URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

UPDATE: I just got the blue screen of death, but lived another day. The good news: The machine restarted and windows rebooted! The bad news: ****** light is still flashing. Now what? Is my Mbox 2 Pro box fried?

So here's the cheeky fun I've gotten myself into...

I'm on a Windows 7 machine with a HD that's on it's way out, but currently is up and running smooth.

I just did some work in Pro Tools LE 8.04 that I really like. It's using plug-ins that work with that version and everything is exactly how I want it.

Unfortunately ... The driver crashed mid session and I had to force quit. I do have the work saved, but ever since, I've had the flashing orange light of doom and the firmware is corrupted. This has never happened before.

Here's where I need the workaround:

I'm sure simply restarting windows would repair the connection, BUT... if I do, Windows might not boot.

Yes, I do intend to fix this rig ASAP, but I have other non-music work to finish and I'd really love to bounce this track. It's for a gofundme page to support someone in the ICU for Covid and someone is waiting for it. My OS is running fine at the moment. I have a single bad physical sector in the boot portion of the drive, so as long as I don't shut down — I'm ok.

What I tried:

1. I don't have access to another PC with a Firewire port, so i can't follow Avid's instructions to bring the box back to life.
2. Disabled/Enabled both devices(The firewire driver needs a restart to update)
3. Tried multiple cables
4. Tried to delete the MBOX 2 PRO entries in the registry so maybe the firewire can see it as new, but there are a few that I can't take ownership of and they can't be deleted. Those are the ones connected to the firewire port.
5. Hooked up a M-Audio Firewire 410 to see if by some miracle I could use LE with it. Obviously I can't (duh), BUT it did load the drivers using that same Firewire port and the device is usable. It also shows the port is still ok.

Am I missing something easy here? Help? :rolleyes:

[Note: A Sandra report is coming up in the reply. Please don't hate on the system, I really like this OS and I have what I consider the "sweet spot" versions of all my software. I'm not a newbie and have used new versions of PT, I just like this set up and it's never given me any issues.

Sandra report
 

< Computer >

Chassis: Desktop
Mainboard: ASUS P7P55D-E
Serial Number: 103066420000620
BIOS: AMI (OEM) 1601 06/26/2012
Total Memory: 8GB DIMM DDR3

< Processors >
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 860 @
2.80GHz (4C 8T 3GHz/3.48GHz, 2.41GHz IMC, 4x
256kB L2, 8MB L3)
Socket/Slot: FC LGA1156

< Chipset >
Memory Controller: ASUS Core (Clarksfield/Lynnfield) DMI 2x
2.41GHz (4.82GHz)
Memory Controller: Intel Core Desktop (Lynnfield) UnCore 2x
2.41GHz (4.82GHz), 2x 4GB DIMM DDR3 1.07GHz
128-bit

< Video System >
Monitor/Panel: AOC International 2436
(1920x1080, 23.4")
Video Adapter: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series (9CU 720SP SM5.0
700MHz, 1GB DDR5 4.6GHz 128-bit, PCIe 2.00
x16)

< Graphics Processor >
OpenCL GP Processor: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series (720SP 9C 700MHz,
1GB DDR5 4.6GHz 128-bit)
Compute Shader Processor: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series (720SP 9C 700MHz,
1GB DDR5 4.6GHz 128-bit)

< Storage Devices >
MAXTOR STM3500630A (500.1GB, A:466GB (H:)
Seagate ST3120026AS (120GB, SA:112GB
WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 (500.1GB:466GB (C:)
WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (1TB, SAT:932GB (F:)
Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 (1T:932GB (G:)
Seagate ST2000LM007-1R8174 (2:2TB)

< Logical Storage Devices >
OLD BACKUP (H:): 466GB (FAT32) @ MAXTOR STM3500630A (500.1GB,
ATA100, 3.5", 16MB Cache)
System Reserved: 100MB (NTFS)
The Archive (F:): 932GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD10EZEX-00BN5A0 (1TB,
SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Abbey Road (G:): 932GB (NTFS) @ Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162
(1TB, SATA600, 3.5", 7200rpm)
Hard Disk (C:): 466GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5001AALS-00L3B2 (500.1GB,
SATA300, 3.5", 7200rpm, 32MB Cache)

