Driver Issues - Mbox2 Mini

[MistahB]

Hello there, I'm a new member, first off, so I thought I'd say hi first. Ok, now two, my problem. I searched the forum but didn't know exactly what to search for, and thus could find no answer.

I recently purchased a Mbox2 Mini, and trying to install it, everything would be fine until it got to the Hardware driver installation, where my system would hang and crash. After a few days of this I decided I was just going to install the 7.4 standalone drivers and see if that worked, and it did. However I also purchased some usb monitors (alesis m1active 320usb) that were supposed to be plug and play, but weren't. Well Since all i needed was a generic "USB AUDIO CODEC" I searched and found one alone, and it worked fine.

Here's where the problem came in: The monitors worked, but there also apparently happened to be some sort of Mbox driver in the package that took over from the official MBox drivers. So now the mbox isn't active and i keep getting new hardware pop ups telling me about a "USB Composite Device" that was just found whenever I have the MBox Plugged in. I've tried uninstalling the generic drivers that were installed (a uninstaller came with the download) but they still remain and plug and play always autoinstalls them again everytime i uninstall them. I've uninstalled and reinstalled official digidesign drivers, to no avail. So....what do i do?

My system is a Toshiba Satellite P105-S6114 with Windows XP SP3 2gb of ram, and Dual 1.6 GHz cores.

and I don't want to format because I lost my XP disc and don't want to buy a new one.....

[spkguitar]

First, welcome to the wonderful world of Pro Tools and to the Digi Users Conference (otherwise known as the DUC).


Next; I have semi-bad news for you. You will not be able to use the Alesis speakers with the USB connection with Pro Tools. Pro Tools requires all audio I/O to go through the Pro Tools hardware. The good news is that you can still use those monitors, but you will have to eliminate the USB connection and connect the MBox 2 Mini to them with standard audio cables.

Now, to solve your problem, you are going to need to dis-connect everything from your computer. Uninstall Pro Tools (and uninstaller should be on the installation disk). Then you will need to un-install those drivers you installed for the Alesis monitors. That may be as easy as running Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel, but you may also have to find them in the Windows Device Manager, right click and select uninstall.

Then re-install Pro Tools, connecting the MBox 2 Mini only when the instructions tell you to.

Once you get it working again, I would very much like to recommend that you backup your working system, so that you can get back up and running in a matter of minutes. I personally recommend Acronis True Image for this, but there are several free utilities that can do a similar job.

[MistahB]

Thanks for the welcome, I've been working with Pro Tools since the beginning of the year though, I'm taking a class at my community college, this was just my first purchase of my own. And the not being able to use the Alesis monitors through USB is no problem.

As for the solution, I've already taken those steps you suggested, which is why this problem is baffling me. I've uninstalled the Pro Tools drivers with the DigiDesign uninstaller, and attempted to uninstall the drivers I added for the Alesis monitors, but to no avail. Not listed in add/remove programs, I've gone through the Device Manager, enabling the viewing of all hidden or disconnected files, and uninstalling the "MBOX" thats listed there (it doesn't actually show a driver listed for the mbox but its listed as installed....) And I also don't have any virus scanning software up that could interfere, but nor am I connected to the internet on that system. Hence I am confounded....