ProControl issue

[MO:SOUND]

once in a while, my pro control while being in a session will turn off all LEDs and slam the faders down hard, and will remain that way.

its only the mainunit that does, and i have to turn it off and wait several hours before it goes away, then i can turn it on the next day and have the problem gone for months.

i soldered the main connecter to the psu inside the main unit, that caused a few glitches earlier but thats all fixed. any of you have ever tried this?

its only when pt is open if the procontrol is offline it wont happen

[Barry Johns]

Could be a network issue. If you have more than just the Main Unit, you should NOT use a crossover cable. This causes random issues. The crossover cable is only if you have just the main unit only. Also, make sure you do not have anything else on the same network. If going to a DSP router, use one of the two ports on the Mac Pro for that, and the other for just the ProControl units.

You could have issues with your Cat5 cables, or your hub. I would troubleshoot that before taking the unit apart.

[MO:SOUND]

thanks for that :)

the mainunit snd the faderpack goes into a hub, that goes into one of the mac pro ports.


i actually dont know if im uding a crossover cable?

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by MO:SOUND

thanks for that :)

the mainunit snd the faderpack goes into a hub, that goes into one of the mac pro ports.


i actually dont know if im uding a crossover cable?

Crossover cables are typically yellow. The main unit ships with a crossover cable and needs it if you are using it alone, if multiple units, then we are to ignore using the crossover cable.

I assume you have swapped out all your ethernet cables and the hub and tried different onees to rule that out?

[Delta Music Belgium]

Originally Posted by MO:SOUND

once in a while, my pro control while being in a session will turn off all LEDs and slam the faders down hard, and will remain that way.

its only the mainunit that does, and i have to turn it off and wait several hours before it goes away, then i can turn it on the next day and have the problem gone for months.

i soldered the main connecter to the psu inside the main unit, that caused a few glitches earlier but thats all fixed. any of you have ever tried this?

its only when pt is open if the procontrol is offline it wont happen

Hi,

It was me who advised you to solder the big connector straight to the PSU, I know for sure this helped out a lot of people, including myself.

What you are experiencing now has probably nothing to do with ethernet cabling and the possible use of a crossover cables because you would have had problems from day one.

The symptoms you are describing point again to a temporary PSU failure, 99% chance again it is not the PSU itself but the power connectors, this time on the circuit boards. The solution is exactly the same as before: check the power connectors on the circuit boards, clean them and reseat them, or consider the best solution: remove the connectors and solder the wires straight to the circuit board (you did it once on the PSU, do it again on the circuit boards, the connectors have the same wire colouring: red-yellow-black).

It all has to do with oxidation in-between the contact busses in the connector and the contact pins on the circuit board that eventually create a much too small contact surface that eventually heats up and becomes unstable. The contact points on the PSU are prone to this first as a PSU carries the highest power load (the full machine), while the contact points on each circuit board carry less power so they oxidise slower and last longer. Probably cleaning and reseating the power connectors on the circuit boards will do the trick for a long time, but soldering the wires straight to the circuit board will fix the problem forever.

@ Barry: using a crossover cable with a hub was a big problem in the early days, todays hubs work fine with any ethernet cable, the hub automatically checks all the cable configurations and adapts to a single or multiple crossing cable configuration if necessary. But of course it is correct to check the ethernet connections first, before attacking your ProControl with a soldering iron

[MO:SOUND]

thanks delta! yes the soldering did wonders, and the only issue left is the issue i posted here. i will go on and solder the rest thanks!:)

[Barry Johns]

Originally Posted by Delta Music Belgium

Hi,

It was me who advised you to solder the big connector straight to the PSU, I know for sure this helped out a lot of people, including myself.

What you are experiencing now has probably nothing to do with ethernet cabling and the possible use of a crossover cables because you would have had problems from day one.

The symptoms you are describing point again to a temporary PSU failure, 99% chance again it is not the PSU itself but the power connectors, this time on the circuit boards. The solution is exactly the same as before: check the power connectors on the circuit boards, clean them and reseat them, or consider the best solution: remove the connectors and solder the wires straight to the circuit board (you did it once on the PSU, do it again on the circuit boards, the connectors have the same wire colouring: red-yellow-black).

It all has to do with oxidation in-between the contact busses in the connector and the contact pins on the circuit board that eventually create a much too small contact surface that eventually heats up and becomes unstable. The contact points on the PSU are prone to this first as a PSU carries the highest power load (the full machine), while the contact points on each circuit board carry less power so they oxidise slower and last longer. Probably cleaning and reseating the power connectors on the circuit boards will do the trick for a long time, but soldering the wires straight to the circuit board will fix the problem forever.

@ Barry: using a crossover cable with a hub was a big problem in the early days, todays hubs work fine with any ethernet cable, the hub automatically checks all the cable configurations and adapts to a single or multiple crossing cable configuration if necessary. But of course it is correct to check the ethernet connections first, before attacking your ProControl with a soldering iron

Thank you so much for all of this, I have learned much that I did not know before! Great job, and very informative!