meltodown?!

[postmike]

Having a major hardware problem....

Mix+, G4 800, OS 10.3.2, Pro-tools v. 6.4.1, USD, 888/24

So here's the deal....I own an 8 channel (1x888/24) Mix Plus system. I had rented 2 additional 888/24's for a film dub I was working on. Everything went fine. After the mix ended I moved my gear back to my studio, pulled eveything out of my road case and put my 8 channel system back in it's usual home...removing the 2 additional 888's from the loop. This is a procedure I go through several times a year, nothing new to me.

I threw out all my pref's in order to reset the system back to my usual single 888 configuration, rebooted and opened a session, reset the hardware, and tried to playback a bit and make sure I'd hooked everthing back up properly. The 888 LED's went a little haywire and no audio playback happened. Also noticed that in Peripherals menu when I set the thing back form Generic Reader to my USD, I got the "cannot establish communication with the USD...." error message.

So, I went about re-seating the cards, re-attaching all the cables, checking for bent pins etc. in case something had gotten jarred on the journey home.

No help.

So, I tossed the pref's again, replaced all the cables, and upon reboot, flashed the PRAM (apple/option/P/R keys held down during boot for 3 "chimes")...still no dice.

Next I ran the DigiTest. It Failed. "TDM Transmission Test DSP A Failed - No TDM clock detected." Message repeats for DSP's A through F.

I removed the Farm card and re-ran DigiTest with Core only. This time the test Passed. So I removed the Core card, replaced the Farm card and re-ran DigiTest. This card also Passed. Plug in both cards, get the same Failure. Regardless of how many cards were plugged in, still couldn't get the USD to respond.

Now, aside from the physical move from Studio to Studio (via a trustworthy cartage company that I've been using for almost 10 years), the only thing that changed about my system was the removal of 2 888/24's (again, nothing out of the ordinary for me) and, the day before I moved, I downloaded and installed the CS3 update for my software.

Did my cards just up and die or is this software? Anyone have any idea what is going on? I find it odd that the cards pass DigiTest individually, but Fail together. I'm right in the middle of a project and will have to rent a system in the morning so that I can keep working. Meantime I've got to keep troubleshooting this because I can't believe things would just work one day and then not work the next, and I'm losing money every day this system isn't working normally.

Help!?!

Thanks in advance,
Mike

Downbeat Audio, Music Editorial

[postmike]

Nevermind.


I figured out the problem....


Word to the wise (or the villiage idiot in my case): if you plug the Word Clock Out of your USD into the Slave Clock in of your 888/24....you will have the above problem.

This is what happens when you work 110 hours in a week....

I'm going to bed now.