Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Designare Thunderbolt Support Focusrite 4pre (help)

[monkeymanx]

I have a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Designare up and running great minus getting the Focusrite 4pre working. I have validated it works within windows 10. If I boot without it powered up and look under the system report it gives info that no hardware is connected under Thunderbolt. If I boot with the Focusrite powered up, the thunderbolt symbol goes solid. When I get into OS X 10.12.1 and look under thunderbolt now it states no driver is available. I have installed the Focusrite control software. When I load that it goes to a screen telling me I have to update firmware on the unit but it won't actually allow me to click update. When I load the control software in windows it does not look for a firmware update.

Some additional information. I'm using the Apple Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adapter with the onboard inputs. This all seems to work fine within Windows 10 so I'm not exactly sure what would be going wrong here.

Anybody have any luck with this type of situation?

 

[dmijic]

I have exactly the same issue with same motherboard, same audio interface and same Apple adapter.

I have card recognized after changing Thunderbolt BIOS settings to:

Thunderbolt (TM) Support: Enabled
Thunderbolt Boot Support: Enabled
Thunderbolt Detachable Graphics Support: Disabled
Security Level: Secure Content

Security Level settings was the settings which enabled the card in my audio output system preferences. With every option except "No security" it is visible as audio device.

But it is not working (with studio monitors connected to line output 1 and 2), it is not recognized by Focusrite control software (No hardware connected) and it is not shown in Ableton as audio device.

What Thunderbolt BIOS settings are you using? With your setup interface is at least recognized by Focusrite control software...

 

[dmijic]

I have reinstalled Windows 10 on a second drive and updated Thunderbolt firmware again using utility for Windows provided by Gigabyte and I can also confirm that device is Working on Windows.

I have disabled onboard audio device and now i know that Ableton Live recognises the device but I get this error message:

Focusrite control panel is still giving me message: "No Hardware Connected"

 

[monkeymanx]

Alrighty. I got it working just fine. It still states drivers aren't loaded under system information for thunderbolt but it appears to be irrelevant as the 4Pre works great and the latency is super low. And when I say super low, lower than my RME PCIe card I had at one point which is impressive.

These are the thunderbolt settings I used for this board:

Thunderbolt Support: Enabled
Thunderbolt Boot Support: Disabled
Thunderbolt Detectable Graphics Support: Disabled
Skip PCI OptionRom: Enabled
Security Level: User Authorization
Reserved Memory: 256
Reserved PMemory: 32

That is what worked with me with the latest Gigabyte Bios (F20) and latest Thunderbolt Firmware. So if you stuff is working in windows it should would in OSX. Just make sure it is powered on at boot for OSX. Hot swapping does not appear to work with this sound card for OSX.

This motherboard seems to be well supported as everything works. I'm still trying to bypass the speedstepping though so I can run at full speed all the time. Unfortunately OS X seems to ignore BIOS settings.

Either way, Thunderbolt is working for me and should be working for others. This Gigabyte board seems to be a winner as it has native Thunderbolt support for Sierra.

 

[dmijic]

@monkeymanx thanks for your help, your post brings hope that I will get this working!

I still have an issue though. I used BIOS settings you suggested but with

Thunderbolt Boot Support: Disabled

thunderbolt light on my 4Pre never goes on. With this option audio interface is not working on Windows 10 either. It works only with Thunderbolt Boot Support: Enabled.

With Thunderbolt Boot Support: Enabled everything works on Windows but it does not work on macOS Sierra. Card is recognized but Focusrite Control says No Hardware Connected and I can not get any output on macOS or in Ableton Live.

I can confirm that I have latest Thunderbolt Firmware and that card is powered on before booting the machine.
Any additional help would be much appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[dmijic]

I have managed to get 4Pre working but solution is temporary. Since card is not getting connected with Thunderbolt Boot Support: Disabled I have used Thunderbolt Boot Support: Enabled but after booting card was not working. Then I have reverted back to settings you suggested @monkeymanx and the card stayed connected since I was not shutting the machine completely. I finally sow saw my card connected in Focusrite Control for the first time:

 

[monkeymanx]

For me now with boot support disabled the 4pre still connects fine after shutting the machine down. It may just have to boot once, I'm really not sure. Either way, I did some recording today and everything worked out for me.

 

[dmijic]

For me it does not connect with boot support disabled. You are in luck.
I have a temporary workaround that works every time when I power on my machine.

I need to boot with boot support enabled to get the card connected. I save BIOS settings and reboot, then I disable boot support after I save BIOS settings and my machine reboots again. Then OS boots, card is connected but not recognized by the OS. Then I simply reboot one more time, and during boot thunderbolt LED quickly turns off and on and the card is connected and after OS boots card works.

So this is good enough for me for now but I will keep looking for a better solution. I keep my machine on for months so it is not a big hustle since the workaround works every single time.
Do you have Windows selected as OS in BIOS or "other OS". I never got card working properly with "other OS". Thanks again.

 

[monkeymanx]

I have other OS selected in BIOS. I loaded optimized BIOS default settings. I think the only stuff I changed after that were my couple thunderbolt settings listed above and disable super speed serial port or whatever that was called and enable XHCI hand off in USB support.

 

[AndyMurphy]

Hey guys, just joining in the convo about the designare , also for studio computer but have firewire, apogee working...

Still trying to get my thunderbolt working for thunderbolt dock, however so very keen to work out settings..

Also is your sleep and shutdown working....

and what have you done in terms of USB, just the clover fix?