Hi all,
I’ve started having a problem this past week when I launch Audacity and get the Blue Screen of Death and a “DRIVER_CORRUPTED_EXPOOL” message. I’m running Audacity 2.0.4 on Windows 8 and I use the “Windows WDM-KS” audio driver. I haven’t changed anything in my system configuration recently. In the past week I’ve probably had this happen 3 out of about 10 times that I’ve started Audacity. Wondering if this is a known issue?
Thanks!
Dennis
You should uninstall 2.0.4 and install the latest 2.0.5.
http://audacityteam.org/download/windows
You might still have actual driver issues on top of that, but using 2.0.5 is a grand start to fixing this.
Koz
FYI - A “user mode” application can’t crash Windows, but a “kernel mode” driver can.
Thanks…I didn’t know I wasn’t using the latest release. I’ll install 2.0.5 and report back later.
Yes it’s a known issue that the WDM-KS host that was added to 2.0.4 can crash or freeze a minority of computers.
Because of those problems, support for WDM-KS was removed in 2.0.5, so I very much expect 2.0.5 won’t crash. For those doing overdub recordings, WDM-KS has much lower latency than the other hosts and it can also allow Audacity to record more than two channels at once from some multi-channel devices. It allows true 24-bit recording on devices that support that. It has a lot of advantages.
Assuming 2.0.5 does not have this issue, could you post the information from Help > Audio Device Info… top right of Audacity, without changing any of the devices you were using for 2.0.4?
Thanks
Gale
Hi Gale,
unfortunately I can’t provide the info you requested as I uninstalled 2.0.4 and installed 2.0.5 and the problem has not recurred 
Thanks for that confirmatory feedback WytchCrypt 
We’re happy that it works in 2.0.5 - we won’t be revisiting bugs that were in the now-obsolete 2.0.4 
WC
Thanks for that.
I was only suggesting that you connect the same audio devices that you did when you tried to use 2.0.4. If you were only using the motherboard audio then the motherboard audio had the problem with WDM-KS. It would be interesting to see from Help > Audio Device Info… what your devices are.
The alpha builds that have WDM-KS support turned on have the same compatibility problem that 2.0.4 had.
If PortAudio doesn’t fix the WDM-KS compatibility or if we don’t find a way for users to turn WDM-KS on and off themselves, are you suggesting we would never enable WDM-KS again in a release? That would mean that those who use 2.0.4 because WDM-KS gives them 24-bit recording or multi-channel recording would never advance beyond 2.0.4.
Gale
OK, I don’t have any external audio devices and am using the motherboard audio (just the same as 2.0.4 when I had problems with WDM-KS) Here’s the result of the Help → Audio Device Info:
Hope this helps!
Dennis
==============================
Default capture device number: 1
Default playback device number: 3
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.090000
Low Output Latency: 0.090000
High Input Latency: 0.180000
High Output Latency: 0.180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.090000
Low Output Latency: 0.090000
High Input Latency: 0.180000
High Output Latency: 0.180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output
Host name: MME
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.090000
Low Output Latency: 0.090000
High Input Latency: 0.180000
High Output Latency: 0.180000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
176400
192000
352800
384000
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio H
Host name: MME
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.090000
Low Output Latency: 0.090000
High Input Latency: 0.180000
High Output Latency: 0.180000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
176400
192000
352800
384000
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: Primary Sound Capture Driver
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.120000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.240000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.120000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.240000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: Primary Sound Driver
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.120000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.240000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
176400
192000
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.120000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.240000
Supported Rates:
8000
9600
11025
12000
15000
16000
22050
24000
32000
44100
48000
88200
96000
176400
192000
==============================
Device ID: 8
Device name: Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.003000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.010000
Supported Rates:
48000
==============================
Device ID: 9
Device name: Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio HD) (loopback)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.003000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.010000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 10
Device name: Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.003000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.010000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Selected capture device: 10 - Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Selected playback device: 8 - Speakers (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Supported Rates:
48000
Unable to open Portmixer
Thanks, Dennis.
Conexant is a common device. It’s possible you do not have the correct or latest drivers for it.
The Audio Device Info has a very unexpected result. It appears to show that you have the microphone selected while choosing WASAPI host:
Device ID: 10
Device name: Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.003000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.010000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:Selected capture device: 10 - Microphone (Conexant SmartAudio HD)
The Audio Device Info will show the WASAPI input devices other than loopback, but you should not be able to select any of them in Device Toolbar or Recording Preferences.
Does Help > About Audacity… say 2.0.5?
Gale
Yes…sure does.
D
And in Device Toolbar you really have WASAPI host selected and the microphone input selected?
If so, I can only assume your audio drivers are broken so that is confusing Audacity.
Gale
No, actually my audio host = Windows DirectSound with Microphone input. If I change to WASAPI the microphone input is no longer an option. I do all of my recording and mixing on an old Roland VS-1880 18 track HD recorder then import my final mix into audacity via the microphone input to do my mastering. In 2.0.4 I was using the WDM-KS device but in 2.0.5 I get the best results with DirectSound & Microphone rather than MME & Microphone 
That is what I would expect - only the loopback inputs should be enabled for WASAPI in release builds, because of Audacity bugs that need to be worked out.
Audio Device Info should not be saying that the WASAPI mic input is selected, but I see the same problem if I choose Windows DirectSound host in Device Toolbar with stereo mix or internal mic input, or with speakers output. Audio Device Info then tells me that the WASAPI input or output is selected.
It looks like this problem was introduced in 2.0.4.
Audio Device Info is correct if MME or other hosts than Windows DirectSound are chosen. It’s correct if Windows DirectSound is chosen with the “Primary Sound Driver” and/or “Primary Sound Capture Driver” rather than a named output or input.
Gale