PRO TOOLS / MBOX 3 Slow motion issue

[Dannyvect]

I bought an MBOX 3 about 3 days ago and it has been nothing but a nightmare, the latest problem I am having is really weird driver issue. The MBOX runs fine as a sound card until you open pro tools and then it plays everything back in slow motion, in or out of Pro tools.

You have to re-install the drivers to get it back to normal and as soon as you open pro-tools your back to square one.

I am literally loosing the plot and I am loosing faith in Avid's products, I had a saffire 24 before and it just worked, to be fair I never had these issues years ago with my mbox 1...

Please help!!

Pro tools Version 8.04

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Model : FUJITSU SIEMENS MS-7293
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : Danny-PC
User : Danny

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2180 @ 2.00GHz
Speed : 2GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 1MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 4-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : FUJITSU SIEMENS MS-7293
BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 10/27/2006
Bus(es) : ISA X-Bus AGP PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 2GB DDR2

Chipset
Model : 4358 0327h
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 200MHz (800MHz)
Total Memory : 2GB DDR2
Channels : 1
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 267MHz (534MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : 7F98 1G-UDIMM 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-4300U DDR2-534 (4-4-4-12 2-16-4-2)
Memory Module : ITC 1GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-5300U DDR2-666 (5-5-5-15 3-20-5-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM v1.1) (32 SM4.0 1.4GHz, 512MB DDR2 2x400MHz, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
WDC WD200BB-00DGA0 200GB (ATA100, 2MB Cache) : 19GB (C:)
SONY CD-RW CRX320EE (ATA33, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : 617MB (D:)
NSVWVW 96N4TYJ (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R) : N/A (F:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 191GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD200BB-00DGA0 20GB (ATA100, 2MB Cache)
20100923_1229 (D:) : 617MB (CDFS) @ SONY CD-RW CRX320EE (ATA33, DVD+-R, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
Optical Drive (F:) : N/A @ NSVWVW 96N4TYJ (SCSI, BD-R, HD-DVD-R, DVD+-R-DL, CD-R)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : 4358 3337h
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T0 88-68
Audio Device : 5218 3288h
Audio Codec : 4332 0883h
Serial Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : 5218 5337h
Disk Controller : 5218 0571h
USB Controller 1 : 5218 3038h
USB Controller 2 : 5218 3038h
USB Controller 3 : 5218 3038h
USB Controller 4 : 5218 3038h
USB Controller 5 : 5218 3104h
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : 4358 3044h
FireWire/1394 Controller 2 : 5218 3044h
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : VIA VT823x SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)

Network Services
Network Adapter : VIA Rhine II Compatible Fast Ethernet Adapter
Network Adapter : HTC Remote NDIS based Device (Ethernet, 426Mbps)

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7600
Platform Compliance : x86

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 4.2

[sw rec]

Where's your separate dedicated audio drive??? May or may not be related but it's still a necessity.

[Dannyvect]

Originally Posted by sw rec

Where's your separate dedicated audio drive??? May or may not be related but it's still a necessity.

I have just bought a new one to replace my 40GB. It's not related and it's not a necessity I ran MBOX1 with PT 7.0 without any issues for years on a single disk..

[JMS40]

Originally Posted by Dannyvect

It's not related and it's not a necessity I ran MBOX1 with PT 7.0 without any issues for years on a single disk..

Likely not related here but definitely a necessity in the long run for stable PT use. I bet you will eventually come to the same conclusion. Either that or you've found a secret long time users and Avid/Digi haven't discovered yet...

As to your playback issue, it's possible some other audio application is locking the sample rate outside of PT. What other audio apps are you running?

[Dannyvect]

Hmmm, I'm not using anything but Windows media player to play some files. But if I close it inside or outside of PT I still get slow motion playback. I'm having a crack at installing PT and MBOX on my crappy XP SP3 laptop, because I am convinced it is a driver issue... But at the same time I hope it's not because I'm screwed and I will just have to take it back.

[JMS40]

Originally Posted by Dannyvect

But if I close it inside or outside of PT I still get slow motion playback.

You need to make sure you have no other media apps running when you open PT to ensure that Pro Tools has exclusive use of the drivers.

[Dannyvect]

Originally Posted by JMS40

You need to make sure you have no other media apps running when you open PT to ensure that Pro Tools has exclusive use of the drivers.

I did do, I opened Media player after the issue arrised. I have never had these issues with pro tools and my MBOX 1 besides it crashing every now and again.. I installed the MBOX on my XP SP3 laptop and the same issues arrised. With nothing in the background.

I bought an M-Audio Firewire device that was a big pile of rubbish.. I had a saffire pro 14 and it was amazing compared to this pile of crap.

If it was not for PT I would not touch Avid with your distant uncles barge pole..

[Dannyvect]

Well I'm going to swop it for another MBOX tomorrow.. I so hope it works, I have pre-amps so I don't need the MBOX for that and when it was working right it sounded good.

[JMS40]

Sounds like a plan. This is a new product so there's little sage wisdom yet.
Good luck-

[Dannyvect]

Right well I took it back to store, they called Avid and it turns out there is a problem with a small amount of the MBOX 3's where the internal clocking chip does not work as it should.

I should be recieving another one tomorrow hopefully :)