Bizarre Expansion Chassis Issue...Help Please

[JeffreyMajeau]

Hi all. Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

The situation is a follows... I'm running a PT Mix+ system with a Magma 7-slot expansion chassis - PT 5.1, Mac OS 9.1, 888/24 I/O, VSD, 1 Mix Core, 1 Mix Farm, 1 DSP Farm II, 1 Sample Cell, B&W G3 with 756 MB of RAM...

The system has been flawless for nearly two years of regular use in an audio post environment. All was working fine through end of business and shut down on Friday...booted the system Monday morning and the 888/24 is not seeing the cards in the chassis and is thus going into converter mode - Audio 1/2 light flashing bright to dim.

I've tried all of the obvious fixes...reseated cards, reconfigured cards, checked all cables and connectors, reinstalled software...all to no avail. DigiTest sees the chassis and all of the cards pass testing.

What's really strange is that if I take my Mix Core and install it in the B&W G3 everything runs as it should. I then tried running just the Mix Core card in the chassis, thinking that one of the subsequent cards might be causing the issue, but the results are the same - the system doesn't see the hardware.

Thinking it might be the controller card for the Magma, I even brought in a brand new DigiChassis7 but am experiencing the exact same problem.

I'm really frustrated after two days of chasing this around with no progress, and it's starting to cost me business. What am I missing here?

Thanks again for taking the time to read this. Hope someone can help.

Cheers,

JEff

[PastaViking II]

Have you tried thrashing the DAE prefs, Digisetup and so on? If so I would look at the 888/24 again if I were you...

[JeffreyMajeau]

Originally posted by PastaViking II:
Have you tried thrashing the DAE prefs, Digisetup and so on? If so I would look at the 888/24 again if I were you...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, I've tried trashing all of the pertinent prefs, followed by rebuilding my desktop, etc.

Again, the strange thing is that the system - including the 888/24 - boots and operates properly with the Mix Core card installed in the B&W G3. This seems to indicate that the 888/24 is fine.

[digimidi]

It sounds like the power supply might be down. I have seen this before when the power switch stops working on the front of the chassis but the one on the rear still does. I would also recommend calling Chuck at Magma. He will get you taken care of.

Gil

[Tweakhead]

Why was my answer deleted ?!!!!!

I answered this question less than an hour after he posted it (about 9am this morning) and now my informative answer together with the weblinks has gone.

Digi Admin?

[MAProTulz]

ROCK AND ROLL!

Must add another one to the list of weird **** that PT can sometimes do...

So it WAS the Magma chassis?

[JeffreyMajeau]

Resolution at last!!! First, a huge thanks to all who offered thoughts. The effort is much appreciated. I worked through your suggestions in between limping along on one Mix Core card in my computer during the week. Here's what I learned...

To recap - ProTools was suddenly not seeing the cards, and thus my 888/24, in my Magma 7-slot expansion chassis, after several years of flawless operation. Troubleshooting pointed to the Magma as the culprit, so I bought a new Digi (SBS) 7-slot chassis, only to have it present with what "appeared" to be the same problem...PT not seeing the cards or the 888/24.

This fooled me into going down some other paths and left me thinking I had spent good money on a new chassis for naught. It wasn't until I downloaded DigiTest 5.1.3cs6 that things began to become clear. This rev saw all of my cards in the chassis, and they all tested fine...but PT still wasn't seeing the cards.

It turns out that there's an issue with any Digi / SBS Expansion Chassis manufactured after January 2002 and various versions of DigiSystem INIT 5.1.x - PT doesn't see Mix cards in the chassis. Downloading and installing DSI 5.1.3cs5 solved the problem.

It looked like a duck, walked like a duck...but it wasn't a duck. Don't want another week like this last one any time soon. Thanks again for all of your help.

Cheers,

Jeff