MyDMX falling asleep? Windows 7

First off, think totally differently for shows than real life.

Disable any and all power savings, run your computer OFF the power supply, not batteries.

Win 7 seems to add the suck that Vista forgot, but took out some of the suck people really hated about Vista. It's defintely NOT a mature OS. They took out all the good things I used for years, or at least made them damn harder to get to.

Also, get rid of the USB hub. Besides having to use POWERED hubs, MyDMX doesn't like hubs. You have to go right into a USB port on the HOST.

You may want to also check your computer's bios and ensure it's latest and greatest. Many machines are having issues with Windows 7 due to not only out of date BIOS, but crappy APCI drivers and functionality. My main computer, which has undergone some major upgrades recently, will be getting a new mainboard soon because the current one is affected by this issue. In this case, I can say "shut down", but it won't stay down. Can't upgrade the BIOS because I have to boot to a floppy and it won't let me boot to a floppy, and this is a BIOS issue.... A new bios will cost me anywhere from $6-12, so it's worth it to me to just get the new chip and snap it in there.

I have enough parts to rebuild a new computer from the taken-out parts. Chances are it's just going to become an off-line render machine or something. I'll get a new PSU while I get a new mainboard and I'll be set. Got case, video card, RAM, HD's, just need to put them all back together. Might end up being my Vista machine since I don't currently have Vista on my network.

The usb hub was removed for mydmx a year ago when I discovered it was the original problem.
There are also no power save modes running when Im in a show, and, I always run off the power cord.

Ill check the bios and see if that's it, but something tells me it's not.

I know the 64bit drivers were actually designed for vista, so Im wondering if ADJ will launch a whole new, clean install for Windows 7, 64 bit.

2 questions:

What brand and model is your laptop. Not to slam brands, especially brands I work with, but Dell is rather notorious for this. So are many of the subnetbooks in order to squeeze maximum battery life out of those things. The Dells are odd for different reasons but are tied to power savings.

Did you install Win7 or did the machine come with Windows 7? It can make a difference because the hardware may not be "certified" for Windows 7. Similarly, my current mainboard is in this categoroy. I've learned my BIOS upgrade won't resolve my issues, but it will be upgraded anyways.

Double check your power settings. I find my Win7 64-bit(on a machine that will most likely never run MyDMX since it's my main machine) fails to do stupid things like properly retain settings for certain things. Also, this annoying permissions crap has gotten old fast and has become an inconvenience, especially since I move external USB and Firewire drives around a bunch of machines on my network.

I do agree that MyDMX needs a 64-bit clean installer with both Vista and Win7 drivers. They also need to fix a few issues with MyDMX(most being interface issues, namely MIDI and color schemes). However, with Windows 7 being relatively new, it's going to take them a while. Also, they never bothered to properly do this for Windows Vista 64-bit, so that kind of tells you the direction they are in at the moment. On the plus side, they did come up with a solution.

the laptop is a compact presario, cq40, AMD Athlon x2Dual-Core 2.0ghz processor, 4gb ram, 150gb hd.
Windows 7 did not come with the sytem (vista) but when I installed it, I wiped the hard drive and did a fresh install.
This is the same computer I used all last year for MyDMX with no problems once I removed the usb hub from the equation. I dont believe the issue is my laptop.

While the 64bit patch does work, I think it's glitchy and that's more then likely whats causing the issue. However, my buddy has an HP running mydmx, Windows 7 32bit, and he's having the same issues. This brings me back to possibly it's time for a whole new Windows 7 package from ADJ for MYDMX.

On your note about dell - I am aware they have funny usb issues sometimes. I run a Dell precision m4300 as my primary gig machine. It's a monster. Should it ever die, Ill replace it with the new m4400 or Alienware. I've AB'd my dell against a dozen other laptops, including a Mac, and while there are definitely better systems, I've yet to see one run like my M4300 does. That being said, it's not an "out of the box" M4300. There's been a few hundred dollars(+) put in to upgrades.

Let me bring this to our developer's and see what they say.
Sincerely,

That would be cool James, Thank you.

The patch works, Im just thinking it might be a little glitchy. I appreciative however that you guys jumped on a driver for it at all.
I dropped $900 on the new Pioneer DJM5000 board w/ built in soundcard, and do you think Pioneer will put out 64 bit drivers?

Nope!

I really like MyDMX and see no interest in going a different direction. It works very well for my purposes.

Well i haven't had any problems with it myself and i run SEVERAL Lighting control software's from this PC. Basically all the elation lighting control software's aswell as my dmx and it always runs fine for me but i do not use it probably as often as you all do. But let me see if i can get something out of them. I do hope you know that my dmx will not be updated with more features. The software will stay as is feature wise and will only be updated to ensure OS compatibility and new profiles. however we are looking at a few small changes hopefully like midi triggering But we will have to see.
Sincerely,

Let me clariify a few things:

While they may appear the same, laptops and desktops behave dramatically different underneath the surface.

Dell laptops are notorious for strange issues with firewire and USB and have proven themselves not only unreliable for most pro audio applications, but also unsuitable as well.

Problems that don't show up on desktops, especially with USB, are more likely to show up on laptops.

Don't assume that if all is well on your desktop/tower that it's all fine on your laptops.

Every laptop has issues. Including dell, and yes, Macs as well.
I dont own a desktop so there irrelevant in this discussion.

Odd. But when you have a persistent issue with USB and firewire and refuse to address the issue to the point where companies are saying "hey, this is a must avoid item if you want to do this", that's certainly something to take into strong consideration.

Macs are consistently used on the road as a reliable choice for multi-track playback 10:1 over PC's.

It's sounding though that this isn't just a MyDMX issue, it's sounding like it ties to the OS as well.

Leave it to Microsoft to try to really hose things up. I like the new Win7 commercial talking about this task-bar function that Microsoft just added. Gee, and didn't Mac add that into the first release of OSX some 10 years ago? Right. Way to stay current!!

If I designed Win7, and that's what was produced, I'd be out of work right now.