalk may solve the problem.  Will  everything be retained, eg all my plugins and recorded songs?

It's the Focusrite driver that's crashing Windows per your original post, so reinstalling Cakewalk is not really going to change anything there. Cakewalk itself can't cause a blue screen crash. Possible there's something else with how the hardware is talking to the machine that's causing it to crash like that- maybe try a different USB port. I'd definitely suggest talking to Focusrite if just reinstalling the driver didn't resolve the problem. 

[Will.]

On 8/17/2022 at 1:49 PM, Harks said:

I run Cakewalk on a Windows 11 desktop PC using a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface.  Up until 2 days ago everything was fine.  As of yesterday, when I playback recordings in Cakewalk, I get a BSOD with "SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION" relating to "FocusriteUSBSwRoot.sys".   I can record ok and the problem only occurs when I play back.

The strange thing about this is that I can play my son's recordings in Cakewalk ok under my Windows login.  If I run Cakewalk from his Windows login, the same thing happens, ie I can play his recordings ok but mine result in BSOD.

Therefore, the problem only seems to affect Cakewalk recordings made under my Windows login.  I've checked sample rates and they are the same across the board.  Nothing has been installed in the past couple of days and I haven't had any Windows updates either.

Can anybody tell me what's going on??!!

Check to see that your antivirus software does not see your focurite drivers  as a potential virus thread. 

[Harks]

I logged this with Focusrite and they sent me instructions to uninstall and reinstall everything.  I no longer get the BSOD but now when I try to play back in Cakewalk, nothing happens.  The cursor doesn't move and I have to use Task Manager to close the application.  Sound is fine on all other Windows applications and all websites.  If I can't solve this I'll have to ditch Cakewalk after using it for about 15 years and change to a paid DAW.

[Jonathan Sasor]

1 hour ago, Harks said:

I logged this with Focusrite and they sent me instructions to uninstall and reinstall everything.  I no longer get the BSOD but now when I try to play back in Cakewalk, nothing happens.  The cursor doesn't move and I have to use Task Manager to close the application.  Sound is fine on all other Windows applications and all websites.  If I can't solve this I'll have to ditch Cakewalk after using it for about 15 years and change to a paid DAW.

That's still symptomatic of a driver issue. Double-check it's showing the correct driver in the Preferences. You can also try seeing if the device plays okay in WASAPI shared for the driver mode.

[msmcleod]

19 hours ago, Harks said:

I logged this with Focusrite and they sent me instructions to uninstall and reinstall everything.  I no longer get the BSOD but now when I try to play back in Cakewalk, nothing happens.  The cursor doesn't move and I have to use Task Manager to close the application.  Sound is fine on all other Windows applications and all websites.  If I can't solve this I'll have to ditch Cakewalk after using it for about 15 years and change to a paid DAW.

The cursor not moving properly is one of the symptoms of Cakewalk using the Realtek ASIO driver, which is really not fit for purpose. It sounds like Cakewalk might be picking this up by default ?

If this is the case, you can remove the Realtek ASIO driver by removing the Realtek entry in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ASIO
 

[Harks]

The Realtek driver doesn't show in the registry but I have disabled it in Device Manager.  Although I was under the impression that all was well with the sound in other Widnows applications, tracks would cut out after about 20 seconds of playing.  I did a System Restore and then once again uninstalled and reinstalled all the Focusrite software and drivers, and all seems to be ok.  God knows what was going on but thanks to you all for your help and suggestions.