Mbox 3 blinking power LED - what is the official solution to this infuriating problem

[lukeallison]

EDIT: SCROLL DOWN FOR THE SOLUTION TO THIS BUG.

I purchased a brand new Mbox 3 after having to replace my working Edirol FA-66 with an Avid-approved audio interface to allow me to continue using Pro Tools. Much to my dismay, this thing works ONCE per boot. After sleep/resume it is not recognised by the computer and the power LED flashes continually.

A quick google search of "Mbox blinking power" will show that this issue dates back to 2012 and there are countless threads from disgruntled customers with absolutely no resolve.

It is now 2015 and Avid are still selling the MBox so surely this bug has been fixed. So can a representative of Avid please give me the official remedy to this issue?

Macbook Pro Early 2011
Yosemite 10.10.4
2.4Ghz Intel Core i7

[Darryl Ramm]

"once per boot"... what exactly are you doing? Is your system fully optimized, including disabling sleep in the OS X Energy Saver Systems Preferences panel?

If you sleep or suspend your MacBook, e.g. close the lid, or allow power management to sleep it, with the MBox interface attached the Mbox device driver will hang and you have to reboot the computer to start over. That is unfortunately how Avid interface drivers work, and why systems optimization steps include disabling sleep/suspend (again have you done that?)

You have to power off the interface before sleeping/suspending the MacBook.

Is that causing your problem or something else?

[lukeallison]

Thank you Darryl. I've done a few power cycles by disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable and it appears to be working. The issue must be the computer going to sleep. I have not optimised my laptop for this MBox and realistically, shouldn't have to reconfigure a $3000 laptop for a single $400 piece of hardware. My previous audio interface had no such issue when sleeping and resuming. Where are these optimisation steps listed?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by lukeallison

Thank you Darryl. I've done a few power cycles by disconnecting and reconnecting the USB cable and it appears to be working. The issue must be the computer going to sleep. I have not optimised my laptop for this MBox and realistically, shouldn't have to reconfigure a $3000 laptop for a single $400 piece of hardware. My previous audio interface had no such issue when sleeping and resuming. Where are these optimisation steps listed?

Ah hang on... the problem I am talking about is a hung driver that you need to reboot the computer to fix. I didn't say anything about unplugging the interface... that will *not* fix the issue I am talking about. You have to reboot to fix that one. If you need to unplug interfaces to fix things you have a different problem.

If you want to avoid wasting a lot of your time you will always optimize your computer for Pro Tools. For many reasons not just this one.

Optimization Steps are described in the Pro Tools installation documentation and up under the "Help Us Help You" link at the top of this page.

[lukeallison]

Sorry, I didn't explain myself properly. Once the driver hangs and the power LED begins flashing I know I have to reboot the computer to get it to work again. What I was confirming was that if I simply unplug the device (in its working state) and plug in back in it will work without any issues. I originally thought my issue was happening when I unplugged and plugged in the device but I believe I was wrong and that it was likely the computer going to sleep that was causing the problem. Really appreciate your help. There should be a sticky about this somewhere if there isn't.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by lukeallison

Sorry, I didn't explain myself properly. Once the driver hangs and the power LED begins flashing I know I have to reboot the computer to get it to work again. What I was confirming was that if I simply unplug the device (in its working state) and plug in back in it will work without any issues. I originally thought my issue was happening when I unplugged and plugged in the device but I believe I was wrong and that it was likely the computer going to sleep that was causing the problem. Really appreciate your help. There should be a sticky about this somewhere if there isn't.

OK cool. Yep this one is a frequent cause of problems. You'll find it if you search DUC, but you kind of need to know to search for "sleep" or "suspend" and if you know that much you probalby know what the problems is. I wish Avid would just change their drivers... which may be a lot of work. Or at least package each interface plastered with a big colored sticker warning new owners about this.

[lukeallison]

Yeah, it's called plug and play for a reason. Drivers should not hang on sleep. Anyway, back to writing music.