After some months of WDM problem-free use with Windows Vista, my hard drive failed and I decided on a new computer, which meant Windows 8.1. With the exception of the WDM driver, everything else in JRiver Media Center 20.0.63 worked great. My other speaker driver is the Ayre USB DAC, which is known for excellent sound with JRiver. These 2 devices coexisted well on Windows Vista. My setup is the recommended one with a second "WDM" zone and 25 milliseconds buffering. On Windows 8.1, the driver initially appeared to work for about 20 minutes or so, although it was noisier than usual. Then Windows rebooted. Here are the problems that I now see.
(1) The driver sometimes thinks it is a "communications device" and does not always replace the USB as default device, leaving both of them with a check mark.
(2) Even when WDM appears to be set up properly, there was no sound from Spotify and almost continuous flashing of "WDM Opening" messages from Media Center
(3) On some occasions, Windows 8.1 reboots with a message indicating the WDM driver as source. On one occasion, there was a Pool Header error, but more frequently, the message pertains to "IRQ Less than or equal".
I have uninstalled and reinstalled the driver several times without improving results, and also tried Media Center 20.0.79 with similar results.
Do you have available a "debug" version of the WDM driver or some other means of tracking down this apparent incompatibility with Windows 8.1?
Many thanks
Rod Hallsworth
Author
Topic: WDM Driver Problems with Windows 8.1 (Read 1807 times)