MBox Pro no sound - possible DIY fix

[chrisclick]

I spent hours upon hours combing these forums trying to figure out why no sound was coming out of my box. I tried every method I came across including the extreme fresh install of everything.

The problem I had was similar to others. Everything routed correctly but no sound from the box. When I opened the mixer software I could see the levels jumping so it seemed info was going into the box, just not coming out.

I was sure something wasn't connected properly in the box and that I had a hardware issue not a software issue. So I changed up my search and rather than looking for "no sound" I looked for "power" "connector" "this sucks" "God help me" and stuff along those lines.

This thread gave me the courage I needed: http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=291989

In his case, he was receiving no power to the box at all and he had a loose ide cable. I too thought something might be loose. After taking the four screws out of the bottom and sliding the unit out of the sleeve, I took a flashlight and inspected everything closely. At the bottom of the ide connector on the board I was pretty sure I could see the metal pins (meaning the connector wasn't fully in). As it turns out it was the ide cable that powered the back of the box. So all my lights were on, the box didn't appear "dead" but for all intensive purposes it was only half-powered.

My cable was bent downward slightly and it looked like a capacitor had prevented it from seating properly. I had to end up taking the entire thing apart to bend the cable the other way and then reconnect it. It is not a fun.... warranty voided for sure... but at this point I was all in.

Pics of the connector:
https://goo.gl/photos/gkp3SRLYE1XaZKSy8
https://goo.gl/photos/MkNiZkqDZ75fNKy26

I put it all back together and bam... sound.... very loud sound. Be sure your volume knob is all the way to the left or else be sure you have a spare pair of undies nearby.

The unit has now been working for 2 weeks... I just have issues similar to many other in regards to playback speed being incorrect, or having to do the world clock "internal" switch technique when I lose audio. It an inconvenience that take a few seconds to rectify, but at least I had audio coming out.

This is my first post because normally I can find all the info I need without having to ask questions. Figured this might be my opportunity to give back. Hope this helps someone else. Like the guy in the post I linked to said though - this surely voids your warranty so think before you tinker.

[JoelG]

Thanks for your post, hopefully it will help someone else.

As you mentioned, pulling apart your interface will void your warranty, but if you're already beyond warranty what do you have to lose? :) I had a similar issue with my Project Mix IO, one of the faders would jump around randomly, it was just a loose connection between the fader and the fader brain.

Joel