Late 2006 iMac with PT10

[Audiohitch]

I've got a late 2006 white dual 2ghz core 2 duo 17" iMac, 2.5Ghz Ram,10.6.8 with a mbox 2 mini!
Anyone been running Pro Tools 10 on this model or similar at all? Any problems?

Technically under avid's compatibility system requirements it's not listed. But unfortunately I'm unable to afford to upgrade the mac at the moment.

Cheers

[nst7]

That should work fine. I had a 2007 aluminum Imac 2.4 that I ran with Protools for 5 years (just finally upgraded to a Mac Pro). The specs are not much different from yours.

However, I'm pretty sure your Imac is one of the ones that won't be upgradeable to Mountain Lion (there's a bunch of Macs that won't work with it, even though they're Intel Macs). So if you need to upgrade to Mountain Lion down the road (perhaps with Protools 11) then you may need to get a new computer at that time. But for now it should be fine.

Also, be sure you have at least 4 gigs of Ram in it. I think that's the max for your machine anyway, but definitely fill it up.

[Audiohitch]

Cheers. I was going to see how much more ram was.
To be honest I've got 22 imacs to sort out. So you can see why cost is a bugger.

[beepbleep]

Dear Audiohitch,

How did you go with PT 10 on the iMac (2006)....?
I am having major issues with PT express/Mbox on an old iMac(2006) also.....
I am hoping that you were able to resolve - get things working - on yours so the I have some confidence that things will work on mine!!

It does not look like you got much useful help in this instance?
If I get some feedback it might be pertinent to you issue also?

I posted my issues into:
Avid Audio Forums >
Pro Tools Software >
Pro Tools Express on Mac OS X >
"Cannot get MBox to work with iMac (late 2006)"

By the way, give my regards to Hull, I grew up in that delightful town some decades ago (East Mount/David Lister schools!!)!!!

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by beepbleep

Dear Audiohitch,

How did you go with PT 10 on the iMac (2006)....?
I am having major issues with PT express/Mbox on an old iMac(2006) also.....
I am hoping that you were able to resolve - get things working - on yours so the I have some confidence that things will work on mine!!

It does not look like you got much useful help in this instance?
If I get some feedback it might be pertinent to you issue also?

I posted my issues into:
Avid Audio Forums >
Pro Tools Software >
Pro Tools Express on Mac OS X >
"Cannot get MBox to work with iMac (late 2006)"


By the way, give my regards to Hull, I grew up in that delightful town some decades ago (East Mount/David Lister schools!!)!!!

Just to be clear - what exact Mbox model/generation of Mbox? You men an Mbox 3 (what model?) that came bundled with Pro Tools 10 Express?

Has this interface ever worked on any computer?

So while you say you followed a debugging steps which exact ones were you following (URL....).

Do you get any errors during driver/Pro Tools install or Pro Tools start up?

Are there any interesting looking errors in the OS X Console utility?

Have you tried the interface on another computer (Mac or Windows) to check it is not just broken?

Completely unplug that not-audio spec USB drive you have and any other USB things and cables you can while testing, test with different USB cables, test with the interface on all the USB ports on the computer. just for testing plug a externally powered hub between the Mac and the interface (this tests if the USB Power Supply in the mac is faulty) -- does the behavior change at all (it may not work properly but does it change?)

What exact device name is in the playback device in the Setup> Playback Engine dialog?

What are all the other settings in the playback Setup>Playback Engine dialog.

I've never seen Pro Tools 10 express (and neither will have most people here, one reason you are not getting any bites). Can you change the playback engine on Express to say 'built in output' and see if you can at least play an audio track or demo session from Pro Tools?

Check there are no audio programs running in the background. And the Mbox is not configured as an item in an aggregate audio device (in the Audio Midi Setup Utility).

Are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit kernel? Try booting to whatever one you are not running. I have no real reason... just a guess that I would try.

Darryl

[beepbleep]

Just to be clear - what exact Mbox model/generation of Mbox? You men an Mbox 3 (what model?) that came bundled with Pro Tools 10 Express?

MBox High-performance 4x4 audio interface (new current model)
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Has this interface ever worked on any computer?

