Could not MIDI because Assertion

[Rodzilla]

I recently decided to install my Pro Tools and Rack 2 on to my Dell Inspiron 9400 (XP Pro, SP3). I installed 8.0 and then went straight to the 8.0.5 upgrade. When I launch I get an error screen that says: Could not MIDI because Assertion in "d:\code\ws.protools_8.0x\alturaports\dfw\views\um enu.win32.cpp" line 1142 with an OK button, followed immediately by the screen that says: Pro Tools cannot communicate with Digidesign FW 002 Rack. Please quit Pro Tools, reconnect the unit, and then relaunch Pro Tools with a Quit button.

I've watched the loading screen and noticed that when it hits "Setting Up MIDI" I get the doink doink sound of a perrepherial being unmounted. It makes it to something about machine something before the screen pops.

I can't find anything anywhere about this error (specifically). Any hints folks?

[The Weed]

A radio cluster I know upgraded 3 PC's to 8.0.5 and all three computers get the same error when opening Pro Tools. They close Pro Tools and then reopen it and everything is fine. I did a lot of searching and found no answers about this error. Hope someone here has an answer so I can set them right. My advice was to uninstall and reinstall Pro Tools, but, since a double start solves the issue they won't bother.

When Pro Tools gives you the dialogue that it can't find the hardware, power your 002 off, then on again and hit okay. That works for another radio cluster I do work for.

Cheers,

[Rodzilla]

Thanks Weed. I will try turning off/on the rack before hitting OK and see if it works for me. Deleted all of the prefs and stuff but it didn't help. I might have to do a reinstall.

I think I will try working my way up through the upgrades from 8. Maybe the problem is going straight from 8 to 8.0.5. No mention of it being a problem elsewhere though.

Thanks again.

[The Weed]

Please let me know if it works for you. I would make sure at each stage Pro Tools is working correctly before moving to the next update/upgrade and I would also suggest Acronis True Image so you can make an image of each stage that's working so, if one doesn't, you can easily revert back to a stable, working condition without having to go back to square one.

Cheers,

[filosofem]

If this Assertion can be reproduced guys, a Customer Service resolution will only be achieved via IdeaScale Bug Reporting.

[strangeLoop]

The fix I found for installing and operating PT 8.0.5 on a Win Xp computer was to disable DEP. This could apply to all Windows systems.

Look in the DUC Windows Trouble Shooting thread for "Disable DEP".

I was getting all kinds of strange errors and install failures until I did that.

Also, don't forget to delete prefs in two areas (explained in the DUC Windows Trouble Shooting thread) when you try to reinstall.

[theaudioeditor]

I am running windows 7 and have the same exact issue. I installed 8.0.5 directly from 8.0. It does not happy every time I open pro tools, but enough to post on the forum. I would really love a standalone installer of 8.0.5. as vs an upgrade installer. What is causing this issue?

[roxanacamacho]

Just joined Avid forum today (Sept 6, 2011) and saw your thread.

After upgrading from 8.0.1 to 8.0.5 in Windows 7, I got this same error. What fixed this was installing the following update:

002 and 003 Rack Drivers v9.0.2.65 (Windows) located at
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=379411

Hope this helps,
Roxy

[daviea09]

Hey Everyone,

I found this thread when I experienced the exact same error as Rodzilla after purchasing a second hand Digi002R to replace my trusty Mbox2Mini. I eventually solved this and thought it might help someone else in the same position if I shared my findings. I'm not 100% satisfied with this solution so I may spend some more time on it to improve the situation and will post any updates here.

In short I solved it by
1. Un-installing ProTools LE 8.0.5 completely including all the drivers
2. Fresh install from my original disks of Pro Tools LE 8.0.0
3. Updated to ProTools LE 8.0.3 using the download on the Avid website.

For those who like the detail I've given a verbose account below and provided some commentary on what I think might be causing the issues.

I purchased the MBox2Mini from new and the original installation disks that came with it were for ProTools LE 8.0.0. I had regularly upgraded this all the way up to Pro Tools LE 8.0.5 and during the course of these updates had taken my IBM T61 Thinkpad from Windows Vista 32Bit SP1 to Windows Vista 32bit SP2. All worked well for several years until I recently had need of some additional outputs to do live backing tracks and decided that a full upgrade to ProTools 11/12 and a new interface weren't really justified.

To solve this I purchased a secondhand Digi002R on ebay and that's when the problems started. When it was first plugged in as a Firewire device windows recognised it and the drivers were already installed (I assume as part of the 8.0.5 install package). I was amazed that Windows had recognised it immediately and I successfully tested it playing audio out from iTunes through the various output pairs (1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 etc.) as a test.

However, when I attempted to run ProTools I got exactly the same problem as Rodzilla. "Could not MIDI because Assertion in "d:\code\ws.protools_8.0x\alturaports\dfw\view s\um enu.win32.cpp" line 1142 with an OK button, followed immediately by the screen that says: Pro Tools cannot communicate with Digidesign FW 002 Rack. Please quit Pro Tools, reconnect the unit, and then relaunch Pro Tools with a Quit button."

