Firewire 410 is a failure

[DigiTechSupt]

One more here, with ongoing problems getting the FireWire 410 to work reliably. (Mac OS 10.4.9 on a mirror-door dual G4 1.25 GHz, with a LaCie 250FB ext. FW hard drive which has been tried via FW400/FW800 connections & also eliminated from the config. completely, with no effect on the issues, clean system with no bkgnd or real-time processes, permissions repaired, etc., using M-Audio's 1.8.2 driver, which I have downloaded/reinstalled 2x, and PT M-Powered 7.3.1).

Generally (but not always), after the system is booted first time, no sound at all out of PT. And usually, no meter activity showing the Master Fader (in sessions that haven't changed since having played back previously on this same config). Go to the FW410's control panel, either reset and/or change the sync from internal to digital and then back again. Sometimes, the result of this is audio playback but complete freeze of display update in PT. Other times, still no audio output, but activity visible on Master Fader in PT. Still other times, distorted audio output with odd heterodyning frequencies similar to some kind of clock distortion.

This seems to be more frequent if I open a 48K session first. Occasionally, if I open a 44K session & play back audio briefly, playback will then be OK when I re-open a 48K sessions. Other times, not. Sometimes, 3 or 4 trips over to the interface's control panel software (aforementioned sync switch or reset, & always via the HW Setup button from PT) will eventually kick the interface into life. Other times, not. Sometimes, a system reboot in the midst of those iterations helps.

Other fun stuff: once it's working I occasionally get little jittery digital blurps in recorded audio. When that happens, more trips back to the control panel software and reboots. M-Audio has kindly replaced the interface once, so this doesn't seem to be a single defective unit. Another disconcerting behavior that started with the replacement unit: occasionally, after a couple of hours of operation, input levels will momentarily sag by a dramatic amount for a few seconds, accompanied by some "digital" sounding static in the recorded audio. You can actually see this happening if you're watching meter levels on the rec-enabled tracks.
Like the previous poster, until acquiring this interface I had been using and Mbox USB/LE configuration on this same system, with no such problems. Even had a FireWire 1814 running PT 7.0 on this same CPU for a while (booting from a different system disk, BTW) with no such problems, which leads me to believe that the problem ought not to be with my FireWire bus itself (whose only other device is the aforementioned LaCie 250GB HD, which as mentioned, has been eliminated and also moved between the FW400/800 connections with no effect on the FireWire 410's behavior).

I just had talent sitting here for 20 minutes on the clock this afternoon, as I did the reset/reboot boogie, and they had do re-do 4 good takes that were trashed by the fade-out/distortion problem.
Suggestions, anyone, before I throw in the towel? I keep checking M-Audio's Web site from driver updates, but they have been stuck on 1.8.2 for quite a while.

Have you tried trashing preferences yet? What about reinstalling the M-Audio driver, or trying the 1.7.2 driver version? Which port on the Mac do you have the FW410 connected to? What about the drive? Are there any other devices attached? Have you tried all the steps in the OS X Setup and General Troubleshooting thread yet? Have you tried different cables? Are you clocking to an external source?

[DigiTechSupt]

I definitely think that it has something to do with the mac/410 combination, and may carry over to the 1814 too, since they are similar. I ran the 410 for a year on my desktop and the thing never lost connection or had to be reset. On my macbook pro it works pretty reliably now that I have the interface connected via siig expresscard and the external drive connected to the MBP 400 port. That said, every once in a while I will go to play something and the sounds come out my laptop speakers and I have to either reset the 410 software or reboot. Not often, though. Connected this way I also have to use the wall wart for the 410 which is kind of a pain.

I have been very surprised and more than a bit disappointed that it has taken jumping through hoops and buying extra cards/cables to get this to work on a mac.

J

This should not be the case. I'm running a 410 and 1814 on a MacBook Pro without problems. Are you letting your computer go to sleep at all? That would definitely cause problems - sleep mode doesn't always 'reconnect' firewire or USB devices properly after the computer wakes up.

