Bug: Sometimes after a prolonged sleep of the Mac, eqMac asks to install the Driver

[nodeful]

Description
Sometimes after a prolonged sleep of the machine (like overnight) you come to wake the machine and find that eqMac is asking to install the driver. Once you go through the install it starts working again.

Steps to Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behaviour (feel free to change the placeholder as you need):

1. Put the machine to sleep overnight
2. Wake up the computer
3. Find that eqMac is asking to update the driver, only sometimes...

Setup information:

• macOS Version: 13.1 Ventura
• eqMac Version: 1.7.X
• eqMac Driver Version: 2.3.X

Additional information
Very hard to debug as the bug is hard to reproduce consistently, if anyone can reproduce it consistently, please reach out and share more information.

[andrew-jolley]

I have this issue, but when I try to update the driver I get a red box with "Error: Timed out". My audio is working fine, just is a bit annoying.

[jnrmy]

Same issue. Sometimes after a long time without playing any music, or when I listen to music for some time and then stop, the bug appears.

[wemmick]

I get this as well, but I get it pretty much every time my Mac goes to sleep, even just for 20 minutes or so, forcing me to re-install the driver every time. Please help!

App version: 1.7.2
Driver version: 2.3.1
UI version: 4.4.1

MacOS: Ventura 13.1

[cubaLT]

Same issue and identically same versions like @wemmick
App version: 1.7.2
Driver version: 2.3.1
UI version: 4.4.1 (Remote)

MacOS: Ventura 13.1
MacBook Pro 14" M1

[kentozuka]

same here. every time the mac goes to sleep, it prompts me to re-install the driver.

App version: 1.7.2
Driver version: 2.3.1
UI version: 4.4.1 (Local)

MacOS: Ventura 13.1
Mac Mini M1 2020

[nodeful]

Hey again :)
Can you try this release v1.7.4:
https://github.com/bitgapp/eqMac/releases/tag/v1.7.4
Let me know if the problem still persists, because I haven't came across it for a while now.

[andrew-jolley]

Hi,
It keeps asking for driver installation, but doesn't fail, but does keep asking for installation.

Update 04/02:
The above issue is still here, just a lot less frequent

[wemmick]

@nodeful I am still seeing the problem, but perhaps less often? I haven't figured out if there are specific conditions that produce the issue...even after the computer is asleep for a while, sometimes it works, but sometimes it asks for the driver again. shrug Thanks for looking into it!

[cubaLT]

After installing release v1.7.4 I have the same condition like @andrew-jolley

[gordonk]

Thank you for this app. Like @andrew-jolley and @cubaLT I'm seeing the same condition with 1.7.4. Return to the computer, sometimes after only a few hours, and the sound is back playing through the default MBP Speakers in all its basseyness.

Toggle the 'power' switch on the eqMac about 50% it asks to reinstall the driver (but never pops the OS permission dialog). Toggle again and then its back playing through MBP Speakers(eqMac) in sound on the menu bar

[wemmick]

@nodeful Fyi, I've noticed that after a system restart, the latest version is now working for me. I haven't had to install the driver for 3 days now, so fingers crossed it stays that way. :) Thanks again!

[andrew-jolley]

@wemmick, tried that and still have the same issue

[nodeful]

Thank you for all the reports guys, I haven't had this happen to me at all since I released v1.7.4 but clearly it's still happening to you.
I tried everything to replicate it again and can't seem to do it 😞
Do you guys have the "Hide Driver device" enabled in the Output settings?:

[gordonk]

Not me, also I check "force built-in microphone" otherwise I found people on facetime couldn't hear me.

[wemmick]

@nodeful Heh, as soon as I said something of course, it happened again. When I unlocked my computer this morning, the driver was gone again. I do not have "hide driver device" selected.

[davehamshaw]

Still getting the prompt but interestingly the app crashed while I was listening to something earlier today. Maybe the crash log will uncover something? It's attached, hope it helps!

eqMac crash.docx

[nodeful]

Any luck with v1.7.6 guys?:
https://github.com/bitgapp/eqMac/releases/tag/v1.7.6

[wemmick]

@nodeful Sorry, still happening with 1.7.6. : \

[musiKk]

I don't know if this is a separate issue. For me this problem is not related to sleep. Yesterday I had this in the middle of a call. Suddenly the prompt to install the driver pops up out of nowhere. Interestingly the audio adjustments still seem to apply to currently running audio streams but I cannot interact with the app anymore before performing the reinstall.

