hi robert,
i'm using a rme Hammerfall hdsp multiface card which i've never had problems so far, due to the fact that it's pretty well supported.
However, after upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 the hdsploader fails to upload the firmware to the card with the following error:
hdsploader - firmware loader for RME Hammerfall DSP cards Looking for HDSP + Multiface or Digiface cards : Card 0 : RME Hammerfall DSP + Multiface at 0xf87f0000, irq 22 Upload firmware for card hw:0 Hwdep ioctl error on card hw:0 : Device or resource busy.
i did experience some `strange' behavior on my hdsp as well, starting a few months ago. in my case, the hdsp tells me, that the io box is not connected. my workaround was to unload/reload the module. maybe related to that issue, sometimes, the hdspmixer doesn't read the meter values from the interface, giving me the same `hwdep ioctl error', you are experiencing with hdsploader (i don't use hdsploader, since it is basically obsolete).
i suppose, it is a similar issue, that i am experiencing ... btw are you running a 32bit or 64bit system?
cheers, tim