This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK USB drivers won't install on 64 bit Windows 7 - please provide updated drivers!!

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: TLV320DAC32EVM, TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK

After several installation issues I finally achieved an apparently complete install of the TLV320DAC32EVM
SW on 64 bit Windows 7. I say “apparently” because when I connect the TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK to a
USB port to install the USB drivers, it only partly installs. The TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK enumerates as
three USB devices – a USB Composite device and two USB-MODEVM devices. The composite device and
the first USB-MODEVM device drives install correctly, but the second USB-MODEVM does not and show
up in Device Manager as an unknown device.

The TLV320DAC32EVM SW launches and shows the main window and first tab, but does not recognize
the TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK and freezes all control, even the exit box. The only way to close the
application is to kill it using Task Manager.

I also tried installing it in the Windows XP virtual machine in 64 bit Windows 7 but the SW wouldn’t even
install at all there.

I dual booted my computer into my other OS (32 bit Vista) which I keep just for test purposes. Everything
installs and functions properly, including the USB drivers, the SW works and recognizes the
TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK.

Can TI please provide updated USB drivers and/or complete new installer .exe so that it all works on 64
bit Windows 7. Thank you

  • Hi, David,

    I'm not an expert on this, but a colleague of mine sent these instructions:

    There are two ways of running this in Win7:

    1. Right click shortcut and 'Run as administrator', or

    2. Click properties on the shortcut and set in Windows XP compatibility mode.

    MAKE SURE YOU UPDATE THE FIRMWARE TO V203 in XP first. Otherwise, you might get a BSOD.

    -d2

  • Nice try, Don, but this doesn't address the issue. The issue is not that the application won't run. The application does run, but hangs because it can't communicate with the USB device. The issue is that the USB driver for the NI-VISA endpoint will not load when the EVM-PDK is connected to a USB port.

    As mentioned in my original post, the EVM-PDK presents itself as a USB composite device which comprises two devices

    1. A USB Audio device which is used to stream audio to the DAC on the EVM module.
    2. A NI-VISA (National Instruments - Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) USB device.

    The USB drivers for the composite device and the USB audio device are correctly loaded since they are part of the Windows 7 OS. In fact I can stream audio to the DAC if it is initialized from a separate system. But the NI-VISA USB driver is required to enable the EVM SW to communicate with the EVM-PDK to control the DAC registers through the EVM GUI.

    I even went to the National Instruments web site and downloaded their humungous 478MB file so I could install their latest 5.0.3 version of the NI-VISA runtime, hoping that would solve the problem, but it didn't - still the NI-VISA endpoint on the EVM-PDK is not recognized since its USB driver does not load.

    So I am back to square one. I really do hope that TI doesn't continue to put out outdated and outmoded SW and hide behind the statement that "it is for use on Windows2000 and XP". When was the last time you could buy a computer with either of those two OS's?

    Come on, TI get updated and produce SW for current OS's.

  • Now the USB driver won't load even under 32 bit Vista, so I am completely dead in the water. Please provide a usable 64 bit/32 bit usb driver for the TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK  as soon as humanly possible.

    Thank you.

  • Hi David,

     

    This board was designed to work with XP which was the dominant system in use when this chip was released. Our newer devices are being designed to operate on Windows 7 and no longer use NI drivers. We do not have the resources to go back and re-design all of our old software for older EVM's. We typically stop supporting old EVM's once the chip is established in the market. Our limited resources are focused on designing new boards and software for new parts.

     

    If you don't have a system running XP, you can still use the board in hardware mode. Since all of the pins are brought out to the headers, you can use any I2C master and external I2S source to test the part. There are several good USB I2C masters on the market that can be used to control the DAC.

  • Well, this is very dissapointing. This is certainly not the response I expected from a large multi-million dollar corporation like TI. You certainly have many more resources than  a tiny company like ours does.

    As it happens I already have an I2C master built in to my system breadboard, but your repsonse means I basically have to make my own interface to your board and the so called EVM SW that is downloadable from your web site to control the EVM using a nice GUI, is worthless and unusable.

    I certainly have better things to do with my scarce time than to build interfaces to a product from TI that should darn well have had a working one in the first place!

    Poor showing TI!!

     

  • I was led to this thread after searching for information regarding the BSOD I got as my reward for attempting to install and use a TLV320AIC3204EVM. I assume the source of the BSOD is similar, ancient third party drivers trying to run on Windows 7. The install was on a Mac Pro, VM Fusion, Windows 7 32bit running in the VM. (A configuration we have used for at least 2 years with CCS, etc. ). My first indication of trouble was watching the NI harness install. All that crapware just to fiddle a few bits of SPI - give me a break.