< Peripherals >
LPC Hub Controller 1: ASUS P55 LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1: T0 B3-53
Audio Device: ASUS P55/PM55/3400 High Definition Audio
Audio Codec: VIA 4441
Audio Device: Visiontek EG JUNIPER XT Audio Device [Radeon
HD 5700 Series]
Audio Codec: ATI (AMD) HDMI Audio
Serial Port(s): 1
Disk Controller: ASUS P55/PM55/3400 4 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller: ASUS P55/PM55/3400 2 port SATA IDE Controller
Disk Controller: ASUS 88SE914D SATA-600 Controller
Disk Controller: ASUS JMB36X PCIE-to-SATAII/IDE RAID
Controller
USB Controller 1: ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host
Controller
USB Controller 2: ASUS P55/PM55/3400 USB2 Enhanced Host
Controller
USB Controller 3: ASUS Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host
Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1: ASUS VIA VT6308 1394 OHCI Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1: SMBus Dev Drv 1

< Printers and Faxes >
Fax: Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Printer: Brother HL-2140 series (1200x1200, USB)
Printer: Adobe PDF Converter (4000x4000, Colour)

< Network Services >
Network Adapter: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller (Ethernet,
1Gbps)

< Operating System >
Windows System: Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
(Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance: x64

Re: Sandra report
 

If it was me, I'd try to repair the MBR - search online - and if that didn't work, clone the drive, then swap in the new one. Personally, I use Macrium Reflect and they have a free version.

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

Do you have a drive image bkup?

Re: Sandra report
 

I tried and even had a company try and help via remote. I have a single bad physical sector right at the start of the drive, in the OS partition. All cloning software stops right there.

I backed up what I could manually and organized whatever setup programs I had so when failure hits, I'll rebuild as best I can.

Here's an update:
I decided to go kamikaze style and I restarted the machine.

• Good news: It rebooted!
• Bad News: The F-er is still flashing orange.

SO, I uninstalled Protools and thought maybe the driver is corrupted and if I reinstall...

It wouldn't reinstall. I'm getting a request for a data2.cab file and a "disk 2". I read some old threads and it's a known issue with zero solutions. I used a full install setup of 8.0.4 I got directly from Digi back in the day. Kill me. In case it's a corrupted file, I did email Avid, but I also tried to install 8.0.3 and still the same error. I think I either have nodes left in the registery connected to the PACE software (my best guess) or the MBOX 2 Pro is just fried.

If I get copy of Pro Tools M 8+, I can maybe use it with a M-Audio FW 410 I have, but I don't know if the plugins are interchangeable. I'm trying to work with old PT sessions in their original environment.

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

I have an older one from when the drive was healthy and a fresh backup of the data on the drive.

At this point, the OS is running and I'm desperate to get back to work. You can see in my last reply, I uninstalled protools to see if reinstalling would help and now I can't load it back in. lol

I've worked on PT almost daily for 10 years... of COURSE this happens when I'm in quarantine. lol

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

Great. Replace the dying hard drive and restore the image.

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

Clever solution actually. I'll use it as a last resort because it won't include a ton of updates on the system and I'll still lose a lot of other software. I can also reinstall windows and just load everything back in from scratch.

At the moment, every other piece of software works well and I hate to go through all that to find the Mbox is just burnt out and I have to use the M-Audio interface instead.

If M-Powered PT 8.3 or 9 can open the same files and use the same plugins, it might be a solution if I can find it. That was pre-ilok though, so I'm not even sure how to authenticate something that old.

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

Since your boot-image is not current ...
1. replace dying drive with new drive (get an SSD)
2. restore image
3. reinstall/re-update everything added after the image was made.
4. Make a new image bkup.

Either that, or do a clean install on the replacement drive. I image every time I change/install/update anything important on my rigs. I keep several old images & also keep notes on exactly what changes were made between images - in case I ever need to restore back further in time.

Re: URGENT! Looking to a creative work-around for MBOX 2 Pro Firmware Crash
 

Thanks for the advice. :) That was pretty much my long term plan for the machine.

I'm hoping someone can answer the Pro Tools question in the meantime.