MBox Phantom Power Problem with Dell Inspiron 8600

[PatrickJ]

Hello,

I'm having a problem with my MBox in conjunction with my Dell Inspiron 8600. First off, my notebook is equip with 1.5GHz Intel Pentium M Centrino Processor and 2.0GB of memory.

My problem is that when I apply phantom power, all lights (except the 48V) go dead on my MBox and I get an error message popup on my system tray reading something along the lines of "USB Power Surge" and "The power limit was exceeded on my USB hub". This is what happens on the factory default installed USB ports, regardless of whether the AC power supply is plugged in or not. I have USB 2.0 ports inserted in my Cardbus slot, and when I try plugging the MBox into one of those and applying phantom power, I don't get an error message, but the peak indicator lights are continuously lit, and all lights are significantly dimmer. I haven't tried testing the phantom power in Pro Tools yet to see if it works because i am wary of damaging any of my condenser mics.

Is anyone familiar with this problem and/or know how to solve it? Thanks.

-Patrickj

[DigiTechSupt]

It sounds like your computer is unable to supply enough power for phantom to work properly, even using the USB 2.0 card.

Unfortunately your only option may be to get an external phantom power supply.

[carlos vega]

Hi,sorry about my english.I had the same problem in the past..solution? quit the mbox from the usb port,push de phantom power and plug the m box into the usb port again..hope it help it
carlos vega

[PatrickJ]

I think it's absurd that I'm having these problems with a digidesign-recommended laptop. Has nobody tested a dell inspiron 8600 with an mbox before, even though it's digidesign recommended?

I have a friend who has a dell inspiron 8600 as well, and I tried it on her laptop, and I got the same problem. However, I have another friend who has an inspiron 9200, and it worked fine, as did it work fine on a dell dimension 8400 desktop. So I know it's not the fault of my MBox, why on earth would it not work on my Inspiron 8600? I used to have an inspiron 8100 two years ago, and MBox worked fine with that, phantom power and all, and that's a much older model. Would processor speed have anything to do with this?