No its new out of the box, only used on iMac.
Since you ask…. I just installed the Mbox driver off the Audio Driver Disc onto a Windows 7 laptop and tested the MBox
I could only get the same audio buzz when playing a system noise or itunes.
Same as on the iMac!!!
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Dear Darryl,

I have worked through you questions/suggestions but as yet was not able to fix the problem. If there is anything below that stands out as a clue please let me know.
Thanks so much for your time.

So while you say you followed a debugging steps which exact ones were you following (URL....).

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/e...739?popup=true

Required Optimizations: all
Optional Optimizations: disabled spotlight
Troubleshooting: Not Hearing Input or Output (Default I/O Setup/Create New Session With Stereo Mix)
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Do you get any errors during driver/Pro Tools install or Pro Tools start up?

No errors on installation of updated MBox driver (from website as previously stated) or during pro tools installation.
Pro tools starts up fine but I get the previously stated error if I try to play blank session or audio track.
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Are there any interesting looking errors in the OS X Console utility?

I searched for anything with "Avid" and again for "Tools" this is what I got
Plus other repetitive errors that read the same but with the [178] or [0x0-0x13013] number being different run at different times.

27/08/12 11:43:54 PM [0x0-0x3c03c].com.apple.installer[432] Removing "/Library/Receipts/Avid Mbox.pkg"

27/08/12 11:43:54 PM [0x0-0x3c03c].com.apple.installer[432] "/Library/Receipts/Avid Mbox.pkg" not found.

27/08/12 11:44:35 PM Installer[432] Package /Volumes/Avid Mbox 1.0.21/Avid Mbox.pkg uses a deprecated pre-10.2 format (or uses a newer format but is invalid).

28/08/12 7:43:41 PM [0x0-0x13013].com.avid.panel.{DE88214A-90CB-4046-A916-CF93334682DC}[178] Tue Aug 28 19:43:41 Mark-Temples-iMac.local Panel[178] <Error>: CGContextDrawImage: invalid context 0x0

28/08/12 7:43:41 PM [0x0-0x13013].com.avid.panel.{DE88214A-90CB-4046-A916-CF93334682DC}[178] Tue Aug 28 19:43:41 Mark-Temples-iMac.local Panel[178] <Error>: CGBitmapContextCreate: unsupported parameter combination: 8 integer bits/component; 32 bits/pixel; 3-component color space; kCGImageAlphaLast; 0 bytes/row.

28/08/12 7:43:41 PM [0x0-0x13013].com.avid.panel.{DE88214A-90CB-4046-A916-CF93334682DC}[178] Tue Aug 28 19:43:41 Mark-Temples-iMac.local Panel[178] <Error>: CGContextClearRect: invalid context 0x0

28/08/12 7:43:41 PM [0x0-0x13013].com.avid.panel.{DE88214A-90CB-4046-A916-CF93334682DC}[178] Tue Aug 28 19:43:41 Mark-Temples-iMac.local Panel[178] <Error>: CGContextDrawImage: invalid context 0x0

28/08/12 7:33:13 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.installer Name "main::PACKAGE_PATH" used only once: possible typo at /Volumes/Pro Tools Express/Install Pro Tools Express.mpkg/Contents/Resources/preflight.sh line 4.

28/08/12 7:33:13 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.installer Name "main::TARGET_VOLUME" used only once: possible typo at /Volumes/Pro Tools Express/Install Pro Tools Express.mpkg/Contents/Resources/preflight.sh line 6.

28/08/12 7:33:13 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.installer Name "main::INSTALLATION_DESTINATION" used only once: possible typo at /Volumes/Pro Tools Express/Install Pro Tools Express.mpkg/Contents/Resources/preflight.sh line 5.
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Have you tried the interface on another computer (Mac or Windows) to check it is not just broken?

As explained above - on a Win 7 laptop….
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Completely unplug that not-audio spec USB drive you have and any other USB things and cables you can while testing, test with different USB cables, test with the interface on all the USB ports on the computer. just for testing plug a externally powered hub between the Mac and the interface (this tests if the USB Power Supply in the mac is faulty) -- does the behavior change at all (it may not work properly but does it change?)

