Using Powered USB Hub to Power MBox 2

[kfabel]

I am trying . . with mixed results . . to connect and use an MBox 2 with a PowerBook G4 and i am having difficulty getting it to power up consistantly. Phantom power is off, Firmware is upgraded, plugged into the left side . . all no-essential power turned off . . and the unit can still cycle on and off at will (unpredictably). I am wondering if anyone has tried using an exteranlly powered USB hub to connect and hopefully, power the MBox 2 . . . will this work?

[Nana Sarpong]

well, you should definitely plug the mbox into the computers port because it needs as much power as possible. you might wanna plug everything else into the hub and make sure the mbox has the port and plug the hub into the rest. i tried that a while back ago thinking the hard drive needed the port and the mbox could get the hub. and the transport would play for a millisecond and shut off. but now, my hard drive, external keyboard, external mouse, iLok. and smart media drive are all in the hub and the mbox gets the computer port, and it works fine. obviously a firewire drive would be better, but i've had no problems with this setup.

hope it helps

nana

[vf124]

Phantom power is off, Firmware is upgraded, plugged into the left side . . all no-essential power turned off . . and the unit can still cycle on and off at will (unpredictably).

Sounds like you have an early revison of the MBox II, possibly A, B, etc ... I don't work for Digi & I cannot speak for Digi, but the new revison E and onward are problem free on nearly all powerbooks. Just search around the WWW ...

Having said that, you can find a cheap hub at Staples for around $9 that works fine with the MBox II.