Command 8 problems

[matocaster1202]

Hi all! I just bought a command 8. I bought it used off of ebay. I am running m-powered 8 (latest cs), on windows XP sp3.

I followed the instructions and was not able to get the command 8 recognized by Pro Tools. The command 8 reads 'offline' and under the peripherals tab command 8 is not on the list.

I did a search but really couldn't find anything specific to my problem. I found a thread from a digi admin saying that m-powered and the command 8 will work together, but not much else.

I would be grateful for any help.

Thanks,
Mat

[Amizel]

Having the same problem. Started about a month ago. See no solutions yet.

I have had mild success with restarting software/ power cycling C8/ restarting computer in random sequence and sometimes it just works.

[Ryan Young]

Make sure it's powered up and plugged in before you start up Pro Tools. That makes a difference.

[matocaster1202]

Thanks for the responses! I have tried powering up first, I've updated the firmware, and re-installed the drivers. All with no luck. I ran a Sandra report. Hopefully that will help... I also have updated to 8.0.4 today to try to see if that would provide any type of fix...

Also I noticed that I have service pack 2 listed on the report. I put SP3 on and it didn't make any difference. And my drives are listed as 5400 RPM but I know that they are 7200...

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Workgroup : WORKGROUP
Host Name : trs-1d292a09b97
User : TRS

Processor
Model : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Speed : 2.4GHz
Cores per Processor : 4 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Quad-Core
Integrated Data Cache : 4x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 2x 4MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

Computer
Mainboard : Intel DP35DP
BIOS : Intel Corp. DPP3510J.86A.0326.2007.1206.2256 12/06/2007
Bus(es) : X-Bus PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : No
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
Total Memory : 3.25GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3

Chipset
Model : Intel P35/G33/G31 Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 267MHz (1GHz)
Total Memory : 4GB DIMM DDR2 DDR3
Memory Bus Speed : 2x 401MHz (802MHz)

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-22-6-3)
Memory Module : Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 2GB DIMM DDR2 PC2-6400U DDR2-800 (5-5-5-18 3-22-6-3)

Video System
Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS (16 SP 848MHz, 256MB DDR2 2x400MHz, PCIe 1.00 x16)

Storage Devices
WDC WD5000AACS-00G8B1 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache) : 466GB (C:) (F:) (G:)
ST3250310AS (250GB, SATA300, 3.5", NCQ, 8MB Cache) : 233GB (E:)
SanDisk SanDisk Cruzer 8GB (USB) : 7GB (I:)
LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)
SanDisk SanDisk Cruzer (USB, CD-R) : 96MB (H:)

Logical Storage Devices
Hard Disk (C:) : 120GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AACS-00G8B1 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
back up (F:) : 120GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AACS-00G8B1 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
data (G:) : 226GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD5000AACS-00G8B1 (500.1GB, SATA300, 3.5", 5400rpm, NCQ, 16MB Cache)
Hard Disk (E:) : 233GB (NTFS) @ ST3250310AS (250GB, SATA300, 3.5", NCQ, 8MB Cache)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ LITE-ON DVDRW LH-20A1S (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)
U3 System (H:) : 7MB (CDFS) @ SanDisk SanDisk Cruzer (USB, CD-R)
Removable Drive (I:) : 7GB (FAT32) @ SanDisk SanDisk Cruzer 8GB (USB)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Intel (ICH9) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : Winbond WPCD374L/376I/377I
Serial Port(s) : 2
Disk Controller : Intel (ICH9) 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 1
Disk Controller : Intel (ICH9) 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2
Disk Controller : Marvell 6101 SATA2 Controller
USB Controller 1 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : Intel (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 6 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 7 : Intel (ICH9) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 8 : Intel (ICH9) USB2 Enhanced Host Controller
FireWire/1394 Controller 1 : Intel TSB43AB22 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel 801xx/63xx SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)

Network Services
Network Adapter : Intel(R) 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection - Packet Scheduler Miniport

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : x86

Performance Tips
Tip 2546 : Large memory modules should be ECC/Parity.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