    We were planning to use 3204/3254 in a new design. If the tools are unsupported, especially those necessary for the mini-DSP, I can no longer recommended that approach.

    It would be helpful if the website (whenever it finally gets around to responding) listed the current status and the system requirements necessary for each tool. For example, requires Windows XP, or requires Windows 2000, or requires Windows 3.11 or whatever. If the tool is no longer supported that should be noted. I think it's reasonable to drop support for later systems (Vista, Windows 7) but it should be clearly identified whether each tool is still supported on the older system. There's nothing wrong with no longer supported - use at your own risk if it's so identified.

     

    Personally, it seems a bit ridiculous to design a general EVM platform for plug in EVM modules and then not support the low level software for the base platform.

    It would also be much better to use a simple generic USB device with good support across Windows, Mac, and Linux (e.g. FT232 type devices used on XDS-100).

    Just my $0.02

    But bottom line, is the 3254 still recommended for new designs? If it is, what is the tool chain for the mini-DSP?

     

     

     

     

     

  • Hi Wally,

    The previous firmware that was loaded into the USB controller is not compatible with Windows 7, due to the descriptor not being compatible with Windows 7, causing the BSOD.

    The AIC3204 EVMs still have the older firmware version. I will personally update the AIC3204 CS software to include the newest firmware versions so the EVM can be updated by the user. I will let you know when it is available for download.

    You can currently update the firmware on your board to v2.03 by following the instructions in "Tools > EEPROM Programmer" in AIC3204 CS and downloading the image found in the post below. You would need an XP machine to do this initial programming. For AIC3254 and other miniDSP devices, the newly manufactured EVMs are being already shipped with v2.03 to support Windows 7.

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/data_converters/audio_converters/f/64/p/2441/495345.aspx#495345

    Regarding the question from David Harrison, you could use the older AIC310x and DAC32 family EVMs in Windows 7 by updating the firmware in the EVM. However, you would need to use the command-line interface of a newer released control software without the GUI functionality. The details are below.

    http://e2e.ti.com/support/data_converters/audio_converters/f/64/p/67283/243765.aspx

    Regards,

    J-

  • Hi Wally,

    The AIC3204 CS has been updated to v1.2.1 to include the newest firmware and should appear at http://www.ti.com/tool/tlv320aic3204evm-k within the next day or two.

    Regards,

    J-

     

     

  • Thanks for your prompt fixes J.

    I'll check it out once it appears and port the results.

    Thanks.

  • Hello, I am having the same or similar problem, except I am running windows 7 32 bit and TLV320DAC32EVM-PDK .

    I would get the software lock up, but using compatibility mode, I set it for win xp service pack 3 and now it does not lock up I can change buttons and move volume control etc but none of it has any effect .

    SO My problem is that the device shows up but i get no sound in or out neither from a small speaker to headphones, if i flick the cap / capless switch i get a little scratch in the line as would be expected the firmware of the board is V1.05 . In the device manager it shows up as 2 devices in 2 places both show up as USB-MODEVM one is under sound Video, and game controllers, the other is under NI-VISA USB Devices. and that is how windows installs it. I tried using the update on the website file name is USB-MODEVM_vista&7.inf that comes in the slac521.zip file. When i do that I get either nothing, or if i uninstall the devices and manually point to this windows 7 file, I get 2 instances of USB-MODEVM under NI-VISA USB Devices, and nothing under the sound, video, and game controllers, and their for it does not even show up under the mixer or volume controls / sound and recording property's, which it does when i let windows do its think, but no sound.

    SO from what I have gathered here is that I need to update the firmware to the newer version, but it must be done on a windows xp machine? is their a Linux option?

     If i am correct, first I do not have any windows xp machines nor vista for that mater, but am I at least correct in what I have gathered from the info here.

    If so and I can find or borrow a win xp machine, what tools do i need to do this update.

  • Hey David,

    Sorry for the late reply. Maybe it'll help some people that have the same issue with the application lock-up.

    I had the same frustrating lock-up problem and here's how I managed to get it working under Windows 7 32 bits.

    1. In device manager, right-click on the USB-MODEVM device (under NI-VISA USB Devices) and select update driver...
    2. Select browse my computer / Let me pick a list of device drivers / Have disk... and point to the slac521 directory.
    3. Choose USB-MODEVM_vista&7.inf
      1. To be use you pick the correct one, remove the WDM driver.
    4. driver is reinstalled and the application doesn't lock up anymore.

    I don't know if I just got lucky, but it seems driver reinstallation was the key here. Maybe the WDM driver was installed initially; I don't know.

    Hope this helps any one else!

    Charles