Fast Track Ultra dropping connection

[watari banzai]

Good day! My Fast Track Ultra is exhibiting the commonly reported behavior of dropping the connection periodically and not powering up via USB (need to plug in the adapter to get it to work).

I have already Googled for a solution to the problem and found that it has something to do with units that have 'F' as the sixth character in the serial string, which my unit unfortunately does have. I did find this:

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IRQ Troubleshooting (Windows)

If the 6th digital is the letter "F", there is a chance your device may be affected by this malfunction. Since the symptoms of this issue are identical to common system configuration issues; below are some troubleshooting steps you can try to eliminate any irregularities you may be experiencing. If you continue to experience this loss of connection or require assistance in determining the cause, please contact M-Audio Tech Support.
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but as most users with the same problem are aware of, the links to the troubleshooting steps is now dead. I bought this unit second hand and I will probably not be willing/able to send it to an authorized repair center, even if there is one in my region (Southeast Asia), which I doubt.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can proceed from here or even a copy paste of the trouble shooting steps? Possibly some suggestions on addressing power supply issues that I can pass on to a local tech?

I am using the device on an HP Elitebook laptop, win7x64.

Thanks for any help.

[JoelG]

Honestly, by the time you ship the FTU to a repair centre, and they fix it you're probably going to be way over the cost of buying a newer, better and well supported (drivers) interface.

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/f...roduct-Repairs

Joel

[watari banzai]

Yes, I realize that, which is why I'm hoping anyone who's ever had to deal with the problem has some suggestions I could pass on to my local tech. It does work for the most part (apart from three blown preamps--but that's another story), so it would be a shame to give it up without trying to address this 'dropped connection' issue.

[albee1952]

Could the dropped connection be caused by USB port power management? Disabling that feature is a required tweak for any windows setup

[watari banzai]

That's the first thing I checked, thanks.

Unfortunately, it's an acknowledged fault that I was unaware of before I bought it.

[Cal D]

Hi I saw your post and I had been having the same issues. You may want to read what I wrote here, as it may help:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=395698

[watari banzai]

Originally Posted by Cal D

Hi I saw your post and I had been having the same issues. You may want to read what I wrote here, as it may help:

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=395698

Thank you, but it doesn't really apply to my case.

Strangely, my Ultra has been behaving fairly well recently if I keep it off before I turn on the computer and only turn it on after everything has settled down. I only experienced a drop out when the mains power fluctuated and was able to get it working again after a reset. No BSoD so far either, so fingers crossed..