QjackCtl won't start / Kernel won't create Firewire ID

Hi -

Off and on I've been trying to fix a Firewire issue with my machine for many months.

I'm unable to start the JACK Audio Connection Kit (QjackCtl).

I think I've finally diagnosed the problem as having something to do with the kernel given the output in the syslog (see output below).

I don't have a clue of how to fix it though. Any ideas?

Details:

I'm running Ubuntu Studio 16.04.1 with kernel 4.4.0-31-lowlatency.

The box is connected to an Onyx-i series Firewire mixer via a PCIe adapter.

This all worked at one time. It was during a box rebuild and/or distro update it all stopped working. I forget which.

The following log report seems to point to the error:

/var/log/syslog [Same as output from dmesg | grep -E -i "(1394|firewire)"]

Jul 31 15:06:14 elaterite2 kernel: [ 309.319310] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: no self IDs
Jul 31 15:06:14 elaterite2 kernel: [ 309.820118] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:14 elaterite2 kernel: [ 310.091688] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: PHY ID mismatch in self ID: 0 != 1
Jul 31 15:06:14 elaterite2 kernel: [ 310.091694] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: topology build failed

Jul 31 15:06:20 elaterite2 kernel: [ 315.540954] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: bad self ID 0/5 (e07fe864 != ~00000000)
[Then the 'firewire_core' lines are repeated three more times.]
Jul 31 15:06:23 elaterite2 kernel: [ 318.634629] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: no self IDs
Jul 31 15:06:24 elaterite2 kernel: [ 319.407269] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: bad self ID 0/7 (e07fe864 != ~00000000)
Jul 31 15:06:24 elaterite2 kernel: [ 319.907889] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:24 elaterite2 kernel: [ 320.179665] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: PHY ID mismatch in self ID: 0 != 1
Jul 31 15:06:24 elaterite2 kernel: [ 320.179671] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: topology build failed
Jul 31 15:06:25 elaterite2 kernel: [ 320.679887] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:25 elaterite2 kernel: [ 320.961220] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: PHY ID mismatch in self ID: 0 != 1
Jul 31 15:06:25 elaterite2 kernel: [ 320.961227] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: topology build failed
Jul 31 15:06:26 elaterite2 kernel: [ 321.461854] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:26 elaterite2 kernel: [ 321.734822] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: bad self ID 0/5 (00000000 != ~00d117a2)
Jul 31 15:06:26 elaterite2 kernel: [ 322.235878] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:27 elaterite2 kernel: [ 322.503466] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: bad self ID 0/4 (01fe8860 != ~00000000)
Jul 31 15:06:27 elaterite2 kernel: [ 323.003855] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:27 elaterite2 kernel: [ 323.285296] firewire_ohci 0000:08:00.0: no self IDs
Jul 31 15:06:28 elaterite2 kernel: [ 323.785834] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0
Jul 31 15:06:28 elaterite2 kernel: [ 324.074609] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: PHY ID mismatch in self ID: 0 != 1
Jul 31 15:06:28 elaterite2 kernel: [ 324.074617] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: topology build failed
Jul 31 15:06:29 elaterite2 kernel: [ 324.575845] firewire_core 0000:08:00.0: rediscovered device fw0

And so on...for over a hundred lines. The kernel seems to keep this process up continuously.

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Here's the JACK Audio Connection Kit log when I try to connect to my mixer (which is turned on) using the Firewire drivers (under the Kit's 'settings' tab). (Note: It get the same output with the unit turned off and the Firewire cable disconnected.)

/home/bob/.log/jack/

Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: ------------------
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: Controller activated. Version 1.9.11 (unknown) built on Wed Oct 28 16:44:17 2015
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: Loading settings from "/home/bob/.config/jack/conf.xml" using expat_2.1.0 ...
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'engine':'driver':'(null)' to value "firewire"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'engine':'realtime':'(null)' to value "true"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'engine':'verbose':'(null)' to value "false"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'engine':'client-timeout':'(null)' to value "500"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'drivers':'firewire':'period' to value "128"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'drivers':'firewire':'nperiods' to value "3"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: setting parameter 'drivers':'firewire':'rate' to value "44100"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:52 2016: Listening for D-Bus messages
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: Starting jack server...
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: JACK server starting in realtime mode with priority 10
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: self-connect-mode is "Don't restrict self connect requests"
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: [1m[31mERROR: firewire ERR: FFADO: Error creating virtual device[0m
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: [1m[31mERROR: Cannot attach audio driver[0m
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: [1m[31mERROR: JackServer::Open failed with -1[0m
Sun Jul 31 17:55:59 2016: [1m[31mERROR: Failed to open server[0m
Sun Jul 31 17:56:00 2016: Saving settings to "/home/bob/.config/jack/conf.xml" ...

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Looks like the kernel has loaded the drivers, correct?

lsmod | grep -E -i "(1394|firewire)"

firewire_ohci 40960 0
firewire_core 65536 1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 16384 1 firewire_core

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And it looks like the OS see the PCIe Firewire card, correct?

lspci

07:00.0 PCI bridge: Texas Instruments XIO2213A/B/XIO2221 PCI Express to PCI Bridge [Cheetah Express] (rev 01)
08:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments XIO2213A/B/XIO2221 IEEE-1394b OHCI Controller [Cheetah Express] (rev 01)

Any ideas of what my problem is?

Thanks!