Firwire Bus reset

[Mtume]

I have been having this issue with my Digi 003 unit. I am using a Mac Pro and every time I try and use Pro tools with my 003 it suddenly freezes in the middle of the session and gives me an error message that includes the words "firewire bus reset". I try to turn it back on and then Pro tools will not activate at all or it will not recognize my 003 and it will say Hardware not found in the Digi Core Audio manager.

It has become very frustrating, cuz I luv the unit other than that. Any suggestions??

[M.Brane]

Simple things first: try a different cable, and make sure your ports are clean.

[stmclain]

I've had the same issues across the board, and narrowed the problem down now so that I'm convinced that the problem is directly related to the 003. What it is about the 003 that is the problem, I am not sure.

Aside from Pro Tools bonking out every so often with the firewire bus reset error (this happened with 7.4 and 8), Reason displays an unacceptable level of latency when driving sounds from MIDI tracks in Pro Tools, Quicktime will not play sound or video correctly, iTunes loses communication with about the same frequency as Pro Tools, and Final Cut Pro is unable to recognize devices for capture.

Of course I tried repairing permissions, Disk Warrior, zapping PRAM, and reinstalling from scratch. No luck. Knowing that these computers have had firewire bus issues for years now, I bought a new firewire card hoping to resolve the problem. No luck. Cleaned out and reseated every card in the computer. No luck. Obviously the firewire cable was replaced, and different ports were tried, but with no luck. Unless one is mistreating their equipment, cables and ports likely will not be the problem. It's simply the easiest and quickest thing to try. Unplugging the 003 is the only thing that resolves these issues. I'm unable to test Pro Tools with out the 003 plugged in, of course, but all other programs work as they should.

I understand that bad power could possibly be a cause for this, and my source here is admittedly not top notch, studio grade, conditioned, star ground stuff. I'm going to bring in a rack mount conditioner and see if that helps. Will post results.

I've been reading lots of posts of people having this problem with Digi not seeming to take the problem seriously. Digi needs to help figure this out, whether the issue is firmware, dirty power, a new power cable harness, or whatever. Whether the problem is on their end or the users. People pay good money for these units and they deserve to have them work.

[DigiTechSupt]

Are you sure that Firewire Networking is disabled in the Network control panel?

[stmclain]

I work out of the San Gabriel valley in SoCal, known for high heat and power brown outs. After my last post (see below) I realized that 003 behavior was the worst during hot days and we've had several unusually hot spells lately.

I brought in a simple Furman power conditioner (should have been using one all along, but the current setup here isn't exactly "pro") and plugged all computer and audio gear through. So far every problem that I've been experiencing has been solved, and everything seems to be more responsive as well.

I'll be putting the rig through it's first extensive test tonight, and will post on that as well, but so far, so good.

[M.Brane]

I would never run without a good UPS in my neighborhood. The power here is pretty bad. Not a lot of outages, but lots of voltage fluctuations/noise.

[stmclain]

Just to be clear, I'm talking about a power conditioner, not an UPS.

[Dogcode]

Are you able to keep 003 and protools running overnight without a disconnect. I`m having issues where I have to power cylcle 003 just to get protools to launch if it`s left on for a few hours or overnight.

dog

[docbop]

Originally Posted by stmclain

Just to be clear, I'm talking about a power conditioner, not an UPS.

I would say get a decent UPS the battery type. That will help deal with power dips, dips can cause more problems than spikes. Power in SoCal is pretty bad.

[M.Brane]

Originally Posted by stmclain

Just to be clear, I'm talking about a power conditioner, not an UPS.

Most cheaper commercially available "power conditioners" are little more than glorified surge protectors. A good UPS will maintain a constant voltage level while filtering out noise on the line.