Problems with Windows 10 and Komplete Audio 6 Mk 1 driver

Next update: I was still researching for what caused this problem. Then I noticed that in the UEFI BIOS some things were not configured correctly for recording studio usage. Maybe the technician forgot to deactivate these things. On the Steinberg website you can read what you have to do. Unfortunately, I just have the link with the German text for you: [English language link inserted by Moderator]

https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/360008589880-Windows-How-to-set-up-and-optimize-a-Digital-Audio-Workstation

In a nutshell: You have to deactivate all CPU energy saving things and in Windows things like synchronisation (e. g. OneDrive). According to Steinberg, it can cause heavy problems for recording studio / audio usage.

That's what I said, the reason of all these problems, DPC Watchdog Violation bluescreens and audio driver disappearing, could have been caused by something else.

Since then the system works fine. I'll see how it goes from here.

All comments

If you are using this driver (which appears to be the only one):

This device (and its driver) dates to Feb 2011 - which is 4 years prior to the first release of Windows 10 - making this a Windows 7 driver - at best.

And if you are assuming that this driver would somehow still be fully supported within Windows 10 22H2 - which is 11+ years after that device/driver was released - that is probably wishful thinking as well.

Really do not think MS is out to get you - more like 12 years has gone by and MS is not even aware this device still exists.

Finally - just saw this Reddit post - from 12 days ago (with an official NI response) indicating that Komplete Audio 6 has now reached EOL (End of Life):

Probably time to consider a new device

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/drivers-other-files/

Newer driver is available (4.2.0) and it’s stated for Windows 7 and above.

You can find it in “DRIVERS & OTHER FILES” official NI page:

On the same page you can also find Device Updater 1.7.0, from 23.07.2018

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/221312#Comment_221312

Thanks LIF - My bad. Should work fine.

I hope. I posted just the existence of newer driver (and the device updater)… not that sure that it will solve the issue.

We don’t even know if he is maybe already using this version of the driver

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/221327#Comment_221327

Thank you for your reply. I'm already using this version.

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/221425#Comment_221425

Well - if this device is EOL (as I previously indicated) AND Windows 10 (and some update) has caused this - it is highly unlikely that NI will start coding a new driver at this juncture.

Suggest you contact NI Support and see what can be done. This is your only option at this point.

How can I get in touch with the Native Instruments support? Since they left Germany there is no support hotline anymore or support e-mail contact or something. At least I can't find it.

https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/sections/15449821909021

This is the link for Traktor section of Support. Remember to log in at the bottom of the page in order to have access to chat (during office time) or open a ticket

Update: A couple of days ago I have deactivated the Windows systems sounds and since then I don't have any problems with that anymore. I don't know if this caused that problem or something else. But now everything works as it should be.

Thank you for reporting back

Update 2: The "Watchdog Violation" bluescreen appears again. Deactivating the Windows system sounds was obviously not the solution. I did some research and found out that the whole thing is quite complex. It could be caused by all sorts of things. But it definitely seems to be down to some kind of driver. I think it's about time the IT industry came up with a better solution. There's always something that needs updating again and again. Back in the day, 25 years ago, you’d get maybe one or two updates for the entire system per year. These days, you get a message every week, sometimes even twice a week, just to update the web browser. All we want are systems we've built ourselves or had custom-made that work – and keep working – until the end, without constantly running into problems just because another update has broken the system. It's really starting to get on my nerves.

"All we want are systems we've built ourselves or had custom-made that work – and keep working – until the end, without constantly running into problems just because another update has broken the system"

This is very easily accomplished. Simply never update anything once you get to a solid state and keep on rolling. If you are allowing Microsoft (in this case) to install updates in any way - you should be prepared for chaos.

MS has no idea you are using an audio interface from 2011 and cannot ensure any updates they do - to their own OS - will affect you. By allowing updates - you are opening the door to trouble.

If you want a guaranteed environment - shut down Windows updates, unplug your network cable and rock on. The system should continue to work fine - potentially forever - if you leave it alone.

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/222636#Comment_222636

Unfortunately, it is no longer possible to deactivate Windows updates. I believe this was no longer possible from Windows 10 onwards. I used to always deactivate them and never had any problems.

As I have already written, finding out exactly what it is is very complex. It doesn't have to be the old (still working fine) Komplete Audio 6 and its drivers. That's the problem. I could buy a new audio interface and still have the same problem. And that's what I mean: We can't have our entire system rebuilt every time and buy everything new just because some system somewhere is updating, whether it's Windows / Microsoft, the graphics card or something else.

Update 3: What I can say so far is that the failures have become significantly less after deactivating the Windows system sounds. The system has been running for several days in a row without the audio driver failing.

If it fails, I unplug the audio cable from the Komplete Audio 6 Mk 1, reconnect it and then restart the audio workstation. So, reboot and don't shut down and then boot up again. This is important because a restart is the only way to restore the operating system to its original state.