Mbox 2 connection issues

[bewareofdog]

I've been successfully running Pro Tools with an Mbox 2 for almost two years, and suddenly my computer seems to be rejecting it.

When I connect my Mbox 2 to my computer, the USB light doesn't turn on and Pro Tools fails to recognize that the Mbox is connected. All other lights on the Mbox turn on, though, and my system preferences seem to indicate that the computer recognizes that the Mbox is plugged in, but after a brief attempt at "Connecting..." I get an error message that says "Unable to connect to Mbox 2."

I've tried rebooting several times. I also uninstalled and then reinstalled the Pro Tools software, but this doesn't seem to have made a difference. Is there some sort of driver I need to uninstall/reinstall?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[caruso7r]

What model computer, version of OS etc. We'll need some more info on your part so we can help. Do you have apple update automatically? BTW welcome to the DUC!

[bewareofdog]

Thanks!

I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.2 on a Macbook, and I've been running the latest release of Pro Tools. I do have Apple update automatically. Should I stop that?

[caruso7r]

Originally Posted by bewareofdog

Thanks!

I'm running Mac OS X 10.6.2 on a Macbook, and I've been running the latest release of Pro Tools. I do have Apple update automatically. Should I stop that?

Yea you should. Since you said that, I would reinstall the combo 10.6.2 update and try PT again. Also go to disk utility and "repair disk permissions.

[bewareofdog]

I reinstalled the combo and repaired disk permissions, but Pro Tools says it isn't connected.

Could this possibly be a Pace/iLok issue? I've never quite understood how that works. Is there a way to uninstall/reinstall iLok?

Also, could this possibly be a hardware issue? If so, should I send it in to Digidesign?

Thanks for you help so far.

[DigiTechSupt]

You say you did an uninstall/reinstall - did you do a 'safe' or 'clean' version? If it was 'safe', then go back and do a clean uninstall/reinstall, as that may fix the problem.

Also, have you tried testing from a new admin account? If not, please do so and let us know the results.

[bewareofdog]

I did a clean uninstall. I also tested from a new admin account, although it was on the same hard drive. Should I use a different hard drive? Is a USB drive okay?

Another potential issue: The only Pro Tools disk I own is for version 7.3; everything else I updated through Digidesign's website. Is it potentially a problem that I'm installing Pro Tools LE 7.3 on Snow Leopard? If so, how do I get around that?

Sorry about all these questions, and thanks again for all your help.

[bewareofdog]

If this helps, I connected the Mbox to another computer that doesn't run Pro Tools and the USB light still didn't light up. Am I right in thinking that this proves it's a hardware problem?

[caruso7r]

Originally Posted by bewareofdog

If this helps, I connected the Mbox to another computer that doesn't run Pro Tools and the USB light still didn't light up. Am I right in thinking that this proves it's a hardware problem?

The usb won't light up until the computer sees it meaning the driver installed correctly, so that means somehow your mac's driver is no longer seeing the mbox. Not seeing the usb light is normal for a computer that doesn't recognize it. I have an mbox and I have seen this many times. So somehow again your mac is not seeing the mbox probably because of a "corrupt" driver. EDIT: You can manually remove the "Digidesign CoreAudio.plugin" driver from the following location on your hard drive: Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL

[bewareofdog]

Then I'm confused as to what's causing the problem. If I did a clean uninstall of Pro Tools and then reinstalled it, shouldn't the driver have been properly reinstalled? Or is there some other file blocking the connect that isn't removed by the clean uninstall?