"hanging" applications when mbox 2 plugged in

[jlcnyc]

so are we starting to suspect the Mbox2 is the problem?????
there must be Mbox2/intel users out there who are NOT experiencing this issue
is there another common thread in our "hanging" problem?

[eb_music]

When you say you've tried all the General Troubleshooting, did anything change when you created a new admin account?

I tried a new admin account. Still have the hanging problem. Similar problem to what the previous poster shows on youtube, except he didn't show the spinning.

Here's what sort of happened when my macbookpro hung:

Started up the comp.
Logged into the new user account.
Launched Firefox to check this thread.
Launched msn.
Launched itunes. listened to some music for a while. stopped music.

came back an hour later. Display was off. shake the mouse and try to click on msn messenger and its unresponsive with spinning wheel. Didn't even have protools running. Just the mbox2 plugged in.

thing is, its not always when my display turns off to save power. Sometimes i can come back and work for a few hours.

[jlcnyc]

the funny thing is for me ...
I haven't ever experienced the "hang" while ProTools was running.
It's always a non-digi app like FireFox, Quicktime, iChat, etc. that hangs.

In the meantime, I just wish I could at least figure out a way to safely force quit the frozen app.
The app absolutely will not respond - I'm unable to force quit or shut it down in the activity monitor. Although the window will eventually close, the dock indicates that the app is still open (black triangle)...and the computer will not completely shut down (spinning gear)
Crashing the mac can't be good for it.
any thoughts?

[eb_music]

bump

[DigiTechSupt]

Are the problems that are being reported happening after leaving the computer idle for awhile?

[jlcnyc]

Are the problems that are being reported happening after leaving the computer idle for awhile?

no. mine occur randomly while working with non-digi apps.

[Torneko]

no. mine also occurred randomly during some programs using sound like Final Cut, iTunes, Firefox, Chess in mac or several sound app such as Live...

i think coreaudio driver mess up mac system..

[eb_music]

Are the problems that are being reported happening after leaving the computer idle for awhile?

Mine happen randomly as well; although i do tend to walk away from my comp for about an hour to do other things. But the hanging doesn't always happen immediately after i come back from leaving it idle. I could be doing work for an hour or two and then suddenly have a program hang.

The programs that hang tend to vary. Applications i have running the most (in no particular order):

itunes
protools
firefox
msn messenger

Hope that helps.

[bitboyroy]

eb_music, jlcnyc and others. I've got this one too!

I'm 99% that posts (and tips from digidesign) regarding reinstalling, downgrading, disabling os x features etc etc doesn't apply on this one.

The reason for the freeze/lock-ups can be tracked down to the IOUSBFamily code. No idea (yet) if this is due to the digidesign drivers or an Apple OS X thing. (Have never experienced it using other cards though).


After a freeze, if you launch the Applications/Utilities/Console, look in system.log
You should see the line:
Mar 26 18:47:06 david kernel[0]: USBF: 92268.252 AppleUSBUHCI[0x3933000]::AddIsochFramesToSchedule - expected frame (46283469) and see frame (46283472) - should do something here!!

I had a look in AppleUSBUHCI_UIM.cpp, and what the above tells you is that a (so called) frame in the usb communication has been lost or mixed up/comes in the wrong order.

And checking the Apple code again, you can read:
// ************* WARNING WARNING WARNING ************************************************** **************
// Preemption is now off, which means that we cannot make any calls which may block
// So don't call USBLog, and don't call for example

then a couple of lines below in the same method:

if(currFrame == pTD->_frameNumber) {
... not interesting
}
else {
USBError(1, "AppleUSBUHCI[%p]::AddIsochFramesToSchedule - expected frame (%qd) and see frame (%qd) - should do something here!!", this, currFrame, pTD->_frameNumber);
}

All log messages are disabled except the USBError one which I guess could be the reason why the system locks up and just stops there waiting for the blocking call! (for you non programmers, a blocking call forces any other waiting commands until the first one has finished, thus making (some) other apps unresponsive and impossible to force quit!)

The code above hasn't changed since 10.3.x and I've been looking at the 10.4.8 and 10.4.9 version.


I have reported this to apple the apple/adc bug list (no response yet), and mailed digidesign support x-number of times.
The best answer from digi has been that they can't reproduce it. Neither can I, still it happens 2+ times a day... First I thought it had to do with sleeping disks/sys then starting a sound playback for the first time, using a usb-keyboard could be it. But it also happens when just using the machine. I kind of know when it's gonna happen though. One example which seem to trig the freeze is when command-tabbing between two apps, say, just typing a text (no sound playing, no disk activity for a long while), then command-tab to a open soundfile in quicktime, hit play, freeeeeze..!


Anyone else been in contact with the digi-support!? I've reported lot's of useful info but it doesn't seem to get pass the first line support which just suggests reinstalling and deleting prefs etc.


---
A little tip to prevent from using the power-button to restart!
Open the Activity Monitor, Find the WindowServer (all processes), quit or force quit, type the password.
This logs you out and from there you can "soft reboot" the machine.
(only works one out of two times)

[eb_music]

bitboyroy.

i'm not programmer but i'm glad you are! Hopefully digidesign takes note of all your findings.

I just wanted to add that when i open up coreaudiomanager,

digidesignHW: unsupported
status: Not Connected (HW not found)
channels: 0

i press connect and nothing happens. Despite all this, i can still run protools and use the Mbox2 to listen to music.

Anyone else notice this? not sure if its related to the "freezing" apps.