Digi 003 Rack Firmware Update Clarification

[DGraham]

Hi! I'm trying to get some clarification on an issue a friend of mine is have with his 003 Rack firmware update. I apologize for not having a full system report with this inquiry. Any help or advice anyone can provide with the little info that I do have is much appreciated.

The issue is that ProTools prompts us to update the firmware from v7.4x... to v8.0... We've clicked Update and have let it sit at times up to 20 minutes with no change. What happens specifically is the entire system freezes most times. No mouse movement, no task manager. Other times, the system seems okay, until we click on something like say the title bar for ProTools. Then it freezes everything...

We've tried launching ProTools and clicking Later, but the same issue eventually occurs. We try to load a session and it either freezes while trying to open the session, or we get in the session and it freezes there. Each time, the 1394 light on the front panel of the 003 turns off. This makes me think it's the Firewire card that is the issue.

What we are not sure of is if the needed firmware update is on the ProTools install disk or if it's something that PT connects to the net to download. I've searched the DUC, but did not find anything regarding this specifically for the rack version, or I simply missed it. My apologies if it's the latter.

I, personally, am more worried it's the FireWire card, a Dynex 3-Port IEEE 1394 PCI Host Card from Best Buy. It was the only brand they had and he did not want to wait to go to a proper computer store. No offense to folks who like Best Buy, but I don't think reliable computer component anything when I think of Best Buy. Anyway, we've tried each of it's 3 ports when launching PT, as well as both ports on the 003 to no avail. We've even tried different PCI slots. Windows recognizes the card just fine. No issues listed when we check it out in the Device Manager either. My friend believes it's probably his internet connection which has been down for the last two days. I initially did not believe the internet connection was the issue, but if the firmware is on the install disk, why doesn't it just automatically install it on it own? Should prompting the user ever be necessary in this situation?

If it is on the disk and an internet connection is not the culprit, then the next troubleshooting step is the firewire card I'd imagine. Just answering this question would help us (Me) a lot. My friend is hell bent on getting his internet connection back up and I say we should just get another 1394 card. The former costs nothing of course so he wants to try that first. Understandable, but I think it's a waste of time.
I know Digi has it's qualified 1394 cards for PCI and PCIe, but is there a list anywhere of cards known not to work with Digi hardware?

Thanks for any help you guys or DigiTechSupport can provide. I know this issue is listed a lot on the site, but I just didn't come across anything that satisfied my internet question specifically.
I've never had this issue myself that I can remember. I bought the 002R several years ago and have just done software updates since. Also, I got my 1394 card from the "proper" computer store here. I told them I was using it for the 002R and they said it would work fine. I mention this, because I don't think it was one of the qualified cards Digi recommends.

Anyway, I'm getting the BLA Signature mod next month which got him to thinking about doing an upgrade (He had my old Mbox 1 previously). I suggested skipping the new Mboxes and going straight to the 003R, so he did, and now that he's run into these issues I feel guilty as hell cause he spent a lot of coin for the unit and some other upgrades I suggested.

Thanks again.