I tried all of things suggested on here by "The Weed" but no amount of restarts would change the situation. I would always consistently get the same errors. I also tried installing the drivers suggested by "roxanacamacho" but noticed that the driver version number reported by windows didn't change after this install indicating that version v9.0.2.65 had already been installed by the 8.0.5 installer (see my commentary below and my theory as to why this might have solved the problem for roxanacamacho.)

I then did a full uninstall of ProTools 8.0.5, drivers, preferences the lot. I rebooted and made sure all traces of ProTools and the drivers had gone from the system. I then did a fresh clean install of Pro Tool LE 8.0.0 directly from my original installation disks. Following that install the error did not happen and Pro Tools LE 8.0.0 would load successfully and I could connect to and get audio in and out of the Digi002R.

My working theory at this point was as follows. I suspected that the issues I was seeing were to do with the wrong firmware version on my Digi002. This theory was backed up nicely by the fact that it worked on the older version of ProTools LE 8.0.0. I had read on another thread that the firmware for LE hardware is automatically updated by the installer during installation (I assume that's why it insists on the device being connected during the install). As my Mbox2Mini had been connected (and not the 002R) when I did the upgrades from PT LE 8.0.0 to PT LE 8.0.5 it was only the Mbox2Mini that had been given new firmware. I had no way of checking the firmware version on my secondhand 002R but it seemed reasonable to assume that the previous owner may never have installed any updates beyond PT LE 8.0.0 hence the firmware could be old and, I theorised, incompatible with PT LE 8.0.5.

Based on this I thought an install using the PT LE 8.0.5 updater from the Avid website might then cause the Firmware to be upgraded in the 002R and completely solve the problem. Unfortunately after running the PT LE 8.0.5 updater the exact same error happened again. I went through the same process again, uninstalled ProTools, reinstalled PT LE 8.0.0 and got back to a working system. I decided I would work backwards through the updaters to see if I could find where the incompatibility stemmed from. I tried to use the 8.0.4 updater but it reported that it couldn't find a Pro Tools installation which was curious because I could run ProTools without any issue.

Eventually I managed to get the 8.0.3 installer to work and I am now able to run PT LE 8.0.3 with my Digi002 without any problems. However, I'd much rather be on PT LE 8.0.5 so here is my current working theory and the next steps I'm planning to try when I next have a rainy weekend. Let me know if you beat me to it!

My new working theory is as follows. I suspect that the PT LE 8.0.5 installer is not able to upgrade the firmware from my Digi002 for some reason; perhaps in it's previous life my Digi002R was used with a version of PT prior to PT LE 8.0.0. Perhaps PT LE 8.0.0 is ok with that previous version of firmware and perhaps even 8.0.3 is ok with it as well (or perhaps it was able to upgrade it).
This is why I think roxanacamacho was successful when he re-installed the drivers. I suspect the installer just installed the same drivers again but crucially the firmware in the 002R got upgraded. Perhaps his firmware was later than mine and was able to be upgraded which is why it didn't work for me. Anyway I plan to test this theory by now attempting to install PT LE 8.0.4 followed by PT LE 8.0.5 assuming that the firmware might get updated each time. If this doesn't work I'll settle for PT LE 8.0.3 and put it down to a weird firmware thing.

BTW if anyone knows of a way in which you can find out the firmware version of a DIGI002R it would be of great interest to me as I would then be able to see if a given installer has changed the version number at all.

Hope this proves to be helpful to someone else trying to do Pro Tools on the cheap!

Kind Regards

Andy

[daviea09]

Hi All,

Another quick update on this (stayed up a bit later than I was planning!). I have now managed to get PT LE 8.0.4 installed and working with the Digi002. It was a bit of a school boy error that was causing the PT LE 8.0.4 installer to report that it couldn't find a ProTools installation (see previous post). Looks like I downloaded the updater for PT HD 8.0.4 and not PT LE 8.0.4 so of course it was reporting that it couldn't find a Pro Tools HD installation. In my defence I'm quite tired!

I also found some interesting information in the release notes for PT LE 8.0.5 which seems to suggest that the issue I suspected with the Digi002 firmware not being updated is a known issue. However, it is supposed to have been solved in PT LE 8.0.5 so I'm not quite sure why my upgrade from PT LE 8.0.0 directly to PT LE 8.0.5 didn't work. http://akmedia.digidesign.com/suppor...otes_70874.pdf - See page 8 of this document.

My Digi002R driver is now reporting that it is running v8.0.4.351 rather than v8.0.0.314 which had been installed with both PT LE 8.0.0 and PT LE 8.0.3. This version of the driver seems to install the full windows drivers by default in the same way that the PT LE 8.0.5 installer does. Windows now reports several "sound cards" being available with stereo outputs for 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-16 and 17-18.

I'm not going to attempt it tonight but I will try one last attempt to upgrade to PT LE 8.0.5 after setting a system restore point! This time from PT LE 8.0.4 and see if I can get it to work. If this does work I will put it down to a firmware compatibility issue which has been solved by gradually "walking" the firmware back up again through the ProTools installers. As an acid test I have another identical laptop with PT LE 8.0.5 installed on it which I will then try the digi002 with and it should now work (it didn't previously) because the digi002 has the correct firmware. That's the theory anyway!

Andy