"Unable to Locate Digidesign Hardware" message solved!!

[benjh1]

Hey everyone!

I'm a longtime lurker at the DUC, but after discovering a fix to a seemingly common problem without an apparent solution I figured I would share it.

Since last November up until recently I was having some pretty major problems with PT. Everytime I would open up it up I got a message that said "Unable to locate Digidesign hardware. Please make sure it is plugged in or turned on then click ok". Long story short, I did everything I could find on Google short of completely reinstalling Pro Tools. I reinstalled the drivers, tried to manually point Pro Tools in the right direction via the Device manager...Heck, I probably even hit it a few times, but literally NOTHING was working. Frustrated I finally contacted Avid via email with one of their support code thingys. I sent my Mbox Mini in to get repaired, then when I got it back I opened the box, plugged it in, and got the same exact warning again. Feeling very exasperated at this point, I emailed Avid again to let them know, and they told me to call their technical support. I called them and talked to Connor, who linked our computers for about a half hour and fixed the whole problem! Here's what he did:

1.) User Account Control Settings: Go to "Control Panel" on the Start menu then click "User Accounts". At the bottom of the list in the center of the screen, you should see "Change User Account Control Settings". Click that then drag the slider down to "Never notify". Click "Ok" and close the window.

2.) Uninstall all Avid Mbox Drivers: Go to Control Panel again and click on "Programs and Features". You should see a list pop up that's populated with all of the programs on your computer. Locate the program that is labeled "Avid Audio Drivers". (Some of you may or may not have that installed on your computer. I think it depends on the version of PT you have or something like that). Also locate the driver icon for whichever model of Mbox you have. It will say something like "Avid Mbox *model* Driver (Without the asterisks obsiously). Uninstall both by hitting "Uninstall" at the top of program list. Windows will guide you through the rest. You may be prompted to restart at this point. I seem to have forgotten to take notes about that part...It's not a bad idea to restart though even if it doesn't prompt you too.

3.) Reinstall all Avid Mbox Drivers: Open your web browser and go to http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=374271 Click on "View Available Downloads" at the top of the page and download the one for windows. If you don't see an installer then go to your browser's download list and click the zipped folder icon. There should be an installer that will guide you through the rest. Make sure to restart after this too.

4.) Run as Administrator: This is probably the most important step out of all of them. After your computer restarts, right click on the Pro Tools shortcut on your desktop. If you don't have a short cut on your desktop, you should be able to drag a shortcut from the start menu or the Start bar to the desktop. After right clicking, click on the "properties" at the very bottom of the drop down menu. Click the "Shortcut" tab on the top of the window. Click "Advanced" at the bottom right, about 2/3rds of the way down. Click the check box that says "Run as administrator". Click "OK" to close the windows. Double click on the PT shortcut and PT will hopefully open right up!


This might not work for everyone, but it worked for me. I hope this helps a little! FYI, if you call technical support you might have to wait awhile. I waited 40 minutes on hold until I talked to someone.

[zedhed]

Great that it worked for you and well done for sharing with others!

[MLH]

Hi
thank you for sharing. Unfortunately this did not seem to solve my situation, though I couldn't do step 1 regarding "never notify" - I am using XP still, I couldn't see where to change this. However I am already the administrator/user (I am the only user account).

If anyone has a similar problem recently would appreciate feedback.

I have an mbox Mini (generation 3). I use pro tools 8.0.4 on my mac book pro 2.0, i7. OS 10.6.8

I also have a PC. dual core 1.8. OS is xp service pack 3.

the Mbox mini was working fine up until last week. - used it to play itunes.

Today I tried plugging it into my PC and it didn't recognize the mbox at all - doesn't turn up in Sounds and Audio Devices.

I then checked it on the mac. The mbox mini doesn't turn up in the Audio Devices either

So of course when I launch protools I get the "Unable to locate Digidesign hardware etc...."

The blue light on the mbox lights up when i connect it to either computer. I have tried different USB ports and different usb cables. double checked that the usb cable and ports work when I plug in another external soundcard (Tascam)

I am at a total loss as to why the mbox doesn't work. I used protools before christmas repeatedly to finish a project and there was no problems and like I said I used the mbox last week just to play from itunes (on the PC).

I am pretty sure I have turned off automatic updates on the PC and Mac - though can't remember how to check this - if anyone can give me tips on how to double check this on both systems that would be great.

I have uninstalled old drivers and reinstalled new drivers from the link given above by benjh1. still no o difference. Even uninstalled protools from the pc and re-installed it (which automatically installs all the mbox drivers) to no avail after updating to the new driver.

Can I conclude that my mbox is er, "fried"?

[zedhed]

Have you looked at this page;
http://howtoprotools.wordpress.com/2...sign-hardware/

[Julien from Paris]

Hi !

I had the same issue yesterday, so I search on the net and found this website.
I followed carefully the instructions of benjh1 except the first point. I removed all the Avid, Mbox and Digidesign drivers. Restarted the computer.
I downloaded the last Mbox drivers http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...d/Mbox-Drivers, which was 1.1.8 for Windows in my case. Installed the new driver and restarted the computer.
Right clic on the protools.exe the one located on the folder Digidesin/Protools (programs files) then right clic and at the bottom clic on "run as administrator" so you won't have to right clic at each time you launch Protools. Also this process will make sure all your Protools session files launchers will start without this issue "DAE error 13001"

It worked for me. Hope it can help...