URGENT: 003 not recognised, gig tonight!

[EmbraceRandom]

Sorry about the 'urgent' in the title, but I use my 003 for gigs and I've got one tonight (Friday)!

My 003 isn't being recognised by my PC at all. When I run Pro Tools (LE 8.0.5), it says 'unable to find Digidesign hardware' or something like that. You know which message I mean, I'm sure.

I think this is due to how I connected it this morning... I plugged the firewire cable into the PC firewire port upside-down by mistake...

I have done the following:
1. Replaced the firewire cable
2. Tried the second firewire port on the 003
3. Ran a malware search!
4. Updated Pro Tools from 8.0.4 to 8.0.5, to also update the 003 drivers.
5. Installed a new firewire card into my PC.

Still no luck.

The 'LINK' light on the back of the interface is lit, but the 'HOST 1394' light on the front hasn't lit since I connected it incorrectly Thursday morning.

Please help asap

Thanks,
ER.

[albee1952]

You really need to test the 003 on another system that uses one as its possible you fried the firewire circuit in the 003. Not sure how you could ever plug a firewire connector in upside down, but if you hot-patch firewire(connect or disconnect while everything is powered ON) that can fry the 003(found out the hard way here). Alternatively, try another interface(install the appropriate driver first) on your computer. Lots of used 002 and 003 rack units out there, and that might be cheaper than the repair(mine cost $327 at AllPro Electronics in Nashville). They actually repaired the board instead of a total replacement(which cost more like $500).

[mano111]

Yup, trying to hot plug firewire is known to fry either PC interface or the device's or both.

... I plugged the firewire cable into the PC firewire port upside-down by mistake...

You're not alone. This is the most popular 'line' and cause for lab repair of devices with FW interface.

[zedhed]

It wouldn't hurt to re-install the IEEE1394 controller drivers, it may be possible that they got corrupted with plugging cable in upside down;

While connected to the internet>Control Panel>Device Manager>double click IEEE1394 Bus Host Controllers>double click 1st entry>Driver Tab>Update Driver (Automatically)>OK

Do same for any other entry.

No guarantees but worth a try. The Host light not coming on is an ominous sign though.

Good Luck.

[EmbraceRandom]

Thanks for the replies.

I called the nearest Avid repair place (luckily only 20 miles away), they said it does sound like a fried firewire and they'd be replacing the full board for £180, as you said Albee.

Before I bite that bullet, I was wondering, are the firewire ports fused on the chipboard or is it something that I definitely couldn't fix myself? I.e. could this be a simple fuse change, saving me £180?

[albee1952]

The firewire ports involve more than just the jacks. Its the entire circuit that requires micro-soldering to repair(and not every shop is equipped for that).

[EmbraceRandom]

I thought as much. How frustrating!

So now I'm thinking whether now might be the time to cut my losses and move away from Digi hardware. I always wanted a Presonus FireStudio/AudioBox when I was initially looking, but I had to buy a Digi interface to run Pro Tools.

Annoyingly, if I had updated to Pro Tools 9 and/or 10, the best option would be to go for a Presonus now. However, as I had the Music Production Toolkit 2 when I purchased PTLE8, PT9 didn't really offer me enough to warrant upgrading. Wish I had have done now, it'll cost me at least £200 to update to PT10 on top of the £400 for a new interface!

Might be able to borrow a 002 for the foreseeable future. Hopefully that will suffice until I decide what the best plan of action is.

Thank you all very much for the quick responses
ER.

[twinsoul]

I had my PT10.0 running great with my I mac . i had to get a funky cable cause no firewie in I Mac. Anyway i had an unreachable friend set up all the i/o and peripherals. . all i wanted was to add another pair of speakers using Sound Blaster usb soun crd.

[twinsoul]

I had my PT10.0 running great with my I mac . i had to get a funky cable cause no firewie in I Mac. Anyway i had an unreachable friend set up all the i/o and peripherals. . all i wanted was to add another pair of speakers using Sound Blaster usb sound card.(it was working great for i-tunes) I put my system back the way it was ,both hard and soft ware. Host light will not come on. i went back to older files and actually got the little picture of the 003 but no host light. I'm dying here fellas can anybody point me in the right direction?????