Extra USB drive unplugged (tested before)
Different USB cables tested.
All ports tested.

No change in intermittent high pitch buzz under all conditions tested. When unplugged sound reverts to internal speaker OK, when plugged in sound reverts to "Avid MBox" and dies?

USB power supply reads OK (see Extra below) and USB can a power hard disk, and can power previous Line6 TonePort UX1

Extra Info from About this Mac / More info / USB
Mbox:
Product ID: 0x5000
Vendor ID: 0x0dba
Version: 1.08
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Avid
Location ID: 0xfd500000 / 2
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 498

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What exact device name is in the playback device in the Setup> Playback Engine dialog?

PlayBack Engine = Avid MBox

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What are all the other settings in the playback Setup>Playback Engine dialog.

H/W Buffer Size: 1024 Samples (tried other settings)
Host Processors: 2 Processors
CPU Usage limit: 85%
Host Engine: Ignore errors unticked (tried ticked also)
Delay Comp Engine: Maximum (tried none also)
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I've never seen Pro Tools 10 express (and neither will have most people here, one reason you are not getting any bites). Can you change the playback engine on Express to say 'built in output' and see if you can at least play an audio track or demo session from Pro Tools?

I can see no 'built in output' in the Express Playback Engine.
I dragged an itunes.M4a track into pro tools and hit the transport (play) button, no sound but the audio meters looked normal and trcked with the look of the wave profile. Stopped and tries to play again and back to original error (-6104)
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Check there are no audio programs running in the background. And the Mbox is not configured as an item in an aggregate audio device (in the Audio Midi Setup Utility).

There are no audio programs running in the background.
In system Prefs / Sound /device selected = Avid MBox
also listed are Internal Speakers/ Avid CoreAudio Device/ and Pro Tools Aggregate I/O but all silent whilst apparently playing.
Apparently original error (-6104) is intermittent but no no sound is always the result.

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Are you running a 32 bit or 64 bit kernel? Try booting to whatever one you are not running. I have no real reason... just a guess that I would try.

Running in 32 bit Kernal, restart holding 6 & 4 is still 32 bit kernel? (no change)
Activity Monitor shows "Pro Tools Express" kind as Intel not Intel (64 bit)


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Thats it (too tired to think straight right now). Will sleep on it!
Regards
Mark

[Darryl Ramm]

it looks like you have a faulty hardware. this typically means you need to phone Avid support and talk to their hardware repair folks, this should not require a support ASC.

Although retailers will often not take back faulty hardware and will want you to resolve this with Avid you may want to check with them if they can swap thus for you

Darryl

[Audiohitch]

Well I got the full version of Pro Tools 10 (not HD) and all seems to be working fine. I've had to move mini grand to the unused folder as it was to power and ram hungry for the mac.

Xpand 2 was missing the library location. It was still looking in the digidesign folder, but once redirected it was working fine.
This aside this is working fine, it rewires fine into reason 4, Sibelius 7, ableton 8.

These machines aren't intensely used with plugins. It's more of getting the know the program. We have 5 new iMacs with 002R and 2 mac pros with HD Native in the studios for the intense stuff.

I've not read everything properly in these threads as I'm too knackered too.
But make sure your mac is on 10.6.8 or above for pro tools express. The drivers for the mbox 3 are a separate install from pro tools.
Also pro tools express and Se rely on the mbox and cannot use the inbuilt sound card unlike ProTools 10 & HD.
Also make sure your mbox has its own USB port and not going through a USB hub.

I dont know if any of that helps. Just maybe do a clean uninstall and start again.

[beepbleep]

Dear AudioHitch,

Yes your comments are useful as they reassure me that I have set things up as best I can and I have not missed anything obvious... which might be easy for a "new to pro tools" kinda guy.
I was initially worried that the late 2006 iMacs may have some inherent incompatibility but that seems not to be the case.
Regards

[beepbleep]

Dear Darryl Ramm and AudioHitch,
I got a new MBox and it runs just fine with my old iMac, thanks for your comments (especially Darryl), shame I had such a frustrating introduction to the pro tools experience....