Power harness and the Digi 002R :(

[The Dubnicks]

So it looks like my Digi002R has succumb to the dreaded power harness problems everyone talks about. Everything was working fine, then I come in today and while the computer is off I notice the Digi 002R is making that clicking sound it makes when you turn it on. I didn't think much of it, just turned it off. I'm recording tonight and I get a message saying I've lost the connection. Turn the Digi002R on and off, nothing. Saved session, close PT, turn off Digi, try different firewire cable - nothing - no 1394 light or anything (well it was still on and the mute light is lit and won't turn off). Try turning off my hard drive, unplugging it from the computer, plugging it back in to the firewire port I was using for the Digi, port works fine. Most of the threads describing this problem all say the power harness is to blame, which shouldn't suprise me as 2 friends of mine have told me horror stories about this - guess I was just lucky that it's taken so long to rear it's ugly head. Anyhow, there seems to be a lot of references to reseating/cleaning the power harness on this board, but I can't seem to find one detailed description anwhere. At any rate, I'll probably wait till Monday to see if Digi will just replace the power harness without charging me an arm and a leg or putting me out of commision for weeks on end, a friend of mine had that happen to him - llllllllllaaaaaaame. I'd say this sucks and that a problem like this should not exist in a quality product that has been treated like gold, but I'm tired and irritated so I won't - except that I just did. Anyhow, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and if you can post the instructions that would be great. If someone at Digi, out of the kindness of there hearts wants to shoot me an email with suggestions, I would really appreciate it.

[B Hind]

Simple open the top of the 002r it is the only harness that is not hot melt glued on, just pull it off and put it back on,Have fun,thats it

[minh2824]

you can go here and buy for around $7 shipped like i did.

Enjoy. HERE

[minh2824]

oh, and i just noticed that i have the same dual 2GHZ power mac as you!! Cool!! Well..cept the fact that i'm only running on 1GB of RAM.

Later.

[DJ Insomaniac]

When it hapened to me, Digi sent me a new one, overnight and free of charge.

Also, that link, that part isn't the problem. The power harness is best described as a bundle of multi-colored wires going 3 ways. If you open the top, you can't miss it.

After I had them send me a new one, almost a year alter, it happened again. I just opened it up and wiggled it around a tad and everything was fine. Not an issue since. Now that i said that, watch my session tomorrow go to hell...

[kite]

I too have had the dreaded PHarness problems, and it took several returns to get a decent 002 replacement. However, having said that,both Digi and my PTools dealer here in the UK (Blue Systems) were indeed very helpful, fast, and I just had to return my faulty 002, in the same box as the replacement arrived in - Digi paid for collection/returns, and I just contacted UPS or whoever to arrange.

I opted to have a full replacement 002, paid £75 I think, and that way I got the latest revision version replacement 002, plus a 6 month guarantee - I admit all this was inconvenient, but my maximum down-time was probably no more than 36 hours ! Digi held their hands up, admitted the problem and dealt with it fast-I was impressed, and I am still a total PTools convert.

I hope your exchange or replacement goes smoothly too.

[The Dubnicks]

Hey everyone -

Thanks so much for offering help - especially on a holiday weekend. If I can, I'm going to work around using the Digi 002R till Monday so I can contact DigiSupport before doing anything (I've got sessions today and tomorrow, but I'm hoping I can get by with my Mbox). However, if I do have to open it up, I'm ashamed to say that I would need a little clearer, step-by-step instruction on doing the reseating cause I'm a little freaked out about the potential of doing some sort of harm since I don't know what's what when it comes to that sort of thing and don't want to pull out the wrong thing. If someone could dumb it down a little for me and give me instructions that are as specific as possible, that would be awesome, otherwise, I guess I'll be [bleep] out of luck till Monday. Thanks in advance.

Phil

[Noiseboy50]

While I have a 002 rather than the 002R I'm sure the power harness is the same or very similar.
I too have had the grief and Digi were very quick to agree it was the harness and shipped me one overnight. Unfortunately FedEx were crap and it didn't arrive until 2 days later but the upshot of this is that it very easy to determine the cables in question and it's also very easy to follow them to their various terminations and give them a wiggle. The cables are half inch thick bundles of several multicolored smaller wires and have white, approx one inch wide plastic multipin connectors on the ends. There is no glue like stuff holding these connectors in and you can safely grip them at their ends and wiggle them gently while pulling to remove them. Making sure that you have them aligned (it will be obvious) remove and replace them a few times and then button it all back up again and it's pretty sure that it will work fine. ***DO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DISCONNECTED THE POWER SUPPLY BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS***
I hope this helps.

[The Dubnicks]

Thanks for for the response - still unsure of whether or not to attempt the fix but I'll have to decide soon. Just out of curiousity, why is that no one has simply made a pdf of the instructions Digidesign sends out with the replacement harness and posted it if, for most people, reseating the power harness would at least offer a temporary solution? Also, this is clearly a well known problem as there appear to be a lot of posts about it and it seems that in nearly every post the Digi's response has been the same - they immediately acknowkedge that the problem is the power harness and overnight a replacement along with instructions on how to replace it, even when the the Digi 002R is out of warranty, which is good - but why isn't this issue in the Trouble Shooting, Known Issues or even Technical Issues section? It would save the customers a lot of immediate headaches, especially on weekend sessions, to be able at least temporarily fix the problem or at the very least properly diagnose it. Just a thought.

[PaddyNixon]

Hi There!

I have been using my 002r since the end of February and had no problems until a couple of weeks ago. It was intermittant at first now it is like continuous. Mad clicking noise - one red light - every now and again it seems to be connected then it conks out in the middle/start or end of a session and GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

I too am a wee bit afraid of tampering with the unit itself as it is less than a year old and I wouldn't want it to invalidate any warranty I may have although Im not averse to fixing the more simple technical electrical things.

I'll keep an eye here to see how you fair out and maybe you could post back with Digi's reply tomorrow - I - and Im sure quite a few others - will be most interested.

Thank God at least to hear that it doesnt seem to be a problem with the actual computer (fingers crossed).

PowerMac G5
Dual 2.0ghz
Ext Maxtor 200gb hard drive
Tascam US2440 ext control surface
Pro Tools Le 6.9 with full updates

Don't 4get to post back - look forward with eagerness to your reply

Thanx