[lolo-m]

I had some problems with my C8 on windows XP sp3 and I solved it by "simply" formating my hard drive, installing XP sp2 and reinstalling all the Protools softwares. It "just" took me about one day for the all process... "Improve your workflow" !!!
It was on PT 8cs3... I upgraded into the latest PT 8.0.4 and my C8 start to act "funny". When I started PT the C8 was recognised but some functions didn't work on the right pannel (bank + -, zoom ...) and the extreme left wasn't working at all, on the center the select/solo/mute wasn't working too... I changed the USB plug on my computer and after installing the driver found on AVID site it wasn't working at all !!! So I decided to reinstall PT8.0.4 and checked the Command8 tab... It only installed the C8 driver and now everything is fine !

[matocaster1202]

Just thought I'd bump this... Even though it's still on the main page. I am pulling my hair out trying to get this to work...

Digi/AVID please help!

[TDub]

Did you ever get this solved? Doesn't look like you got any more replies. I'm having same issue. Frustrating would be an understatement.

[matocaster1202]

Actually I did. I had given up and even had the box out to put it away. Then Pro Tools 9 comes out. So I bought that and after I had it installed I thought, what the hell, I'll give the command 8 a try. And it works! I don't know why, but it does... Literally the only thing that changed was the software. I wish I could tell you what it was but I have no clue. Are you thinking about upgrading to PT9?

[AlainZagar]

Hey matocaster1202

If you've tried the obvious things like short USB cable lengths, avoiding USB Hubs, good quality USB cables etc. then you may want to give this a shot.

You may not like this approach but I got my unit to work by peeking into the registry to figure out what was going on. If you're not comfortable with using Regedit then just disregard this post or the instructions around looking into the registry. It's potentially too dangerous to be poking around in there if you're not 100% certain of what you're doing.

First, you can get yourself into a bind if you've installed midi drivers in windows XP. There is a limit and I think it's 9 or 10 drivers. I you install more, then some software won't see anything that got added beyond the max. I got into this mess by installing certain virtual midi ports ( LoopBe).

This can also happen if you've been moving the Command8 from USB port to another USB port trying to get it to work.

As well, you can also end up with 10 midi drivers by simply reinstalling one midi driver multiple times when you're troubleshooting. These instances use up Midi1 through Midi(max) instances even though only one driver got installed. I think it's an old bug in XP. Have a look at the Win.ini file in the Windows directory. Talk about legacy junk. Good news is that Win.ini for Midi isn't used in Windows 7 anymore.

The first thing I would recommend is to uninstall any midi devices from the machine using the Device Manager. Look under the Sound branch. Alternatively you can delete all Midi Devices including Command8 ( click delete on each device). You may need to reinstall any special/customized midi devices again so make sure you have driver disks.

Caution for the next step make a backup of this file first then delete in the Win.ini file all lines that contain Midi references.

Then reboot your computer without any midi devices connected. XP won't re-install the devices until you reconnect them. If you're prompted to reinstall any midi devices at this stage then simply click on "no" and continue.

Try installing the Command8 drivers following the instructions in the command8 guide.

:\Program Files\Digidesign\Documentation\Control Surfaces

You'll need to reboot once you've done that.

Command 8 should be the only Midi device visible on your device manager. You can also see this in the section of the registry containing this starting sequence [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\USB\V IDxxxxxxxxx

There should be an entry in the USB entries for Command 8.

Start up Protools with or without a session open, and configure Command 8 under setup then peripherals , as a midi controller as per instructions in the manual. The receive and send selections for Command 8 will be under "predefined".

With a session open, you need to also add Command8 as a Midi Input Device.

This should work. Command 8 will come online as soon as you complete the configuration steps.


If this didn't work the first time then try again. The trick is to delete references to midi devices and to get your Command8 to be one of the first devices to get a Midi slot assignment. If you need other Midi devices as part of your system then install these last. Command8 driver appears on the surface to be more finicky then others.


Good luck.