Help! D-Command not recognized

[ishur]

After moving house, I have finally gotten my studio set up in my new room. Unfortunately, when I start PT (using 7.4 on OSX, 10.4.9), PT is not finding either my main D-Command or my fader pack. I have (I think) set everything up exactly as it was in my old place. The units power up, and my router shows both sides are connected but they stubbornly stay offline even when I try to get PT to re-recognize them through the peripherals menu.

The main unit shows a green solid light around back by the ethernet connection plus a flashing yellow one. The fader pack only shows a flashing yellow light, no green light.

I did try power cycling the units, to no avail, as well as shutting everything down and rebooting. Not sure what else to try.

The Xmon is working--I can control volume, source, etc. from the D-Command. Everything else in PT seems to be working properly, i.e. I can control things and play back from the keyboard and from my Tranzport remote.

The only thing I've done differently is I decided to switch the units around, that is, I used to have the main unit on the right, and now have switched it so the fader pack is on the right. That shouldn't matter, should it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated--I have no idea what to even try next.

[Chris Lambrechts]

Let's take this step by step.

- First, you're using a mac right ? Which one ? Does it have 2 ethernet ports ?

If so ... check which ethernet port is scanned in the periph's menu. You'll see an 'en(0)' selected by default. Check the 'en(1)' port as well.

- If that doesn't solve the issue : Hook up the main unit directly to the Mac. Bypass the router / switch. See if you can get the main unit to be recognized.

- be sure to use an ethernet cable that you are 100% sure of it works. Try it with something else ... a cable router for example. Same thing with the ethernet port on the mac. Make sure it works properly

- You should have a 'loop' connector that came with the unit. In utility mode ... run the ethernet tests with that loop connector in the ethernet port. See if there's errors in those tests

The thing in these type of situations is to eliminate all suspects. There's too many variables at this point to pinpoint the problem down.

Take it from there.


Hope this helps.

[ishur]

Chris:

Thanks for the quick reply. It's a first generation G5, so there's only the one ethernet port. I'm sure the port is OK, it's hooked up to a router (same one i used before I moved), along with the cable from the wall for internet, and the two cables from the D-Command. Internet works fine, which is why I don't think there's anything wrong with either the port on the Mac or the router.

The only option shown is en0, which makes sense since there's only the one port. I will try different cables but I think that it's unlikely that both ethernet cables (which worked fine before the move) would have gone bad.

I will try a different cable nonetheless, and also try a direct connection to the Mac. I don't think I've ever seen the loop cable you reference that should have come with the board.

Am I right that switching the positions of the master and fader pack shouldn't have affected anything?

[ishur]

OK, tried direct connect and a different cable--same result. I'm sure the cables are OK, as the ethernet lights on the board light up--the main section shows solid green and blinking yellow, the fader pack only blinking yellow, no green. Don't know if that's significant. My router shows a green light for both sections of the D-Command, so the router is getting signal as well.

Is there a way to do a reset of the D-Command itself? Would that be the next step? I don't have the loop cable you talk about.

[Chris Lambrechts]

- hook the main unit up to the Mac ... directly ... no router
- then run the ethernet utility tests.

- Have you deleted all software related prefs ?
- try resetting the firmware on the units :

Hold down 'solo / select / mute' switches on the first channel (main or fader unit) while powering on the units

[ishur]

Chris, thanks again for your suggestions. I will try running the utility tests tonight, except for the external ones--I will look in the dreaded miscellaneous cable box to see if somehow I have that loop cable but I have no recollection of it being in the box when I first unpacked years ago. What does it look like?

I have not tried deleted all software related preferences--I've never done that, in fact, as I've been lucky and my system has never given me any trouble since I bought it (until now). I will do a search on the quickest way to do that deletion--I seem to remember there being a little freeware application that helped.

I assume that the things you've listed should be tried in the order you listed them, with the firmware reset last?

Thanks again, and I will let you know what happens. My instinct tells me this is some sort of software glitch--the hardware certainly appears to be otherwise acting normally (meters, monitoring, etc. work, faders go up and down when power comes on, etc.).

[Stig Eliassen]

I will look in the dreaded miscellaneous cable box to see if somehow I have that loop cable but I have no recollection of it being in the box when I first unpacked years ago. What does it look like?

It's small. It's described as an ethernet loopback plug in the manual.

[ishur]

Small, eh? Well that should make it easy to find. Assuming I even have it...

Oh, well. Hopefully some of the other things Chris has suggested will help. I am worried that the main unit has the solid green light around back (plus the blinking yellow) but the fader pack has only the blinking yellow. Don't know if that's normal...

[ishur]

Trashing preferences took care of it! (And/or repairing permissions). Once I did that and restarted, PT found the D-Command and all was well.

Thanks again, Chris.