USB Midi Controllers Not Working On Windows 8.1 (SOLVED!) [Windows Update]

Anonymous
2013-12-13T08:10:58+00:00

Hello, I have a problem (see subject above).

I have been trying to fix it on my own but nothing seems to work.

I have never had this issue before and I have been Producing music since XP.

On Windows 8 my midi controllers worked just fine. As soon as I updated via windows store, My controllers have become unresponsive.

I have checked (And updated!) under device manager all of the Universal Serial Bus Drivers.

Everything seems to be working fine there, except when running any DAW (digital audio workstation) such as: FL Studio, Cubase, Pro Tools, Ableton, Ripper, Studio One, Reason.

The midi controllers show up as available but do not send or receive any midi messages.

Both my external Audio Interfaces work as far as Outputting sound in both Directwave and ASIO.

But midi does not.

PLEASE HELP, I do not EVER wanna be a MAC fanboy... but this Windows 8.1 update is pushing me away.

No Midi Controllers = No New music from me = Shopping around for a new system pretty soon :(

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2014-08-12T22:40:13+00:00

Description of the issue:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2014/01/21/windows-8-1-usb-midi-device-works-on-usb-2-0-port-doesn-t-work-on-usb-3-0-port.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

Fix for this issue is in August update released this morning.  Please install update.  With this fix, you don't have to apply the registry setting to workaround the problem.

www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx for x86 systems.

www.microsoft.com/.../details.aspx for x64 systems.

-Eliyas

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Anonymous
2014-01-10T02:17:10+00:00

We were able to repro the issue with TEXTECH INTERNATIONAL LTD. (USB\VID_15CA&PID_0101 ) MIDI device. This device works when connected to 2.0 but not on 3.0 port. We debugged the issue and found the regression.

The 3.0 host controller driver in Windows 8.1 is forwarding a MSOS descriptor query to the device and that some how causes the device to get confused. The interesting part is that the even though the device is not fully functional, it doesn't fail any I/O. So from looking at the bus trace, every thing looks good. It is this one query that is sent during initialization causes the device to sulk, and then it never internally recovers.

Windows 8 doesn't send this query.

Another thing to note is that this issue manifest only for composite devices.

Fortunately there is a registry override to inform the core USB stack to not send this query. So I request you to apply the registry setting for now to workaround the issue.  We will try to get this fix added to a future update and roll it out widely. 

Get the VID/PID/REV ID of the device from the device manager. For example, for the device I'm using the VID/PID/REV values are 15CA/0101/F110.  With that, create the following registry entry (this registry key might have been already created in some case) and set the "osvc" value to 00 00.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\usbflags\15CA0101F110\

    REG_BINARY “osvc” = 00 00

Unplug and replug the device.

Let me know the results.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-01-12T02:52:45+00:00

    I'm having s similar issue, usb 2 midi cable is no longer working after "upgrading" to Windows 8.1.  It's an older Turtle beach product and they no longer support it.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T11:57:29+00:00

    I want to make sure this is indeed the issue you and others who reported here are running into. So if you can apply the registry setting and confirm, it will be very helpful. Thanks.

     

    -Eliyas

    YES! Your solution works for me on both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports now.

    It was a bit tricky for me as I have never done that before and was always advised against "Making changes to the registry if you are not sure what you are doing"

    But actually it was fairly simple.

    What I got stuck on was that I didnt know I was supposed to make the registry key and rename it to "osvc" then set the value (Kick me I am a total noob at regedit stuff)

    But yeah this fixes it. I just had to repeat the step for every single midi device I have and now they all work flawlessly on both 2.0 and 3.0 ports.

    Thank you Eliyas very much and I hope this does make Windows Update cus I know countless people would benefit. Also Microsoft does not wanna push away a HUGE demographic.

    Donmecz

    (Original Poster)

    PS: In the mean time maybe someone should do a video tutorial featuring this fix for people who might feel overwhelmed by regedit procedures (?)

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-01-10T09:48:18+00:00

    Edit: Didn't see the page 4 responses before I posted my original response.

    The USBFlags registry key "0A6710110122" for the Medeli e10 keyboard "Medeli e-Drum (USB\VID_0A67&PID_1011&REV_0122)" was there and did not have the binary "osvc = 00 00" set.

    Adding the binary and restarting the keyboard solved the problem. Eliyas Yakubs solution works for me.

    Thanks!

    Original Response:

    I can partially confirm your findings. My failing system has the 6.3.9600.16384 driver and windows update says all drivers are up to date.

    I'll see if I can find machines with Windows 8.0 and USB 3.0, and with Windows 8.1 and USB 2.0 during the day.

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