[JrummerJ]

This should not be the case. I'm running a 410 and 1814 on a MacBook Pro without problems. Are you letting your computer go to sleep at all? That would definitely cause problems - sleep mode doesn't always 'reconnect' firewire or USB devices properly after the computer wakes up.

No sleep mode, I even used the terminal to kill the safe sleep function. Yesterday, when I fired up the macbook pro and opened toontrack solo with EZdrummer the 410 didn't show at all, resetting didn't work either. I shut down. Unplugged the power cable for 30 seconds, replugged, rebooted and it came back to life. Before this it had worked perfectly for probably a month or more. Every once in a while for no good reason it quits.

Do you mind me asking how you have your 410 and hard drive connected on your setup? I have tried chaining everywhich way and have either had the 410 become unresponsive or have experienced the annoying 6101 cpu overload error. The way that I have them now seems the best, but I hate having to use the wall wart for the 410, and I'd like to not have to use the siig card.

Thanks for your help, at least someone is trying to figure this stuff out

J

[SoundWrangler]

[QUOTE]

One more here, with ongoing problems getting the FireWire 410 to work reliably. (Mac OS 10.4.9 on a mirror-door dual G4 1.25 GHz, with a LaCie 250FB ext. FW hard drive which has been tried via FW400/FW800 connections & also eliminated from the config. completely, with no effect on the issues, clean system with no bkgnd or real-time processes, permissions repaired, etc., using M-Audio's 1.8.2 driver, which I have downloaded/reinstalled 2x, and PT M-Powered 7.3.1).

Have you tried trashing preferences yet? What about reinstalling the M-Audio driver, or trying the 1.7.2 driver version? Which port on the Mac do you have the FW410 connected to? What about the drive? Are there any other devices attached? Have you tried all the steps in the OS X Setup and General Troubleshooting thread yet? Have you tried different cables? Are you clocking to an external source?

Thanks for your suggestions. Have NOT tried installing an older M-Audio driver - is that truly going to be OK with PT-MP 7.3.1 and Mac OS 10.4.9? Yes, I have trashed the preferences once (this PT-MP install has only EVER been used with the FW410). Have downloaded and re-installed 1.8.2 drivers twice. The FW410 is connected to the FW400 port on the Mac. The only other FW device attached is the LaCie HD I mentioned (have tried connecting that both to FW800 and FW400 ports, and I have also removed it entirely from the system, with no effect on these problems). Have disconnected all MIDI devices from the FW410. Removed everything except from Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers except the MAudioFireWireMIDI.plugin file. Not clocking to an external source. Have tried a different FW cable (and in fact, am experiencing similar problems with a brand-new FW410 interface AND cable!).
Still experiencing no audio, right channel no audio, or distorted audio with digital heterodyning-type distortion almost every time after restart (until I open the control panel SW for the FW410 and either diddle the sync to digital and back to internal, or reset, usually various times required and/or a restart of PT or the entire CPU). Once it's working, occasional brownouts in input/recorded signal accompanied by distortion, and/or digital blurps. In seeming contrast to speculation by some of the other posters in this thread, I had no such problem with a FW1814 on this same rig -- but that was a while ago, and no doubt was some previous version of the M-Audio drivers (and PT 7.0). Sometimes, opening a 44K session will pop the FW410 back into life for 48K sessions I open subsequently; sometimes not.

[JrummerJ]

Ok guys, it hasn't been long enough for me to tell if it is going to work long term or not, but I came across something today that I had never read before and thought, what the heck I'll try it out.

Go into your System Preferences>Network. Click the drop down bar by Show, and select network configuration. Make sure that all firewire networking is turned off, this includes expresscards if you still need to use it after this.

Anyway, I made these setting changes and then connected my 410 to the MBPs firewire port and chained my external drive to the interface.....you know, like I used to do on the PC without any problems

So far I have rebooted a couple of times, completely disconnecting the 410 or leaving it and restarting, no issues at all so far.

