Sharing I/O with Win XP stopped working

I'm over the hill, an old fogey, and I'm living all those memory jokes, so I can never be sure about the past ... but I seem to recall that not too long ago I could operate REAPER, then close it and open an app that uses the Windows sound driver, say, VLC or foobar, then go back to REAPER, all no problem. But about 3 months ago (or was it 6, or maybe 2) this stopped working. Now I get a popup, "The following channels are in use by another application" and a list of the 8 analog outs on my Echo Audiofire Pre8. My workaround has been to go into Windows Sounds and Audio Devices and redirect Windows to the digital ins and outs while I'm working in REAPER, then switch back to the analog ports when I want to use VLC or foobar. Adobe Audition does not exhibit this behavior. It plays and records without complaint uses the Echo ASIO driver. I didn't change the Echo ASIO drivers, I don't think I installed any new ASIO for any other device (but hmmmmmmm, something to check again), so I'm thinking either a Windows update (which other people would have noticed) or fumble fingers on some setting in REAPER or Windows ... or my video card ... or ... I've tried rolling back the REAPER version to early in 2010 with no change. Does this ring a bell for anyone? Thanks, Fran

Just a guess... Go to "Options -> Preferences -> Audio" and tick "Close audio device when stopped and application is inactive". -Data

Fran, It's not clear from your post under what condition you are having the problem. If Reaper is the only audio app running, can it use the ASIO driver okay? In my experience, Reaper plays very nicely with other apps in that it let's go of the driver appropriately and shows the "offline" message, and then comes back online to re-engage the driver. Without knowing more details, it sounds like it is some other app that is not letting go of the ASIO driver. James