[wemmick]

@nodeful Ditto what @musiKk said - this happens to me regularly now, whether the computer goes to sleep or not.

[nodeful]

Hey everyone.
Yeah this is very annoying, especially because it doesn't happen to me at all at this point, haven't came across this for more than a month now.
If anyone can reproduce this consistently please reach out to me on contact@eqmac.app so maybe we can jump on a screenshare call so I can check the logs of the CoreAudio service to see why it's unloading the driver randomly.
Thank you and I'm sorry for the inconvenience you're experiencing :(

[musiKk]

At least from my perspective, please don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not a paying customer and I would really like to help. Apart from quirks like this, the EQ is great!

That being said, I also did not encounter the issue anymore since I had it two or three times and posted above. I once had to restart the app after a weekend of sleep because sound was completely silent but no driver reinstall. I also once had to restart because the mic would not work. Apart from that, no more issues.

[musiKk]

It just happened again after disconnecting my bluetooth headphones. I noticed though that closing and starting eqMac again works. No need to reinstall.

edit: After restarting eqMac it popped up again soon. Now I reinstalled again and after 2-3 hours it just popped up again. It's super unpredictable.

[andrew-jolley]

This still happens to me with no pattern visible to me. When I click the install button however it does install correctly

[andrew-jolley]

I've managed to get these logs if they're any help:
https://storage.googleapis.com/andrew-jolley/logs.txt

[nodeful]

Thanks @andrew-jolley
The logs do contain some clues and they seem to point to incorrect entitlements and signature of the Driver binary.
Although I don't understand why does it happen so randomly and to a subset of users.
I will keep investigating this, but at least I have some ideas as to what I can try.

[nahuel89p]

Same thing here, very annoying

[arieled91]

This is happening to me all the time. Mostly when I switch sound devices or randomly. It's very annoying because I use the equalizer to adjust sound to my hearing deficiency and when that happens in the middle of a call I can't understand what people say.

[bjmd]

I also have the same (or very similar) issue. The driver installs fine, but if I leave my Mac sleep for a period of time and come back, the eqMac device has completely disappeared and I need to go and re-install the driver again.

[tommybebad]

I have the same problem. I wonder if it happens in pro version too, becouse I wanted to buy it. I dont want to waste money :/

[wemmick]

It's even worse for me now under Sonoma - now when I come back, first have to reinstall the driver, then eqmac crashes, then I have to restart it, switch the audio input again, and...finally it works.

[andrew-jolley]

Haven't actually seen this for a while thinking about it.
How about everyone else?

[tonyrking]

Yeah, I'm still getting it. Every time I reboot my mac M1.

App: 1.8.5
Driver: 2.5.2
UI: 5.0.7 (Remote)

[BillyFKidney]

Description Sometimes after a prolonged sleep of the machine (like overnight) you come to wake the machine and find that eqMac is asking to install the driver. Once you go through the install it starts working again.

Steps to Reproduce Steps to reproduce the behaviour (feel free to change the placeholder as you need):

1. Put the machine to sleep overnight
2. Wake up the computer
3. Find that eqMac is asking to update the driver, only sometimes...

Setup information:

• macOS Version: 13.1 Ventura
• eqMac Version: 1.7.X
• eqMac Driver Version: 2.3.X

Additional information Very hard to debug as the bug is hard to reproduce consistently, if anyone can reproduce it consistently, please reach out and share more information.

After being off 5 days my MacMini M2 Pro prompted me with this gem.

[ragauskl]

Sometimes manually reinstalling the driver can help, full guide here: https://help.eqmac.app/en/article/how-to-install-eqmac-driver-automatically-or-manually-1r2dnlk/

[kennycontreras]

I've been using eq for a while without a problem until recently when it started happening.

• Mac: Sonoma 14.3
• App: 1.8.7
• Driver: v2.5.3

[ragauskl]

Did you try reinstalling the driver? Is there a specific pattern when it happens (like after device wake) or does it happen at random?