Also recorded 2 tracks of audio in a session with the following tracks/plugins, all at a buffer setting of 128:

1) Bass - with EQ, Massey Comp, D-verb
2) Drums L - with bmb fact comp, EQ
3) Drums R - with same as above
4) Ld Gtr - none
5) Ld Gtr clean - none
6) Ld Solos - none
7) Rh Gtr fr - none
8) Rh Gtr rear - none
9) Vocals1 - Dverb, comp/lim
10) Vocals2 - Dverb, comp/lim
11) Vocals Hr - Dverb, comp/lim
12) new - none
13) new -none

All of this done with Bluetooth and internet connected.....and a WD Mybook firewire drive, which also always worked fine on the PC.

Anyway, something to try. I'll keep it like this and report back if I have any issues. I would still like to hear from DigiSupprt as to how he has his MBP/interface/HD set up and what kind of track counts/plugins are possible....

J

[SoundWrangler]

Go into your System Preferences>Network. Click the drop down bar by Show, and select network configuration. Make sure that all firewire networking is turned off, this includes expresscards if you still need to use it after this.J

You may indeed have hit on something important, JrummerJ. I just changed this preference, and for the first time in many many weeks, playback from an existing 48K PT session has been "normal" the first time the PT program was opened. (My HD continues by itself on the Mac's second FW400 port - although if this FW networking change in Sys Prefs seems to improve behavior, I will definitely try moving the HD back to its original location on the Mac's FW800 port, where it was always connected until I moved it during this troubleshooting process with the FW410 interface.)

Thanks. Will report back again, after working through various reboots and launches of PT sessions to confirm that today's behavior hasn't been merely a fluke.

[JrummerJ]

Awesome! I hope that this helps some of the people plagued with fw410 issues. So far the 2 issues that I had previously experienced are not appearing again....yet:

1) fw410 becoming unresponsive
2) PTs throws 6101 cpu overload errors

J

[DigiTechSupt]

Awesome! I hope that this helps some of the people plagued with fw410 issues. So far the 2 issues that I had previously experienced are not appearing again....yet:

1) fw410 becoming unresponsive
2) PTs throws 6101 cpu overload errors

J

The big question here is - why would you have firewire networking enabled in the first place?

As for my configuration - MacBook Pro-->FW410 (or 1814)--->hard drives (between 2 and 4). All connected via FW400 in a chain. Track counts - I get the max (48), though I have to split them between 2 drives.

[JrummerJ]

The big question here is - why would you have firewire networking enabled in the first place?

As for my configuration - MacBook Pro-->FW410 (or 1814)--->hard drives (between 2 and 4). All connected via FW400 in a chain. Track counts - I get the max (48), though I have to split them between 2 drives.

Well, it seems to be enabled as a default on both my PC and Macbook pro. And since it is not one of the items mentioned in the optimzing or troubleshooting sections, I never even knew to go and disable it. Same thing when you plug in a siig expresscard, firewire networking is enabled.

Maybe this is something that should be added to the Troubleshooting or Optimization links?

J

[JrummerJ]

You may indeed have hit on something important, JrummerJ. I just changed this preference, and for the first time in many many weeks, playback from an existing 48K PT session has been "normal" the first time the PT program was opened. (My HD continues by itself on the Mac's second FW400 port - although if this FW networking change in Sys Prefs seems to improve behavior, I will definitely try moving the HD back to its original location on the Mac's FW800 port, where it was always connected until I moved it during this troubleshooting process with the FW410 interface.)

Thanks. Will report back again, after working through various reboots and launches of PT sessions to confirm that today's behavior hasn't been merely a fluke.

Have you had any more issues, or did this take care of the problem? Mine has been bulletproof thus far, though I need to open a longer session and work in it for a couple hours to see how stable it is. You may still have errors using fw 400 and 800 at the same time, since they share a bus, this is a known issue. But hopefully this networking thing will clear up some people's problems with the 410.

J