DYI I guess..No power on your new Mbox Pro 3? I fixed it!!!

[nstabl]

Hi Everyone - first off let me start by saying that I just got an Mbox 3 Pro - I'm building my first studio so I'm really noob when it comes to this stuff specifically..but don't get me wrong, I own a computer repair company and I'm very tech savvy - so the first thing I did when my brand new Mbox pro 3 didn't power up is google it up and was ultimately directed to this thread: http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=288537

Long story short, I went balls out and took matters into my own hands rather than dealing with returning/waiting/BSing with CS to possibly get another bad unit......

I opened my new MBOX - now I didn't know where to start so I took every single knob and screw out before discovering the whole thing slides out with just 4 screws that are hidden under the rubber feet on the bottom of the unit. (Image below)

crap is there no image posting on this forum??
http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/7061/60389858.jpg

SO, moving on...there ended up being an IDE like looking cable that was totally unhooked!! (See pic below) I plugged it in, plugged in the power, and low and behold, (7 seconds after hitting the power switch) I HAD POWER!

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6154/85786064.jpg

Please keep in mind that I had to do some bending of the 2 plates to be able to fit my fingers in there to push one end in, and used a regular sized flathead to push the other end in - be careful with the flathead, you don't want to hit/touch ANY of the components in there.

Here is a pic of the back plate....there are 2 kinds of screws that hold everything together, I'm not sure that you need to take any of them out to do this but in case you do, I've circled the 5 screws that are different than all of the other ones so you know what goes where when you put the unit back together.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/5631/76177594.jpg

Hit the power switch and give it a few seconds, if it powers on, grab your blue moon and cheers who ever is closest to you!

A few important points:

• This probably voids your warranty, so keep that in mind before grabbing any screw drivers!
• Just because this worked for me, doesn't mean it will work for you, you may have an entirely different issue
• The Mbox 3 Pro doesn't need *anything but the power supply plugged in to power up* not even the firewire cable!!
• I don't come on here ever, as a matter a fact this is my first post so PMs may not do you much
• ^^to add to that, I don't know much about these things so I probably wouldn't be much help anyway, even if I was answering PMs
• AVID, I have nothing bad to say, still love ya and hope you learn from this epic mistake

[albee1952]

Nicely done

[Park Seward]

Excellent post.

Could have come loose due to shipping.
But it also could have been poor manufacturing QC.

[afrimedia]

Thanks for this, i had the same issue, opened up the Mbox Pro 3, and the cable in mine was disconnected as well. Re-seated the cable and voila, it worked. I'm in west africa and the nearest avid rep is a long way away :)

[jessica45]

It Worked!!! I unscrewed the four screws hidden behind the cushy pads (took abit of force) and voila! There has the unstuck cable, same as your pic...Took a few small fingers and a long object to stick it back in place!

You..are..a....genius.

I suggest you try this if you have NO power to your mbox 3 pro at all.

[nstabl]

Originally Posted by jessica45

You..are..a....genius.

ohh stop it

[Greensquid]

AMAZING Post - I just had an Mbox Pro sent from UK to NZ and couldn't believe that it wasn't powering up. I made a hook from soldering wire to pull the connector into position and used the flathead screwdriver to pop it back in place. No damage done - jut takes patience!!!

For anyone else who may have this problem - give your Mbox a shake. I could hear that something was loose, and so your solution was spot on.
Cheers!
Chris

[syisrad]

Hi guys,

Just wondering how your Mbox 3 Pro's have been running since fixing them thanks to this rad post!

My power issue was not related. Had power to start with but then it just died. I'm really hoping my scenario is a one off.

[martinbrodeur]

Same experience here. Two MBox 3 Pro units in a row with a green light on the brick and no power to the box. The vendor said they would keep shipping me replacements, but would not test them to see if they had power prior to shipping. When the third one had the same problem I popped off the 4 rubber feet, unscrewed the four screws, slid the unit out, reseated the IDE-looking cable using a flathead screwdriver, plugged it in and watched the nice green and blue lights finally come on. FYI, I waited 30 minutes on hold with Avid before resorting to this. Thanks for the solution, Blue Moon guy!

[cnwayland]

Amazing. I had to register just so that I could:

a) Thank you for giving me power so that I could run my session today,

and...

b) Ask, "Seriously?" How is this a common error. Thanks Chinese assemblers.. thanks, a bunch.

If you're having a power problem with your MBox Pro 3rd Gen, it's likely to be solved by using the techniques described within this thread.

Thanks again.