[pitrow]

So after 6 weeks of trouble shooting I had tried the following in all possible combinations:
- Multiple clean installs of Mac OS (10.5 and 10.6)
- Multiple clean installs of PTMP 8
- Every possible combination/order of connecting Profire 2626 and a Lacie external firewire drive to my Mac Book Pro., including 400 to 800 cables, daisy chaining, and a separate SIIG firewire express card.
- Did all the standard fixes (reset SMC, zap PRAM, trash preferences, repair hard drive, etc.)
- Tried different memory configurations using different memory chips to ensure there was no bad memory.
- Had my MBP checked out my Apple to make sure nothing was going on with it behind the scenes.
- Tried multiple versions of the Profire Driver.
- I even brough home a Fast Trak Ultra 8R to test

Despite all these different combinations, I was never able to finish a single session without 6101 error in Pro Tools, or my device (2626 or Fast Track) losing connection in Garageband or Logic. Maybe my computer just doesn't like M-audio devices.

So I took both interfaces back and got the 003 Rack I had originally planned on before the sales guy talked me into the 2626. Low and behold...it works! Yeah, those few instances the 2626 worked I really liked how the mic pres sounded, but if I can't finish a session, it doesn't really matter how great they sound.

Here's to having a stable system again. I guess in my case, the cheaper price on the M-Audio set-up was a classic case of you get what you pay for.
Only problem now is they wouldn't return the M-Powered software which I understand, but also feel that since they talked me out of what I now have into buying the software/interface combo that never worked, good customer service would've been to make an exception.

In the end I ended up spending about $350 more for my 003 setup than I would have had I'd gone with my gut originally but you live and learn I guess.